Being a Critical Consumer of Social Media: my imperfect birth story
May 16, 2013 by Emma Wood
Filed under Featured, Media Literacy, Pregnancy, Self Esteem, Self-Acceptance, Self-Compassion
My daughter is sleeping, one of her sporadic 2-3 hour breaks between diapers, feeding, crying, rocking and snuggling. I became a mother three weeks ago and I must say it has not been what I expected. I wanted to write a little about some things I have learned, or more accurately re-learned, during the last [...]
Toxic Habits of the Mind
May 7, 2013 by Chris Kingman
Filed under Anxiety, Depression, Empowerment, Mental Health, Mindfulness, Self Esteem, Self-Acceptance, Self-Care, Self-Compassion, Stress Management, Wellness
Thanks to Martin Seligman (founder of the movement called Positive Psychology), therapists have a much better understanding of three of the most common self-defeating habits/patterns of the mind. In response to challenging situations in our lives, we often fall into habits/patterns of thinking that are excessively: Personal Pervasive Permanent To illustrate, let’s take a look [...]
Finding My Most Amazing Self
April 28, 2013 by ADRIENNE TRIER-BIENIEK
Filed under Empowerment, Featured, Finding Your Voice, Loving Your Body, Mental Health, Self Esteem, Self-Acceptance
The woman who cuts my hair and gives it its natural shade of blonde said something to me the other day that brought me down a couple of pegs. I was having one of those days where I felt tired, I was cranky, I certainly did not feel pretty after waking up with a pimple [...]
Introducing the Womanifesto
April 12, 2013 by Marsha Hudnall
Filed under Body Image, Eating Disorders, Empowerment, Featured, Finding Your Voice, Freedom, HAES, Livin in the Moment, Mindfulness, Self Esteem, Self-Acceptance, Self-Care, Self-Compassion, Wellness, Wellness
Marsha Hudnall, MS, RD, CD, is the owner of Green Mountain at Fox Run, a pioneering healthy weight retreat for women. Green Mountain has been working for 40 years now to help women stop dieting and change their focus from their weight to living their lives fully, and achieve health and happiness in the process. [...]
Can We Talk? The Truth About Social Media
April 10, 2013 by ANAD
Filed under Body Image, Eating Disorders, Featured, Healthy Communication, Healthy Communication, Healthy Coping, Livin in the Moment, Media Literacy, Parents, Recovery, Self-Acceptance, Self-Care, Talking To Kids, Wellness, Wellness
Can We Talk? The Truth About Social Media Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, and Pinterest are now a part of my common vocabulary. I’ll admit, I’ve done my fair share of Facebook “creeping”, and I always have my iPhone or iPad with me. But, despite all this, I can honestly say that I don’t let social [...]
The Blessing of Affirmations
April 9, 2013 by Debra Hennesy
Filed under Activism, Anxiety, Body Dysmorphia, Body Image, Eating Disorders, Empowerment, Expressive Arts, Expressive Arts Therapies, Fat Talk, Featured, Finding Your Voice, Freedom, Healthy Communication, Healthy Coping, Livin in the Moment, Media Literacy, Mental Health, Mindfulness, Prevention, Recovery, Role Models, Self Esteem, Self-Acceptance, Self-Care, Self-Compassion, Spirituality, Stress Management, Treatment, Weight Stigma, Wellness, Wellness, Writing and Poetry, Yoga, Yoga and Meditation, Yoga Therapy
When you look in the mirror, what’s the first thing you say to yourself? If you are like most women, it’s not something kind or complimentary. Most of us are WAY too hard on ourselves, and the media doesn’t help with that. Think about it…can you recall ONE company that promotes happiness with what IS [...]
Emotional Pain Cannot Be Killed
April 3, 2013 by Chris Kingman
Filed under Addiction, Anxiety, Depression, Featured, Mindfulness, Self-Acceptance
A recent NY Times article stated that “Drug overdose fatalities in New York City tripled between 1990 and 2006, a new study reports, and most of the increase came from the growing abuse of prescription pain medicines.” These statistics simply reinforce what we already know anecdotally: medications designed to alleviate physical pain are increasingly being [...]
Low-Fat Love 101: Cultivating Your Identity
March 31, 2013 by Patricia Leavy
Filed under Body Image, Bullying, Empowerment, Expressive Arts, Featured, Self Esteem, Self-Acceptance
Last month my blog offered advice on how parents can help their daughters develop a positive sense of self. My first piece of advice centered in the importance of cultivating independent interests and skills, such as activities in the arts. This advice came from a personal place as my daughter Madeline (12 years old) has [...]
BODY EMPOWERMENT – “Breathing”
March 20, 2013 by Caroline Rothstein
Filed under Anxiety, Body Image, Empowerment, Featured, Healthy Coping, Mindfulness, Recovery, Self-Acceptance, Self-Care, Self-Compassion, Wellness, Yoga, Yoga Therapy
As part of the weekly Wednesday posting of my ongoing YouTube series “Body Empowerment,” here’s “Breathing (Body Empowerment 58)” originally posted May 21, 2012, on YouTube.com by Caroline Rothstein. This video addresses and explores the importance of breathing and the breath as a coping mechanism in times of triggering anxiety or negative thought patterns. About BODY EMPOWERMENT: Founded [...]
Ugly Ducklings Supporting NORMAL
March 19, 2013 by Robyn Hussa Farrell
Filed under Body Image, Empowerment, Featured, Loving Your Body, Media Literacy, Role Models, Self Esteem, Self-Acceptance, Self-Care
The Ugly Ducklings have come forward to help NORMAL and our mission of educating about mental health, eating disorders, body image, self-acceptance and stress-management through arts and mindfulness programs. We are so grateful!! The Ugly Ducklings is an initiative inspired by Jennifer Morrison of Once Upon a Time. A few weeks ago, Jennifer gave her Twitter supporters the [...]
















