Lose 17 Pounds in 5 Days… and Other Fictions

How often do we compare ourselves to some external standard? In particular, the media emphasizes a certain standard of beauty, of what is desirable, sexy and lovable. The subliminal message: we are inadequate, we aren’t enough, we lack something. Advertisements entice us with the newest diet plan to attain the perfect body, reiterating the message that we are not okay as we are.

Imagine a brightly colored flower garden. Are you drawn to the gorgeous lavender peony, the bright red geranium, the sunlight marigold, the fragrant rose or the majestic blue delphinium? We all have preferences. Some will be attracted to a certain color, others will be drawn to the form of a particular flower. If you are a peony, do you believe life would be more wonderful if you were a rose? Rather than asking which flower is more beautiful, I propose that each flower is uniquely beautiful as it is right now, in this very moment.

One way to move beyond the limiting mindset of external standards is to honor and value the unique qualities of our particular flower and to nurture it in such a way that it blooms in all its glory. In other words, to love ourselves. I’m not saying this is always easy, or that we always stay in a place of unwavering self-acceptance and love for ourselves. However, I believe this process of self-discovery is well worth the effort.

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This entry was posted on 22. November 2008 at 08:58 and is filed under Healthy Body. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site.