Forming a solid foundation.

I believe that self esteem, just like a house needs a solid foundation.

It is important to learn self forgiveness for your past mistakes, and failures, or inadequacies. We are all human and subject to the human frailties, weaknesses and tendancies to make mistakes that abound.

This is the beginning of self love, self acceptance, and self esteem. A vital step in building that strong foundation.

Regularly monitor your self talk (your own chattering monkey) and make a record of all the negative thoughts countered with a positive thought i.e. "I'm ugly" and then the converse: "I'm fairly good looking".

The next time you become aware that you are thinking one of you negative thoughts, visualise, as vividly as possible, a miacat holding up a huge "STOP!!!" sign, and/or a stern faced you wagging a finger at yourself, and deliberately repeat 5 times, either aloud, in a big voice, if alone, or subvocally (to yourself, in your mind), the oposite to your negative thought.

Some people keep a wide rubber band around their wrist and when they realise they are thinking negative self thoughts they pull and release it. This sudden action helps to reprogram their mind and dismiss the negativity. Often the thought of pulling the band is sufficient.

Negating your negative thoughts about yourself will go a long way to improving your self esteem.

Teen Identity Momentum Program

It’s no secret that teen girls deal with insecurity, low self esteem and lack of confidence at some time throughout their teen years. They are bombarded daily with messages that erode their sense of value, identity, and self worth. Those messages can have a devastating and life-altering impact on their lives and future.

Now, one national program is changing all that and bringing their program to our area. Teen girls in the Peoria/ Bloomington area now have a place to go to feel empowered, while at the same time getting amazing images to enhance their self-image.

Did you know?

• Seven in 10 Girls believe they are not good enough or do not measure up in some way.
• Six in 10 girls stop doing things they love because they feel bad about how they look.
• One in five high school girls say they don’t know three adults to turn to if they have a problem.

The Teen Identity Momentum Program is a two-week intensive online training course and full-day transformational live event that provides girls powerful tools, skills, resources and strategies for living their most confident and powerful life while launching them into their best and brightest future possibilities. In addition, a portion of the proceeds from each event sponsor the education of a young girl in Kenya for an entire year.

Teen Identity was founded in Atlanta, by educator and photographer Tasra Dawson. Dawson created the program after leaving Apple Inc. as a senior writer and instructional designer.
“I’ve been researching this issue for 13 years (not including my own turbulent teen years) and spent seven years testing it,” Dawson said. “My first testing ground was when I taught middle school for five years, was a girls dance and sports coach, and wrote my masters thesis on teen girls maneuvering adolescence successfully. From there, Teen Identity became the perfect blend of my teaching, design, and photography backgrounds.”

The program covers self esteem, identity, confidence, poise, media training, finding your voice, modeling, posing and much more.

One high school girl wrote, “You have inspired me to look at myself in a different light. In the past year I haven’t really liked what I saw in the mirror and would shy away from them in rooms but when I came home today I looked at myself from a different perspective. One of beauty and happiness. Thank you so much for giving me back a little piece of myself.”

After being part of the Teen Identity program, she went on to earn a full college scholarship and stood as a confident, empowered senior Homecoming Queen.

Hers is just one of many stories about girl’s lives being changed. Their confidence is increased, their esteem is bolstered, their voices are heard, and their future is brighter than ever before. You can see and read more at teenidentitymag.com/momentum.

Teen Identity Momentum is coming to Studio Blunier on July 21. A photographers workshop and styled photo shoot will be held the following day and a community extravaganza will be open to the public from 6-8 p.m. July 23. Entry to the extravaganza is free and there will be a drawing for prizes including a photo shoot from Studio Blunier.

Teresa Blunier is a Morton resident, small business owner and national chapter leader of the project. She will be investing time and resources all year long into leading a team of girls. Studio Blunier hopes to make a significant impact and contribution through events, meetings and community service.

Teen Identity Portraits and Magazine was the first studio in the nation to specialize exclusively in portraits of girls ages 12 to 18. They provide a fun and engaging experience for girls that makes them feel beautiful while producing stunning portraiture. Teen Identity is empowering girls and photographers to take back the media and put the “role” back into modeling. Learn more at teenidentity.com.

Several small business owners have partnered with the local chapter of Teen Identity and are donating their services to make this opportunity a reality.

These include airbrush make-up artist,  Jill Andrews, jilldoesmakeup@yahoo.com, Bella’s Salon of Morton and Molly Graham of Stars and Stripes. If anyone is interested in volunteering or donating items for swag bags or would like to sponsor a girl, contact Blunier at Studio Blunier, www.studioblunier.com, or 613-8394

Girls must register by July 7 to be included in this year’s class. Registration is open to all 12-18 year old girls in the Peoria/Bloomington area. Register at  http://teenidentitymag.com/momentum. Click on the “Momentum Program” and scroll down to the bottom to click on Peoria. There are only five spots left for this year’s experience

Morton Times-News     Posted Jun 26, 2012

Come On Ladies. Exercise is Good for Your Self Esteem says MIND

Nine in ten women over 30 scared to take part in outdoor exercise, says mental health charity Mind

Low self-esteem among barriers to getting active as charity highlights benefits of walking, cycling and other pursuits

by Simon_MacMichael on April 24, 2012 

 
 Dog in bike basket (copyright Simon MacMichael)
 

The charity Mind says that lack of self-confidence and low self-esteem causes nine in ten women aged over 30 to avoid taking part in outdoor physical exercise such as cycling, and has launched a campaign to encourage females to overcome barriers that are potentially harmful to both their spiritual and mental wellbeing.
The study, based on a survey of 1,450 women, was carried out as part of the 'Feel better outside, feel better inside' campaign from the £7.5 million Ecomind initiative, run by the mental health charity on behalf of the Big Lottery Fund.
While initiatives such as the Cycletta series of sportives, endorsed by Victoria Pendleton, and British Cycling’s £1 million National Women’s Cycling Network, launched last year, both aim to get more females on two wheels, the findings of Mind’s research suggest that for the vast majority of women there are huge barriers to doing any kind of outdoor physical activity, let alone cycling.
According to the survey, nearly all respondents – 98 per cent – were aware of messages telling them that getting involved in exercise would help their mental and physical health, however Mind said that low confidence in their bodies, low self-esteem and other barriers to exercise prevented many from getting active.
Its research found that eating comfort food or finding a way to be alone, both at 71 per cent, going to bed, at 66 per cent, or spending time social networking with a response level of 57 per cent, all ranked higher than taking part in physical exercise.
The charity highlighted some of the specific barriers that prevented women from taking part in exercise:

• 2 out of 3 feel conscious about their body shape when they exercise in public

• Many doubt their own ability compared to others; 65% think it’s unlikely they’ll be able to keep up in an exercise group and almost a half feel they will look silly in front of others as a result of being uncoordinated

• 60% are nervous about how their body reacts to exercise – their wobbly bits, sweating, passing wind or going red

• 2/3 feel that if they joined an exercise group, other women would be unwelcoming and cliquey, with only 6% feeling they would be very likely to make new friends.

It also highlighted some of the ways in which women who did participate in exercise sought to overcome what it described as “the risk of embarrassment”:

• Over 50% said they exercised very early in the morning or late at night solely to avoid being seen by others

• Almost 2/3 of women choose to exercise in a location where they’re unlikely to bump into anyone they know

• Over 50% don’t leave the home when exercising, so as not to be seen in public - even though exercising outside is more effective for lifting mood then inside

• 67% wear baggy clothing when exercising in order to hide their figure.

Beth Murphy, head of information at Mind, commented: “We all know that walking, cycling, even gardening are good for our mental health, however for many of us exercising in the great outdoors can be incredibly daunting, especially if already feeling low and self-confidence is at rock bottom.
“At these times you can feel like the only person in the world experiencing this, but Mind’s research highlights that far from being alone, 90% of women are in exactly the same boat,” she continued.
“It’s time we start talking about how exercise makes us feel. We urge women to take the first step, invite a friend on a nature date and begin to support each other in taking care of our mental wellbeing.”
Mind cited the positive impact that taking up outdoor exercise had brought to the life of one 37-year-old woman, who said: “I have been taking anti-depressants since last February, but honestly feel that exercise has a more noticeable effect than the drugs.
“I can’t believe I am saying this, but discovering outdoor exercise changed everything. I was petrified, I knew I would sweat, go red, have trouble keeping up and that everyone else in the group would be super fit. I was so incredibly scared and thought I’d be humiliated.    
“However – the other people in the group were all normal – all different shapes and sizes – and no one cared what you looked like or did.
It was the most liberating experience ever. My initial reason for exercising was to lose some weight, but from that first session I realised just how good it cold be for my state of mind. From there my confidence grew,” she concluded.

Nice to see big business is not ignoring low self esteem

Business Partner: Dove and Beat

By Mathew Little, Third Sector, 24 April 2012

Dove and Beat

The skincare brand extends its partnership with the eating disorder charity

These are not times, it seems, that cultivate high self-esteem. In 2011, research from Teesside University found that the "unachievable role models" showcased by TV programmes such as The Apprentice damaged the self-esteem of more than eight out of 10 British youngsters.
And according to research by the skincare brand Dove, low self-esteem among girls and young women could deprive society of a significant proportion of future female managers, sport stars, MPs and doctors.
The research was the prompt for an expansion of the brand's five-year partnership with the eating disorders charity Beat. It has received a £250,000 donation to take already piloted self-esteem workshops into schools. The funding will be used to deliver about 1,400 workshops, reaching about 90,000 people.
According to Susan Ringwood, Beat's chief executive, self-esteem was the "unifying objective" that brought Dove and Beat together in 2006. Ringwood says Beat is committed to tackling the root causes of eating disorders, one of which is low self-esteem. The skincare brand is not new to charity campaigns: as well as funding them it has initiated some, starting with the Campaign for Real Beauty in 2004. The current self-esteem programme also entails a partnership with Girlguiding UK.
Ringwood says there has been a "real congruence" between the two organisations. "We sat down with the senior executives of the Dove team," she says, "and laid our strategic objectives on the table. We don't sell shampoo and they don't run training for doctors - but we have this common agenda."

Body Image and Self Esteem affect Males also.

It is generally portrayed in the media that only females suffer from a low view of their body and appearance. However this is not the case as shown in the attached letter/email published on "The Independant" website on Sunday 8th April 2012 (http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/letters/ios-letters-emails--online-postings-8-april-2012-7626863.html).

 "Body image and self-esteem are serious issues but it is an outdated myth that this works only one way; as women's influence in society and particularly the media has grown over the past 30 years, obsession with physical looks and fashion has increased exponentially. Now boys and men as well are under constant pressure to worry about their appearance. I'm sure I have not been alone, though it often seemed that way, in being a male whose confidence and opportunities have been diminished over decades by a profound sense of discomfort at my own appearance. This is not a gender issue but an ugliness issue."  -  Mike Shearing

Important Information for sufferers of Anxiety Disorders & Panic Attacks.

"Anxiety Disorder and Panic Attacks aren't mental or physical illnesses!
They are behavioral conditions, fueled solely by our own actions!

There is one mechanism in each and every one of us that causes, creates, stores and activates the response which causes anxiety, panic attacks and phobias.

The Amygdala is a small but powerful organ in the brain. It forms part of the Lymbic System, the 'nerve center' which controls emotions and anxiety levels, amongst other functions.

Scientific confirmation of the theory behind The Linden Method

The Amygdala is confirmed by the National Institute of Mental Health (the Institute responsible for the majority of the World's anxiety disorders research) as the cause of panic attacks and anxiety disorders. Read their press release

However, whilst the NIMH test a new machine which fires electro-magnetic radiation into people's brains, I have been using my Method for nearly a decade to achieve unbelievable results without machines or drugs and using the exact same principle! In fact, it works over 96.7% of the time!

The Amygdala is the body's 'Anxiety Switch'

Under normal circumstances, it remains in the 'off' position, only becoming activated when appropriate anxiety is required, in times of appropriate danger or threat for example.

Repeated activation of this 'switch', during times of stress, sadness, grief or anger for example, can cause it to become 'stuck' in the 'on' position. This allows acute anxiety disorders, panic attacks and phobias to develop."

Extract taken from Charles Linden's website.

Does Relaxation Music reduce Stress?

Stress has been linked to many serious and devastating problems that affect us individually and as a society. The serious consequences of stress can be psychological, physical, behavioral and vocational in nature. For example, some of the psychological consequences of stress are anxiety, boredom, low self esteem, forgetfulness, depression, anger, apathy and worry.
Some physical consequences of stress are headaches, diabetes, fatigue, chest and back pain, hypertension and ulcers. Behavioral consequences of stress can be overeating, loss of appetite, smoking, insomnia, alcohol and drug abuse, sleep problems, emotional outbursts and violence and aggression. Some vocational or work related consequences of stress are absenteeism, accident, reduced productivity, job turnover, poor work relations and low morale.
Enhanced Healing is now introducing Dr. Henshaw's relaxation music to the public as an effective, efficient and safe solution for stress relief. Dr. Henshaw's relaxation music was originally created from his practice of hypnosis and hypnotherapy and has been used in a variety of mental health, substance abuse and military settings through out the country and world for stress relief and stress management.
While his relaxation music, meditation music and sleep music has been very effective in clinically oriented settings, Dr. Henshaw believes that his music's best application is to the general public, to everyone who needs assistance in reducing and managing the stress of daily life. Dr. Henshaw believes that if a person can learn how to experience a relaxed state and on a more consistent basis throughout the week that he will nessarily reduce the harmful consequences that stress could have in his life.
Dr. Henshsaw believes further that it is the design of his relaxation music that causes the beneficial effect for the listener. First, there is the structure of the musical composition. Dr. Henshaw believes that having long, sustained chords or voices, approximately 12 to 15 seconds in duration, with slow transitions between the chords works best. Such a structure causes the body and mind to slow down and begin to relax and as and eventually attain a deep state of relaxation.
The second component of his relaxation music is the binaural audio tones that have been mixed into the music. The binaural beats or tones, through a process referred to as “entrainment” or “frequency following,” gently directs the body to make more of the brain wave frequencies necessary for either deep relaxation or sleep. The recordings for deep relaxation contain binaural audio tones within the theta range while the recordings for sleep contains binaural audio tones within the delta range.
Listening to Dr. Henshaw's relaxation music helps to relieve stress almost immediately. With the repeated, continuous use of Dr. Henshaw's relaxation music he believes that the beneficial effects can be profound and are cumulative over time. As research indicates, some of the measurable effects on the body of using relaxation music are lowering blood pressure, regulating heart rate and breathing. Some of the psychological effects of using relaxation music are feeling calmer and serene, more peaceful and much more at ease.
Dr. Henshaw earned his doctoral degree in Human Development and Counseling from Boston University. Dr. Henshaw currently works in a Drug Rehab program in the Miami area and has a private counseling practice. In addition to his counseling education and experience, Dr. Henshaw is also a musician with 11 years of piano training.
For more information about his relaxation music, meditation music and sleep music and how it will help you to reduce stress please visit http://www.enhancedhealing.com or contact Dr. Harry Henshaw at 305-498-3442