How to move from Body Hate to Body Love
The over-culture wants us to hate our bodies.
Time and time again we are shown this.
We are conditioned from a young age that there is something wrong with the body we have.
We are conditioned to believe we are never enough.
But as many of us awaken to this truth, we are realizing how detrimental this belief has been and want to change.
We want to love our bodies.
.
I was 8 years old when I was first told there was something wrong with my body.
From then on, I have heard message after message trying to solidify that message, and for a long time it worked.
I avoided mirrors, I developed body dysmorphia, a binge eating pattern, starved myself to try and loose weight, and hated who I was because of my body.
It was a constant battleground.
One where no-one was winning.
But one day I realized I had to change this.
I was tired of hating myself.
I was tired of fighting myself.
.
I began to look into body love and discovered a way of thinking that could repair the harm I had done.
I could finally began to heal.
.
The concept of body love is a process.
You will not wake up one day and absolutely love your body.
It will take time.
It will take tears.
It will take looking at all the ways you harm yourself.
It will take courage.
But you will get there.
Step by step.
.
So, how do you get there?
How can you begin to love your body?
Through Body Acceptance.
.
This is a process where you begin to form an intimate relationship to your body through accepting how it looks like, how it functions, how it operates, and how it lives in this world.
The body that you have now deserves to be appreciated for what it is.
Not when you have lost the 20 pounds, or get the surgery, or get the haircut, or get the clothes.
Just as you are right now, can you accept it?
Can you be okay with who you are? Body and all?
.
The answer can be no.
That’s okay.
If you are open to accepting yourself, you are that much closer to loving yourself.
.
There are many ways that we try to avoid ourselves.
The same goes for our bodies.
For body love to be realized, you must be willing to look at yourself. No more avoidance.
To accomplish this, spend 5 minutes in front of a mirror naked.
Try to make this a daily practice.
Brush your teeth naked.
Dance in front of the mirror naked.
See how your body moves.
See how your body really looks.
If negative thoughts show up, that’s common.
Take deep breaths and say,
“I am open to accepting my body as it is”
“I accept what I see in the mirror”
“I accept myself”
The more you commit to this practice, the more you will move towards acceptance, and then body love.
.
You deserve to feel good about who you are, body and soul.
You deserve to look at yourself, no matter what your body looks like, and find the divinity in it.
You deserve to move through this world with your head held high.
You deserve to love your body. To love yourself.