Flavour Magazine

Have a look at this link its me featured in an article in flavour magazine:

http://viewer.zmags.com/publication/54bf6b67#/54bf6b67/10

"I'M UGLY"

Last week over the easter weekend I spent some time with family and friends. So as I was greeting everyone I noticed one of my family friends, a 12 year old girl and how she had grown she looked so different! So I rushed up to her gave her a hug and said "you look sooo pretty", but there was this awkward silence then she said "no i'm ugly". I was so shocked and soo upset, sooo I pulled her to the side sat her down and I said we had to talk. So I didn't understand what she meant it was like looking at the blue sky and saying it was red! She said that she didn't look like all the girls at school, and the fact that she had just started secondary school, puberty is hitting girls earlier or later than others, so that was her main issue. She said how her hair wasn't long and flowy like the other girls, her nose was too big, her chest was too flat and all the other girls had boyfriends. This is where I had to interrupt her lol. I asked her if she had a boyfriend at 12, how would it benefit her, she looked at me and grinned, shrugged her shoulders saying "I don't know". So I asked her what she liked about her self she mentioned a few things which was a relief. Then she broke down, which was very hard for me to watch, while I was comforting her a thought came to me that these issues are not spoken about especially to younger girls, these insecurities don't randomly come at puberty it must have been from earlier experiences and then it gradually builds up into a belief about the way they think about themselves. Even though it's great people come into secondary schools, colleges and universities to talk about these kind of issues, I firmly believe that it these talks and workshops should take place mainly in primary schools as it is easier to get through to these young people. When they're teenagers it's likely that they have already made up their minds about what they think abut themselves and it is much more difficult to help them out.

Moreover, after talking to this young girl, I realised that our insecurities as women are not just based on our physical beauty but who we have around us or having someone in our lives that make us feel safe, hence a lot us resorting in having a partner for the wrong reasons, now don't me wrong, relationships are great but when they're for the wrong reasons such as feeling incomplete without a boyfriend, you should talk to someone about it. As women we should learn to feel complete as just ourselves and feel comfortable in our own bodies, everyone is different and not one person on this earth is perfect all the so called perfection you see on tv or in magazines is counterfeit. Even though it's always good to look great! Be hot or beautiful whatever you may call it in your own bodies. x

'Who Are You' was fanastic!!

Hi guys, the the talk with Natasha Devon was sooooo great! In the space of 90 minutes my way of thinking had completely changed! Initially I invited Natasha with the consideration of people who may have had issues with their body image etc, not knowing that I would be affected by the talk as well. The feedback was also very encouraging as were continually asking questions even though they were shy at first but after they just bombarded her with questions.

She spoke about how we think about ourselves and whatever we think is because of negative patterns that repeat itself which can actually cause permanent damage. The issue on Neural recoding was the main thing she spoke about "Neural Recoding is a process of releasing the emotional and habitual pain from the past and then creating a new and more desirable future. Because Neural Recoding involves a clear Conscious understanding of how we have created our old undesired reality, the Unconscious Mind is already primed to make the desired changes even before the creation of new neural pathwaysOnce the understanding is in place, the Unconscious is ready to release the addictive negative patterns (be they emotional or habitual) from the past. The wonderful part here is that only minimal content is necessary to leave the old patterns behind; it is completely unnecessary to trawl through emotionally devastating experiences from the past.With the shedding of old negative neural patterns and pathways, it is so much easier for the unconscious to take on new patterns and pathways and to build a new and more desirable reality. Because the visualisation element is carried out in trance (i.e. at an unconscious level), not only is it much easier without the interference of the chatter of the logical conscious mind, but the change can happen more or less immediately, since the Unconscious doesn’t know the difference between a thought or something imagined (i.e. Visualisation) and something real."

It is all in the mind, if you think that you are ugly it is not necessarily true it is aboout what you feed your mind with. If you attach beauty to a certain person, but you don't look like that person the mind can easily translate that to you feeling that you are inadequate. This is an issue that women and men face today which lead to serious consequences such as bulimia, anoerexia,depression and worst of all suicide. Natasha actually gave an example of one of her clients who was a man that thought he was ugly and he said that evey time he goes out everyone stares at him because of the way he looks. However from everyone elses point of view he was an average looking man, and she had discovered that it was because of his reactions to the "people staring" that people would look at him as he would present himself in an awkward and paranoid manner. This was a very funny example, but seriously thinking about it, it's actually not that amusing, it's not normal to walk down the street as if you are dodging a ball ! lol


If you having body image issues first: get some counselling then have regular mental rehearsals, imagining your new life (ideal and relaistic). Then go throught the process of neural recoding. To get more help and understanding on how this works to : www.winningminds.co.uk

Hope this helps x

Happy International Women's day !!

I'm not going to write anything today and I'll allow these videos to speak for themselves:

Message from UN secretary:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ye8iGQ1d9Cg&feature=featured

FGM:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vAQo4t7c2fI&feature=featured

Maya Angelou

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JqOqo50LSZ0&feature=featured

Who are you?

Hi everyone, there will be a talk next week on body image:

Ex model and singer/songwriter Natasha Devon will tell her story of her decade long battle with bulimia nervosa (which recently appeared in Cosmopolitan magazine) in candid detail, lifting the lid on the less glamorous aspects of the fashion and music industries and introduce you to the vast community of people out there who are dedicated to changing perceptions of beauty.

Natasha works for Mark Newey, one of Britains leading NLP (neuro-linguistic programming) experts and will give you a fascinating insight into how your mind works, how you process information and how this affects your behaviour. This is relevant to everyone - Whether or not you have experience of an eating disorder, we are all being manipulated by celebrity worship and glossy magazine culture. Natasha will explain how your health and happiness hinges on one simple belief and how you can ensure body insecurity does not negatively impact on your life.Campaign includes a confidential helpline and an online forum with facebook groups, campaigns and petitions you can become involved with and join the revolution! Go to www.winningminds.co.uk for more information. Natasha Devon is a Body Confidence Campaigner, author and plus size model. She writes columns for Young Minds and Evolve Magazine, as well as her own blog "The Real Beauty Debate" (www.realbeautydebate.blogspot.com) and has appeared regularly on television and radio discussing the beauty and health issues which affect us today. She works for Winning Minds, an eating disorder specialist and is an ambassador for national, celebrity endorsed campaign Body Gossip. She has taken her Body Confidence Campaign to schools, colleges and universities all over the UK.

It will be taking place :

• 11th March


• Guild Chambers


• 1.00pm-2.30pm

Feel good about you!

Well as a regular listener on Radio 1 and Chris Moyles' biggest fan I have been listening all week, and this week is 'Body Image week'. Even though it is an issue for both genders it's an issue that is common with women. Even me, myself, as a young woman, I think about my image quite frequently but not obsessively, thank God! But we all want to look good or just look up to a certain celebrity that we want to emulate. But the truth is, these celebrities have their own flaws too, when all the make up is wiped off you probably won't even recognise these women. You see all these women with their good figures well the truth is even though a lot of them are on diets or just not eating, a lot of them wear body shapers under their dresses to give them the body that every woman would die for. So what's my point? Nobody is perfect! Everybody should embrace who they are being an individual instead of trying to be what you see in the magazines is the the key to being happy with yourself. Love yourself. x

Here's the link to a video called the evolution of a model: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s2gD80jv5ZQ&feature=related

The Burqa

Last week I had a deep discussion with the women leaders of the Islamic soicety and we basically discussed a possible campaign concerning the misconcepiton of the burqa. Collectively as women, want to campaign through a documentary that will be filmed on campus. We will be getting the opinions of students from the University. From this documentary we want people to understand what opression actually is and what freedom actually is, what equality is and we want to find out if there is a universal Muslim women. This campaign is all about identity and how to define it. I think it is a fantastic idea and i cannot wait until when it is actually completed.