As a child, you felt comfortable in your skin. Your body was an instrument, an extension of your wholly unique mind and soul. You used it to take you where you were going, to express what you felt, to get things done. The world, for you, was hopeful and certainly not limited by the way you looked. But then, somewhere on the way to adulthood, something shifted. Your sense of your own brilliance faded. Your understanding of your own beauty dimmed. Your faith in your radiance wavered. Maybe it was the media that overwhelmed you. With instant access to information, with thousands of images shot at you every day, maybe your digested and internalized too much of the scrutiny. Maybe it was an unintended slight that stung you or a comment that someone delivered flippantly that you have held onto forever. Maybe it was not being chosen for this or being ignored by them, maybe it was a loss so significant that it still seems like your soul is empty from it. Maybe it was the way your body matured into adulthood that felt like a betrayal, or the way that it didn’t. Whatever it may have been that stole away your understanding of your inner and outer brilliance, Beautiful You is the book that will help you get that feeling back.
Every day, American women and girls are besieged by images and messages that suggest their beauty is inadequate—inflicting immeasurable harm upon their confidence and sense of wellbeing. In Beautiful You: A Daily Guide to Radical Self-Acceptance, author Rosie Molinary empowers readers to accept themselves despite today’s media-saturated culture.
Drawing on self-awareness, creativity, and mind-body connections, Beautiful You is a powerful 365-day action plan for breaking undermining habits of self-criticism, shoring up confidence, realizing profound self-acceptance and championing one’s own emotional and physical wellbeing. Through accessible, doable daily actions, readers are encouraged to manifest a healthy outlook on themselves and life. Steering clear of the florid affirmations and daily meditations often utilized by books geared toward personal growth, Molinary delivers a nuanced, authentic, and modern guide of inspirational thought and powerful action that keeps pace with the times. Beautiful You is a practical, candid, and accessible handbook that will strike a chord with every woman who has ever faltered in her self-confidence or lost her personal spark—and it will make sure she never lets it happen again.
AVAILABLE anywhere you buy books. For the very best karma, get it from an indie bookstore. For signed or personalized copies, order from Main Street Books and put any inscription notes in the Instructions box at checkout.
Reviews
Many kind-hearted people will offer you well-intended advice like “feel better” or “don’t worry” when you are troubled or feel broken. But it takes an empathetic heart and brilliant mind – luckily Rosie Molinary has both – to explain how to do those things. Gifted with the ability to see clear solutions, Rosie teaches us what to say and what to do in common, everyday situations that might otherwise confuse us. Beautiful You is your guide to overcoming burdensome feelings and enjoying life in new ways… and Rosie is your loyal, smart, funny and insightful friend along the journey. You may have shrugged it off when your mother, friend or partner assured you that you were beautiful, but you’ll become a believer when Rosie tells you. In fact, you’ll start telling yourself the same thing.– Michelle Icard, author of Middle School Makeover: Improving the Way You and Your Child Experience The Middle School Years (Routledge, 2014)
Beautiful You: A Daily Guide to Radical Self Acceptance is exactly what the beauty conversation needs. With its thought-provoking content, including helpful personal essays and abundant opportunities for self-reflection, this book lovingly urges readers to embrace themselves fully in order to live a more empowered life. The world needs more books (and authors) like this! — Jess Weiner, CEO of Talk to Jess and Confidence Expert
I’ve featured the first edition of Rosie Molinary’s book Beautiful You countless times on my body image blog. I’ve also recommended it countless times to others. This second edition is even better. It is a supportive guide filled with wisdom and practical tips for taking compassionate care of our bodies and ourselves. And even more than that, it is a book that empowers us. It empowers us to listen to ourselves, to ask for what we need, to pursue our dreams, to surround ourselves with kind people, to build a meaningful life, whatever that looks like for us. Because we are worthy. Inherently worthy. I can’t imagine a more powerful or vital message.-– Margarita Tartakovsky, associate editor at PsychCentral.com
Rosie Molinary’s compassion pulses on every page, guiding readers through action-oriented approaches to self-acceptance with skill, grace, and empathy. Self-help has never been presented with a better chemistry of expertise and love. Readers wise enough to place their trust in her and engage with this book will be richly rewarded.– Autumn Whitefield-Madrano, author of Face Value: The Hidden Ways Beauty Shapes Women’s Lives (Simon and Schuster, 2016)
Women are sick of the same tired, stale body image advice. Don’t tell us to ‘Slick on some sexy red lipstick’ or ‘Spend a day at the spa’ – we need real, functional tips that can help us break out of a bad body image day. Rosie Molinary answers our call in Beautiful You: Her ideas are inspired, creative, and totally doable, with many carrying a trickle-down effect to the younger generation of girls. With the first day of reading it, my copy was thoroughly dog-eared and I can’t wait to employ Tip #39 this January, when I ask my husband and best friend to write a body image-based New Year’s resolution for me.—Leslie Goldman, Author, Locker Room Diaries: The Naked Truth About Women, Body Image, and Re-imagining the “Perfect” Body (Da Capo, 2007)
As I read Rosie Molinary’s Beautiful You: A Daily Guide to Radical Self-Acceptance, I found myself marking the pages that contained body image wisdom that really resonated with me. Guess what? By the time the book was finished, I’d marked more than half the pages! Molinary has done a fabulous job of offering practical and doable advice to help women see — and appreciate — themselves in a whole new way, and to realize that a healthy body image is about so much more than what we think we see in the mirror. I’m giving this book my ultimate seal of approval — I’m handing it off to my 14-year-old daughter. —Dara Chadwick, Author, You’d Be So Pretty If: Teaching Our Daughters to Love Their Bodies — Even When We Don’t Love Our Own (Da Capo, 2009)
In this book of daily readings, Molinary (Hijas Americanas: Beauty, Body Image, and Growing Up Latina) offers tools and resources for personal empowerment. Molinary’s work stems from her belief that each woman should develop her own positive self- image independent of popular culture. Some readings are a single paragraph, others continue beyond a page. Throughout, she uses examples from her own life and includes exercises for writing in a “Beautiful You Journal.” In her introduction, Molinary stresses that though there is no single right way to read through this book, doing the exercises is important for learning. She also gives guidelines for sharing experiences in dyad (friend, mentor, mother, or daughter) and group settings… This book can help foster self-confidence and positive body image for all women, and it should appeal to all ages.—Lucille M. Boone, San Jose P.L., CA for Library Journal
On Day 1 of Rosie’s daily guide, she tells you that her journals kept her honest: “what I wrote, I did.” The following 364 entries offer ideas and guide you through getting “better in touch with your own brilliance.” Beyond body acceptance, this book is full of affirmations and inspiration. – Margaret Pilarski, Skirt!
Recognition
Amelia Bloomer Project Best Feminist Books Winner, 2012
Best Body Positive Book of 2010, Nourishing the Soul Awards
Podcasts
Charlotte Readers Podcast with Landis Wade
Needy Podcast with Mara Glatzel
Body Kindness Podcast with Rebecca Scritchfield
Love, Food Podcast with Julie Duffy Dillon
Beautiful U Journey Interview with Nutrition Vixen
Dream for Others Podcast with Naomi Arnold
Radical Self-Acceptance: Your Year of Radical Transformation The Spirited Entrepreneur Podcast
It’s Not You, It’s Me: Radical Self-Care and Acceptance PCOS Diva Podcast
Radical Self-Acceptance Goddess Alive Radio Podcast
On The Web
Mentors Witness Change in Girls
Cosmopolitan South Africa shares the Beautiful You message
Canadian Magazien Chatelaine shares the Beautiful You message
5 Ways to Embrace Self-Acceptance on The Mom Renewal Project
South Charlotte Macaroni Kid Review of Beautiful You
Viva la Feminista Beautiful You Book Review
Fighting Windmills Beautiful You Book Review
Fancy Pantalons Beautiful You Book Review
I love my beautiful heart
I saw your segment on Charlotte Today. Thank you for your heartfelt comments about self acceptance
I hope it inspires us to love ourselves and treat our sisters, mothers, daughters, and friends with loving kindness.
I enjoyed the video and particularly like the point made about being content when our mind changes, rather than when our body changes.
I believe the media may be starting to swing back into acceptance of the body beautiful not being tied up to being slim, but this has to be only the start.
We each need to do what we can to, first, change our own attitudes about what constitutes a beautiful person, and then we need to influence those around us to re-examine their ideas too.
Thank you for sharing some beautiful thoughts