July 26, 2007

Being Noticed and Being Seen (Courtney Martin, 2007)

Posted in Blogroll, SUNY at Buffalo Prevention and Treatment Group Updates at 3:34 pm by satsanga

(Adapted from Perfect Girls, Starving Daughters, Coutney E. Martin, 2007)

 Being noticed is about what people see, our external self. It is about dressing up, putting on our make –up, and the latest fashion. It is about how we choose to present ourselves. It is like advertising, getting ourselves noticed. We can be sexy, cute, and really stand-out. We can cover our perceived flaws and highlight our perceived strengths. It can be what the others see with a quick look across a crowd.         

   Being seen is someone knowing your favorite color and flavor of ice-cream.

Being seen is when your boyfriend knows how you got the horseshoe scar on

your knee in 2nd grade and loves your knee for it. Being seen is getting lost in

conversation about your dreams, work, and ideas for hours and forgetting what

time it is. Being seen is someone loving your eyes because they are blue and have tiny brown specks that make them like nobody else’s.           

 What are some ways that you have tried to be noticed? Why does this feel so good sometimes? Why does it feel bad sometimes? What are some ways you have been seen? Why does this feel so good sometimes? Why does this feel bad sometimes? What we were wondering is that in our efforts to get noticed (which trust us is okay), do we lose chances to be seen?

July 8, 2007

Courtney E. Martin, “Perfect Girls, Starving Daughters” and How we spend our time

Posted in Blogroll at 11:58 pm by satsanga

I am reading a new book (2007) that makes a point and states it much better than I have been able to articulate things in group. On pages 6 and 7, Ms. Martin lists a few ways we can spend time scrutinizing our bodies…our beautiful, capable bodies…everyday..so that we can waste about 100 minutes a day thinking about such things. Instead of of using our beautiful brains, bodies, hearts, and souls to help the earth, to take care of our selves and other women, to learn and to teach…. On page 31, she states, “If you spend precious time and energy worrying about your weight instead of your soul, you have been cheated. If you waste your sharp intellect on comparing and contrasting diet fads instead of on the state of the world, we are all cheated.”