Do you love yourself?
Do you love your body?
And are you allowed to?
️I don’t know about you but as I grew up we weren’t encouraged to love ourselves. When I was at school when someone shared that they had done well at something, they may have been judged as being up themselves, full of themselves, big noters, egotistical or self centred. And school wasn’t the only place I experienced this. ️
It didn’t exactly set you up to share one’s accomplishments, or to stand out and be seen, as someone could chop you down. (the tall poppy syndrome)
And there were judgments about bodies too. If you got caught touching your body, or a sibling or someone else did then you were made wrong. That is definitely not something that was done in public or private. The wrongness associated with bodies was quite intense.
I heard all sorts of judgments that people should lose weight, or exercise, they weren’t fast enough, or good enough and fun was made of them.
️And we had to fit into the mould of what was appropriate behaviour and what was not. So very early on I learned not to do those things that weren’t acceptable by others. To cut off those parts of me because it wasn’t ok and it was frowned upon. I also learned to be a people pleaser. Which mean’t to do those things that were ok in others people’s eyes so I would be safe and approved of. ️
So how do you love you and your body?
Over the past 2 years I’ve taken a deep dive into finding out who I am without having to fit in, or do what is expected and accepted by others. I am no longer being the people pleaser or going into other people’s universes to figure out who I have to be so that I am safe and I don’t get into trouble.
I have begun to put me first, not at the exclusion of others but at the inclusion of me. And when I choose for me and put me first, then things around me work. This in turn has empowered me to initially start liking myself to now loving myself. This is about being ok with who you are. Not trying to change or be anything different for anyone else. For me I was willing to lose everything to have all of me. I actually gained so much more.
By having my chakra’s balanced (which was in yesterday’s post) this bought me back into my body. Which empowered me to be present with my body. That was around 16 years ago now.
️In the last 2 years, I have really started to listening to my body and being grateful for her. Gratitude makes such a difference. Our bodies contribute so much to us, if we are willing to include them. Our bodies carry us around, they give us cues if there is danger around or if something is totally joyful and expansive.️
Our bodies are willing and able to communicate with us, we just have to learn to listen to what they are saying. Listening to the whispers of our body and our intuition.
My body asked to go to the gym for 18 months and I had points of view about the gym. I can just walk on the beach and it’s free, people just perve at each other at the gym, it’s hot and sweaty. Anyway a couple of months ago I joined the gym, and I walk in and body goes ahhhhhh. She loves the gym. The discomfort at the start was like yeah we are doing something. You know the good pain right, when you know you are achieving something.
Here are some questions you can ask:
What has your body been asking for that you have been resisting or ignoring?
Body what are you trying to communicate with me?
Body show me what you would like to do for exercise?
What would it be like to love you and your body?
If you were truly choosing for you what would you choose?
If I chose to love me, what would that be like?
Please let me know in the comments if this was helpful and any a-ha’s or awarenesses that you had.