By Midwest Mom
A is for Attitude. You gotta have good one to survive!
B is for Botox. I don’t have a desire to get it, but it’s nice to know that I’ve got options.
C is for Cellulite. Let’s face it – reality bites!
D is for Dreams. And never giving up on them, cheesy, but true.
E is for Email. Without it I probably wouldn’t have kept in touch with some high school friends. Be honest, when was the last time you wrote & sent a letter? (Christmas cards don’t count)
For me turning 40 has been an exploration in self-development.
Looking back on life and being disappointed in certain areas has given me the opportunity to delve in to places I would not necessarily want to look at. One of these areas is 'body acceptance'.
I feel confident saying that I'm not alone in being overly critical of my body - especially my 40 year old body which is noticeably changed from my 20 year old body. I have heard a statistic that about 80% of women are not happy with their bodies. There are so many reasons for this and it's disheartening. Today I'm asking us to take a look at our bodies in a positive and affirming way. I recently did the following exercise from a self-help book I'm reading, and I'm going to share it with you. While this was a difficult exercise to initiate, once I got going I felt really empowered and grateful for my body, flaws and all!
"Dear face and hair - forgive me for succumbing to perfectionism and often masking what God gave me (in order to conform to societal ideals of beauty). I appreciate and honor my heritage which is revealed in my hair, skin and face. Forgive me for being critical and unloving. Thank you for being expressive and unique."
"Dear skin - forgive me for not accepting the shell that I was given. I appreciate your ability to signal to me when I am off balance. Thank you for keeping me healthy."
"Dear breasts. Forgive me for measuring your size to a superficial standard. I appreciate your sexiness. Thank you for being cute and perky, I appreciate you and honor your sensuality"
"Dear belly - forgive me for condemning your feminine roundness. I appreciate the physical display of feminity and fertility. Forgive me for wanting to change you in order to fit in to trendy uncomfortable jeans. I honor and thank you for the ability to create from this area. I honor this sacred center as I honor the act of creation itself. Thank you for your beautiful curves and womanly softness"
Really honoring ourselves in this way is not always a comfortable thing to do (at least not for me) But I ask, how can our bodies cooperate with us when we are constantly critical of it? Love and acceptance of the skin we are in is a powerfully healing tool.
The Body Acceptance Exercise
If you would like to do the exercise simply remove all of your clothes and stand in front of a mirror Notice any negative judgements about specific areas of your body, and when they come up do the following:
1.) Forgive yourself for being critical and unloving to that body part
2.) Tell that body part something you appreciate about it
3.) Thank your body
By Midwest Mom
Continuing the list in no particular order:
21. Ipods. In high school, my mom’s car had an 8-track player! I bought an adapter that let me play cassettes in it and thought it was cutting edge technology.
22. “Health Food” products now available in mainstream grocery stores. We don’t have a decent health food store in my current town, so I’m thankful that the local Wal-Mart carries soy milk, bocca burgers, etc AND has a gluten-free aisle. Unheard of just a few years ago!
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