Hola friend!

Enjoy this article from Bonnie, an inspiring soul who shares a bit of her story about her journey of finding her beauty within. She also took some time to do a quick interview with us. Follow her blog for candid conversations on her whim wham life.

From Within,
Brett

http://thewhimwhamlife.blogspot.com/2012/03/q.html

Hola Friends,

In honor of NEDAwareness Week (later this month from Feb 26- Mar 3) we thought it would be a great idea to excite conversations on body-image by sharing an article written by Aimee Liu.  In her article titled, ‘From ED’s Half-Life to Your Full-Life’, Aimee speaks on what happens to people who either don’t get treatment or don’t get enough treatment for their eating disorder.

NEDA (National Eating Disorder Association) is celebrating 25 wonderful years. If you feel compelled to share in NEDAwareness Week you can visit their website or write your story to be posted up on our website under the ‘Story’ section. Thanks for taking time to champion for an excellent cause and remember your beauty and worth come from within!

From Within,
Brett

From ED’s Half-life to Your Full Life
By Aimee Liu

What happens to people with anorexia or bulimia who don’t get treatment — or who don’t get enough of the right treatment? This is an important question because, according to the National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders, only ten percent of people with eating disorders are ever treated. So when I began writing my book Gaining: The Truth About Life After Eating Disorders, I decided to interview some of the other 90 percent.

I knew that most of those who struggled with eating disorders when I was growing up in the 1960s and 70s did not get proper treatment. To a large extent that was because doctors at that time did not recognize these illnesses and “treatment” often consisted of forced feedings and little else. I, for example, received neither a diagnosis nor treatment; only years later did I realize that I’d been anorexic from eighth grade until my junior year of college. So were several of my high school and college classmates. Others struggled with bulimia. And the strange thing was that because we were constantly comparing ourselves to each other — what we weighed, how much we ate, how we kept the weight off, how we hid how much we’d lost — we knew exactly who had which of these then unrecognized conditions. So thirty years later, when I decided to explore the long-term effects of eating disorders, I knew whom to ask.

Almost all of us had survived, but did that mean we’d fully recovered? If so, how did we recover? My interviews suggested that most of us owed our physical health in large measure to the love of friends, partners, and family members who saw past the physical shape of our bodies and insisted on connecting with the person hiding inside. Recovery was as much about restoring that true self and building healthy relationships as it was about rebuilding a healthy body, and the more we felt we were gaining full and meaningful lives, the less of a stranglehold our obsession with food and weight had on our brains. Unfortunately, few of us back then were conscious of this process, much less intentional about maintaining it.

Decades later, many of us appeared objectively to be doing quite well, with good careers and seemingly stable marriages and families. But on closer inspection, I discovered that many were also struggling with what I now call the half-life of eating disorders. That is, we no longer necessarily binged, purged, or restricted food, but we binged, purged, and restricted in other ways. Some used exercise, others sex, drugs, alcohol, work, or religion. We still obsessed, still beat ourselves up emotionally, still engaged in compulsive behaviors. A few also cycled through periods of relapse into full-blown — and generally secretive — anorexic or bulimic behavior. This was especially likely to happen during periods of profound change or loss — when a divorce, say, or death of a loved one triggered the old self-defeating distress signals.

Those most vulnerable were those who were most socially isolated; one such classmate died of an anorexic relapse just last year, at age 57. Those doing the best seemed to be those of us who eventually had sought counseling and discovered the missing link between eating disorders and other patterns of thinking and behavior.

To better understand this missing link, I turned to the researchers now investigating the roles of genetics and personality in eating disorders. Their studies confirmed what I had observed when interviewing my former classmates: people with anorexia and bulimia tend to share certain innate temperamental traits. Those who’ve struggled with restricting anorexia tend to be highly persistent, introspective, and cautious. Those who develop bulimia are often impulsive by nature and drawn to novelty. Perfectionism is common in people with all eating disorders. These traits precede the eating disorders, and they do not go away when you recover.

There is nothing inherently positive or negative about these traits. If recognized and steered in a positive direction, each can contribute to a fuller richer life. Perfectionism and persistence, for instance, can be a boon if you’re an artist, architect, or scientist, so long as you don’t confuse the quality of your work with your value as a human being. But if misdirected, persistence can cause you to overwork yourself, and perfectionism can cause you to fixate on meaningless or irrational ideals, such as extreme thinness or starvation, and then conflate them with identity.

Full recovery requires profound and honest self-examination, as well as a mindful approach to managing and directing your basic instincts. As psychiatrist and eating disorder specialist Joel Yager said to me, “Know thyself… What is your biology? What is your calling? Study your temperament. Be respectful of it.”

Can you do this on your own? Theoretically, yes. But in reality, most of us need the help of an experienced professional who understands the true nature and complexity of eating disorders. Recent studies have shown that the earlier treatment for an eating disorder begins, the better the prognosis and the faster the rate of recovery.

The results can be breath-taking, as I learned from one young woman, just a year out of treatment, who recently wrote to me:

Before starting recovery, I was afraid to go anywhere with people, especially anywhere there’d be food. Since beginning recovery, I’ve discovered that I’m a people person! Who knew? Also I found out I have a true passion for the outdoors. Rock climbing, rappelling, hiking, all of it. I thought I was supposed to be a dud. But that’s not true. I’m supposed to enjoy living.

Note to everyone who’s ever had an eating disorder: We are ALL supposed to enjoy living.

Fortunately, most eating disorder treatment programs today understand this. They move well beyond the initial and necessary focus on eating and weight to address temperament, identity, self direction, and other key predisposing or contributing issues. Qualified professionals in your area can be found through NEDA’s website under “Get Help Today” or the Academy for Eating Disorders at www.aedweb.org/source/EDProfessional/. I wish this help had been available when my classmates and I began our struggle to recover. If it had, we wouldn’t have spent so many years caught in our eating disorders’ half-lives.

By Aimee Liu (www.gainingthetruth.com)
Author of Gaining: The Truth About Life After Eating Disorders and Restoring Our Bodies, Reclaiming Our Lives: Guidance and Reflections on Recovery from Eating Disorders
Member of the Advisory Board of the Academy for Eating Disorders  (www.aedweb.org)

Everybody Knows Somebody. Get involved in NEDAwareness Week 2012, February 26-March 3! Visit the NEDAwareness Week homepage under Programs & Events at www.NationalEatingDisorders.org to register today and learn more about how you can do just one thing to help raise awareness about eating disorders and become part of the solution.
National Eating Disorders Helpline: 800 931-2237

Order the limited release From Within V-Neck shirt by Monday, February 6th in order to receive it by Valentine’s Day!

Since love grows within you, so beauty grows. For love is the beauty of the soul.
- St. Augustine

What is significant about the changing of the dates? Time itself nearly seems arbitrary when it comes to the man/woman who truly wants change.

What is important is the person, the agent of change. The person who seizes every day, not just every year, to know, change, and grow themselves. The person who knows that while the majority of the world’s population is using this one moment in time to make promises of growth, they make those promises (and keep them), every day of their lives. The person who betters their soul every day until eventually that soul is new again.

“The object of a New Year is not that we should have a new year. It is that we should have a new soul and a new nose; new feet, a new backbone, new ears, and new eyes. Unless a particular man made New Year resolutions, he would make no resolutions. Unless a man starts afresh about things, he will certainly do nothing effective.”

- G.K. Chesterton

Hi friends,

The past few months, I’ve been on a personal journey where I have felt connected to the underlying reason why I started this company. It has been a time of growth and one where I’ve peered inwardly to find my worth.

Growing up, I was always the child who would work extra hard on that paper or project and shoot to get an ‘A’.  If I performed well that meant I was important and valuable.

This summer, I was on the road selling to stores on the west coast, an experience that proved to be full of learning and growth.  Through all the phone calls and visits to boutique stores I found my self-worth in jeopardy because for every store owner that loved the meaning behind TMOOH there were ten stores that thought otherwise.  All of the rejection, however, left me feeling unimportance and worthless through the process.  To compare life to academia, it felt like I was getting a grade of a ‘D’ or ‘F’ in the real wold.  I reached a point while in San Francisco where I broke down and could no longer continue on because I believed that all of the “no’s” meant that I was a failure.  I know this was an entirely unhealthy form of thought but alas, it was my own.

The irony through the whole experience was that I was selling TMOOH as a brand where people find their worth within.  I would recite the quote to buyers by Elisabeth Kübler Ross who says, “People are like stained glass windows, they sparkle and shine when the sun is out but when the darkness sets in true beauty can be revealed only if there is a light from within.” This life lesson couldn’t have come at a more opportune time because it reinforced my personal mission with the company and helped me feel important for reasons other than my performance.

To me, TMOOH is a platform for people to come together and share their life journey with others, instill hope in the lives of others, and reinforce that our beauty and worth in this world begins inwardly.  A young woman told me recently that for the first time ever, she looked into a mirror and actually believed it when she told herself she was beautiful. Somehow TMOOH had a part in her discovery of her beauty. There is power in those words. My journey to discover my infinite worth within has been sparked by some unique learning experiences coupled with the inspirational words of people in the TMOOH community. Thank you to all who have helped me see the source of my true worth.

From Within,
Brett

Hello,

Thanks for taking the time to check out an internship opportunity with our team.

// OUR STORY:
Growing up in a small town and moving to Los Angeles for college opened my eyes to a world where people obsessed over their appearance. Whether they used models in magazines or peers as their benchmark, I found it heartbreaking to see friends lose a part of themselves when they became absolutely absorbed in appearing a certain way.  I could see they were creating a never-ending cycle of self-defeating behavior.  It wasn’t until I saw some of my friends suffer from eating disorders and other body image related issues that I understood this problem stemmed farther than just my friend base. During one of my classes in my last year of college I noticed an unhealthily skinny girl who continually showcased a rotation of stick-thin models on her computer backdrop. Her struggle to attain a physical ideal was plainly obvious, as was watching her lose herself in a spiral of self-loathing. I desperately wanted to tell her that what made her special was found within herself.

During all of this, I started brainstorming how I could help people that were dealing with these issues. An amateur artist, I experimented with hand painting graphics on t-shirts as holiday gifts for my friends including text that read “the monument of our hearts” in the designs. The text was inspired by the idea that our hearts are where our desire to impact the world manifests itself and that my generation can serve as the monument for future generations as an enduring example of changing people’s lives for the better.

// INTERNSHIP DETAILS:

We extend our interns a great level of responsibility because we know you are smart, creative and passionate about helping others.  As an intern with our team, we promise to take you on as an active partner in developing our brand and leading our movement.  We are looking for people who are inspired to help others find their beauty from within. Below are a few possibilities of the areas you can be involved in while working with our team.

// MARKETING INTERNSHIP:
-Social media
-Retail marketing planning and implementation
-Strategic partnership development with non-profit organizations
-eCommerce
-Email marketing
-PR & press releases
-Photo shoot coordination
-Blogging

// DESIGN INTERNSHIP:
-Fashion trend analysis
-Design conceptualization
-Graphic design (i.e. screen-printed garments, hangtags, web content)
-Print layout–literature, email marketing, online content and blogs
-Merchandising assortment
-Create line sheets and presentation materials for buyers & editors

// ACTION:
If you are interested in pursuing an opportunity with our team please send us an email with your resume. In the email let us know what inspires you and why you want to help people find their beauty within. Feel free to email me at brett@tmooh.com.

Thanks,

Brett

Notes: This is an unpaid internship for school credit only. Work hours approximately 10 hours/week. Home office is based in Los Angeles, CA. Remote working is a possibility but would prefer local candidates. Thanks!

“Mommy, we’re beautiful no matter what we wear!”
“We all look different, Mommy!”

These are two sentences that are music to my ears as they come out of the mouths of my little girls, Brin, 5, and Teagan, 4.

I have been struggling with my weight and my body image my entire life. I have always had weight to lose, sometimes 40 lbs, more often, 60 lbs, and at one time, 100lbs.  I have numerous little snipits of memories that make me cringe.  Being weighed in front of my class in kindergarten, having my doctor tell me, at age seven, that I would be so pretty if I just lost some weight, crying as I flipped through the pages of plus-sized clothes in the clothing catalog-secretly turning to the “normal” sized clothes and imagining what I would choose if were “normal,” crying as I had to go up another size, embarrassed as I went to the warehouse store to buy my wedding dress because they had my size, full of shame when the doctor’s office scale would only accommodate me for another 2 pounds during my pregnancy, and horrified as I was wheeled out in the double-wide wheelchair after the birth of my second daughter.

My entire life, my wonderful mother would plead with me, “Lesli, people don’t see you like that!” as she watched me standing in front of the mirror berating myself. My husband of ten years, has been with me since I was eighteen years old. He can’t tell me enough how beautiful I am.  But I would only listen to the awful thoughts running through my head.

After Teagan was born, I lost 95 lbs. I felt fantastic, but never “done” because I didn’t hit that 100lb mark. So, for two years, instead of looking at my healthy achievement, I beat myself up for having “10 more pounds to lose.”
Life and stress got in the way, and I gained back 60 of those pounds. And so we begin again. This time, however, with two little pairs of perfect eyes watching my every move, I don’t allow myself to to talk negatively about my achievements or my body. To my amazement, without this negative self-talk, I’m slowly beginning to see how beautiful I am, regardless of what I see in the mirror.

With two entirely differently shaped daughters, I realize how important it is to emphasize healthy eating for a healthy body on the inside, not only for a beautiful body on the outside.  I keep my daughters active because it’s the healthy thing to do, not because it keeps them in, or out of, a certain size. They are told that what they do, their achievements, are what make them beautiful. My daughters are healthy and beautiful, and they know it.

It is my new mission in life. It is not about me anymore.  It’s about teaching my children – teaching all children, about loving themselves.
I would absolutely love to be a part of The Monument of Our Hearts.  I can be a speaker, I can be a teacher, I can sew tags on shirts!! Use me – because your mission is now my mission!
Love,
Lesli