What Is A Love Warrior? A Warrior's life is not about imagined perfection or victory; it is about love. Love is a warrior's sword; wherever it cuts, it gives life, not death.
– Dan Millman An Excerpt from chapter 42 of Self-Love Diet: The Only Diet That Works, "Love Warriors Are Regular People," by Michelle E. Minero, MFT: What does a Love Warrior look like?
It is difficult to pick a Love Warrior out in a crowd. A Love Warrior can be a man or a woman, an adult, adolescent, or child. Appearance will not help you single out who is a Love Warrior and who is not, but you'll know when you are with one.
What does a Love Warrior feel like?
When a Love Warrior looks into your eyes, you feel accepted and loved. When a Love Warrior listens to you, you feel heard. You'll feel a Love Warrior's self-confidence and passion. You will feel inspired, motivated and experience a desire to join in and make a contribution. When you are with a Love Warrior, you will feel connected.
You will realize that a Love Warrior is not some magical, bigger than life hero. A Love Warrior inspires you to come into contact with the Love Warrior that resides in you. Love Warriors can teach you to love yourself just by watching how they treat themselves.
Meet Our Past Love Warriors Meet the 2013 Love Warrior Nominees Caroline Rothstein, Connie Sobczak, Arielle Lee Bair, Emelina Minero and Jennifer Livingston.
Caroline Rothstein  Caroline Rothstein is a New York City-based writer, performer, and eating disorder recovery advocate, who specializes in spoken word poetry, theater, creative nonfiction, journalism, and performance art. "When I think about my own body - its strength, its struggles, its triumphs - and I think about how much it has healed, how much it has survived, how much through which it has persevered, I realize how strong all of our bodies are. Not just mine. All of us. We are all capable of so much healing. And with this, I recognize that there are all too often too many external factors that can keep us from healing, things beyond our control. But that doesn’t mean we can’t give it an honest shot in seeing how far our bodies can take us in their journey of self care." Caroline Rothstein http://www.carolinerothstein.com/
Connie Sobczak
 Connie is the Co-Founder and Executive Director of The Body Positive. Connie has been a leader in the movement to prevent eating problems and improve the self-image of women and youth for the past twenty-three years. Connie produced the Body Talk DVD series for youth in grades K-12 and Discover your Healthy Weight, the first DVD in the Intuitive Health™ DVD series for women and the grand festival award winner in the 2009 Berkeley Video + Film Festival. She develops The Body Positive curricula and training materials, and is currently completing The Body Positive's book to teach women how to live with more joy, vitality, and beauty. Connie co-facilitates the Be Body Positive workshops for the general public, and speaks regularly to student and parent groups. She has been featured in numerous TV, radio, and print stories, and was a 2008 semi-finalist for a Volvo for Life award honoring "real-life heroes."Come join us and see a sneak preview of Connie's new "This is Beauty" Campaign on Thursday, February 7th at 5pm, followed by the Love Warrior Award Ceremony.
Arielle Lee Bair
 Arielle is an Eating Disorder Recovery blogger, an ANAD eating disorder support group leader, MSW graduate student, wife, caseworker and a volunteer at an agency which helps victims/survivors of domestic violence. She is currently a Graduate Intern at Lehigh Valley Hospice. Arielle is working towards being a Licensed Master Social Worker. She has completed research on eating disorders and is a member of EDAN (Eating Disorder Activist Network) and a blogger for the We are the Real Deal. Arielle posts an Eating Disorder Recovery video on YouTube every Wednesday and several other videos and blog posts that revolve around eating disorder recovery, self-acceptance and self-empowerment. Arielle's blog is a great eating disorder recovery resource and her passion for spreading the word of recovery is inspiring! Arielle has also contributed to the EDRS blog. She wrote the first submissions to our two columns, one focuses on the moment of realization of wanting and being ready to begin the journey of recovery from an eating disorder (Remembering the Realization), and the other focuses on what life is like recovered from an eating disorder (Hope, Truth, and Possibility).
Emelina Minero
 Emelina is a tireless advocate for self-love and strives to increase understanding and collaboration between people. She created Community Bucket list, an online community dedicated to helping its members live their passions. She co-created the Love Warrior Community (LWC), an online community which offers a place for exploring self-love through the creative process. Her latest endeavor is the creation of The Human Experience (T.H.E.), an online publication focusing on the diversity within the queer spectrum and the diversity of the human experience. http://thehumanexperienceblog.com/t-h-e-team/Emelina believes that people are best able to explore and grow into their authentic selves when they are listened to, valued and welcomed by others, and she strives to create that supportive space for others through her online and offline communities. Emelina is an EDRS Inc. Intern. She focuses on expanding the awareness of recovery from eating disorders through her writing, social media and her day-to-day interactions. Emelina is also an active self-love blogger on the LWC's group blog, Self-Love Warrior.
Jennifer Livingston
 Jennifer Livingston is the TV Anchor for WKBT News 8 This Morning.
Jennifer received an email from a viewer criticizing her for her weight. She responded on air saying, “You don't know me... so you know nothing about me but what you see on the outside, and I am much more than a number on a scale."
Livingston continued, "That man’s words mean nothing to me, but what really angers me about this is there are children who don’t know better — who get emails as critical as the one I received, or in many cases, even worse, each and every day."
Jennifer thanked the viewers, friends and colleagues who stood up for her, and ended with these words:
“I leave you with this: To all of the children out there who feel lost, who are struggling with your weight, with the color of your skin, your sexual preference, your disability, even the acne on your face, listen to me right now. Do not let your self-worth be defined by bullies. Learn from my experience — that the cruel words of one are nothing compared to the shouts of many.”
The Love Warrior Award Ceremony On the first evening of the EDRS 2013 Conference, Thursday, February 7th, the Founder of EDRS, Michelle Minero, MFT, will announce the 2013 Love Warrior. The evening reception, from 5 to 7pm, will begin with a screening of Body Positive's This Is Beauty!, followed by the announcement of the 2013 Love Warrior and a reading and book signing of Michelle Minero's new book, Self-Love Diet: The Only Diet That Works. If you registered for Thursday or all three days of the EDRS Conference, that includes the evening events. If you would like to come for just the Thursday evening event, there's a $20 suggested donation to contribute to the EDRS Treatment Fund, but no one will be turned away from the event. For more information on the EDRS Conference and the Thursday and Friday evening events, visit here. We are all looking forward to seeing you there and helping grow the Treatment Fund for 2013!
When: February 7-9th 2013
Where: Sheraton Sonoma County,745 Baywood Drive, Petaluma, CA 94954
707.283.2888
What: EDRS, Inc's 7th Annual Fundraising Conference
Theme: Advances in Clinical Practice and Activism: Treatment and Prevention of Eating Disorders.
The Fundraiser: The EDRS, Inc. Treatment Fund is available to all California residents who are in need of financial assistance in order to pursue or continue treatment for an eating disorder.
For Who: Professionals who want to learn about the current best practices in the ed recovery community and community members who want to know more about the eating disorder recovery community.
To Register: Y ou can download the conference brochure here, and bring it with you to register at the door. Conference Breakdown Evening Events: We also have two evening events that are open to all for a suggested donation of $20.00 (if you have already registered please know that this is included in your registration fee).
Thursday Evening  On Thursday evening, February 7th from 5 to 7pm, there is a screening of The Body Positive's This is Beauty! and the EDRS Founder, Michelle Minero, will announce the 2013 Love Warrior, followed by a book signing and reading from her book, Self-Love Diet: The Only Diet That Works.
Friday Evening  On Friday evening, February 8th from 5 to 7pm, Jenni Schaefer will be performing her powerful and internationally acclaimed story about the road to her real-life recovery, Goodbye ED, Hello Me! Both evenings are sure to provide a good dose of inspiration and are not to be missed!
We are all looking forward to seeing you there and helping grow the Treatment Fund for 2013!
This post was originally published on www.selflovewarrior.com.  Are you brilliant? What was your internal response to this question? What comes up for you if you imagine yourself sending out an email to all of your family, friends and colleagues, asking them to tell you what you are brilliant at? I am working with a business coach and as part of our program she asked us to get other’s perspectives on ourselves. She is helping us find our strengths so we can focus our offerings to our “divine right clients.” Here is the one question out of seven that gave me pause before I pushed the “send” button on my group email. What do you see as my talents and abilities? What am I brilliant at? I thought to myself: Am I brilliant at something? Doesn’t that sound conceited? What will they think when I send this out asking them to tell me I’m brilliant at something? I sent it out anyway because I am paying my business coach for her expertise, and I decided to trust her. I also thought, I’m asking my clients to see their light. If I’m asking it of them, then I need to ask it of myself. The first few responses were very empowering and helpful. It was informative to see how others viewed me. Then it happened. I got a two-word email from someone that I perceived as a criticism. It stirred up all of the angst about people thinking I’m conceited, as well as feelings of shame for asking people to tell me about my strengths. When I spoke to my son about it and shared my feelings about the email I sent out, he said it was the word brilliant that could spark criticism. He is an actor and has been in Hollywood auditioning for roles. He told me that the word “brilliant” is thrown around so cavalierly, but he holds it to a higher standard. He said, “Two people I would use the word brilliant for would be Bill Gates and Steve Jobs.” When I heard his definition of brilliant, I compared myself to these two men. I decided on the spot that I’m definitely not brilliant! I do a lot of thinking in the shower. Some of my best clarity comes when the water is pouring over me. I realized that brilliance is not just about our minds. We are more than our brains. We have hearts and spirits that are bright. I know people that I enjoy spending time with because of their warmth, love and grounded, soothing qualities. I wondered if people could be brilliant in different ways. When I looked up the definition of brilliant on dictionary.com, the fourth definition resonated with me: 4. Strong and clear in tone; vivid; bright: brilliant blues and greens; the brilliant sound of the trumpets. Through that definition of brilliant, I noticed myself getting closer to being able to own the word brilliant for myself. I have a strong, clear, vivid, bright message I send out to the world. I want people to know that they are loveable and deserving of love and all good things. When I went to Merriam-webster.com for the definition of brilliant, I found that the origin of brilliant comes from the French brilliant, present participle of briller to shine. I know people who I have described as beaming, glowing, radiant and clear. All of these words are synonyms for brilliant. I believe that when we are on purpose, when we are passionate and are sharing our passions with others, we are shining our own unique light. In those moments, we are brilliant! Just as a diamond is cut in a particular way to create numerous facets so it can have a special brilliance, we too have unique qualities that have been cut through our life experiences and beliefs. We each shine in our distinctive way. The lesson here is that I need to own my own brilliance. Once I do, it won’t matter what anyone else thinks or says. I know this is a process, one that is important to work on. If you decide to work on accepting your brilliance, it may help to understand that you are not putting yourself above others. The message is that we are all brilliant; we all have an inner light that shines, especially when we are sharing our personal passions or love with others. Let’s give ourselves permission to be BRILLIANT! For the month of October the prompt is: Can you accept your brilliance? We look forward to hearing how your light shines! To submit your blog posts to be published here, anonymously or with your bio, visit here. To see the previous prompts, the self-love writing guidelines and a directory of self-love posts in response to the monthly prompts, visit here. Also, Like the Love Warrior Community on Facebook for empowering and body positive media. Blessings, Michelle  Michelle Minero is a licensed marriage family therapist who specializes in eating disorder recovery. She created an intensive outpatient eating disorder program in 2000, brought ANAD (Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders, Inc.) to Petaluma shortly after and founded EDRS (Eating Disorder Recovery Support, Inc.), a Marin and Sonoma County based 501(c)3 non-profit organization in 2005. In 2011, Michelle co-founded the Love Warrior Community with her daughter, Emelina, an online community that helps people cultivate self-love, self-acceptance and body acceptance through creative expression. Michelle is finishing her book, Self-Love: The Only Diet That Works, and her dream is to see a world filled with people who love themselves and their bodies. Connect with Michelle on Facebook and Twitter and help spread the Self-Love Movement!
EDRS is pleased to share the Love Warrior Community's monthly self-love writing prompts. www.selflovewarrior.com is the Love Warrior Community's group blog that uses writing as a tool to enhance your self-love practice. What are self-love writing prompts? Writing is one way to further your recovery. The founder of EDRS, Michelle Minero, is in the process of publishing her book entitled, Self-Love Diet: The Only Diet that Works. Michelle redefined diet as "something regularly offered". The Self-Love Diet is regularly offering yourself love. Self-love writing is one way to do that. Self-love journaling can be used for self-reflection: - How have you overcome struggles or obstacles in your Self-Love Diet? In your effort to be more loving to yourself, what obstacles have popped up? How did you work through them?
- While consciously adding more love into your life, what successes have you experienced?
- What revelations have occurred for you while actively working on bringing more self-love into your life?
Self-love writing can also look like a body love letter or a body forgiveness letter. It can also be a written commitment to one or more self-love actions. Self-love writing can focus on what you're grateful for. It can also focus on things you need to let go of in life in order to create more room for growth, your passions or self-care. Self-love writing is a process that takes the shape you need it to. Selflovewarrior.com offers monthly self-love writing prompts. October's prompt is: Can you accept your brilliance? To read October's prompt, click here.You can submit your self-love posts to Self-Love Warrior anonymously or include a bio by clicking here. - Emelina Minero
Dear Body,
I love you. I might not have said that many years ago. I despised my tiny frame, my brown skin, my big lips … the list could go on. When I was younger, you were my worst enemy, but things have changed. Getting older, I realize how much I love you. The features that I had despised are things that I come to love and the things that people love about me. My tiny frame is valued, my brown skin glows and my lips are luscious. More importantly, I’m learning to love my body from the inside out. I’m not only feeding my body with vitamins, healthy food and water, but my soul with laughs and love from friends and family and my brain with knowledge and wisdom. If I wanted to know what unconditional love is all I have to do is look in the mirror. Thank you for being there for me and just know I’ll be there for you.
This Body Love Letter is from the Love Warrior Community. If you would like to read more Body Love Letters or submit your own to the Love Warrior Community, visit the Body Love Letter page. You don't have to share your Body Love Letter with the Love Warrior Community, the act of writing it in and of itself is powerful. You can write a Body Love Letter for yourself, or share it with someone close to you that you trust. Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter for more useful resources and information about eating disorder recovery, body positivity and self-acceptance.
By Arielle Lee Bair From the beginning—from the start of my descent into an eating disordered life—I've always known I wanted to stop. I didn't want to have an eating disorder any more than one wants to have any other disease. I knew it was unhealthy and I knew I needed help. Before I told anyone about my struggles, before I was confronted, and before I had even come to terms with my issues, I went to see a counselor. I remember making the appointment; it all seemed so surreal.
I was your average girl who watched TV and saw anorexic girls on talk shows, skin and bones, crying their eyes out in front of the camera. I never thought I would relate to the girls on those couches, talking about their fears of food and their distressing disease. But suddenly, almost before I knew what was happening, I was on my way to anorexia myself…and it wasn't long before I was diagnosed with the very same disorder I had often heard about on television.
At my consultation appointment at my college campus's counseling center, I recall explaining my daily habits, my calorie counting obsession, and my way of fasting for days. I could hear myself saying the words, knowing full well I had a serious problem or at least the beginnings of one. From that point, even though I sought help, was confronted by my best friend, and told my parents, I ended up getting worse before I got better. Sometimes I even got better only to get worse again.
Things weren't clicking in my head. The constant struggle became so normal to me and so strangely comforting. I used anorexia to cope with stress, to deal with change, to help me feel special. All the while, I still hated it. I'd get angry every time I went to see a doctor who told me I should be weighing a certain amount of pounds. Not only did the very thought seem ridiculous to me, it also agitated me—because I always wondered how I'd look at a higher weight, always somehow knew deep down that a grown woman should be weighing much more than I did…and well, should look more like a woman.
Even when I got better and better and I managed to eat enough to be considered "okay," I was still constantly struggling with mental aspects of anorexia. Sometimes I was even annoyed because I thought everyone around me assumed I was fine again simply because I weighed “enough.” It was so untrue and so hard to explain. At times, I was the furthest thing from fine.
I have always been one of those people who can put on a happy face—who can smile even when they are hurting and joke around, consistently concealing the emotions at battle inside. In a way, it sometimes helped not to talk about it. I liked trying to forget, being able to have a good time with friends, if only for a few fleeting hours.
It was sad, because something always seemed to fall. I always seemed to fall. I wanted to enjoy myself, to be happy with my friends, to let my mind free itself of numbers and perfection, but I could never enjoy myself completely.
It was like I was at a party, having a blast with a big smile on my face, but there was someone in the corner, wearing dark clothes and looking at me with a scary expression. My eating disorder, my inside pain and dissatisfaction, was that dark, scary someone in the corner. I could still have a great time, could still make great memories, but I was always being watched by something that wanted to take it all away.
When I think of times like this, I am reminded particularly of a few nights out with my college friends when we'd drink and have a good time dancing and laughing…and on the way home, when the alcohol had loosened the strings around my turbulent emotions, I'd start to cry relentlessly. It's kind of embarrassing even now, but I was much more of a mess than I let myself or anyone else believe. Tears typically accompany a mess.
Whether I cried walking home from a bar—feeling as though I was completely ruining the carefree mood—or later in the night back at my old apartment to my best friend, everything seemed to come crashing down after having fun. It took me a while to learn that I'd never really be able to be happy again unless I fixed myself first. Until I took care of what was making me hurt, any fun or happiness was temporary.
I knew I didn't want to live like that. After all, who does?
Looking back, nights like that feel like a turning point, or several of them. I knew my entire life was going to be like that if I didn't change something. If I hadn't had the friends I do, I would have fallen into a sad little hole and lied there 'til something drastic finally pulled me out…if anything pulled me out at all.
This realization came after years of unhappiness and what can only be described as shit. This realization came after a freshman year of college that makes me cringe to this day. After days and nights of worrying my friends, of sleeping in the daytime for hours at a time, of letting my past of being a straight A student fall into the trash as I used all my effort to even make it to—and through—classes. After tedious meals in the dining hall, whole Biology classes spent incessantly tallying my food intake, and one distinctly frightening night when I attempted to measure my dwindling waist by fastening a belt around it—then trying to measure the belt with a ruler—only to be stopped by my freshman roommate and my best friend, who both had to hold me down on my bed while I thrashed around and essentially freaked out. After counseling and eating again, only to make my sophomore year a near repeat of my freshman year. After group therapy and fainting spells. After screaming matches with my parents. After actually seeing a horrendously low number on the scale at one point and hating the sick euphoria that attended it. After obsessive term papers on eating disorders in an attempt to teach myself to stop what I was doing.
After all this came those fun college nights that ended in tears.
And after that came the realization.
That. I. Didn't. Want. To. And. Couldn't. Do. It. Anymore.
So I set out to learn about myself and discovered a lot. It has to start with you.
It has to start with YOU.
But most of all, it has to start.
 Arielle Lee Bair is an Eating Disorder Recovery Blogger, an ANAD eating disorder support group leader, a proud member of EDAN (Eating Disorder Activist Network), a Caseworker for Child Care Information Services, a Graduate Intern Counselor Advocate at Turning Point of the Lehigh Valley, an agency which helps victims/survivors of domestic violence and a soon-to-be LMSW. You can read Arielle's blogs for We Are The Real Deal, and she has her own eating disorder recovery blog, Actively Arielle: A Voice with a Commitment, where she posts an eating disorder recovery video every Wednesday, as well as other videos and blog posts throughout the week.
This is our first guest post in a series about people's experiences of when they realized they wanted to begin recovery. What was the turning point or what happened that spurred their desire, motivation and resolve to truly want to be recovered from an eating disorder? Eating disorder recovery is possible, and it's possible for you. The experiences you will read here are real experiences from people who have recovered from their eating disorder and the turning point that helped lead them to recovery. To submit your own experience about the turning point that gave you the resolve to want to begin recovery for yourself, email us at edrs.collaboration@gmail.com, with "Turning Point" in the subject heading.
By Arielle Lee Bair When it comes to eating disorder recovery, there are many different kinds of people. There are those who believe in full recovery, those who believe in full recovery – but not for themselves, and those who do not believe in it at all. I think full recovery is possible for everyone. Will it happen for everyone? No. But is it possible? Yes.
There are a lot of factors that influence a person’s ability to recover, but real recovery from an eating disorder happens, and it happens every day. It’s not a matter of beating the odds, but of beating the eating disorder.
When influential folks say that full recovery from an eating disorder is unlikely, I get angry. When they imply that full recovery will happen to one in a million (or some equally incomprehensible number), I get upset. When they focus on all the people who have NOT recovered, instead of those who have, I get emotional.
It’s difficult to promote recovery to those struggling with eating disorders when they are constantly being told that the odds are against them. Why bother trying at all? If you are already deemed to be (and doomed to be) a statistic from the start, what’s the point in paying money for treatment/care/counseling or getting support from friends/family/services? Isn’t it all a waste?
The short answer is: NO. Not only is recovery completely possible, it’s also worth every effort. Whether you’re involved with a whole treatment team, simply seeing one therapist, using an alternative support system, or going it alone – recovery is possible, real, and wonderful.
I know this, because I’m a recovered individual myself. It wasn’t always an easy path. I worked hard, used support, created support I didn’t already have, and kept climbing.
Today, I’m happy and healthy in body and mind. I live my every day, a woman who is transformed from the girl she used to be. I think things start to disappear one by one as we recover. I think the more obvious pieces go first. We get to a healthy weight (whatever that is for us and our respective disorders). We let go of behaviors. We stop berating ourselves. We stop looking for perfection. We stop seeing perfection where it doesn't exist. We let go of pain. We let go of the past. We slowly let go of the thoughts, a day at a time, until we realize one day (like I did) that they're not there. They don't accompany me. They don't hide out in my mind waiting to come out if the opportunity presents itself. Call me “fat,” call me “ugly,” call me “stupid,” tell me I "shouldn't be eating all the food" that's on my plate... and I'll still be serene and confident in myself, in my recovery, in my body and my way of life. The change has taken place. I'm okay now. It's a beautiful reality.
I can't promise you that during some terrible, sad, or scary time in my life I won’t for a split second remember how I used to cope. But I can promise you this: I'm done with my eating disorder and I'm done with the thoughts, and if one ever does re-appear in my head, it'll be gone and I'll be on my feet no matter what life throws at me, because I've found the secret. I've learned to stand.
How do I know I’m recovered?
- Because my life doesn't revolve around food, exercise, feelings of hunger, my own image in the mirror, the way my clothes fit, what people say to me regarding appearance or success/failure.
-Because I actually have a life.
-Because when I wake up in the morning I am content, not filled with despair.
-Because I don't have to work at it. It is now natural.
-Because I can help others without being triggered by them.
-Because I live by what I’m writing here.
-Because I like my body.
-Because I even, most of the time, LOVE my body.
-Because I am at peace with issues of my adolescence.
-Because I can eat without over-thinking.
-Because I don't binge or purge or starve myself.
-Because I don't even WANT to binge, purge, or starve myself.
-Because I don't care what the number on a scale says and it used to incredibly define me.
-Because I am a healthy weight.
-Because I appreciate myself instead of hate myself.
-Because I feel free.
I am here in the moment and not afraid to eat, look, live, love. And you can do it too.
The length of time isn't what's important. It can take 3 years or 30 years. The goal is to get to the point where you can say, “I'm free” and mean it. Don't give yourself a deadline. Don't beat yourself up for slip-ups. Just. keep. trying.
Understand my main point: being "recovered" isn't about always being happy 100% of the time—it's about knowing what to do when you're not.
A recovered life is…like any life. That’s the beauty of it. It’s no longer defined by an eating disorder, or even by a constant effort in recovery. It just IS.
 Arielle Lee Bair is an Eating Disorder Recovery Blogger, an ANAD eating disorder support group leader, a proud member of EDAN (Eating Disorder Activist Network), a Caseworker for Child Care Information Services, a Graduate Intern Counselor Advocate at Turning Point of the Lehigh Valley, an agency which helps victims/survivors of domestic violence and a soon-to-be LMSW. You can read Arielle's blogs for We Are The Real Deal, and she has her own eating disorder recovery blog, Actively Arielle: A Voice with a Commitment, where she posts an eating disorder recovery video every Wednesday, as well as other videos and blog posts throughout the week.
This is our first guest post in a series about people's lives post-eating disorder. Eating disorder recovery is possible, and it's possible for you. The experiences you will read here are real experiences of what life is like recovered. To submit your own experience of what life is like recovered from an eating disorder, email us at edrs.collaboration@gmail.com, with "Life Recovered" in the subject heading.
Make me feel … Important, beautiful, worthy, significant, special, sexy, happy. Make me feel … Like you are listening, like you care, like I matter. Make me feel … like I belong. Make me feel … Something. Anything. Make. Me. Feel. Do you feel beautiful? Do you feel worthy of love? Do you feel like you matter? Where do you get your validation from? I was looking through Eve Ensler's website V-Girls, which is: A global network of girl activists and advocates empowering themselves and one another to change the world, one girl at a time. Inspired by Eve Ensler’s best selling book I Am an Emotional Creature: The Secret Life of Girls.On the V-Girls website, I was reading a girl's blog post, It’s Not True That All We Do Is Cry (Part 2) by Anna Skorek. What she wrote moved me, especially this excerpt from her post: A lot of organisations dealing with violence agaist women; they show statistics, make touching films/documentaries where we see victims with their backs turned away from the camera, talking about their experience. And yes, you watch them, and you feel the pain in your stomach. If you had the money, you would even send an SMS to support the organization. And you would forget about it ten minutes later.
Eve works differently. Her work affects people, makes them think, feel, makes them want to be involved. She shows women, who are so strong, disarmingly funny and ready to tell their stories, ready to change something in you.
It is not something that will cause a pain in your stomach for a second, but it is something that will cause a long term determination and motivation to DO something about the world around you. That is what distinguishes her work from others' organizations- nobody is telling you to go and save the world. Instead it teaches you how to start with baby steps- change the world around you, and yourself. (Click here to read Anna's full blog post.)Eve Ensler's work, she makes us feel something. She ignites something within us, a fire, a passion. Anna is right. Eve isn't telling us we have to do X, Y and Z. She is showing us people's experiences, our experiences. She's revealing brave women's stories to us, women that we can relate to. She's making us feel something, the power within ourselves. When we tap into that power, it makes us want to act, use our voices and change the world. We all crave to be a part of something, to belong, to feel worthy, to feel significant, to feel like we have some kind of role to play in this world. When we tap into our own power, when we are able to love ourselves and give validation to ourselves — something clicks. Eve Ensler, one woman, formed V Day, the Vagina Monologues, VGirls and One Billion Rising, among other things. One woman inspired many. What if instead of looking outward to make ourselves feel something, we looked inward? What if instead of looking outside of ourselves to feel like we're worthy or like we belong, we look inside of ourselves? Make me feel … Important, beautiful, worthy, significant, special, sexy, happy. Make me feel … Like you are listening, like you care, like I matter. Make me feel … like I belong. Make me feel … Something. Anything. Make. Me. Feel. What if instead, "Make me feel …" was addressed to ourselves? When you begin to feel like you are worthy, that you are significant, beautiful and important and you treat yourself as such, the world starts to see it too. What can you do to cultivate the power within yourself? For girls and young women ages 13 - 18, V-Girls is an amazing resource to check out. Take a look at Eve Ensler's website, V-Day. You can organize a V-Day event, attend an event and find resources and help for domestic violence. V-Day is largely for women, but there is also V-Men, a new program aimed at bringing the voices of men and boys into the worldwide movement of ending violence against women. Reading Eve Ensler's work is inspiring. You can read her articles on the Huffington Post, follow Eve on Twitter and like her on Facebook. For eating disorder recovery resources and support, like us, EDRS (Eating Disorder Recovery Support), on Facebook and follow us on Twitter. - Emelina Minero, EDRS Intern
I went to see Beyond Hunger's viewing of Jen Siebel Newsom's documentary, Miss Representation. I LOVED it! I recommend everyone see it. The visuals, the interviews — everything was powerful. What especially resonated with me were some of the facts, like this one: "Women hold only 3% of clout positions in telecommunications, entertainment, publishing and advertising. Women only comprise 16% of all writers, directors, producers, cinematographers and editors." The power of media and advertising and the hold they have over our culture was a big theme in Miss Representation. Men rule media and advertising. When women make up about 51% of the population and hold only 3% of clout positions in publishing, entertainment, telecommunications and advertising — that shows an imbalance. Our culture is created through a patriarchal lens. This information resonated with me so deeply because I am a writer. I help form the media and I view it as my responsibility to write content of value. When I write interviews, I make it my prerogative to cover people deeper than the superficial fluff we are commonly given. After watching Miss Representation, it impassioned me even more. I write for Curve Magazine, the leading lesbian magazine in the U.S., but I wouldn't consider myself to be part of the 3% of women in clout positions in publishing. I want to be. I want to give the world another perspective outside of the patriarchal view, create alternative media that is not degrading to women, but empowering and highlight women in media for their passions and their accomplishments, not because of their physical appearance or the latest sex tape. Another quote from Miss Representation: "The media can be an instrument of change. It can maintain the status quo and reflect the views of the society or it can awaken people and change minds. It depends on who's piloting the plane." - Katie Couric After hearing that, I thought, "I want to pilot the plane." With social media and the internet, a lot of people have the power of content creation in their hands. Blogs, citizen journalism sites, online publications, YouTube channels, Twitter feeds, Facebook feeds — we are becoming the news source for our peer groups. We have power, outside of mainstream media, to change our culture. We pilot the planes. I encourage you to keep your eyes open to the media you're consuming. Pay attention to how it affects you. Pay attention to what you and your friends share. With social media and the internet, the power of media is in your hands. Decide what you want to do with it and be aware of the influence that you have. Check out the trailer to Miss Representation below, find a group screening near you or buy the documentary for home viewing. :) Also check out Miss Representation on Twitter, as well as EDRS for eating disorder recovery resources. - Emelina Minero, EDRS Intern
Loss is never easy and as therapists, healing professionals, and members of the eating disorder recovery community, loss and healing is something we've all experienced. We also understand the power that healing holds and the moving transformations that come from it.
Recently, we have lost someone who has left a tremendous impact in the eating disorder recovery community, Christine Hartline, Founder and Director of EDReferral.com. Christine passed away at 42 after her 5-year battle with breast cancer. She wanted to keep her cancer quiet so she could continue this referral resource as normally as possible. During this time, Christine's husband, Dr. Kevin Grold, has been running EDReferral for the past 5 years and he will continue to do so as tribute to Christine and to continue to support the eating disorder recovery community. In addition to EDReferral.com, Christine helped open Monte Nido and she also ran a program that housed animals so that abused women could go into a shelter, knowing that their animals would be safe and cared for. We thank you Christine for your contributions, and spirit and passion for helping others, not only in the eating disorder recovery community, but also for your passionate advocacy for animals and battered women. Christine, your life was a blessing to us all. We appreciate all the work that you did to make the world a better place and for being a shining example of hope and recovery. Let us remember your passion and conviction to help others and let that remind us why we are all in this field: to be of service to others, to help others heal, and to bring more light into this world – just as you did. In lieu of flowers, it was Christine's wishes that people will consider making a donation to the Animal Safehouse Program after her passing, or the support group, Young Cancer Survivor's Network. Additionally, IAEDP has made Christine an honorary fellow and is establishing an annual Christine Hartline Conference Scholarship, in which someone will be selected to attend the conference in her name. Furthermore, a Fund for ED Treatment has been established through the F.R.E.E.D. Foundation by her colleagues (Sharon Peterson, Johanna Kandel, Gail Schoenbach, Lisa Kantor and Kathleem MacDonald). Donations can be made via www.freedfoundation.org -- or by mail: P.O. Box 4113, Warren, NJ 07059 --please indicate in the memo section of your check that your donation is for Christine's fund. If you have any questions about donating, please contact Kathleen at kathleen@freedfoundation.org. Thank you again Christine – you will be greatly missed, - The EDRS Board
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