Loving the Body

My Journey of Getting Past Body Image Issues

I've had body image issues for a long time,  well ever since I can remember. It's such a long term old habit that it's hard to break. I don't remember exactly when it started but I know I was anorexic at 13 and although I stopped starving myself, I never started to love my body.  I'm now 28, that's a decade and a half of hatred towards my body and don't even get me started on the other parts of myself. I've practiced gratitude, a lot of meditation and dabbled in affirmations and I've finally put my foot down and said it's time to really love myself. It's time for me to break the old habits and give myself the love I deserve.

 I actually started a few weeks ago. I began using affirmations and used Louise Hay's advice of standing in the mirror and telling myself I love me. I practice a lot of self awareness. I'm a massive analyzer and I've learned how to break through my old thought patterns. I hear my thoughts and sense my feelings with it and I ask myself where the thoughts and feelings have come from. If I'm stuck I talk to my guides and higher self. I find that as I focus on an old thought with awareness I hear that it's just an old thought pattern that I don't actually believe anymore.

 I'm now slowly replacing the old thoughts with new ones. As I do this, I've begun to realise how crazy my old thoughts were. Don't get me wrong,  I still fall back into the old thoughts, I just hope I won't eventually. Here I am, as are you, a divine being, a soul if you will, having a human experience. A wonderful, unique expression of life itself. I'm blessed to be in a full functioning body, living in a rich society with all my needs met abundantly and spoilt with our first world luxuries like technology and leisure items. I'm so lucky, especially compared to those struggling to meet their basic needs. I have everything and then some (and I'm considered poor in this country). Yet there I stand, worried and insecure about my body shape. Comparing myself to a teenage, photoshopped model in a shop window. Are we mad? How or why is "body image" even a thing? We are all so amazing in our unique expression of consciousness.

The next crazy realisation I had was that we put pretend food that's made up of poisonous chemicals into our bodies and say we're treating ourselves. Spoiling ourselves is actually more towards the truth but think about an apple that is spoiled, it's rotten. To treat ourselves would be to eat real food and to tell ourselves we deserve to be healthy. This is showing ourselves and our bodies love and appreciation.

 I also realised that we give our loved ones love, respect and support but we forget to take the time to give this same care to ourselves. Imagine a world where we loved ourselves, each other and the Earth.  Where everyone felt secure in themselves. Be the change you want to see in the world.

We live in a society where we've forgotten what healthy means, with our ego's saying we want to be healthy but deep down the ego just wants to look good. Since our goal is about our looks, we make unhealthy choices like eating less than we need or we may binge on unhealthy pretend foods. We also have unrealistic and unobtainable goals for our bodies and feel insecure when we can't reach them.

Choices I'm making now to love and care for my body: (that you can too)

1. I show myself love and care which then leads me to want to feed my body real foods that nourish me. You may like my other post: Self Love: 10 Things to do to show yourself love.

2. I Choose to appreciate my body and say, "I love you,  body" instead of "I love my body" This takes away the ego identification with the body and motivates me to feed my body amazingly healthy foods. 

3. I check all labels of what I'm eating and avoid any fake lab made chemicals that are harmful to my body. I source non-GMO and organic foods.

4. I respect animals, and in turn myself, and only eat free range.

5. I stand in the mirror and use affirmations. I even stand nude and appreciate my unique shape and am grateful to have a healthy full functioning body that has healthily carried 3 children.

6. When I hear negative or shallow thoughts that dis-empower me, I remind myself that it's just old habits. I purposely let those thoughts and feelings go and choose positive, empowering ones instead.

7. If I do slip backwards and awareness, meditation and gratitude aren't helping, I allow my feelings and forgive myself.

I'm sure over time I will let go of many more negative insecure thoughts, feelings and actions that come from lack of self love. I'm excited about what future I'm creating as I begin to love and value myself. I just hope that by sharing this, you will too, choose to love yourself by taking time for you, caring for you, giving yourself love and admiration and making choices that serve you.

Namaste

Belinda

8 Benefits I love from Meditation

1. I simply enjoy meditation

Source

In the past, I knew many benefits to meditation so I thought it was a good idea to practice everyday. However, since at that time I felt I should meditate, I was never motivated to, when I tried, I found it difficult and I'd go weeks without meditating. I eventually let go and realised no one has to do anything. I actually meditate daily now but only because I look forward to it and enjoy it. I love the relaxation and peace and I love connecting to my higher self and guides. I enjoy feeling one with everything.

 2. Gratitude

Sometimes during meditation, I practice gratitude or my guides remind me to be grateful. I love remembering how abundant and prosperous my life is, through gratitude I realise how lucky I am to have all of my needs met abundantly and then some! I remember that there are others who lack their basic needs and I feel very lucky to live in such a rich society.

Source

3. De-stress

I usually choose to meditate when I feel stressed and almost immediately feel better. As I sit quietly and go within myself I find relaxation and peace.

 4. Problem Solving

During meditation I connect with my higher self and guides and find solutions to any problems I'm experiencing. I have many great epiphanies during meditation, transcending any limiting beliefs and negative thought patterns.

5. Letting go of self doubt

My ego creeps in with thoughts of self doubt but as I meditate I realise it's just old negative thought patterns from the past that aren't true and I'm able to let them go and stop identifying with them. 

6. A Great Start to My Day

I love starting the day with the peace and bliss meditation brings, I feel more energized, clear headed and positive as I start my day.

7. Finding my True Inner Self

As I meditate I go within myself sensing and feeling my true self, the divine energy which is the me beyond this world. I sense myself as one with everyone and everything, knowing that I am the awareness of my thoughts and feelings not the thoughts and feelings themselves. This brings me to know my true self and to know I am whole and fulfilled as I am.

8. The Crazy Wonderful Experiences

Sometimes I have very deep meditations, other times they're apt but weird, sometimes I go on amazing journeys but most of the time I feel amazing. I've felt energy, met guides, understood and known my higher self, seen other worlds, felt all sorts of sensations, seen other people's guides, broken through old negative thought patterns and had amazing epiphanies. My guides have shown me metaphors such as my heart being a walled off castle to show me I've walled myself in. These experiences keep me going back for more.  

What benefits of meditation do you love?

Happy meditating :)

Namaste

Belinda

Self Love

We give our loved ones affection and appreciation but we forget the most important person in our lives. Our selves! When we love ourselves, we are better able to love those around us, we have more energy and oomph for life and we're happier.

Here's 10 things to do to show yourself love. 

1. Tell yourself you love you. 

Stand in the mirror and and tell yourself how much you love, adore and appreciate you. This may feel hard at first but with practice everyday you will come to love yourself more and more.

2. Make a list of the things you love about yourself. 

Your skills, talents, traits, beliefs and values. Be creative if you like and use different colours to write, write anywhere on your page and/or draw pictures along with your words.

3. Take time for yourself regularly. 

 I used to think it would be selfish to take time for myself, especially as a mum! However, I realised when I take time for me to meditate and take care of myself I'm more present and pleasant with others and have more energy for other tasks in my day. 

4. Forgive yourself. 

We all make mistakes, forgive yourself for your mistakes and forgive yourself for judging yourself when you've made a mistake. 

5. Feed yourself wonderful food to provide your body with nutrition and vitality. 

Show your body love and appreciation by feeding it nutritious delicious food and eat it mindfully, enjoying the experience. Feel grateful that we live in such a wonderfully food rich society where all of our needs are met abundantly. 

6. Listen to your heart. 

At times, we may feel low, perhaps something isn't going the way you'd like or you're just having a bad day. Take some time to sit in quiet contemplation, ask your higher self and guides for assistance and work out your problems. Try not to suppress your feelings as they will cause other problems later, know that the answers you need are within you and work towards letting go.

7. Spend your time and energy on people and things you love. 

Sometimes our lives become full of toxicity; people who suck our energy dry and things we feel we have to do but don't like doing. Spend more time with people who love you and find gratitude in the things you do. As you focus more and more on love, toxic people and things will drop away over time. 

8. Accept that life has ups and downs. 

You can't have only one side to a coin. Good and bad only exist in contrast to one another. I used to believe that life could all be peaches and cream and hoped one day everything would just fall into place and I'd live happily ever after. What I didn't realise, is that by holding onto this belief I was hurting myself because I was unable to handle the downs that came after the ups and would even spend time in the highs just waiting in dread for things to go wrong. Now that I've accepted the highs and the lows, I'm grateful for the lows as they're an indication that I would like something to change and they make the highs feel good in contrast. 

 

9. Love your strengths and your flaws. 

No one's perfect and if we were, what would be the fun in that? There'd be no room for discovery, change and growth. Love all of your traits that make up the unique and wonderful you.

10. Give yourself affection. 

Hug yourself, kiss yourself, do things for you that you would do for a loved one. Value you and show yourself that you know you deserve love and affection. Give yourself the same attention you would give to someone else you love.

Wishing you love and light

Namaste

Belinda