This is the week where the Internet is asked for post Christmas “weight loss tips” and “detox diets.” The trouble with many of the January diets is their restrictive nature makes them unachievable.
Our body detoxes everyday; assuming that you use the bathroom, take a pee and sweat. The human body was designed long before green dust in a box for a limited special price.
The mainstream media is in danger of implying that the answer to looking good is slimming down, eating green stuff and joining a gym. Which is great if you sell green stuff or own a gym, I suppose.
No diet or regime will transform me into a 25-year-old supermodel, which is good as I am unique and like being my age. I am grateful for being me. Acceptance of how you look and who you are is one of the most powerful things a person can do.
Society spends too much time focusing our attention on how we should look, how we did look but very little time extolling the virtues of being grateful and appreciating how we look today and accepting it.
Today is where we are. It is pretty obvious really, but it is too easy to look back or forward and miss today.
No, I haven’t been to a tropical Christmas retreat and come back all changed; I worked it out for myself through realizing that finding fault in myself was not working. If I forget to be grateful each day, I am in danger of letting fear and unhappiness fester, which is very toxic and unhealthy.
I did not always like being me, boarding school was many unhappy years, but that is the past and thankfully, some twenty years later, I am happy being me and I am grateful. I have body gratitude. This is a very liberating place to be and you have the choice to grab that with both hands too.
It seems that very few women are actually happy with their body; according to the Government of Saskatchewan 85 per cent of Canadian women are unhappy with their body.
It is too easy to go through life wanting more, always focusing on what you do not have, but perhaps it is time to start appreciating what you do have?
A change of thinking is powerful as it alters your view of the world entirely. My husband says to me (if I grumble): “Joanna, would you put it all back in a bag, hand it back to God and ask for a rebuild?” “No,” I reply. “Well then, find something good to think about,” he says curtly.
I am exceptionally grateful for his candid reminders, it gives me perspective.
The way we talk about ourselves is far more powerful than any all-vegetable diet or rigorous exercise regime. Be assured, I like vegetables — quite a bit actually — and exercise too, but our thinking is powerful and finding fault with your appearance is quite toxic; why not use gratitude instead?
The sexiest thing a woman can wear is self-confidence and self-love. Or as Gwyneth Paltrow puts it: “Beauty, to me, is about being comfortable in your own skin. That, or a kick-ass red lipstick.” I would add, just make sure it is a lead-free lipstick.
You are enough. Why not commit to devoting your energy into accepting yourself and practicing body gratitude? Saying “I love my body” rather than I wish I was … (you fill in the blank).
“No one abuses his own body, does he? No, he feeds and pampers it,” Ephesians 29:33.
Yet in today’s society there are a lot of people denying themselves good food, and happiness, in an attempt to buy a smaller pair of jeans. I am not suggesting all we do is eat and pamper ourselves, far from it. Yet, I wonder how much happier we might be if this year the only New Year’s resolution was to love your body and be grateful for all it does for you.
Today, you are enough. Being on a diet is so last year.
Joanna writes for www.ActualOrganics.com ;and wishes you a very joyful 2013.
