How to improve your relationship with your body
I think many people assume that being a perfect weight or in really good shape makes you feel good about yourself and for some this is true, however I believe for many this can cause great havoc with self esteem and confidence.
I am trained in an amazing psychology that helps explain why we often sabotage our best laid plans to be slimmer, healthier and happier. If you struggle with food and weight, unbeknown to you, there will be a part within that thinks in such negative ways it seems almost impossible to like you and your own body.
This theory believes we are all made up of many parts, like sub personalities within that make up a whole person. There are many people with a particular personality trait that challenges our self esteem and body image. I call it The Inner Critic part. It is the part that says ‘Everybody else is slimmer than you, fitter than you, eat healthier than you’ or ‘We know what you are like, one minute you are completely healthy and then the next you are binging. You have no self control.’ Sound familiar?
The list of what the Inner Critic says is endless. For many people The Inner Critic can be so powerful that it leads to self loathing and a way to retreat out of this negativity is to overeat or drink lots of wine. This can lead to spiralling out of control feelings of hopelessness and failure.
I call this emotional state ‘The Radio Crazy Syndrome.’ You literally think you are going mad!
The good news is you are not going mad. It is just that your Inner Critic has become your strongest voice.
The neuroscientists of this world have studied the brain when we are in a negative state, which is what I call The Inner Critic state. What they discovered are very clear neural pathways that light up in the exact same area every time we feel vulnerable. This part of the brain is called The Amygdala. So when The Inner Critic fires up its unhelpful conversation with you, the Amygdala lights up, and will immediately produce stress chemicals such as cortisol and adrenaline to spread through your entire body. This mind/body reaction is what you feel in a nano second when you feel emotionally unsafe.
Over a period of time, if you stay in this state long enough and deeply enough, you can start to think this is how life is meant to be. It can lead to anxiety, depression and a sense of being less than the rest of the world.
The good news is that the Neuroscientists also discovered that when we think good thoughts and experience positive feelings such as safety, love and laughter another part of the brain lights up which is called The Pre-Frontal Cortex. It is interestingly in the middle of the forehead that some spiritual people would refer to as the ‘Third Eye’.
The Pre-Frontal Cortex produces good chemicals such as endorphins that enhance our sense of emotional and physical wellbeing.
Through my special work I help people train their brain literally to tune out of the Inner Critic and connect with the Intuitive Healthy Confident part. This part is directly related to The Pre-Frontal Cortex. This is the part that knows how to eat and drink intuitively without guilt.
It doesn’t matter where you have been with food and body image issues, you have an amazing mind that can learn anything. All you need to do is give yourself permission to start to learn to think differently about you.
One of the great ways of doing this is to challenge the Inner Critic by breaking its unhealthy conversation with you. Whenever you think a negative thought, firstly, shift your thinking by singing baa baa black sheep. This will break the unhelpful state and take your mind to a more neutral space. Then bring into your thoughts a time when you felt good feelings about you and your body. Repeat these two steps every time you feel a little low about your body and food. The more you do this, the more your mind is learning to tune out of unhelpful thoughts and into a healthier state emotionally and physically. The good news is then it becomes an emotional habit.
A healthy body image is something we need to learn and keep in check. We are not born with it and often through challenging times we forget about ourselves and lose our confidence, so if you would like to learn more about how to gain more self worth, eat less, drink less or be more calm log onto www.georgiafoster.com.
About the author
Georgia Foster
Georgia Foster, originally from Melbourne, is a qualified clinical hypnotherapist who specializes in the Voice Dialogue psychology theory. Georgia has been a practicing therapist in London UK, since 1994 and runs regular seminars on alcohol reduction, self esteem and anxiety around the world.
