Body Positivity

Let’s talk about body positivity. And I’m not referring to using a more inclusive representation of the female form in advertising (though that’s great), I’m talking about being positive about your body. Being positive about what it’s telling you. Being positive about what it’s doing for you. Positive from the standpoint of certainty versus positive from the standpoint of saying ‘nice’ things to yourself that you may or may not truly believe. At what point did we all become so disconnected from ourselves and our physical form? We’ve lost touch with what we truly need and are so inundated with what’s ‘right’ and what’s ‘wrong’ in terms of how we look or our health and wellness that we’re bound to fail. Let’s fix that. Right here, right now. 

Let’s start with a quick exercise: read through the instructions and THEN complete the task since it’s hard to read with your eyes closed ;). Sit up tall, close your eyes and take a deep breath in through your nose. As loudly as you can sigh everything you’re carrying out through your mouth. Do that one more time. With your eyes closed, bring your gaze to the space between your eyebrows and once you’re feeling a little more connected to your physical body, I want you to imagine the last time as a child when you felt free. Free to let your imagination run wild, free to become anything you wanted to be, and free to listen to what your body was telling you. Really let that feeling settle into your adult body and check in with what emotions and sensations it’s bringing up for you. At some point in time, for some younger than others, we lost this sense of freedom. Instead of eating when we feel hunger cues, stopping when we felt a sensation of content, and associating food with nourishment and enjoyment, our brains are now full of thoughts, knowledge, and a set of rules as to how we should feel when we eat and how we should look in order to be worthy, feel joy, be loved, etc., etc., etc. While knowledge may be power, in this case, knowing too much might just be our demise. This manifests for all of us in so many different ways. It might be calorie counting, it might be obsessing over the quantity of ‘healthy foods’ we put in our bodies, it may be restricting meal times, it may be undereating or overeating, it may be labeling foods as ‘good’ or ‘bad’, the list goes on and on. This ‘knowledge’ we’ve gained over the course of our adolescence and adult lives has broken the connection between our mental and physical bodies. 

Let’s continue to imagine here. Imagine if you could just abandon the thought that the way your body looked was going to bring you happiness. Imagine if you could just drop the brainpower you put into strategically planning out your meals. Imagine if you didn’t obsess over exercising in order to balance out the glasses of wine or dessert you had. Imagine if you just decided to stop beating yourself up over a part of your body or something you put inside of it. Think of the world of possibility you could create, achieve, or manifest if you used ALL that time doing or thinking about something else. I believe this is why children have such a deep ability to dream big and unleash creativity. They’re not bogged down by the thoughts and fixations that are now keeping us small. 

I promise, your body has your back and when you truly decide and commit to having your own back, the two will work in harmony to work for you. We think that looking or eating a certain way is going to make us feel more confident, more worthy, or attain our goals and when we think that way, it will never be enough. A six-pack is not going to bring you a more meaningful relationship. Losing 5 more pounds is not going to give you the confidence to make an offer in your business or step up in your career goals. Because once you reach that goal, it will never be enough. I can speak firsthand to knowing that when you haven’t solved for where that desire for a perfect outward appearance is truly coming from, you’ll never stop striving for more. 

Step one is digging a little deeper to uncover what lies beneath the surface of obsessing over our bodies and health. Step two is knowing that the truth is, all of that already lives inside of you. Your confidence, worth, love, and acceptance have absolutely nothing to do with what you look like or what you ate and everything to do with how perfect you were created and what you were meant to become. You are still just as perfect as the younger version of yourself you just connected with, you just have to believe it. Of course, that’s easier said than done so I want you to begin with imagining that world of possibility and tapping back into that feeling of freedom you just accessed. Become positive about your body and what it’s telling you. When we believe that our bodies have our back and are here to serve us, we develop a level of trust and open up our world to newer, bigger, more expansive avenues. 

So, the next time you’re hungry or you’re fixating on the way you should eat or look, I encourage you to get quiet in your mind and ask your body what it needs. Are you truly hungry, if you are, for what? What would make you truly feel good in that moment? Not what would put a temporary fix on a deeper problem like eating 10 cookies, or overeating, but what would serve your body best. The same goes for movement. Are you pushing yourself to do another workout to ‘fix’ something you did ‘wrong’ that day, week, or month OR are you moving because it makes you feel good, wakes you up, strengthens or stretches your muscles, carves out time for you, and so on? The same goes for your thoughts. Start developing a larger awareness around where that thought is stemming from and decide if it is truly serving you. Eating to fuel our bodies and exercising are incredible if you’re using them as a tool to propel you and your life and not a crutch to obsess over. Let’s learn to trust our bodies, and most importantly ourselves, and know that no matter what, we and the universe are here to support us. 

If this sounds too good to be true, or too hard to do on your own. I’m here for you. I’ve got your back and can show you how to believe that you and your body do too :).