Body Love

 

It's been awhile since we've had a Body-Part Wednesday post.

I'm glad to get back to the subject, and thrilled to share a guest post on body mindfulness/body love from the delightful Bridget Pilloud (go read her blogs, links below, she is a hoot! funny and oh-so mindful, I always leave her posts with things to reflect on).

Enjoy (that's an order - grin) Bridget Pilloud's guest post: "Loving that Body"!

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Loving that Body 

(Guest post by Bridget Pilloud)

I was recently at a brunch, and a skinny lady across the table from me made a disparaging joke about how fat she was.

She was feeling bad about the size of her butt, which is about half the size of mine.

Then she saw me across the table, turned red and apologized.

I asked, “Why are you telling me that you’re sorry?”

This made me laugh, because she really didn’t know what to say then. I mean, she apologized to me for making a fat joke.

She apologized because I am fat.

I’m a size 18-20.  I am soft and curvy and plump.

I’ll take my round booty and body love over her tiny booty and body hate. It is a much better deal.

Body Frustration

I used to joke that if my body was a temple, mine was a temple of doom. I have the metabolism of a hibernating bear. My thyroid screwed me and it didn’t even kiss me. My gall bladder was (and I quote) “the biggest, ugliest sack of stones” that the surgeon had ever seen.

My body does not look perfect. My body does not act perfect.

Certainly, by every standard I’m shown on TV and in print, my body is a before picture.

But…my body is pretty freaking awesome, and although I’m late to the loving party, it’s so much easier to love it than to hate it.

How did I learn to love my body?

The only way to love something, truly, is to know it.

Appreciate the View

I started with something I liked. I started with my cute nose. Just, right now, look in the mirror and find a piece of you that you like. On every body, there is something to appreciate. Perhaps it’s the color of your eyes,  or the shape of your front teeth. Find it. Say out loud, “I like my ____________”.

Appreciate the Experience

Then think about something you get to experience through your body, something you enjoy. The warmth of a bath, the taste of a mango, (even, might I say, in square-peg-karen’s-blog, the ecstasy of an orgasm?): all of these are only available to us via these imperfect temples. Take a moment to say “I am loving this because of my body.”

Love it Back

Love your body back.

Start by stopping  your critical eye. 

I lived with only a hand mirror for six months. That’s a great, albeit drastic, way to stop the criticism. 

Put a sticky note on your mirror that says, “If I wouldn’t say it to a friend, I won’t say it to my body.”  You’d never tell your friend that the skin hangs off her knees like bread dough. Why would you say that to your body? Why tear yourself down?  It hasn’t helped you this far, has it?

Then, also, do stuff for your body. Find something that you can do today to help your body feel better. Get a massage. Get acupuncture. Get thee to the gym.

Don’t wait until you’re skinny to buy the pretty clothes. Do it now. 

Repeat

These three acts, performed over and over again, will change how you see your body.

I love my body.
I am not the fastest.
I am not the prettiest.
I have a ways to go before I will be the healthy one racing through the water at my gym’s pool. 
But my body lets me be here.
It lets me hug my kids.
It lets me feel the sun on my skin.
How awesome is that?

What I’ve Noticed

Since I’ve started to love my body, people have started to touch me more. People have told me that they think I’m beautiful. Me.

Overweight, over-40 me. I am making better decisions about what I eat.

More than anything, I’m happier. I am happier at a size 18 than I was as a size 6.

Your body is valuable. Your body is beautiful. Your body is functional.

Try to love it. Try to really know it and love it. You will feel so much better.

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Bridget Pilloud is an intuitive guidance counselor living in Portland, Oregon. She teaches people how to use their intuition. Bridget is also an intuitive animal communicator.

She’s got an awesome domestic partner named Brian, 3 kids, 3 dogs and 3 cats. She loves art and horseback riding and eating oysters.  She can be found at http://www.bridgetpilloud.com and http://www.petsaretalking.com and on twitter @intuitivebridge .

Comments

[Heather Plett]

What a treat! Thanks!

[Laura Hegfield]

My body and my mind have done battle for many years for a variety of reasons (sometimes weight related sometimes pain and or function related), interestingly my heart and soul love each other and love both my body and mind too...so the integration piece is still a work in progress This is a wonderful post. Thanks Karen and Briget.