Better Body Image

I haven't come up with a good title for this yet, but the essence of what I'm going to write about has to do with a transformation of how I think about my body. In our day and age, there are so many things out there telling us the "ideal" way to look. Way too many skinny (unhealthy) models are out there skewing our body images. The way that they look is not an ideal way to think. We do not all have the inherited genetics to look like that and if we do, we have to alter our image by some unnatural means.

The main thing that I want to do this year is to shed all of the "dead weight" that is keeping me down about loving my body the way that it is. I am imagining that I would like to do a detox of all the unhealthy things I think about personally about my body. It might take me a long time to get rid of some of the deep rooted feelings I have (such as I have never liked my legs), but I think it will be healthy.

Today, I just want to start off remembering that my body is a gift. I think the first step is to take an inventory of what a beautiful creation my body is and to take into account all the wonderful miracles that are happening each day, mostly without anything that I am doing to it. I'm just going to start with listing off some of the blessings I have because of my body. (Maybe this has been on mind because I've been dealing with atypical pneumonia for the past week and have been setback on some goals that I would like to achieve with good health).

*These would be different for everybody because we all have different things. I recognize that not everyone will have healthy lungs, be able to taste, have all of their limbs, but this is a start to love what I have and recognize the blessings that they are.

I am grateful for my body because:

• My heart pumps blood daily giving me the energy that I need
• My lungs are healthy and bring the oxygen to the blood that gives me energy
• My muscles and bones help me to move
• My eyes are able to see
• My ears are able to hear
• My nose is able to smell
• My tongue is able to taste
• My feet allow me to run, walk, dance, hike, etc.
• My hair is thick and full
• My skin is strong and protective
• My hands are able to do all of the things that I need to do each day
• I am grateful for my limbs, toes, fingers, and thumbs that help me do daily tasks. There are amazing people out there that do not have some of these and are able to compensate for what they are missing. I look up to these people.
• My mind - that I can think, feel, love, empathize, understand, and connect with others.
• It is a creation from a loving Heavenly Father who wants my spirit to continue to grow and learn.

This is just a start, but I was thinking about it yesterday, that the first gift we were given after we were created by our Heavenly Father was our free agency. We have the ability and freedom to make choices. Because we chose to follow Him and accept Jesus Christ as our Savior, we have now been given these wonderful bodies. I know that not all bodies are whole. We have our own particular challenges with them, but they are a gift and my goal is to learn to love the gift that He has given me and be more grateful. I am so grateful for the body I have been given. I have specific challenges, one of them is feeding my body with the proper nutrition it needs to sustain me and and the other is to exercise and keep my body strong, but those are things that I can change.

Looking back, it was two weeks ago, when I went to breakfast with a good friend and told her that my heart is just not into being healthy. I wasn't sure what would get me out of that plateau. Then, I got pneumonia. The down time has made me realize how important my health is and that I want to maintain it. Maybe this is what I needed to get me started on my healthy new me. 

Since having pneumonia, I have realized that it is more important than ever to watch what we give our bodies. That goes back to Free Agency. We have the choice to fuel our bodies in certain ways. I have been working on telling myself each day how much I love my body and what I have and have realized that when I say that, I am less inclined to want to eat something that is unhealthy for me. This is just a start and I'm sure it will get harder as it goes, but I really want a healthy body. I think this is what will give me the drive to do it and maintain it this time. I will still be using techniques that I know work (I've used Weight Watcher Points Plus in the past and I love it because it works), but this time, if I have my whole heart in it, it will stick.

That and this quote: 

Those who think they have not time for bodily exercise will sooner or later have to find time for illness.    -Edward Stanley

Stay tuned, I hope to write a little each day about something positive or thought-changing about how I view my body. Maybe it will be a 30 day positive body image challenge. :)