It doesn’t matter who you are, where you come from or what your background is. There are very few of us who have never suffered from seeing ourselves less than our beautiful selves when we look in the mirror.

A lot of us have bits and pieces of ourselves that in an ideal world, we would scrap and do over. However, there is a difference between that and it being more severe.

However I have news! You are wonderfully unique and special in every way, with aspects of you nobody could dare ever replicate and you should never doubt the miracles and beauty that your body holds. So … without further ado, here are four  tips on how to improve your body image!

1. Seek gratitude from the inside

The first and probably the most important way to see beauty in yourself inside and out is to seek out the little things about you that you love that aren’t necessarily physical. It may be hard to believe in the age of social media, Instagram and everything else but there is more to you than just the outside appearance. Sure, we all want to leave our house and look great every moment of everyday but when you are counting on that to make you feel confident and positive, you are basing that confidence on something that is only there on face value.

Look inwards, see your inner qualities that you are proud of, that you’ve worked on to get here today. Set the foundation to be more happy within so that when you are looking at the outside, that is only a bonus to the whole, complete person you already are.

2. Reclaim your body

Now that we’ve dealt with the foundations of looking on the inside to see the true worth of yourself, now we can look at your body and growing love for it in every shape and form. Again, because of Instagram and seeing other peoples bodies everywhere, it’s natural to compare and contrast so called perfect bodies to our own. But it’s time to reclaim your body! Start to see all the curves and cervices you have as part of your identity, start to see all the parts that you may not particularly like as just another part of you. Start to think of these negative thoughts of your body as passing; the more you dwell on these thoughts and try and hold on to them, the more they will manifest and grow into a insecurity. When these thoughts come, let them go. It will do you nooo good for you to begin to question it and dwell, keep it moving!

Own the things that you don’t particularly like, those are the awesome things that make you you. Find peace in the things you cannot change, embrace it, if you don’t want to be a carbon copy of someone else, when you’re walking down the street know that there is no one else like you so you better own your (so called) flaws.

3. Affirm, affirm, affirm!

Similar to the one above, reminding yourself everyday that you’re the shit every single day is absolutely key to upping your body confidence and becoming the best person you can be. People do this in different ways, through post-it notes on their mirror, actively speaking out loud or setting a reminder on your phone each morning. Either way that you choose to affirm, affirming turns a compliment that you would otherwise brush off into something that you 100% believe to be a complete truth.

This is a powerful tool that you can use to transform your thoughts from negativity to positivity and improve your mood towards yourself, not only about your body but also general things in life that you want to improve.

4. Take care of it and enjoy!

Last but not least, remember that your body is a temple! Cherish it, love it, treat it like it’s your best friend that you never want to hurt. We only have this one life, one body to live in. Life is too short for you to be wasting it, focusing on the little things that you cannot change right now. Think about the time you could be saving on embracing your body and loving it as it is right now, rather than nitpicking over the details that don’t really matter in the long run. Imagine the peace, knowing everyday that your identity is not found in your weight, or what you look like and you aren’t going to let your insecurities hold you back from living a whole, happy life, not missing out because of negative thoughts.

Whether you have started fueling it right or not, you should take pride in who you are and what you look like and silence that inner negative voice!

This article was originally published on Chenai’s blog, Your Wellness Blog. Photos via (1,2,3,4)