Week Five (6th - 12th August): A Homage to the Human Body

Remember if you are blogging daily each point is a daily topic BUT if you are blogging weekly you DO NOT have to incorporate all these themes but instead use them as inspiration for your own response to the theme!

Whether you regard your eating disorder as being related to your body, body image or negative experiences your body has endured or not - the fact is your body and how you think of it is vital not just in recovery but in life. 

Eating disorders profoundly effect the body, as do the repercussions of any mental health problem and often generally stressful or unpleasant times in life.  In order for us to protect, respect, recognise and show gratitude towards our bodies we need to be aware of how we feel towards them, why this may be the case, what impacts these thoughts and feelings and build in ways for us to challenge the negative, promote the positive and learn not only to love our bodies, but to recognise their importance and value.

There are a lot of points to discuss this week and even blogging daily it would not be possible to cover everything so please read and choose to consider and write on the points which you feel drawn to, which challenge you most or which you feel able to address at this time.


- What do you believe the ideal body or perfect body is? looks like? does?  What creates this belief?



- How does your body relate to what you consider to be the ideal body? Has this changed in time? 



- How would you like to feel about your body?



- Consider aspects of your body in terms of physical attributes - how do you feel about them (positive and negative) - please be aware of triggering others here.



- Consider aspects of your body in terms of functioning, what your body can do? how your body works? what your body allows you to do? what are you grateful to your body for? (positive and negative) - please be aware of triggering others here



- What does 'real' beauty look like? (if you are not sure how to answer this consider how you would explain beauty to a young person who expresses that they do not feel beautiful, it may be you write a letter to your younger self even). - address the negatives you highlighted in prompt four



- What is a healthy body? Consider the body's capacity for healing, for growth and renewal.  It might be you want to consider your own body and its changes in relation to health.  What does/ what might a healthy body feel like and allow you to do? - address the negatives highlighted in prompt five.