I recently read an interview with Jemima Kirke on the Anti-Diet project, in which Jemima said of her own personal body image,

“I try to look at myself as if I were a man who was really hot for me.” 

Now, putting aside the fact that this statement assumes a specific kind of sexual and/or gender role,

this statement is kind of spot on,

because it reminds us that we actually have the ability to switch the lens through which we see our own bodies, using nothing else but our own imagination.

I believe our imagination is the most powerful body image tool we have, as any subjective thought or belief we hold about our bodies, is by definition, imaginary.

And let me go ahead and reassure you that any negative belief you hold about your body is, in fact, subjective — there is a difference between an objective fact (e.g. I weigh 167lbs) and a subjective judgement (e.g. being 167lbs is gross/unattractive/unloveable/etc.)

Our imagination (influenced in part by the imaginations of others)
is where our negative body image was created,
and as such,
our imagination (and those of the people we allow to influence us going forward)
can create our positive body image as well. 

If you can imagine how it might feel to find yourself attractive, beautiful, sexy, [fill-in-the-blank]…
If you can imagine how someone who finds you attractive, beautiful, or sexy might look at your body…
If you can imagine it…
you can actually feel it — you can try on a new way of looking at yourself,
even if it’s just for a split second before you lose it and go back to your old way of seeing — your old way of imagining yourself.

Some people call this “acting as if,”
which is more powerful than people realize,
because the reality of the situation is,
we are always “acting as if” — even when we’re “acting as if” our bodies suck.

Your negative body image also only exists in your imagination…it’s just the game of make-believe you’re more practiced at and have developed more rationalizations to defend. 

But just because you’re more practiced at playing pretend that your body sucks, rather than playing pretend that your body is awesome, doesn’t mean you can’t switch the game you’re playing.  

Today, start practicing a new game of make-believe.
Try on a different point of view.
Even if you can only hold it for a split second.
With practice, you may be able to hold it a little longer tomorrow.

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