Kindness by Loving Your Body

Day 30: Kindness by Loving Your Body

“Embrace and love your body, it is the most amazing thing you will ever own.” -Unknown

Choose to love yourself from the inside out and from the outside in. Today and everyday, choose to love the body that you have, it was created just for you and you are beautiful just the way you are.

I recently read on my friends website, Fabulous to Be Female, that over 90% of women have a negative view of their bodies. That is an alarming statistic, but unfortunately, not surprising. Most of my friends are in a never ending cycle of dieting, exercise and complaining about their bodies. I used to be one of the 90%. It wasn’t until I learned to fall in love with myself from the inside out and really feed my soul with what it desired that I could leave behind the negative self image that I had created throughout my life.

This is no longer just a female problem. Boys and men are increasingly feeling the pressure to look a certain way. I have even overheard my 10 year old boy and his friends discussing six packs! So how can we teach our children to love their bodies if a huge percentage of us are dissatisfied with how we look? It must start with each of us. We must figure out how to fall in love and embrace our bodies from the inside out.

1. Kindness to Self:

   Why is it so easy to look at our children, our best friend, our spouse and tell them how beautiful they look, but when we look in the mirror we cannot say it to ourselves? Have a friend or family member write a paragraph describing your inner and outer beauty. Take that paragraph and read it everyday while looking in the mirror until you believe the words! It worked for me. Maybe even frame it and have it handy, especially on those difficult days when you are feeling down.

   “People often say that beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and I say that the most liberating thing about beauty is realizing that you are the beholder.” -Salma Hayak

2. Kindness to Others:

   How ever you can, learn to embrace and love your body and share that love with the people around you, especially the children, for they are always watching and listening.

   “As a child, I never heard one woman say to me ‘I love my body.’ Not my mother, my elder sister, my best friend. No one woman has ever said, ‘I am so proud of my body.’ So, I make sure to say it to Mia, because a positive physical outlook has to start at an early age.” – Kate Winslet

3. Kindness to Strangers:

   Finding beauty where ever and whomever we look at can be liberating and a great way to feed the soul. You can make a game of it..try finding one beautiful quality in every person you meet, even the ones that may be offensive to you.

   “If you judge people, you have no time to love them.” – Mother Teresa

4. Kindness to Our Planet:

   The more we can live in and embrace our inner beauty, the more loving kindness we will feel and be able to spread to those around us and it will naturally spread to the places we live.

Jennifer Palazzo

Photo Courtesy of FreeImages.com/NancyTorres