In April 2014 I lost my beloved pet dog Gally. I had had her for many years and she gave me nothing but pure unconditional love. When I was sick, she’d walk me to the bathroom to make sure I was okay. When I pulled into my garage, I could hear her barking with excitement, eager to greet me. My neighbor’s kids loved her so much that they gave me a plant when Gally passed away. I cherished that plant in my old home as a connection to my Gally with it sitting front and center on my kitchen table. This past April I sold my home. Moving and packing a large home is an arduous and time-consuming process. I was so expended by the process and due to packing and relocating, I became neglectful of my plant. Subsequently, my poor plant was not thriving due to inattention. When I moved to my new spot, I placed the plant (her) on the patio, but soon realized that was too much, she literally had one leaf left. I almost threw her away thinking she was way past saving. I forgot on many occasions to water her and she had fallen over a few times losing a lot of soil. I brought her back inside and placed her in the window sill of my kitchen so that she could soak up all the sunlight she needed. I started talking to her every day, telling her how beautiful and strong her last leaf was and about my day. I would talk with such enthusiasm and love. I YouTubed how to save a dying plant and picked up some valuable tips, like placing a cracked eggshell in some fresh soil…I was trying everything to save the last symbolism of Gally.
Today, I am proud to say, she is vibrant and full of leaves with more sprouting every day. During that short time, I had neglected her, denying her nourishment, sunlight, and affection through communication, I basically forgot what she meant to me. This is exactly what we do to our bodies. One day we look up and we are bigger than we have ever been in life. We no longer can move the way we use to. We don’t look healthy. But do we just throw our bodies away? No, we do our research to figure out how to become vibrant again. We start to nourish our bodies with rich nutrients, we hydrate and most importantly we start to speak life into our lifeless bodies.
Today while doing yoga I kept asking people to look at themselves in the mirror. I found that many people wouldn’t look or if they did it was with poor eye contact. So, I gave an assignment. I challenged them to stand naked in front of their mirrors and examine their bodies without looking away. This assignment requires one to be honest with oneself. If you did this assignment, would you run away from the mirror, only peek at yourself, or would you stand in all your glory speaking negatively or positively about your body? Would you be Naked and Afraid or Unafraid?
I think that facing ourselves naked is one of the hardest things to do in the entire world. Especially if we’re dealing with bodies, in our own minds, that is less than perfect. Short or tall, fat or thin, at one time or another in our lives, most of us have body shamed ourselves. Healing and moving past body shame is the most important thing you can do for yourself. Once are able to face our own bodies and accept the beauty of our form in whatever configuration we are currently in, we can then connect emotionally and spiritually to our physical self, expressing unconditional love without fear. We become UNAFRAID of what we see in the mirror.
For many of us it’s easy to look in the mirror and point out everything we hate or dislike about our bodies, but what does that do for your soul? It crushes you and grows the fear, and just like my plant when I neglected her, we start to wither away. But also like my plant when we start to care for our needs, feed positively into our soul, we flourish. Now, stand in the mirror and do a full 360 turn, lift that unwanted fold of fat under your arm, your stomach, don’t forget those thighs and that rear end and start saying, I love you, I love every inch of this body. Start thanking your body for protecting you from everyday elements, from healing your scrapes and bruises, and everything else it does all day every day that you don’t even notice. Love on every stretch mark, surgical scar a childhood scrap. God healed you through it all. Start to really appreciate your ankles for helping you walk, drive, bike, and run with your kids. Celebrating each small win is better than focusing on defeat. Learn to stand Naked and Unafraid of God’s gift to you. You only have one body…take care of it and it will take care of you. No Mess
