Perpective Week
"We don't see things as they are,
we see them as we are."
-- Anais Nin
I was talking with a friend about being what we call overweight. Somehow Oprah came in to the conversation and the latest shot of her on her O magazine and how she is apologetic to her audience about talking about health and weight issues and yet she struggles with it so. Overweight issues is a top of mind issue, and to look around us, it is obvious that a majority of people struggle with that too. And, I too have had that as a top of mind issue, but I just got a new perspective that I believe will make a huge difference.
If you're overweight, maybe this will sound familiar: you go to the bathroom to take a shower and you undress and see yourself in the mirror and think that you've just got to lose this weight. You think it looks terrible. You hardly recognize yourself. You weigh yourself every day and pride yourself on losing a half of a pound and chastise yourself for gaining an ounce, with vows to exercise, eat less, eat less fatty foods, and a very long list of should's and ought-to's and because's.
It's perfectly normal to look in that mirror and pick out all your physical faults--your lines, your sags, your spots, your hair, your posture, whatever. I used to do it every day, even many times a day as I would look in a mirror. No more.
This is the new perspective: love myself, praise myself, see the me that is inside myself. It seems so simple. It came to me by thinking about being thankful. So, in my practice in seeing things to appreciate and be thankful for, I found myself looking in the mirror. It was easy to look at the trees and the sky and be thankful and appreciative, but not so easy to look in the mirror and do the same.
So, I thought about the fat hanging on my body and I started thinking about it being perfect. And, you know what? It is! The body is a work of perfection. You take in quantities of fuel (food) that is more than the body needs, and it becomes like a squirrel storing it up for the winter or another time when it may be needed. Its design stores that extra all over the body with emphasis in certain areas near the stomach and intestines where it can be readily used quickly when needed. It is not flawed--it is operating perfectly.
This new perspective filled me with new thoughts of praise. I began being thankful for the way I looked and how perfectly my body was taking care of the environment I gave it. I began thinking of myself as handsome and with great posture and such. I began loving myself. Now, it feels foreign at first because I was so used to the other routine, but each day now it gets easier and more real. I really am thankful for my body and it really is operating perfectly.
As I think of myself the way that I am inside, rather than focusing on what I have become on the outside, I see myself as thinner, healthier, more nimble, better looking and all. As a result of that, I even FEEL thinner, healthier, more nimble, and better looking. And, that is the perspective that I WANT to have because when I have that one, I feel GREAT! And when I have the old one, I feel terrible. Feeling terrible leads to not caring about hardly anything, and you know where all that goes: to the kitchen!
Now, I am so excited and convinced of this simple change of perspective, that I am going to love practicing it every day. As I do, I can already sense a change in my body, but more than this, I absolutely adore the change in the way I feel all day!
How I FEEL Is More Important Than What Is.
Spread Some Joy Today--Begin your day appreciating yourself and how perfect you are. That joy will rub off on everyone you encounter all day.
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