Originally posted in Crissi's journal.............

Hmmm....self-image....now that's a topic! Like Gina said, its a mental game, indeed!!

The million dollar question is how to turn our negative and sometimes distorted views to a positive, more realistic reflection!

Over the years, I have done quite a bit of research on this topic. For many years while my two kids were young, I was a single Mom and wanted to instill and provide a positive, healthy experience and foster a positive self image and level of confidence to my daughter and son. I wanted to focus on their strengths, accomplishments and goals rather than their weaknesses, failures and negativity of who they were in comparison to others. Believe me, it wasn't easy! There's so many factors; lets face it, kids at school can be cruel and then there's the peer pressure. But some how, we managed!

Fast forward years later when my daughter now 24 thanked me for giving her the greatest gift, CONFIDENCE! (tissue time!)

I found this particular segment of an article very informative and helpful!

Specific steps to foster a positive self-image

The following are steps that you can take to begin fostering a positive image of yourself:

Take a self-image inventory
Define personal goals and objectives
Set realistic and measurable goals
Confront thinking distortions
Identify childhood labels
Stop comparing yourself to others
Develop your strengths
Learn to love yourself
Give positive affirmations
Remember that you are unique
Learn to laugh and smile
Remember how far you have come

Like I've said before; we are works in progress.....beautiful ones at that!!