The message is for all people, realizing no age or gender boundaries ? positive self esteem, internal balance, self-acceptance, inner strength, positive self image. But for Ann Kearney-Cooke, Ph.D., psychologist, author, speaker, and educator, her message is focused on one of the largest and most rapidly growing audiences; an audience often forgotten by media and its images of beauty, youth, and slender body shape. And she?s bringing her message and methods to Barnes and Noble Booksellers at The Summit at Louisville.
Inspired by women at midlife who were feeling out of control as they faced the challenges that midlife can bring ? from expanding waistlines and saggy arms to professional decisions, such as whether to return to the workplace or retire from it ? Dr. Kearney-Cooke?s book Change Your Mind, Change Your Body: Feeling Good About Your Body and Self After 40, addresses how women at midlife can use this time in their lives to re-examine who they are, set new goals, and redefine themselves. Change Your Mind, Change Your Body establishes and explores the tools women need to utilize their wisdom and experiences to shape a new vision of who they are and what they want their lives to look like.
?Nobody likes to see the signs of aging, and it?s natural to wish that you didn?t have crow?s feet, lines on your neck, or weight that just won?t come off,? says Kearney-Cooke. ?We all struggle at times with negative feelings about our bodies, and there?s more to be dissatisfied with after forty. But you don?t have to dwell on the inevitable changes or become depressed about them. You can focus on the possibilities you do have and get on with your life. You can move from thinking, ?If I have a certain look I?ll be sexier and attractive,? to becoming a woman who honors the wisdom she has acquired over the years, knows who she is, and is sexy and attractive because of it.?
Ann Kearney-Cooke, Ph.D., is the director of the Cincinnati Psychotherapy Institute and a spokesperson for the American Academy of Eating Disorders. She has appeared as an expert on body image, dieting, eating disorders, and healthy and positive living on many national broadcast programs such as The CBS Morning Show, Oprah, The Jane Pauley Show, The Montel Williams Show, 48 Hours, Fox News, The Edge, CNN Headline News, and PBS?s In the Mix. Dr. Kearney-Cooke is a consultant for Shape, Jump, Seventeen, and Parenting magazines, and is a familiar face on Cincinnati television, including Channel 19 News.
Ann Kearney-Cooke, Ph.D. will discuss and sign Change Your Mind, Change Your Body: Feeling Good About Your Body and Self After 40 (Simon and Schuster, June 2004) on Saturday May 21 at 2 p.m. at the Barnes and Noble Booksellers at The Summit at Louisville, 4100 Summit Plaza Drive. For more information, phone the store at 502-327-0410.
Change Your Mind, Change Your Body: Feeling Good About Your Body and Self After 40 can be purchased at all major retail book stores, online bookstores, www.amazon.com and www.walmart.com.
