A friend of mine who is an art teacher, shared a recent experience.
Her class of 1st graders had just finished their Mondrian artworks and they were placing them on a rack to dry. As one girl approached the rack, she slowly, and respectfully, placed her masterpiece on the rack and kissed it gently.
A gentle acceptance of beauty…
She saw the creative wonder that came forth from her hands, from her soul, and she appreciated it, and loved it…
Why can’t we do that with ourselves?
We are amazing, creative wonder-filled beings and yet we often focus on the negatives, focus on what’s wrong with ourselves, our bodies, and we let that negativity define us.
Today, while sitting in a hospital waiting room, I read this article in Brava Magazine:
Our Bodies Ourselves
Learn To Love What You See In The Mirror
Women have an especially hard time seeing themselves as they truly are in today’s culture.
- Do you know any girls six to eight years old? Almost half of them would rather be slimmer.
- Know adolescent girls? Odds are that they’ve dieted and thought about weight loss even though they were normal weight.
- Eating disorders are 400 percent more prevalent than in the 1970’s
- It takes seeing only 11 images from the media for women to have feelings of body dissatisfaction, and anxiety over their weight.
11 images…
This article has some heartfelt and practical advice for overcoming negative body images. It’s about redesigning your perception of your self. It’s about seeing yourself as more than what media images, and the culture at large, will have you believe you are.
Know you are more.
You are Beauty.
You Are Light.
Share YOU!
Some years back, a friend, an artist, was going through multiple challenges. She saw herself as unattractive and overweight, and couldn’t see herself otherwise. She couldn’t even appreciate her own art, the works of her hands. Her self-perception was crippling her ability to share of herself. She thought she was a no one, and was in a depression. I wrote the following song for her. I feel it compliments the article in Brava.
So many faces
the woman, the lover, the poet, the artist
You look into the mirror
ask “Is it really me?”
For every drop of rain that falls
every tear that touches sky
every breath mingling with stars
why should there be any doubt
of who you are?
It’s clear to me
so many faces, so much love, so much beauty
Mystery is not defined it’s experienced
and loved in silence…
For every drop of rain that falls
every tear that touches sky
every breath mingling with stars
why should there be any doubt
of who you are?
You
Just be you
Just be you
Just be you
just be you…
***
We are not defined by what others say.
Let’s design ways to help people, especially women, see themselves as they really are. There’s a wonderful program synthesizing yoga, community and service, at Eat, Breathe, Thrive. Check them out!
I’d love to hear your ideas for fostering self-acceptance, especially pertaining to disordered eating and negative body image,
ZenStorming 