In our last article, we talked about the changing numbers associate with women's clothing sizes. The lesson there was not to allow a number to colour your image of yourself especially since size numbers vary from manufacturer to manufacturer and vary widely over time.

In the next group of articles, we'll focus on the positive foci of Body Image -- those things upon which we should base our Body Image rather than the arbitrary numbers and sizes that we usually use as measurements for our self-worth.

The reason many of us have poor Body Images is that we judge our bodies on their looks, not their functionality. The secret isn't to change our bodies but to change our minds. For example, do your fingers work well? Can you type emails to your friends? Can you write thank you notes to your family? Can you knit or sew? Can you hold vegetables to chop them up for stew? Can you throw a ball for the dog or scratch him behind the ears? With all these things your fingers can do, does it really matter if they're stubby and your nails aren't manicured? Would you prefer to have gorgeous fingers that don't work at all? Probably not. The messages we've received all our lives train us to judge our body parts on looks. But as you see by asking yourself probing questions, you really do prefer that your body part are functional. Don't you?

Let's pursue this further. What do you think of your arms? Can you do your household chores with them? Can you play your favourite sport with them? Can you hug your spouse and your children and your parents with them? See? It's much better to think about body parts in term of functionality than looks.

Here's a good one: does your nose work? Do you breathe easily? Do you sleep without snoring? Do you have sinus pressure or suffer from congestion? This is a big one for me personally. I've been told I have a "cute" nose. But my nose doesn't work! I would be much happier if I had a big nose that worked than a "cute" nose that causes me pain.

If you can train yourself to ask these questions whenever you feel down about one of your features, you will be well on your way to developing a positive Body Image.