If you have been a subscriber to our weekly friend letter for a while, then you most likely have heard me talking about accepting our bodies. And actually, let me clarify – not just accepting but loving them. Our bodies are our temples. Without them, we can’t exist. And the happier they are, the happier we are and vice versa. They keep us safe and they offer shelter and protection. Our bodies are so much wiser and more beautiful than we usually give them credit for. Maybe this resonates with you, maybe not. But for me, this is SO TRUE. And here’s a little thing that I started doing on a regular basis to get better at loving my body.
A good friend of ours, Shanna Mota of ALIGN, recently told me that many of her friends have mentioned to her that they think I’m very pretty. As she told me this, I, of course, got incredibly happy but also felt that familiar feeling of resisting compliments directed at me. A familiar feeling of hesitating to believe it. It’s often hard for us to see ourselves in the positive light that other people see us in. I told Shanna that I was very flattered and happy, but I also opened up to her about my own securities. By the look of her face, I think she could sense my resistance to the compliment and instead of keeping the truth to myself, I decided to tell her what was truly going on inside of me as I heard these lovely words about myself.
When I was approaching my teen years, I very quickly became curvy. My boobs got big and my hips exploded like something that felt like overnight. My stretch marks were embarrassing and I got bullied in school from having big breasts. I was never obese, but I was definitely a lot larger than my friends and it made me extremely self-conscious. I was hyper-aware of how I dressed and if it made me look fat, or vulgar with my new oversized curves that caused so much attention. I was very, very uncomfortable.
This has unfortunately stayed with me all through my life so far. I still see myself as larger than I am, and I’m still working every day on loving my body more. As I told Shanna this story from my past, she offered me something she referred to as “mirror work”. It’s an amazing exercises that I started doing and can already after only a week, feel a difference in my mind. So I wanted to share this exercise with you dear TCW-fam! If this body-talk feels familiar to you, then I really recommend investing a few minutes every day to this.
I do mirror work like this:
I get undressed, completely naked. No make up.
Place yourself infront of a mirror.
Start by looking down on your feet through the mirror (or as far down as your mirror goes)
Tell your feet “thank you”. Tell them “you are beautiful and I appreciate you”.
Move up to your legs. Tell them the same things.
Move up towards your hip area and keep repeating, thank you, you’re beautiful and I appreciate you as you cover the rest of your body. Take your time on each area.
If you can, try to keep a soft gaze, and a soft non-forced smile as your telling your body these things. Try to keep your mind light and your breath calm.
And I KNOW!!! It feels so weird the first few times. Trust me! I was very hesitant to keep going after the first time. But it does feel amazing. I think what it does more than anything is bringing gratitude back into your body. It’s so easy to loose that touch with oneself when rushing around in our busy lives. Doing mirror work (almost) every day is helping me to find that gratitude towards my body, and be kinder to this magnificent, unique temple that is me. Now go find that gratitude and love towards yours. You deserve it. So simple. So good. Hope you give this lovely exercise a try!
