It’s so easy to pick the things we don’t like about our bodies and obsess over them. You may dislike your legs, stomach, or arms and the thought of them makes you feel bad about yourself and you cover them up so no one else can see them. We lose sight of all the things we like and love about ourselves because we’re focusing our energy and thoughts on negative body images about ourselves. You need to learn to love your body to live a happy and fulfilled life.

It’s time to start embracing your body, loving yourself, and appreciating your qualities and features as they are, whilst working to improve the areas you’re not so fond of. Practicing positive self-talk and appreciating the features you like about your body already will help you to become more confident in yourself and your body image. There is always something positive to focus on, even if initially your first thought is that you hate your body and how you look.

To change anything in life, we first need to change our mindset and this is true of our body image as well. You can’t improve your relationship with your body by hating it and from a place of negativity. Real and lasting change comes from loving yourself as you are now and being happy regardless of whether you lose your belly fat, bingo wings, or cellulite.

If you change your mindset to one of loving yourself whilst working on improving the areas, you’re not so keen on, you will be changing your thought patterns and re-wire your brain to get faster and long-lasting results. When you do things out of love for yourself you will treat yourself, your body, and your mind more healthily and efficiently to reach your body image goals.

A really powerful and successful way of changing your mindset around your body image and learning to appreciate your body is by journaling. I have created some effective journaling prompts for you to answer, which will help you to start loving your body today.

So, sit down somewhere comfortable, which is free of distractions and makes you feel calm (you could even light a scented candle if you like).

Grab yourself a pen and your journal or a piece of paper and answer the questions below, make sure that you write anything and everything that comes to mind.

What 5 things Do I Love About My Body?

Your first thought might be “I can’t even think of 1 thing let alone 5!”, but dig deep and be truly honest with yourself and let go of your old habits and negative thought patterns of speaking badly about yourself.

You can write down things that you love about your appearance like; my legs, my eyes, my hair, my height, etc, and also the things you love about how your body works like; I love my heart for pumping and keeping me alive, I love my lungs for allowing me to breathe, I love that I can walk, etc.

What is Really Holding Me Back from Appreciating Myself and Loving My Body?

Dig deep into this question and think hard about what is stopping you from loving yourself and your body. Write down anything and everything that comes to mind, it could be because of what you were taught growing up, what you see on social media, or from society, etc.

You may write things like; past beliefs, other people’s opinions/negative comments, comparing myself to others and feeling like I’m not good enough, wanting to be perfect, lack of confidence, etc.

Spend some time getting to the root cause of why you don’t love your body as it is now.

What Will My Life Look Like When I’m Happy With My Body and How Will I Feel?

Now, close your eyes for a second and envision yourself in the future having your ideal body, picture how you will feel, act, think, move, and interact with others. The more vivid you make this the better; let all the emotions fill you up and play through different scenarios and how you will feel when you’ve reached your body image goals and truly love yourself.

Then write down all the thoughts and emotions that came to mind and make a list, it could include things like; I will feel content, I will treat myself and body with love and respect, I will love and appreciate myself, I will feel energised and confident, I will wear whatever I want and feel good about myself, etc.

What Do I Need to Do to Get There?

Now it’s time to start making a plan and road-map of how you’re going to reach your ultimate goal of loving your body. Write down everything that you can think of that is going to help you to get closer to loving your body.

Remember to write things from a place of love and not all about dieting and working out all the time and restricting yourself. It should be empowering and uplifting things that make you feel good and that are coming from a place of being kind to and loving yourself.

You could write things like; talk to myself kindly, treat myself with love and acceptance, practice positive affirmations, re-programme my mind to talk to myself from a place of love, meditation, drinking lots of water, make nutritious meals, etc.

Who Do I Need to Become to Love My Body?

This question is crucial because we cannot simply want things, we need to embody the traits of a person who already has what we want. Think back to question 3 and how you felt when you envisioned yourself loving your body and how that made you feel. Let those feelings take over you again and then answer, who do I need to become to love my body?

You could write things like; I need to become grateful for my body, confident in myself, someone who doesn’t compare themselves to others, someone who is mindful of their thoughts and habits, etc.

I am Working on Improving My Relationship with My Body Because…

Finally, write down and finish the sentence, “I am working on improving my relationship with my body because…”.

It’s important to remember why you want to do something, so you don’t lose sight of what you want to achieve and to remain focused on your self-love and body acceptance journey.

You could write things like; I am working on improving my relationship with my body because I deserve to feel good and love myself, I don’t want to waste time hating my body, I want to enjoy life and live it to the fullest without being self-conscious and insecure, etc.

“Your mind is a powerful thing. When you fill it with positive thoughts your life will begin to change.”– Unknown

Summary

These journaling prompts will help you to start loving and accepting yourself and your body. It’s pointless spending time hating yourself and how you look because it doesn’t get you anywhere or change anything. You need to re-wire your thoughts and your brain to talk to yourself positively and from a place of love and acceptance. Once you do this you will notice a massive shift in your energy levels and your outlook not only on your image but your life.

You could take the main and most powerful points from your journaling answers and write them out on a nice piece of card and place them on your mirror, type them out on your phone, or put them somewhere visible in your house. Every time you catch yourself talking or thinking negatively about yourself and your body, look at your answers and your reasons for why you want to improve your relationship with your body. This will help you to stop talking negatively to yourself and train you to be more positive and change your negative self-talk old habits and beliefs.

Your brain doesn’t know the difference between what’s real and not. Therefore, if you act like you love your body and you’ve reached your body goals already, you will get there faster. You will feel happier on the journey because your brain will think you have already reached your goals and that you love your body already.

“Hating your body won’t make you thin. And being thin won’t make you stop hating your body. Love yourself first.”– Unknown

Head over to my Instagram page https://www.instagram.com/livethequoteblog and check out my daily tasks challenge to help improve yourself and your life one day at a time!

You’ll also find useful quotes and content to keep you motivated on your self-improvement journey!