16-year-old girl's spiritual yoga ( ) ( )

Author: Sarah Stillman
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2004-07-01
Features: A 16-year-old girl, generally studies in junior high to senior high school in China, is particularly eager to understand herself but finds it extremely difficult. Even when facing a mirror, they remain confused: Am I pretty? Average? Or quite unattractive? How about my IQ and emotional intelligence? High? Average? Or very low? Will I have a good future? If only I were a little taller, sigh. This is a common lament among girls. Sarah Stillman, a 16-year-old American high school student, shares the same confusion but doesn’t stand in front of the mirror for too long. She wrote a book—Discover Yourself. In the book, this 16-year-old girl uses colors, feng shui, and aromas to create a sacred mindset for herself; seeks the key to unlocking her heart through reading, dream interpretation, journaling, and various self-assessment tests; examines herself objectively and appropriately cultivates her interests; objectively examines the world and human relationships, exploring the ways of interpersonal interactions and self-cultivation; and handles all of this with a philosophy of going with the flow, thereby gaining a positive and healthy psychology, enabling her to face herself and the people around her with ease, and frequently discovering what she truly wants and what she is capable of.
61% of girls have dieted in the past year, but only 11% of them are overweight. 25% of girls suffer from various forms of depression. In some cities, as high as 40% of girls have considered suicide. What can we do about this? In search of answers, I scanned through teenage magazines, but found nothing. I began wandering through the library, looking for books about teenagers “discovering themselves”—those that focus on girls’ self-exploration and emotional issues—but I haven’t found such a book yet. I even searched the internet. After entering the keyword “girls’ emotional issues,” I was presented with a string of adult website addresses! All hope was lost. I wondered, if someone needed to write such a book, why couldn’t it be me? After all, psychology experts like Mary Pipher seem distant from us. As a 16-year-old girl, I can sense the fears brought by violence, drugs, and growing up. I can also understand, through my own experiences, the desires for fame, beauty, and recognition. Most importantly, I know how amazing it feels to use self-discovery as a weapon to face all of this.