35 Body-Positive Mantras to Say in Your Mirror Every Morning

By Charlotte Anderson | February 23, 2015

As babies, we’re fascinated with our bodies—we can spend hours just checking out our toes. (Wow, there’s so many of them! And they fit in my mouth!) And as children, we confidently attempt handstands and skateboard ollies, and launch into impromptu dance parties, having fun and not thinking much about our appearances.

Yet somehow on the path to being a bill-paying, job-working, relationship-having Official Adult, instead of appreciating how strong our legs are or how hard we can kick a ball, we fret about how our legs look in our shorts and whether they jiggle when we run.

Ladies and gents: It’s time to stop the body hate.

Not only does body-bashing fail as a motivational tool, it may make it harder for you to make positive changes. Take this recent study that looked at army recruits who needed to lose weight. The researchers found that the people with self-compassion slimmed down, even under  stressful circumstances (and serving in the military gives plenty of those), while those who had a negative self-image gained weight.

And your self-perception doesn’t just affect your weight. A 2015 study found that people who had higher self-esteem had less depression, better relationships, and more job satisfaction. Oh yeah: And they lived longer too.

So bring on the body love, and put it into practice when you look in the mirror. We asked 35 health and wellness professionals to share their favorite body-positive mantra. Go ahead and steal their words of wisdom for your own inspiration!

“I ask all my patients to make a list of the top four things they think makes a person valuable and worthy of love. Appearance is almost never on that list, and yet when I ask them to list the things they think make them ‘unworthy,’ appearance often shows up at the top. This disparity blows their minds when they see it!” — Erin Olivo, Ph.D., Columbia University assistant professor of medical psychology, author of Wise Mind Living.

Read the full article here.