Daily health tip #20
Love your body first.
The power of love to change bodies is legendary, built into folklore, common sense, and everyday experience. Love moves the flesh, it pushes matter around. Throughout history, ‘tender loving care’ has uniformly been recognized as a valuable element in healing. ~ Larry Dossey
Do you have a sexy picture of yourself tacked on the refrigerator door or hidden in your closet to remind you what you could look like if you stopped eating donuts or actually made use of that gym membership that’s charged to your credit card month after month? Or maybe you’ve chosen an image of some taut, vibrant young thing in a bikini to display on your vision board? And you just know that when you look like that, you will be so in love with your body. And then you can find a partner/ your partner will love you more/ you’ll get a better job/ you’ll go on a vacation/ you’ll finally audition for the local theatre company?
Well, I’m here to tell you that if that’s your plan, you’re going about things backwards. Instead of working to create the ‘perfect’ body before loving it, I encourage you to love your body first – and watch it start to transform. Sound crazy? Sound impossible?
When you change your thought processes, your behaviours will change. When you change your behaviours, more thought processes change, triggering more behaviour changes. And it’s my experience that the thoughts you have about your body are the easiest ones to change. Sometimes all it takes is a different perspective.
Find reasons to love your body right now. For example, I love the way my body allows me to walk from one place to the next. I love how my arms wrap around my children. I love how my eyes reveal beauty to me every day. I love salty, sweet and bitter tastes in my mouth, how ice cools me and how hot tea warms me up. I love when a light breeze moves my hair. I love the warmth of the sun on my skin. I love how my heart fills up when I see love around me. These are things I couldn’t experience if I didn’t have a body. Now you try. Get a piece of paper, and list all the things you love about your body.
Then prove you love it by honouring it with a nutritious diet, regular exercise, adequate rest and plenty of good-old-fun.
Done and done.
Until tomorrow,
Let’s all walk the talk!
Lisa
PS. This blog is an excerpt from my free e-book: Feed Your Soul: A Guide to Nourishing Body + Spirit. To download it, go here.
