The celebration of the Fourth of July in the United States was always one of my favorite times of the year. I usually spent it hanging out with my dad. We got Slurpees and candy from 7-11, treats my mom would typically never let us have in the house, and we’d camp out in a great spot near a local firework show on the flatbed of his 1976 Ford Pickup and wait for dusk to come. The Fourth of July meant freedom, but not just the celebration of freedom for the history of my country, but for what freedom could represent for me in my life. The 4th was a day when there were no rules in our house. It was a day of sugar, sun and swimming. A day of no rules, no judgement and no bedtime. Everyone I knew was happy during the day and celebrating at night. For me, it was a break from things that stressed me out and from anxiety I had around certain relationships in my life. It was a day of happiness and unity. It was what I wanted everyday to be, until I realized that everyday could be that way.
Freedom feels good. It opens up the doors of happiness to us; we all deserve to be free. Freedom has been a powerful concept in my life, especially over the past 15 years as I learned how to learn to love my body and be free in my skin, without self-judgement, without perfectionistic pressure…to learn to celebrate my imperfections with confidence and gratitude. For the longest time I waited for my body to be perfect before I gave myself permission to feel free, but I learned (after too many years of waiting and too many years of the finish line moving on me for that perfect body … I never learned to be satisfied with what I had accomplished, so I was always feeling lacking and unworthy), that it works the opposite. Freedom is a decision. It is bold. It takes courage. It is the choice to say to life: I choose to thrive and to thrive in the lane I’ve been given. It is a declaration to stop trying to be like or live like anyone else and instead to focus on blooming as who you are and as God created you to be.
I am convinced that the more permission we give ourselves to have fun in our bodies the more alive, confident and free of self-imposed, self-critical judgment we will be. Give thanks for your body, even if you don’t “like” your body just yet; with enough practice of gratitude, your subconscious appreciation of yourself will transform. Before you know it, you will actually be thankful for your body. And, when you’re thankful for something, you appreciate it, you take better care of it, you love it. That’s crazy, isn’t it, that we can actually reach that perfect body we have dreamed about for decades, not by diet or by exercise, but by simply tapping into gratitude and into thinking differently? Change the way you think and you will change the entire outcome of your life, and of your body.
It’s not a simple process, but it does unfold with simple steps and the simple practice of daily gratitude. You either live with gratitude, or you don’t. There’s no half-way with the mindset of gratitude; you’re either all in or not at all. Decide to be all in; your perfect body – the one you feel free, beautiful and totally alive in, awaits you.
Okay, okay, I promised to tell you the one thing you can do that will make you feel amazing in your body, so what is it? GRATITUDE. Yep. It’s that simple If you want to feel good in your body, make sure you create a daily habit of gratitude around your body.
And, then, the next thing I’d recommend you do is to listen to this replay coaching recording from a “body confidence mastermind” session we did recently in The College of Confidence, my group coaching program for go-getters ready to use confidence to be unstoppable in chasing their dreams. You can listen to the replay here: http://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/traffic.libsyn.com/fromtheinsideout/ConfidenceMastermindReplayCOC.mp3
What are some phrases you can use to start activating more gratitude around your body? (Listen, I know this sounds ways easier to do than it is; I spent decades being hyper critical about and uncomfortable in my body, so being thankful for it was the farthest thing from the truth of how I felt when I started this process. That’s why I wanted to give you a few phrases to help get you started – and remember, you don’t have to believe these just yet, but do start saying them out loud to yourself daily and writing them down for repetition, and trust me, over time, you will find that a deep psychological shift will take place and you will see and feel the change, and these phrases will become true for you!)
BODY GRATITUDE EXAMPLES:
Thank you, body, for being my body.
I am so lucky to have the body that I have.
Today I will celebrate the beauty I see in the mirror – because it is plentiful.
My body is brilliant and I love learning from what it is teaching me about health.
Thank you body for teaching me to be patient.
I choose to see myself with kind eyes, not critical ones.
I celebrate the little ways today in which I extend self-kindness and self-care.
My weight today is not my worth today.
The little ways I take care of my body matter and I am proud of myself for how I love myself.
I am beautiful and there is no body like my body.
My body is my ally, not my enemy.
I am intentional about how I appreciate the unseen things my body does for me.
Body, thank you for allowing me to experience pleasure.
I am thankful for how I was born and for how I look today.
I love how my body allows me to move and how alive that movement makes me feel.
My body is my biggest supporter in allowing me to chase my dreams, and I am thankful for the adventure we are on together.
This body is a gift and I choose today to cherish it.
It is never too late to start feeling amazing in your body. It’s never too late to learn how to see the beauty that is there. It is never too late to decide to start celebrating your body instead of beating yourself up over it. If body confidence is something you’ve ever wanted to improve, then you’ll love our strategies and tips I’m coaching through this month in the #CollegeOfConfidence. One month, this month, could be the turnaround point for how you feel in the skin you’re in!!! You deserve to feel as beautiful as you are, I’ll teach you how, one coaching session at a time in The College of Confidence.
If you’re wondering whether or not in the type of coaching that we’re diving into this month in the College of Confidence is for you, here are some examples of the questions we covered in the our mastermind group call we did recently (don’t worry, when you enroll you get the replay of all calls, including the full version of this one I am sharing here).
Questions Covered in our Body Confidence Mastermind this past week:
How to view food in a healthy way instead of as the enemy?
How to not self-hate and believe that you’re worth treating with self-kindness?
How to learn to practice self-love when you don’t really like yourself yet?
How to not beat yourself up for past mistakes and failures so you can make forward?
How often to journal about your emotions and to journal about food in order to get rid of negative emotions?
How to not let nudity or other sexy images in the media not affect your own body confidence?
How to overcome jealous and insecurity around other women in regards to your body and your relationship with your partner?
How to trust that your partner really does find you beautiful?
Does body image therapy exist?
How do you actually get to a place where you are comfortable in your skin all the time?
How to not let positive compliments put pressure on you or stress you out?
How to let go of self-imposed pressure for perfection in your body?
How to really believe that you are attractive?
How to not launch into self-sabotage with food based off something someone said to you, positive or negative?
How to learn to be comfortable eating in front of others?
How to really believe that body dymorphia and an eating disorder can really be healed in your life?
How to feel okay eating something other than “clean” food or just a salad?
How to take a photo without worrying about whether or not you’re “skinny enough” in it?
How to ask for help when you need it?
How to stop “food shaming” in your life around others and towards yourself?
How to turn the guilt you feel around food into something more powerful to reach and maintain your ideal body weight?
How to help your significant other understand how to love on you and to help you see and believe in your beauty and to feel comfortable in your body?
Listen to the coaching – your own little private sneak peak into the College of Confidence this month, by clicking this MP3 link (http://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/traffic.libsyn.com/fromtheinsideout/ConfidenceMastermindReplayCOC.mp3) or by clicking the audio player below:
And if these questions sound like ones you’ve had, and you’re ready to stop trying to figure out body confidence and freedom from overthinking about food on your own, then stop what you’re doing and take two-minutes to enroll in The College of Confidence this month. It’ll cost you less than $1.50 / day. You can’t afford not to invest in yourself and your body confidence … when you really learn how to feel confidence in your body, you become uninhibited and unstoppable in every other area of your life! You are an action taker and dream chaser, so let’s light the world up with your impact. That starts by making sure you aren’t inhibited by any insecurity about yourself, your voice, your potential, your message or your body. Enroll now and let’s start shining in the world as you were meant to: www.trishblackwell.com/college
Confidently yours,
Trish
PS > Have questions about whether or not The COC is for you? I’m here for you – shoot me a reply to this email and I’d be happy to answer your questions and help you know if the COC is the right fit for you! What I want you to know is that freedom and body confidence is available to you … I thought that I was a “lost cause” and I’m so glad that I didn’t give up on myself. I can’t wait to share the strategies I use to help me transform my mind, body, life and happiness … and it all started with the confidence coaching tools I will share with you in The College of Confidence! Start now > www.trishblackwell.com/college
