Many of us are thinking about health (and weight) during the beginning of the year. January is long gone, and perhaps so are the good intentions. Life goes back to the old routines, and we start waiting for the next great thing to come and inspire us—maybe bikini season?
Motivation from the Outside in
We often try to affect our bodies from outside in. We try to treat the hair, the skin, and the size of the body from the outside.
We set arbitrary limits to these great natural vehicles we have, and decide that some magic number is better than the other—our weight should be a certain number, and our clothes should have another number. If the numbers do not add up, we get upset.
We focus on the things we see, the not-enoughs or the too-muchs. We force ourselves to follow odd diets, deprive our bodies, and when we fail, we punish ourselves by even more deprivation or by another vigorous exercise regime.
Body balance is so much more than the fun class you can take at your local gym.
Our bodies are pure nature, and as such incredibly wise. Nature always, always strives for balance, unless we humans disrupt it with our 'common sense' and 'logical thinking.' If left alone, nature would exist in perfect balance, our bodies included.
I recently had an epiphany about my own disrupted body balance. I realized I have never really supported my body.
Sure, I love the things it can do and I'm proud of it for continuously developing, but for too long I have been standing outside of it—criticizing it, saying what it does wrong, how it is not and how it 'should' be. I have only seen it from the outside.
I have left my dear body to its own devices while critically watching its every movement. Of course my body failed me. It did not stick to weird diets and it did not look what I forced it to look like. And when it failed, I yelled at it even more. Poor thing!
Focusing on the Inside
Finally, I realized that I needed to establish a connection with my body again. We so easily forget the inner layer of our existence. We forget that on a cellular level we are wise beyond our understanding. Every single cell within our body is connected to the incredible wisdom of the Universe.
We are the same material, the same energy that creates worlds! Our body has an inert capability to keep itself in balance, and at an ideal weight. All we need to do is to support this inner wisdom. We need to heal ourselves from inside out.
Imagine a tree that is growing crooked. Imagine punishing and yelling at the damn tree for being so wrong, trying to cut the leaves and trim the branches, but the darn thing just keeps on growing crooked.
Until one day we look deeper, until one day we see that there is a big stone under the ground that is preventing the tree from growing straight. When we remove the stone, the roots have the space they need, and the tree can correct itself.
We don't need to do anything else for this. Just remove the obstacles for natural growth, sit back and watch. The stone underground represents all of the subconscious beliefs we have that sabotage the natural balance of our 'tree.'
It can be beliefs we have about our bodies, our weight and what we believe is possible for us to achieve. When we are unloving toward ourselves, we forget that our bodies really are the most sophisticated machines out there. Until we remove the disruptive things underground, all other actions will be in vain.
Inviting in the Change
When I realized that my poor body had been alone all these years, I started showering it with love and acceptance. I wanted it to tell me what it needed. I wanted to be there for it.
As a result I started feeling less hungry, and less in need of food. As if there had been a huge hole inside me, which my body tried to fill with food. But all it really craved for was love. So how do we start this process of change?
By reminding ourselves that our cells, the building blocks of our bodies, are connected to nature and to the universal flow. They know what to do. You're not barking orders to your body how to grow height, how to heal after an injury, or how to grow a baby—you just trust it knows better than you.
In the same way, we can trust our bodies to do their job and keep us healthy, in balance, and at an ideal weight. When we step out of the way and feel the inner light we all carry within, we can start to create a healthy, thriving relationship instead of one that is so often neglected.
We can start healing from within by being grateful that we have such wise bodies, a heart that beats, and lungs that bring in air. By extending this gratitude towards ourselves every day, we allow the body to be what it is—a miracle.
