Not functioning, but flourishing.

The process of self-love and acceptance is not something one can achieve in mere days or even months. Learning to become more compassionate, kind and accepting towards yourself is a life-long journey. In the current world, it has become easy to lose self-confidence and feel as if you aren't living up to an expectation for yourself.  I used to believe there were necessary steps one had to take in order to feel better about yourself. As if there was a bulleted list that every person who had achieved inner peace had followed previously. But the journey to self-love doesn't have instructions or a clear map. Everyone has to find their own path on the way to self-acceptance.  One problem that always stood out to me was, how does any of my self-reflection really change the outcomes of my life?  My answer was contained in principle 8, "When you nurture the inside, the outside will flourish" (Kaiser 257). The idea of focusing on myself was new to me. I would always worry about other ideas, leaving me with little time to actually prioritize my needs. Kaiser mentions that when you improve your relationship with yourself, your "outer world" will begin to improve as a result. She also mentions the idea that you attract what you put out into the world (258).

My journey to self-love will differ from everyone who has experienced their own journey. The insight provided by Kaiser has allowed me to see that in order to see a change in my "outer world", that I need to make changes internally first. Using this information I can guide myself to make choices that can make me happier in the long run. Kaiser has allowed me to ask myself powerful questions that help me reach self-love. I like to write down my answers to the thought-provoking questions that Kaiser inquires, I keep them around so I can see how I can work on reaching my goal of achieving genuine acceptance.

Do you agree with Kaiser's idea of needing to be content with your "inner self" before you can be fully content with your "outer world"?

KAISER, SHANNON. SELF-LOVE EXPERIMENT: Fifteen Principles for Becoming More Kind, Compassionate, and... Accepting of Yourself. PENGUIN BOOKS, 2017.

Having the Right Mindset For a Healthy Body

Are you thinking what i'm thinking? Well if so I advise you to read this whole post due to tips and engagement that will rise you to a happier lifestyle. 

The non-fiction text "Change Your Brain Change Your Body" states, "It is your brain that decides to get you out of bed in the morning to exercise, to give you a stronger wiener body, or to cause you to hit the snooze button and procrastinate your work out. It is your brain that pushes you away from telling the table that you have had enough, or give you permission to have a second bowl of rocky road ice cream, making you look and feel like a blob. Is your brain the manages the stress in your life and relax with you so that you look vibrant, or when you left unchecked, send stress signals to the rest of your body and wrinkles to your skin. And it is your brain that turns away cigarettes, too much caffeine and alcohol, helping you look and feel healthy or give you the permission to not. Yes all create a system of health" (Daniel Amen 3). 
The text is applying the figures that if you use your brain the correct way and develop your brain to have strong, successful and healthy habits, it will develop you to overcome a procedure in life. That procedure will make you get and keep the body and habits that you will have always wanted. If you succeed to have strong, successful and healthy habits you will indeed  see changes quickly if prohibited. 
I have been through the challenges of being stuck with fast food for almost every meal of the day, lack of sleep on school nights and having a weak mindset of wanting to workout but then not being able to due to laziness. This all can affect your mindset of staying healthy but can be revoked by saying "No i am doing this today." Or "I'm making the promise of staying healthy for a year or my whole life."

Here I am reading the book "Change Your Brain Change Your Body." This book is very inspiring and gives great tips and lots of mindset tips on changing you brain to be successfully healthy.

The text again states, "Your brain is the command and control center of your body if you want to have a better body the first thing is to always start having a better growth mindset"  (Amen 4). 
This is left me with a message that when you do something your brain has muscle memory to want to make that a habit and do it over and over again. If you do that habit over and over again it will affect you in the long run badly. But if the habits that are strong, successful and healthy they will make you proficient and headed towards a successful mindset. 

Even i have tried and tried to keep a confident workout mindset throughout every summer and School year but sometimes you just need to take a break. Breaks are good but never procrastinate and let them get off the hook. Always have a backup plan and ease off the workout. don't just say "Okay well i'm done with this" and stop. Force yourself to start up again in another week. It is worth it trust me.

Do you want to improve your looks, style, eating habits, strength and health in general? Well, if you can develop a growth mindset to keeping a long term healthier lifestyle you are indeed ready to start a fresh "I will stay healthy" rather than a "I can't stay healthy".
Is your mindset healthy enough to keep your body sturdy? If you have any concerns follow my steps above and you will see changes in your health standards. 

Amen, Daniel G. The Brain-Body Solution. Change Your Brain, Change Your Body: Use Your Brain to Get the Body You Have Always Wanted, Piatkus, 2012.