And today I want to share two things: an essay that my friend Luna wrote - called "My Left Breast" - because it helps me remember about real beauty -
and
bits from a review of Jan Phillips' book, Divining the Body - because the book helps me live with love and gratitude for my body.
Let the wild sharing begin (can you tell I'm a little obsessed with the movie Where The Wild Things Are? I still haven't gotten to see the movie - looks like it'll be tomorrow...But I keep wanting to say "Let the wild (fill in the blank) begin!" Maybe I'll be worse with repeating that phrase AFTER the movie - ohmy! Run quick!!
Ok, asides aside - here's Luna:
My Left Breast
by Luna
My beautiful, gifted artist friend Denise Mihalik has always intrigued me with her self-portrait photos. She inspires me on so many levels, but what touches my spirit most is the honesty she seems to capture with her camera's eye. She has courage and confidence when she takes those pictures of herself. She is so beautiful, and she finds beauty where ever on her body she focuses the lens.
For someone who has always struggled with body image this has seemed like something impossible, something that I could never do. But, I did something really big one day not so long ago...I took a picture of my left breast, my naked left breast.
Sweet Goddess!! I felt a bit awkward and somewhat naughty lying naked across my bed taking the picture, upstairs in my bedroom while Tom {Luna's husband} was away from home.
Read the rest of Luna's essay here.
And here are bits from my Square-Peg review of Divining the Body by Jan Phillips:
She shares many of her own stories in this book...She also shares stories from others - among many of these is a beautiful description of dance used in a West African ritual to aid in processing grief. There's even a fable - whose message is "Beauty is what you see when someone is real."
.....
Jan encourages us in knowing and telling our own stories - she tells us:
"...when we share our stories...They not only help us clarify and understand the particularities of our lives, they help others enter more fully into the experience of their lives. When we acknowledge our vulnerabilities, our victories and failures, our fears and wildest dreams, we give others permission to do the same."
and
"It's through our stories that we begin to name ourselves, to say who we are under all the social trappings, and to emerge from those trappings like a butterfly from a chrysalis. We are midwives, in a way, to each other's rebirth."
Here's what Jan Phillips wrote in the Introduction: "This book is an attempt to undo the damage we've sustained living in a culture that thrives on our self-hatred. It is a sanctification of our human bodies...a journey of awe and reverence..."
That's a huge attempt - and it works. This book is like medicine - a reuniting potion for the body and soul.
Read the whole review here.
