Determine your habits: clothes and image

Today I want to talk to you about your image. Ah, not the one that you see when you go and look at yourself in the bathroom mirror, nor the image that we "dress" ourselves in when we go to work.
 
The image I am talking about is far more revealing than that. I am talking about those images that have been captured and stored for prosperity. I am of course talking about photographs, specifically photographs of you.
 
I would like you to do me a favour - and go and find all the photographs that you can find of yourself....check albums, hard drives of computers, pictures on the wall, check the closets and the closets of your parents and your siblings if you are struggling to find any. (And if you're anything like me you will have purged the ones that weren't very flattering in the first place). I know that part of today's exercise will take some time, so carry on reading, and then continue with today's thoughs to ponder afterwards.
 
OK, now go to your bedroom and spread the images over the bedspread...hint you might want to make the bed first.
 
Now I want you to look at the clothes you were wearing. Did you look good in them? Or just OK? Be honest with yourself, because this bit gets interesting. Now I want you to go to your closet and find those clothes that are in the pictures.... I can almost guarantee you will have some (if not all) of them...
 
Now I want you to put them on again. How do you look? How do you compare to the image in the photograph?
 
Have you put weight on? Have you lost weight? Are those clothes just as frumpy now as they were when you had the photograph taken?
 
The question is not - does my bum look big in this...but - how do you look? Do you have rolls of fat hanging over the top of your trousers? Does your stomach stick out even if you are trying to hold it in?
 
Of course you may look taught, terrific and have the muscles to prove it...in which case, the question is - why do you still have those clothes?

So, why this particular exercise and why today? Well - why not today? When were you going to toss those clothes out anyway? Or do you still wear them? I know we all have favourites...those slobby clothes that we put on when we are feeling in need of comfort, but what about the rest of them?
 
I'm not a great believer in getting rid of things just because you haven't worn them in 6-12 months, but I have come to the conclusion that if I didn't look good in those clothes I was wearing in the photograph - why on earth would I look any better in them now.

The "How" we dress is a  habit of course, and as we know by now - if we want to get rid of a habit, we need to either

a) be radical

b) create a new habit

If you are serious about changing the way that you look at yourself, then take a cold hard look at how others see you...and photographs are a great way of doing that.
 
Now go clean out your closet, and I'll speak to you again tomorrow