One Way To Stop Body Snarking

I was thinking about my mirrors post of a couple of days ago, and how it was years before I could look in a mirror, or at a photograph, without wincing in disapproval and disappointment.

Many women report the same thing. One of the ways they cope with it is to become the family photographer, snapping away at their loved ones at all times of the day or night – having the camera in their hand is the perfect excuse to not appear in photographs themselves.

Last year during The Body Image Revolution I spoke with the inspirational artist Cheryl Ann Webster, who created the Beautiful Woman Project. And thinking about all the photographs of my life, where I was holding the camera, reminded me of one of Cheryl Ann’s tips for moving towards a more positive body image.

She suggests you find a photograph of yourself as a very young child, maybe 2 years old, one that you really like.

Carry that photograph in your wallet.

And every time you notice that you’re snarking at your body, judging some part of yourself, take out the photograph and say that same thing to that small trusting wide-open child who was you.

It’s probably very difficult to say, because the truth is, most of us would not speak that kind of nastiness to a small child.

And yet, we forget that that small child is still with us, still being hurt by our own words of judgement and body snarking.

And of course, I would always recommend tapping to overcome any feelings you might have around this exercise. If you’d like to know how that might go, leave a comment below, if I get ten comments I’ll write up something…

You Might Also Like: