Building the body you want starts with paying attention to the body you have. To achieve your goals you first have to familiarize yourself with your vessel. Here are 10 ways to start your journey towards physical wellbeing:

1. Learn where your body image comes from. If you have a negative body image, does it spring from being overweight or pushed to be perfect as a child? Perhaps you were slim and fit until your 30's or 40's, and then life caught up with you. Look at your past: how did you get here?

2. Pay attention to where your mind goes. Maybe your poor body image comes from being teased as a child: learn to replace those negative thoughts with healthy, uplifting ones. This is a simple concept but more difficult in practice but once you start, it becomes a habit. Soon your negative thoughts about yourself will be replaced with positive ones and you’ll see the changes reflected in your life.

3. Learn how our culture affects your self-perception. Cultural influences come from all sorts of places, form your own home to the billboard by the road. Pay attention to the media (TV, radio, movies, magazines, Internet) around you and well as your community (your family, workplace, school or neighborhood). How is what you see and hear affecting how you feel about yourself?

4. Substitute healthy, fun activities for watching TV. Almost every woman we see in the media is idealized as thin and beautiful, and everyman as fit and strong on TV. But it’s neither real nor realistic! The more you are engrossed in perfect images, the less confident you feel about yourself.

5. Stop comparing yourself to others. When you get in the habit of comparing yourself to others, your options are to either think you’re less than or better than someone else. Even if it gives you a quick confidence boost, in the long-run it’s a detrimental attitude in relationships and for your own self-image.

6. Repeat "It is what it is." Create a positive mantra. Just saying "it is what it is" or "I am who I am" can lead to greater acceptance of situations, other people, and your own body. When you wish things were different or fight things you can't change, you set yourself up for disappointment and unhappiness.

7. Get a handle on your strengths & weaknesses. Be honest about who you are as a whole person, not just your weaknesses. When you criticize your hair, follow it up with appreciation of your skin tone or the color of your eyes. Accept the parts of yourself you’re not entirely happy with and allow yourself room for growth.

8. Accept & appreciate compliments. Savor the moment when someone says you look good or are glowing! Instead of denying or making explanations, let the compliment penetrate your soul and fill you up the way it was intended.

9. Focus outward. Instead of wasting time obsessing about your weight, volunteer at a food bank or at a children's hospital. Clean up your community or figure out the best way to "go green" at home. Looking outward instead of inward will change how you see the world.

10. Get involved in your goals, dreams, plans for the future. When I'm wrapped up in writing a book proposal or selling an article to a magazine, I'm not thinking about my spider veins or generous bottom. I’m thinking about my life – my goals and dreams. My appearance is the last thing on my mind.

(Adapted from the Article by Laurie Pawlik-Kienlen, www.bellaonline.com)