Great advice for everyone, of course. But this also happens to be the title of an article in this month’s (February 2006) Self Magazine.
Since Self is a health and fitness magazine for women, it’s not surprising that the article is all from a woman’s perspective. But men can learn a lot from it as well. There are several pages of advice on ways to be more satisfied with and accepting of your body. Some of it’s pretty obvious — lose weight, get more exercise, and so forth.
However, the psychological/attitudinal angle is covered as well. And in particular, the theme is really summed up in this question: “If you felt perfectly comfortable sans clothes, what would you dare to do bare?” Nice, huh? Motivate people to accept their bodies by imagining how neat it would be to do stuff naked. Several actual responses are provided as examples. For instance, “Jennifer” writes:
I went to a beach in St. Bart’s last spring, and it was so wonderful to walk around topless. I even asked a couple to take a picture of my friend and me. I now keep that photo on my bedroom dresser. People find it strange that I have a topless photo of myself in full view, but I think it’s inspiring. I love remembering how empowered and accepted I felt to be nearly naked among strangers.
Yeah, Jennifer, and imagine how much more empowered you might feel being fully naked among strangers (as well as friends).
Anyhow, the magazine has put up an online forum where anyone can discuss the question “What keeps me from loving myself naked?” — and other questions about body acceptance and nudity. One hopes they leave this forum up for a while and that it gets lots of use.
Hint to anyone who has a special woman in his/her life: hurry out and buy this issue while it’s still on the newsstand. It just might help her get over hang-ups she has about enjoying being naked. Could be the best $3.50 (plus tax) you’ve spent in quite a while….
Originally published February 13, 2006