I’m pleased to present a guest post by Sarah Maria, author of the soon-to-be-released book Love Your Body, Love Your Life: 5 Steps to End Negative Body Obsession and Start Living Happily and Confidently.
Sarah is the founder of Break Free Beauty, a company dedicated to helping people love their bodies as they are. She speaks and writes on body image, self-esteem, health, success and spirituality. Sarah’s new book will be available on November 1.

Go Ahead and Pamper Yourself
By Sarah Maria
Gone are the days when self-pampering was considered overly-indulgent, self-aggrandizing or narcissistic, right? Well, if those days aren’t quite gone …read more

We’ve been talking with Debra Gano, author of Beauty’s Secret, A Girl’s Discovery of Inner Beauty. Debra’s book is really an amazing resource for young women today, and I wanted her to tell us more about it. This is the second and final part of her interview. Please read Part 1 to get the whole story!

Please give us more information on Beauty’s Secret. Who is the book aimed at and what kinds of things can readers learn from it?
I targeted the book to pre-teen girls ages 7-14, although it’s been a delight to see mothers start …read more

We recently had the pleasure of giving away a copy of Debra Gano’s book, Beauty’s Secret, A Girl’s Discovery of Inner Beauty. Debra is an internationally known model and actress, and also the founder and CEO of Heartlight Girls, an organization that teaches empowerment, self-esteem principles, awareness of inner beauty and strength, and motivation to connect to one’s true self. Her first book in the Heartlight Girls series, Beauty’s Secret, integrates her passion for empowering young girls and spiritual awareness.
I loved the concept behind this book so much that I asked Debra if she could answer a few questions …read more

If it’s one thing I’m passionate about its making sure young women today develop a healthy self-esteem. That’s why I’m really excited to bring you this giveaway.

We’re giving one Blisstree reader the chance to win an autographed copy of author Debra Gano’s award-winning hardcover book, Beauty’s Secret, A Girl’s Discovery of Inner Beauty. Self-esteem building and inspirational, this is the first volume in the new empowering Heartlight Girls Series for girls brings awareness of inner beauty and true worth through a contemporary, fairytale-like story.
Beauty’s Secret has won the 2009 Mom’s Choice Award, the 2008 USA Book News National …read more

There isn’t a woman around that doesn’t feel awkward about her body a little. Most of us have some issues here and there with at least one body part.
Glamour magazine wanted to find out what women really thought about their bodies, and more than that, why some women felt confident while others didn’t. They did their very first “body survey” in 1984. Do the words “leotards” and “high-impact aerobics” ring a bell at all? That was 1984. During that first survey, “75 percent of women surveyed felt they were too fat, and more than 60 …read more

People are buzzing these days about the pop singer Rihanna and her boyfriend Chris Brown. Brown has been charged with assaulting Rihanna. Soon after the incident, she apparently got back together with him.
Rihanna has become the public face for domestic abuse, as her story is all-too common. According to one source, domestic violence, “is the most common cause of injury to women ages 15-44.”
Suffering abuse is bad enough. But it also changes the way women behave in relationships from that point forward. If women stay in a bad relationship, they are “likely to stop trusting …read more

The Mind will follow?
What about -

The Heart?

Learning To Love Ourselves
“Alcoholism was a lonely business.” Funny, that’s about all I needed to read this morning. But it continues – “even though we were surrounded by people who loved us… We were trying to find emotional security either by dominating or by being dependent upon others… We still vainly tried to be secure by some unhealthy sort of domination or dependence.”
I’m going to find the “no-coincidence” in today’s reflection somehow! I am not emotionally okay today. I want to question the God I understand and ask him why it was necessary for …read more