Bodies

I’ve been thinking about bodies a lot lately and how much pressure we put on them. Every body is different in countless ways. If a nose is shaped a certain way, its owner may be more prone to sinus infections, migraines, and other ailments. If someone’s foot bones are aligned a certain way, they’re more prone to bunions. True story: my ears are two different shapes. I wanted a third ear piercing and they advised against it because then it will be very obvious how uneven my ears are. Weird, right? 

Every decision we make every day has an effect on our bodies. I’m positive you’ve heard the advice that first thing in the morning you should drink lemon water, or warm water with salt,  or celery juice, or some other thing meant to help your body perform at the optimum level (whatever that means for you). The choices you make from day to day has a collective effect on your body in the future. 

Our bodies are essentially just squishy machines with bones that both keep us from being a blob and also protect our organs. It’s all pretty cool and pretty gross if you think about it. 

Yet with all of this going on, we still find ways to belittle our bodies and worse, the bodies of other people. We look at bodies and don’t think, “Look at that little miracle walking around! Incredible!” Instead we tend to be critical. A large part of that is likely us projecting our own hang ups and insecurities onto other people. If we see someone whose body looks a way we’d like our own to look, we may feel shame or anger at ourselves for not looking that way. And some people do it just to feel better about themselves for a brief moment, to feel superior. 

That’s a lot of wasted effort just to judge someone so we feel better in one way or another. Instead, why not use that effort to look inward and say something positive about ourselves? The next time you have a critical thought about someone else’s body, stop yourself and say one nice thing about your own. 

No matter how “healthy” or “unhealthy” our bodies are, there are plenty of things to be thankful for. Bodies are the home for our being, our essence, our soul. No one knows exactly what a soul is, but whatever that ethereal quality is that makes us unique ourselves lives inside your body. Your body makes it possible for you to hug your loved ones, to chase your dreams, to do all kinds of wonderful things. 

This week, let’s be 1% Better by thanking our bodies for all that they do for us, for giving us a vehicle to engage in the human experience. Let’s listen to our bodies and see what they are telling us they need. And let’s stop ourselves when we start criticizing our own and other people’s little flesh machines that are helping them live out their dreams too. 

With gratitude,

Natalie