body image secrets

Obsession

Recently a girlfriend of mine let me in on her little secret, she has been struggling with her weight. Every day she wakes up thinking about what she can and can’t eat, she fights with too much, too little, the right combination. She feels anguish, confusion, frustration and exhaustion about her dilemma every single day.

 We talked a little about her frustration; she claimed to have tried everything.
I suggested that maybe she just stops trying so hard, stop struggling, stop fighting her body and stop the thoughts.

 Of course her reply was, “oh that's easy for you to say, if I had a body like yours I could do that.”

 I’m going to let you in on my little secret, the reason I could relate to my girlfriends issues is because I used to be obsessed with my body and image as well. I used to hate my body. I used to think I was too tall, too fat, too lumpy, my hips were to big, my skin is the wrong color, my boobs were too small, then they were too saggy, my thighs were too big then they were too soft, my waist was non existent, my skin was bad. It didn’t matter what I ate or how much I worked out, none of this would change. In college I remember eating whole loaves of bread then running till I puked and cried from the pain of running for three hours. I can tell you I struggled with my body every day as well until one day I decided to stop.

Something came over me, (I’m sure it was something from one of the thousands of self help books I read). Something in me shifted and I decided to stop fighting.

I began to see the miracle I was in, the body is truly an amazing place to reside. It is capable of so many wonderful things. It is the reason we are here.

Instead of fighting I started to pay attention, as my mind would conjure up complaints. I would say out loud “stop” or “cancel” then insert what it is I wanted instead of what I was complaining about.

My affirmation about my body was this, “my body is beautiful, I am beautiful, I am in a long, lean, strong, healthy, flexible dancers body, ready for anything, and it just keeps getting better everyday.”

 I carried a card around with me and would pull it out when my mind would revert to its old patterns. Once I said the words out loud then I was able to move on and stop obsessing about my body. What happened next was miraculous. I had so much energy, my mind felt free and creative. I was able to focus on things I loved and enjoyed. I had so much free time and space to do the

 things that made me happy. 

No more struggling, now it is a daily ritual of what is it I want to create. My mornings were filled with gratitude from the start and my days were filled with fun and living.

Its simple, maybe too simple, but if you look at this as a game then you can re program your mind/body too. Just try it as an experiment, see what your truly capable of. 

The struggle is real as long as you keep struggling!

 Good luck have fun!