About Me

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Provo, Utah, United States
Welcome to "Miss Mighty Midge" - A place I can share a piece of my heart with the world. Blogging is my joy. I'm a college student trying to carve myself a place in life. I'm small, funny, passionate, and a little shy. Welcome to the stories of my life...

10 Day Challenge

Introduction


After evaluating the way I feel about myself and the way I perceive myself, I have decided that it is time for a change! It is time to purge the negativity out of my life and replace it with love and beauty. After this decision, my answer came from BYU's Women Services! They are doing a 10 Day Body Image Challenge, in which anyone can join! I was so excited that I signed Brittany and myself up! We went to the opening social today where we did Body Kindness Yoga. I am so excited for the next ten days of my life.

bodyimage10day


Day One: Body Kindness



If you can’t make it, practice this meditaion: Find a quiet comfortable place to practice the Body Kindness
Meditation. Read through the meditation a couple of times then, close your eyes, breathe
deeply and do the following:
Breathe kindness into your bones — the very marrow of your bones. Breathe kindness into your belly
— soft belly, merciful belly. Breathe kindness into your heart, your lungs and skin. Breathe kindness
into your endocrine system, your nervous system, your reproductive system – all the systems of your
body that allow you to think and feel and function so miraculously.
Fill your body with kindness, that body who has been your companion and friend and kind enough to
house and protect your spirit. That body who has brought you to where you are now and accompanied
you through all your life’s lessons.
Receive kindness from your body, kindness from the skin kindly enveloping your body. Receive
kindness from your heart kindly beating the drum of love throughout your life. Receive kindness from
your lungs that bring life into your soul. Receive the kindness from the nervous system, little lightnings
that make it possible to think and feel and be and go and do and rest. Receive the body’s
kindness, kindly accompanying you every step of your journey since conception.
Receive kindness from the food you eat, the water you drink, and the air you breathe. Drink in the
kindness of sunshine and the beauty of the earth. Feel the river of kindness flow through your body
and carry you forward.

Journal PROMPT
What kind of sensation does kindness
bring to your body? How does gratitude
for your body change how you feel about
yourself?

Tonight was the beginning of a different self outlook for me. I smiled through the whole opening social and I was so excited to do yoga. I kept thinking, 'be kind to your body, appreciate your body and learn to love its imperfections!' I just felt so happy from head to toe thinking about treating my body with kindness and respect. I began to love myself just the way that I am and feel this overwhelming desire for other women to feel what I feel too! I wanted to reach out to everyone in the room and scream, "Do you feel that?! Do you feel the change we've all started here!? We are all just so stinkin' beautiful!" I'm starting to realize that I need to be grateful for the body that God gave me and learn to love it because of all the miraculous things I can do! I'm starting to love myself not for what I can see in the mirror but for who I am on the inside and for the wonderful things I can offer the world.


Day Two: Spiritual Gifts


Challenge

Read your Patriarchal blessing and pay
special attention to any mention of your
strengths, gifts and talents. You might ask
your parents or closest friends what gifts
they see in you.
            Why?

. . . to every man is given a gift
(D&C 46: 11). Our scriptures teach
that all of us have at least one and
probably more spiritual gifts. Usually
Heavenly Father reveals our
gifts to us through our passions
and desires, the things we really
love to do. Also, He may specifically
state them in our Patriarchal
blessings.


Journal PROMPT

What are your gifts? How does it make you
feel to know that you possess gifts unique to
you? How have you developed your gifts?
How can you use your gifts to make the
world a better place?


Because today's prompt is so personal, I've decided not to post my response. I'm sorry everyone! But please feel free to do this one too! I loved the challenge, it really gives you a different perspective on yourself.


Day Three: Self Talk


Challenge

A little girl, an infant, is learning how to walk for the very first time.
You are in the room with her and she keeps falling down. She lets
go of a table leg and takes one or two steps – then boom! – Down
she goes.
•What would you say to her?
•Would you criticize her saying, “You’re so stupid and
uncoordinated! You can’t do anything right!” “You’ll never learn to
walk.” Why or why not?
•Which works better to help someone learn and grow –
criticism or encouragement? Why?
Set a goal to get through the day without saying anything negative
about yourself. No fat talk, no calling yourself ugly, stupid or
anything negative. Should you slip and say something negative,
stop and tell yourself, “I’m sorry I said that and turn the negative
statement into an encouraging one. Treat yourself like you would a
little child. If a little child made a mistake would you call her
stupid? Would you ever tell a little girl she looks fat or ugly? What
would you say to a little girl, a little sister, a niece who looks sad or
is having a bad day?
         Why?

Our minds are
extremely powerful.
Just like it hurts
when someone
else says something
mean to us, it
hurts whenever we
think or say
negative things to
ourselves. The
opposite is true too.
Just like that little
girl learning to
walk, we change
and grow when we
feel validated and
supported.
Support can come
from others, and it
can also come from
us!

Journal PROMPT

Write down one of your negative thoughts and answer the following
questions:
•How is this statement true?
•How is this statement not true?
•What would be a more accurate statement or thought?
•What have you learned from this experience?

Due to the embarrassing nature of the Journal Prompt today... I have opted not to share with the world. I hope this is understandable! I do encourage everyone who is following the challenge to do the prompt though, I found it eye opening.


Day Four: Meaningful Compliments







As I went through the day, I realized that I want people to compliment me on the qualities that I possess and characteristics that go further than what they can learn just by looking at me. At the beginning of this semester there was a girl in my class that sat next to me during a particular lecture. She was a little talkative and asked me a few questions during class. After class as we were walking out, she turned to me and said, "You know, I just want to tell you that first of all, I think you're really pretty. And second of all, you have a light about you that makes others feel so comfortable around you." I was shocked! It was the most beautiful thing a stranger has ever said to me! I will never forget that.



Day Five: Self Expression





So today as for self expression, I decided to cook! I made pizza from scratch for my friends. I was really scared because I thought I was going to mess it up and I didn't know how good it was going to be. I kept cooking though because I wanted to share my talents. The pizza turned out amazing! Brittany and Topher said it was the best pizza they'd ever eaten! (Which I still think is a total lie but that's ok).



Day Six: Media Resilience





I found more articles and photographs glorifying unrealistic beauty than about accepting our bodies as they are. It was eye opening to realize that certain media definitely indoctrinates women to think negatively about themselves. We are made to feel that we are doing something wrong if we are not constantly improving our physical appearance. This is saddening. I am most definitely going to think twice the next time I want to "fix" something about my body.


Day Seven: Makeup Reflections





I think I used to hide behind makeup. I used to think I was ugly without it. Not so much anymore though. There are days when I don't wear makeup at all and feel just fine. I decided to go without makeup today. It was refreshing! I liked looking in the mirror and seeing myself without gunk on my face. I was able to prove to myself that I do not feel enslaved by makeup, but I when I do wear it I feel like I am outwardly displaying how I feel about myself inside.



Day Eight: Body Love Letter





It felt good to write a love letter to my body. I can honestly say that I've never done that before haha. It brought a new perspective of thinking about exactly what my body does! And how it enables me to go about daily routines! It was definitely difficult though, to think about positive things :/. I noticed that I slipped into a nasty habit of self-deprecation. I didn't realize how bad this was until I was trying to think of positive things about my body! I am so grateful for this experience though! It's teaching me to be kinder and sweeter to myself. We've been commanded to love everyone... but I think in order to do that, we need to love ourselves first!


Day Nine: Supermodels vs. Role Models





I think we aspire to look like women in the media because we've been indoctrinated to feel like that is what men want and find attractive. I think many women see physical attractiveness as a gateway to opportunity and a "happy" life. How much time do I spend trying to be physically beautiful? Approximately 50 minutes - every morning. But I can honestly say that I spend more time trying to develop qualities like my role model because I try every day to be more like her!


Day Ten: Spread the Love Social Media