MindHabits - Need A Little Boost To Your Self Esteem?

I grew more and more intrigued as I listened to a Public Radio broadcast about the power of our subconscious mind. What we think and don't even realize we are thinking shapes how we see the world. My subconscious thought processes help me decide what kind of world I live in and how I think people see me. Is the world a happy or cruel place? Do people like me or am I always left out of the fun? Interesting stuff, the games our mind will play with us.

So let's play a game with it and train ourselves to think more clearly and respond quickly to positive social feedback instead of focusing on and expecting negative reactions. MindHabits is an online game you can play for free or download the full version for a small fee. In just five minutes a day you can retrain your mind to boost your self-esteem and lower your stress levels. The researchers say that this game has been shown to lower stress producing levels of cortisol in the players blood, thereby helping us feel better.

I've been playing for the past few days and I can see a difference. All you have to do is focus finding the smiling face in the crowd and click on it as quickly as you can. I've cut my time in half and I've noticed that I hardly even see the frowning faces any more. It's like they have less value to me. The first few times I played I grew frustrated because all I saw were unhappy people staring at me but that is changing. Now I think of the smiling faces as my friends and I kind of have a crush on the peaceful looking guy in the hat...big smile.

Give it a try and let me know what you think.

Dove Reality Diaries - Four Girls Share Important Insight

One expert, four girls, a few tears, six weeks, and a watershed of growth - that's the Dove Reality Diaries in a nutshell. But that is too simplified. How do I breakdown into a few paragraphs the transformations of Sydney, Chelsea, Jordyn, and Irene? I'm not sure I can. This morning I watched each of their video diaries and was amazed at how candid they were about their feelings and struggles. I marveled at how seriously these teenagers took the self-esteem exercises. They trusted Jess Weiner, author and self-esteem expert, to guide them along the way to their authentic selves.

No more hiding behind a mask of make-up, depending on boyfriends to complete them, or devaluing their reflections in the mirror. These girls are now armed with the tools to confidently face the world. The best part - Any teen anywhere in the world can watch the transformations and interact with the girls and others on the website. There is a message board and a link to ask Jess for advice. There are packets of information to download and tests to take that help evaluate where a girl stands in relationship to herself and the images pushed on her by the media. Every young girl/or woman/and I'd expect anyone who uses the tools on the site has the opportunity to confront their own issues and move toward change just as the four girls did.

On December 18th there will be a live chat with Jess Weiner and the girls from the diaries. Jump in, add your opinions and questions. Jess directs the conversations with thought provoking questions and topics. To get a feel for these live chats Dove has posted a transcript of the first conversation.

Here are some disturbing facts about what young girls and women are facing in our society today:

One-third of all girls in grades nine to 12 think they are overweight, and 60 percent are trying to lose weight.

Only 56 percent of seventh graders say they like the way they look.

Studies show that 57 percent of girls have fasted, gone on diets, used food substitutes, or smoked more cigarettes to lose weight.

Research also shows that messages girls receive from the media can damage their feelings of self-worth and negatively affect their behavior. More than one in four girls surveyed feel the media pressures them to have a perfect body

Girls who watch TV commercials featuring underweight models lose self-confidence and become more dissatisfied with their own bodies

As a result, girls question their own beauty: between 50 and 70 percent of girls of normal weight believe they are overweight.

Dove wants girls to know that it doesn't have to be this way. Their global plan addresses the whole girl/woman from body image to intellectual development. This is something that should be applauded in a corporate culture that values profit over all else. We have a long way to go and even Unilever, the parent company of Dove, could make a few changes to align their other products (i.e. AXE body spray) with this positive school of thought.

Even so that doesn't discount or diminish the good being accomplished by the Dove campaign for Real Beauty. Every movement starts somewhere. I'm hoping more companies and brands will follow this shining example.

Woodhull Institute For Ethical Leadership - Attention Women! Free Education!

"We believe that it is time to learn about, engage in and share stories of real women with real success," so say the fellows at the Woodhull Institute for Ethical Leadership. No a bad opening statement in a time when women are led to believe that cellulite free thighs are more important than an engaged mind.

Woodhull and Dove's Campaign for Real Beauty are working hard to change that perception. They want girls and women to know that they don't have to buy into the images they are sold by the media and large corporations. Woodhull and Dove have partnered to share success building tools through online training sessions that promote ethical development and empower women to act as agents for positive social change.

Young women care about the world around them but are so easily distracted by a culture that tells them there is no time to care. Girls have to update their MySpace and Facebook pages, shop at the mall, download MP3's, buy expensive clothes and cosmetics, watch the shows they TiVo'ed while they were at school, and text their friends on their new Envys. There just aren't enough hours in the day to be socially aware, too. This is hogwash. Girl's, please don't buy in.

Use your mind, develop your intellect and your heart. Use some of your time to learn about the
world around you and how others live outside your neighborhood. The Woodhull Institute has made it so easy. Instruction by women who've walked the path before you are just a click away.

They've provided fun and interesting video lessons on financial literacy. It is just as important to know how to manage your money as it is to know where to spend it.

Learn how to be an activist who gets results. There are positive and proven ways to publicize a cause and ways to push for the changes you desire. Every woman has an issue burning in her heart, something she cares passionately about. Learn how not to be afraid to make it happen.

Public speaking is an important skill that all women should embrace. It's been said that people fear speaking in public more than they fear death. Why are we so afraid to express ourselves and share our views? Move past the lump in your throat and speak out and up for what you believe in. Rashmi Sharma will teach you how.

As a mother, a partner in a relationship or in the business world, negotiation is key. What's even more important is how we negotiate. This is not a win at all costs world and when we realize that all of our lives will be better. Listen to a Woodhull fellow share the concepts of positive negotiation.

All of this is available FREE online in the form of video seminars at the Dove Campaign for Real Beauty website. This is one corporation that is making concerted efforts to empower women around the world. Kudos to them. And Kudos to an organization like Woodhull for providing this great resource of learning for all.

The Woodhull Institute is a prestigious retreat center for women located in upstate New York. They are non-profit and non-partisan. To understand Woodhull all you need to do is read their Credo. The last line is particularly meaningful...To understand that what we send out into the world comes back to us.

Amen and thanks to Dove and Woodhull for sending out into the world such a great and positive message. No doubt it is coming back to them in a joyous way. Take advantage of the free video seminars and start sending your best self out to the world.

Dove Campaign for Real Beauty - Celebrating All Women

In 2005 Dove Soap launched an ad campaign featuring real women. Ones who didn't fit the industry standard. They were a cross-section of society, different races and ages, curvy, plump, pale, freckled, fit, unconventional, and gorgeous in their own way. I remember hearing comments like, "What do they think their doing? Who wants to look at that? She looks like my mother! I want Victoria's Secret girls!"

I couldn't help but chuckle. Tyra Banks is one of the most beautiful and celebrated models in the world but after following her television show for a few episodes it became apparent that she's shaped much more like me and my friends than her famous Victoria's Secret pictorials would lead you to believe. Like all models, Tyra had been photoshopped seven ways to Sunday.

Funny thing is....the beauty industry didn't need to rework her into an unacheiveable image. She was gorgeous before they ever turned their computer mouses loose to "touch up" her photos.


Dove realized this, not nessecarily about Ms. Banks but about all models, all women, and the images mass media was selling a whole generation of growing girls. The company made a bold move to do something about it, to expose the secrets of their own industry, and hopefully reverse some of the damage to the self-esteem of millions of young women.

The Dove Campaign for Real Beauty and Dove Self-Esteem Fund have launched print ads and particularly a series of television ads to further the cause. The evolution commercial shows the transformation of an every day pretty girl to a cover creature that only exists in a photoshopped folder on a laptop. The end tag says, "It's no wonder our perception of beauty is so distorted." All I can say is, "Amen."

On their website, http://www.campaignforrealbeauty.co.nz/site/default.asp, Dove provides resources for getting involved, mentoring girls and promoting positive body image, and a forum where you can express your views.

This is a quote from Leanne Landolfi, Brand Manager, Dove Australia. Hopefully, more beauty companies will follow suit and begin to sell a real and realisitic idea of beauty.

"Being a global beauty brand, we strongly believe that it is our responsibility to make women feel more beautiful every day. As girls care about the way they look from such an early age, we believe that it is extremely important to encourage younger girls to build a healthy body image and to have a balanced view on what real beauty is."

She continued, "This is a long-term commitment from Dove. We will be setting new goals for the Fund each year, reviewing past activities and assessing their effectiveness in building the body image self-esteem of young people. The Fund has already made a big impact in other countries, and we are tremendously excited about the potential for it to become a positive influence."

I will be buying Dove products and supporting their efforts. Ideas are alreay changing. I asked my daughter to sit with me and watch the evolution commercial.

When it was finished she said, "Yeah, I know that and I like the way I look."

"Well, alrighty then." I beamed with pride.