Love your bod!
Celebrate! Today is the 10th annual Love Your Body Day, a special event created by the National Organization for Women to promote healthy body images among women and girls.
Colleges do things like organize healthy sporting events, from rugby matches to fun runs to frisbee, as well as more risque takes on "Love Your Body," like sex toy workshops or discussions on masturbation.
If you're artsy, I encourage you to enter NOW's Love Your Body: 2008 Poster Contest..you could win a bunch of money and at the same time, positively impact thousands of women. Check it out here. The grand prize winning poster will be used as part of a nationwide campaign to "challenge the violent, drug-addicted, starved, surgically-enhanced images of women and to fight against industries that profit from women’s dissatisfaction with their bodies," according the web site. Sounds like a worthwhile cause to me!
Here are some of NOW's Top 10 Ways to Love Your Body:
* Indulge on your own terms. Whether it's fresh veggies from the Farmer's Market, or a pint of Häagen Dazs Vanilla Fudge ice cream -- loving your body is also about loving your taste buds every once in a while.
* Stretch your mind and body. Yoga—gentle yoga that encompasses relaxation and a healthy lifestyle, as well as meditative yoga—can bring one to the consciousness of their unique inner being. Yoga can rejuvenate the mind and body and teach us how to care for ourselves.
* Read. It can be a source of entertainment, a way to catch up on current events or an educational tool. Several books have been published on loving your body—get some new ideas! (Leslie's note: Locker Room Diaries, anyone?!!)
* Laugh out Loud. This isn't just an Internet acronym spelled out. It's an action that will do your body some good. Don't be afraid to show the world your smile. It's contagious.
* Have safe sex. Loving our bodies is about keeping them healthy and free from diseases. And besides, there's nothing like getting a two for one on Love Your Body Day.
* Spend time with your family. Whether it's a pet or partner, your spouse or a sibling, quality time is a must-have in nurturing relationships which in turn nurture and love your body.
* Listen to positive music. Developing a theme song can do wonders for your body esteem and your overall outlook.
* Develop a creative outlet. Everyone needs a medium to express daily stress and frustrations constructively. Maybe you're a photographer, writer, poet or all three. Maybe you can knit, make shapes out of clay or finger paint. Loving your body is also about loving your mind.
Other things to try today:
About-face.org, a phenomenal positive body-image organization based in San Fran, has a fabulous list of things you can do to empower yourself, such as Be a Role Model (to your daughter, a student, a friend) and Make a List of Women You Admire -- celebrities and real-life women. Then maybe tell her how much you admire her!
Send someone you love an e-card, reminding them how beautiful she is, inside and out.
PS I also have written about this subject on today's Huffington Post, in the Living Now section. Please do check it out!
xo,
Leslie
Comments
WHAT THE! another women biased post and contest. ugh.
Huh, I didn't know that today was national "love your body" day. This month I'm doing a series on loving yourself more (31 Days of Loving Yourself Thin), which of course includes your body ;) - - what a coincidence!
...At the same time, I think it's funny because there are so many days that have been declared as some sort of special day... I'd need a new calendar to keep track of them. :)
