Balance

Words have the power to both destroy and heal. When words are both true and kind, they can change our world.  -BUDDHA

The word "health" holds different meaning for everyone. To me, "health" means harmony with mind, body and spirit. Feeling confident in your body and it's abilities is vital to feeling balanced and in control. Too often to we break ourselves down with negativity and undeserved self-criticism. Instead, it's in our power to take control and take steps toward building our strength, both physically and emotionally, and unconditional faith in ourselves.

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I'd rather have a bowl of Coco Pops.

I read two great articles recently. The first is by Michelle Konstantinovsky, a student at UC Berkeley’s Graduate School of Journalism. In the article, Michelle talks about the horrors of thinspiration, and I couldn't agree more with some of her points. There is a thin line (no pun intended) between thinspiration and pro-anorexia. So thin in fact that I have yet to be able to find it. It is estimated that 8 million Americans have an eating disorder – seven million women and one million men; One in 200 American women suffers from anorexia nervosa (Source and more stats here.) 

Do we really need to be throwing fuel into such a fatal fire? And by "we" I mean human kind. The only way we can counteract a body hating, media-saturated society is if we just do what we can to balance the conversation. How? Write, talk, listen, and be kind to yourself. Do whatever you can - even if it's a single sentence interjected into a discussion - to encourage people to respect their bodies, treat themselves well, and for the love of the human race, stop telling each other you're ugly. There are bigger things to worry about in this world and life. Enough with the fat talk already, because it's really getting old. Aren't we ready for something new and more exciting and meaningful? Don't we owe that to ourselves? Just a thought.

The second article I want to point out is by Alexa Gellman at LearnVest, and it's about Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer, her ridiculously inspiring career, pregnancy, motherhood, feminism, and why ladies should stop hating on ladies already. Check it out.

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