Are We Beautiful, Or Not? | Day 3: Objective and Perceived Beauty

I searched “things women hate about their bodies” and got 26,500,000 results in a third of a second. Twenty-six and a half million results! I just find it so sad. There is clearly very little love for our bodies God has made us.

Girls and women alike strive to reach the ideals put out by the media. Everyone wants to be loved, look beautiful, and feel worthy, and the message we get is that this is beauty:

Are We Beautiful, Or Not? | Day 2: Media’s Effect on Body Image

Negative media messages come in numerous forms: ads, the tabloids, any women’s magazine, the People magazine, movies, TV shows, and some of the more modern books.

Notice all the criticism on these magazine covers, and the fact that 99.99% of the people are women:

Are We Beautiful, Or Not? | Day 1: Low Self-Esteem and What is Beauty?

                I am going to be writing a series of "Are We Beautiful, Or Not?" I am going to be looking into what is seen as "beauty", why it's wrong, the problems with today's media, and in the end, to clarify what beauty is and to see it in ourselves. Today is day one! :)

                

                Low Self-Esteem

                Low self-esteem and low confidence are a big epidemic in America, especially for girls, teens and women. In a survey of 45,000 women, 60% said they “hated the way they looked”, and only "4 per cent were 'completely happy." (www.dailymail.co.uk)  Every day we are given the message that if we are not beautiful enough, we are not worth as much.

In America, these are the things that are the most highly valued:

Quote of the Day:

One of my big dreams: to be able to say "I am a millionaire" and not be lying.

Progress Update + More

I just had my third session on Wednesday with Myra Moyrylla for Reflex Integration. Things have definitely progresses, but my symptoms tell me they are not fully integrated yet.

The two reflexes we have been working on, are the Moro reflex and the Fear Paralysis reflex. The two are very tied together, but I mostly notice negative symptoms from the Fear Paralysis reflex (FPR). According to online sites and a Reflexology book, things are the usually symptoms one can have from the FPR. I have (or have had at one time) all of them:

Mr. Red on the Road

Every morning that I nanny, I start work at 7:30. That means I have to get up a little before 7 and leave 15 to 25 minutes before—depending on the weather—to make it to work on time.

This morning when I rolled my sleep deprived self out of bed, it was slightly gusty outdoors. But it was clear and the roads were still bare.

I didn’t even have to clean off my car, so I left with 15 minutes to get there. There was one little fact I forgot about, however.

I live really close to the canal, which is a lot lower ground than the rest of the U.P. When you get off the bridge on either side, you immediately travel up-hill, and in my experience, the weather is worse the higher you get. This slipped my mind this morning, and I was expecting a nice ride to work.

Christmas...and a Love Story

Christmas is in the air! Just three weeks, and it’ll be here.

I have not done any Christmas shopping at all yet. Every year I say I’m going to start early and find things along the way—when they’re on sale and all that good stuff—but of course it never happens.

I’m sitting here at work listening to Christmas tunes, and I’m getting so excited for the day! When Christmas comes, that means New Year’s weekend follows, and that means all my wonderful gals will be up. They will be staying with us (Ava, Lisa and I) at our little apartment—of course.

One day last year, right before the New Year’s happenings, a bunch of us girls were over at Whitney’s and Amy’s apartment (they lived together at the time). Alissa’s laptop was just sitting there open on the table, so I just started writing a silly love story for her. I had so much fun writing it (did I ever mention I’m a little strange?) and so I have been writing love stories for my friends ever since.

Here’s one such story I wrote, for my cousin Annette. Beware of the extreme exaggeration in certain places that may be present in the story.

Annette’s Love Story

Angels With Wings

               I am normally a happy person who likes to enjoy the little things in life, but just like anyone else I get my low, dark days. When I’m feeling in the pits, I like to write and just let it all out. I always end up feeling better after I write.

                One such night when I was feeling especially down and very frustrated with my life, I started writing a poem.

Discovering Healing: How it All Began

I like to write, so I start my story as that: a story.

I could feel my senses coming back to me, and I rocked in between awareness and dreamland. I could sense the bright morning sun peaking around from behind my bedroom curtains, yet my eyes remained closed. I knew I would soon need to climb out of my seriously comfortable bed, and get my drowsy essence into the mode of Day.

I was right. My alarm from my cell phone blared into my room at top frequency, causing me to mentally fly up to the ceiling and crash my head. Physically I stayed where I was, but my hand shot out like a cannon ball and haphazardly