Make Your Monday: Quote-worthy
Today's quote is a reminder in this month when dieting and exercise and weight loss are the subject (more than usual) of commercials, articles, internet ads and conversations. We may want to tweak our body, but it's amazing already.
What our bodies do for us each day is magical. They take in air and food and create energy for us to do so many things. Even those of us who wish for more energy can be grateful for what we have. I hadn't given my body a lot of thought (not positive thoughts anyway) and didn't realize I was punishing my body alternately with negativity and then by ignoring it. I never appreciated it. I never wondered at it. When I wasn't criticizing it, I gave it the cold shoulder. It wasn't until I read the title of a book, that I saw what I was doing. It was, "When Women Stop Hating Their Bodies," by Jane Hirschmann and Carol Munter. It's on my "to read" list.
I say all this in past tense because I think differently about my body during yoga. I spend an hour finding out my body can do things it never even dreamed of. I find out every single inhale energizes me and I can exhale my fatigue. It shows me how my body can be completely awkward and struggling one minute and gracefully beautiful the next. The same body - and both moments are amazing. At the end of class, a teacher will sometimes remind us to thank our body and I've started to understand. Our bodies are a gift. A miraculous one. Walking around, like my daughter's feet are doing in the wallpaper, may not seem wonderful to you until you roll your ankle and can't. House cleaning may not seem that great until you've been laid out with the flu for a week and you'd give anything to run around with energy and a Swiffer.
I've never experienced a runner's high, but laying on my yoga mat towards the end of class, I think I know how it feels. I'm still breathing deep and hard, my body's dripping sweat and I can feel my heart pumping blood through me. I've never felt so alive. As I lay there, I realize I'm exhausted and relaxed. Thoroughly worn out and wonderful. I feel genuine gratitude for this body I get to live in. I love it so much in that moment, I vow to feed it better. Not like the old days when I'd vow to eat better so I could trick it into getting skinnier. It's such an amazing machine, I want to give it the proper fuel and see what it can really do.
Many of these aspirations fade when I'm faced with chocolate, but my point is this: my body's wonderful either way. I'm starting to see the light at the end of the "my body will be wonderful when I'm a size --" tunnel.
Your body is wonderful today.
If we can wrap our hearts around this truth a little more often this year, it will be a happy new year for sure.
Love you!
Here's a link to the book I mentioned. I get a small commission if you follow it and buy the book.
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What our bodies do for us each day is magical. They take in air and food and create energy for us to do so many things. Even those of us who wish for more energy can be grateful for what we have. I hadn't given my body a lot of thought (not positive thoughts anyway) and didn't realize I was punishing my body alternately with negativity and then by ignoring it. I never appreciated it. I never wondered at it. When I wasn't criticizing it, I gave it the cold shoulder. It wasn't until I read the title of a book, that I saw what I was doing. It was, "When Women Stop Hating Their Bodies," by Jane Hirschmann and Carol Munter. It's on my "to read" list.
I say all this in past tense because I think differently about my body during yoga. I spend an hour finding out my body can do things it never even dreamed of. I find out every single inhale energizes me and I can exhale my fatigue. It shows me how my body can be completely awkward and struggling one minute and gracefully beautiful the next. The same body - and both moments are amazing. At the end of class, a teacher will sometimes remind us to thank our body and I've started to understand. Our bodies are a gift. A miraculous one. Walking around, like my daughter's feet are doing in the wallpaper, may not seem wonderful to you until you roll your ankle and can't. House cleaning may not seem that great until you've been laid out with the flu for a week and you'd give anything to run around with energy and a Swiffer.
I've never experienced a runner's high, but laying on my yoga mat towards the end of class, I think I know how it feels. I'm still breathing deep and hard, my body's dripping sweat and I can feel my heart pumping blood through me. I've never felt so alive. As I lay there, I realize I'm exhausted and relaxed. Thoroughly worn out and wonderful. I feel genuine gratitude for this body I get to live in. I love it so much in that moment, I vow to feed it better. Not like the old days when I'd vow to eat better so I could trick it into getting skinnier. It's such an amazing machine, I want to give it the proper fuel and see what it can really do.
Many of these aspirations fade when I'm faced with chocolate, but my point is this: my body's wonderful either way. I'm starting to see the light at the end of the "my body will be wonderful when I'm a size --" tunnel.
Your body is wonderful today.
If we can wrap our hearts around this truth a little more often this year, it will be a happy new year for sure.
Love you!
Here's a link to the book I mentioned. I get a small commission if you follow it and buy the book.
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