The Way the Music Moves You Is Operation Beautiful

Dance to feel beautiful

Photo by Karin Norgard

Karin Norgard, a dance teacher in Alaska, shares her thoughts on the project:

I love dance because it makes people feel more confident about, expressive with, and connected to their bodies. So when I heard about Operation Beautiful, I immediately posted a note to my dance students at the health club in Anchorage, Alaska, where I teach. Its message not only builds up men and women who may feel self-conscious as they learn and start to open up, it reminds me why I love dancing and teaching my passion to others. It has also given me an extra dose of inspiration when writing articles on dance for my website, Joy in Motion. The response I get from a simple post-it note and from my articles is one and the same: people are excited about learning to love their bodies as well as their spirits.

Reaching out to all generations

Photo submitted by Ann Schroeder

Ann Schroeder of Relate Magazine, an online publication dedicated to inspiring teens to follow their dreams with confidence, wrote us to say the magazine had recently partnered with Caitlin and Operation Beautiful to reach the Relate audience. She writes: “The most memorable and surprising submissions were from the age groups which submitted. We had women from their offices submitting as well as teens submitting. It was a great feeling to see these notes start flooding in.”

The note above, posted to a co-worker’s computer screen, was submitted by a woman working in an office in St. Louis.

Dare to be humiliated

Photo by Joannaline C. Young

Joannaline, a MatadorU student, was so inspired by the Operation Beautiful project that she also wrote about it at WorldNewsVine. She posted seven post-its in seven different magazines, using Spanish to appeal to a wider audience. She writes: “I looked around me about every 2 seconds to make sure no one knew what I was doing. I pretended to take out a book from the shelf as people walked by. At every snapshot, I felt a rush of adrenaline immediately followed by a sense of triumph.” She concluded the possibility of humiliation was definitely worth it.

Starting with the kids

Photo by Debbie Oser

Debbie Oser is a “mompreneur” raising two boys, ages five and eight. Her company, Keeping it Positive, sells Positive Affirmation products. She writes: “I started the business after seeing how Positive Affirmations changed our sons’ attitude and behavior to be more self-assured and confident. I knew that I wanted to help spread this confidence to as many children and adults as I could.”

Debbie posted her note in the girls bathroom of her son’s elementary school in North Wales, PA.

Musical inspiration

Photo by JeBron

Singer/songwriter JeBron left this note in his home in Atlanta, Georgia, for a loved one to find. He says, “When I placed this post-it, I was thinking to myself, what could I do to make a woman feel beautiful?”

Those tough decisions

Photo by Sarah Nelson

Sarah describes this note posted in Austin, Texas, as “decision making made beautiful.”

Thanks everyone, for your creative contributions!

COMMUNITY CONNECTION:

How do you help reinforce positive body images? Share your comments below.