Whose voice are you hearing?

Have you stopped to consider, recently, who exactly it is who's berating you when you look in the mirror?

Is the voice saying, "Ugh, gross," or "Who would want all this?" really your own? Who's hurling insults as you while you eat cake at your best friend's birthday party? Whose voice is coming out of your own body when you meekly tell your friends you were "bad", "awful", or "a piece of shit" for skipping the gym? And whose voice are you channeling when you see another person and utter something akin to "she should ~not~ be wearing that"?

Next time you look in the mirror, take a few moments, breathe deeply, and really listen. When you hear a statement in your mind, focus gently on it. Repeat it a few times, mentally. Can you see, feel, or understand who gave it to you? Was it a message you got from your parents, a teacher, your religion? Or did you gather it over time, breathing it in from the air around you like black mold, until it took root inside you?

Just as we must be carefully taught to love ourselves, we must also be taught to hate ourselves. Hating our bodies and our being is not inherent, natural, or inevitable. Someone taught you to hear and say these things about yourself.

Now imagine you can grasp this message in your hand, and give it back to whoever, or whatever, gave it to you. Visualize the phrase leaving your space and returning to theirs. And breathe.

You don't need their voice any longer. Replace it with your own, loving voice.