What would it take to accept your body as is, right now? How would it feel to release judgment against your thighs, stomach, or various perceived flaws? I am encouraged by Jill Bolte Taylor's observation in My Stroke of Insight. Suffering a stroke in 1996 that incapacitated her left brain function, she notes: "In the absence of my left hemisphere's negative judgment, I perceived myself as perfect, whole, and beautiful just the way I was."
If one half of our brain is in charge of the negative judgment, could we not choose to listen to it less and pay more attention to the half that tells us about all of our wonderful attributes? Through her book, Ms. Bolte Taylor, a brain scientist, describes this is exactly what she learned to do through her recovery and gives her readers hope that they, too, can minimize the judging and negativity offered by the left brain. (The left-brain is wonderful and important, too. It just takes effort to weed out what you don't want.)
Accepting our bodies now doesn't mean we don't want to change them. I think some people fear that to accept means to give up their goals when all it means is to give up negative thoughts and the feelings associated with those thought. Consider this—is there anything you own that you think is ugly or rotten that you take good care of? I doubt it. The same is true of the body; the better view we have of ourselves the better we treat ourselves.
It takes a shift in purpose to appreciate our body first. Instead of exercising and dieting to whip the body into shape, exercise and mindful eating are how we treat the body with respect and nourish it with the movement and nutrition it needs. Bad habits are easier to overcome because we know they hurt the body rather than heal. Most importantly, when we start from the place of accepting the body, the journey itself is more enjoyable because we are no longer victims of our bad thoughts and judgments. It's a choice, of course. But if we can choose happiness right now, why put off being happy with our body until sometime in the future?
Return to top |
We planted roma tomatoes, anaheim peppers, and a few herbs this year (by the way, "we" means my husband planted them) and I'm amazed at the thrill of cooking with food grown in our own yard. I found a recipe for penne arrabbiata. In place of canned tomatoes I chopped my own and also used our fresh grown basil and oregano. Delicious!