This Body Image & Healing Blog was created for family, friends and those going through breast cancer who were primarily women 50 and over. “So why are women 50 and older concerned with body image?” “Because we’ve still got a body!” It’s important to us how we look. Now, we are not necessarily swayed so much by what we see on television.

 

Make it Work!
We are not trying to fit into what a 20-year-old, a 30-year-old would wear. That does not mean we don’t care about how we look or how we carry ourselves. And carry ourselves, we will. We know that we must keep moving. “Sitting is the new smoking.” Ideally, we should stand up every 30 minutes we are at work it we work a 9-5 job. I created a standing desk with books and a wastebasket so I can stand and sit from time to time. A variety of movement is needed throughout the day, since standing on your feet all day is not the best thing to do. The surest way to the beginning of ill-health for many of us, is to stop moving!

 

It’s all in your Head!
We’re also concerned about how we think as we age. As our pastor said the other day “If you’re old, you’re not going to regress and get young, you’re going to stay old, but that doesn’t mean we have an old mind-set. 

“So what mindset should one have who is over 50 years old?” “I don’t know.” Fifty or 60-years-olds are not thinking the way your mother thought or your grandmother thought when she was 60.”  “I think it’s what you think, what you believe, what you do!” We can do so much more! We can walk, we can keep ourselves active and we can keep our minds active! We can engage with people of ALL ages. Those are the kinds of things that keep us young.

 
The Right Stuff
We can eat right. We can have the right attitude and attitude really makes a difference in how you feel. It really makes a difference.  For instance, your attitude about what you eat while you are eating it affects how your body processes the food. That matters! In Dr. Christiane Northrup’s book, Making Life Easy: A Simple Guide to A Divinely Inspired Life, she talks about an experiment involving rabbits who were fed all types of things making them prone to heart disease. The rabbits were monitored for several weeks. But the researcher began to notice one group, even though they ate like the other rabbits ate, these rabbits didn’t have the same issues the other had when they examined their tissues and arteries. These little rascals were healthier. The critical question was “Why would they be healthier? They were because the researcher talked to Val who played with them, took them out of their little cages and even talked to them.
Yes, the more fun you have, the less stress you may have and that all helps clear out some of the negatives going on in and around you. Now, that’s not going to erase all bad things you may be doing or eating or stressing out about. But it really could make a difference in your life.
 
What Counts?
So, what are you going to do now? Well, for Lent I have decided to eat differently, not too far from what I normally do, but enough for it to cause a little discomfort, like no added sugar. And I am going to stay focused on the positive and reduce the negative aspects of various issues. (That doesn’t mean you should try to tempt me.) Lastly, I am going to increase my meditation/exercise routines. That should keep me busy for the next few weeks. These are items I want to continue to do in my life. They are not just for this season. So what counts? Whatever you are doing that will last beyond this sacred time.

Let me know what you think.