How much time do you spend in appreciating what you have, and how much time is devoted to criticising and finding fault with yourself?

If you’re shopping for clothes and nothing seems to look good or feel right what do you do? Do you focus on what you perceive to be imperfections, tell yourself there’s something wrong with you, that you’re flawed in some way… too short, too tall, too fat, too thin, bottom too big or small, wrong shape etc….? When you do that how do you feel about yourself? Do you continue to shop or want to give up and go home, tell yourself you’re on a diet right now, or perhaps instead seek comfort in a cup of coffee, a large muffin or a bar of chocolate? And then where does that leave you? Still feeling that you’re not good enough, seeing a less than perfect body, telling yourself the only way to achieve your vision of perfection is to restrict your caloric intake even further and exercise even more? and how well does that work for you? Do you decide to make some improvements to your  lifestyle, or do you give up on yourself altogether?

What if you decided instead that it was the clothes that weren’t right for you rather than you not being right for the clothes? And then you simply seek out only those clothes that suit your body-shape, and colouring. What difference would that make?

Change your thinking and attitude towards yourself and this can change your entire shopping experience.

Focus instead on your assets; hair, skin, eyes, neck, shoulders, wrists, ankles, elbows, breasts, bottom, hips, hands etc…. and find ways to display them to advantage.Stop yearning for that trendy little number that did you no favours and made you feel unhappy with yourself and start looking for clothing to enhance your attributes and disguise those areas you don’t want on display. It’s all ‘smoke and mirrors’! Imagine how you’ll look and feel,and what others will be saying when you’ve begun to make your clothes work to your advantage. 

And when you feel happier about yourself you’re less likely to reach for the comfort food, or to punish yourself by excess exercise and self-denial.

We are all different,we have different physical attributes and what appeals to each one of us can vary greatly so variety is essential to satisfy all tastes.Rather than attempting to conform to a standardised form of beauty embrace your differences and make the most of them. What’s most important is being happy within yourself, appreciating what you have been given and all that is uniquely you. People who are happy and confident within themselves have a universal appeal that is nothing to do with appearances.

“Beauty comes as much from the mind as from the eye.”- Grey Livingston

Each and every day wake up to all that you can be thankful for in your life even the smallest of things, focus on the positives, and when you’re next out shopping remember you don’t have to work for the clothes, make the clothes work for you!

“Beauty…when you look into a woman’s eyes and see what’s in her heart.”- Nate Dircks