Overcome Negative Self-Image:
Open Your Heart Thru Art...
By Tachina Rudman

We all do it. Glance in the mirror and fixate on that new wrinkle around our eyes. Stare in horror at new folds of cellulite around our thighs or midsection that we know weren't there last week! Pluck out the first few grey hairs down below and wait in trepidation for the arrival of more.

Essentially we forget to see the beauty that is us.

Instead of inhaling and saying to ourselves, "I am valuable, I deserve to be happy, I have a unique joy to offer life", we essentially look for the negative, stop breathing, get tight and forget who we really are.

I say enough! Don't let negative self-image stop you from having the life and love that you want! Challenge the media that tells you that you aren't perfect or lovable unless you're wrinkle free at forty, in perfect shape, and a type-A superhuman. Not to say that there's anything wrong with being those things. Only most of us, in real life, don't make the cut. We are perfectly flawed. Lovable with our folds that have given birth, caressed, loved, sweated, become calloused, and then peeled. On every level.

Next time you look in the mirror, challenge the voice in your head that essentially stops breathing, gets tight and forgets the beauty that is really you. Challenge the thoughts that eat at your self-esteem like piranhas. Challenge the thoughts that tell you that you aren't good enough to be loved, or to go for what you want in life. Toss the thoughts that tell you that you don't deserve the relationship that you crave, and that you don't deserve to be happy. It's not true!

The next time that insidious monster called self-criticism pops its ugly little head out of your ear and says, "your butt's too fat, your breasts are too small, you're too insecure to go for what you really want. You don't deserve it!" Or, "You're balding for God's sakes, who would love you? You don't deserve to be Happy!" ...rip its smarmy little head off, and toss it in the trash can!

You can see yourself in a different light.

You could buy dark glasses, inject yourself with botox, or pay for plastic surgery. Or, you could put away the magazines, and shut off the TV.

The next time you look in the mirror, take a deep breath, plant your feet firmly on the ground, and remember a time when you were genuinely kind, loving or compassionate. Even if it was just a time you blessed the poor soul who cut you off in traffic.

You will see yourself in a different light.