Thursday, December 09, 2010

Getting old is good for you (yes, really!)

I look in the mirror. Disappointment immediately sets in: my stomach has more rolls than the Pillsbury Dough Boy and my butt is so droopy it could touch the floor. My shoulders sag. A knot forms in my gut. I hate my body so much. I hate myself so much.

This was the way I felt every day for most of my life. Every day, I would get on the scale, look in the mirror, or try on my tight jeans to find a way to think of my body as"good-enough". On the rare occasions that the scale showed me a "good-enough" number, or that my stomach was "flat-enough", or my jeans fit, I would feel happy, good about myself, and confident. Most often, though, my body got nowhere near my "good-enough" standards, and I'd feel hopeless, insecure, and self-hating.

Today, I perceive my body completely differently. Why the change? Part of it is due to the years of work I've done using the Body Beloved system that I created, which teaches us to love our body from the inside-out.

The other reason I am changing? I'm getting old and I am so darned grateful for that as it is FORCING me to focus on something else than how hot or thin I am!!! Getting older is showing me how often things can go wrong with the body and how incredibly lucky I am when my body works well. For example,I have learned:
how valuable my wrist is after I broke it a few years ago;
how lucky I am to have working kidneys after enduring the pain of kidney stones;
the gift of peeing pain-free after my bladder stopped working after the birth of one of my children;
the miracle of a strong digestive system, after struggling with years of eating disorders and digestive issue;
the wonder of disease-free cells, after supporting one of my best friends through cancer...
These days, I rarely look in the mirror. Instead, when that impulse arises, I focus my gaze instead to the inside of my body and connect to gratitude for the millions of miracles it performs for me on a daily basis. There is nothing like it to fill me with unending joy and love. It is a gift that keeps on giving.

Following are a few practices to shift your perception from the outside-in to the inside-out:
When you pee, thank your kidneys and your bladder
When you eat, thank your digestive system
When you exercise (or any time), thank you heart !
When you move any part of your body, thank your bones, your muscles, your tendons or your ligaments
when you are stopped at a red light, thank some part of your body that you generally shame and criticize (stomach anyone?!)
Every time you shift from criticism to gratitude, you are rewiring your brain and moving towards more happiness and fulfillment. I promise you it will be worth your time and your practice!

I'd love to know what you think!

Warmly,
Isabelle
303-817-6912

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