enCouragingBliss: Our Bodies as Healthy Vehicles

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enCouragingBliss, please go here.

Listening to: I thought this singer would be appropriate today, and then lo and behold, people are complaining about her looks in the comments!

Bliss: Ah, my new contacts. I'm still going to give them a couple of days... AND at the end of this month, I will be fitted for my top retainer! Three weeks after that, my top braces come off! My 40 year old teenage self will soon be out of here!!

To stay on this week's unintentional topic...

In order to fully know and live our bliss, we must first be solidly situated within our physical bodies.

It is through our physical bodies that we, of course, have this spiritual and creative experience called life, so it makes sense that to fulfill purpose, we must start with the concrete.

We must have healthy, happy bodies so that we are not immersed in pain body, so that we might be able to clearly hear and decipher our instincts, which come to us through these bodies.

To be happy with our physical bodies means that they can be the vehicle but not the message itself. We would no longer waste time and energy on self-judgment (or other judgment), diets, too much exercise, too much shopping, and on and on.

Being happy within our own personal temples, we could get on with the real work.

But that is a big sentence, is it not? To be happy within our own temples. (Our bodies really are holy, our hearts know this and whisper it to us even when we are feeling so disconnected.)

Whether it be through too many destructive cultural messages or a parent paying too close attention to what we eat, most (American) women come of age with damaged self-perceptions. Or we even, quite simply, hate ourselves. (oh, and how that hate rules us...)

To begin mending this, I thought we could try a body story exercise this week to enCourageBliss.

Courage is a vital component to this work, especially this week, I think.

So take a deep breath, and do not be afraid.

We are all here, grasping the edges of the net into which I will ask you to jump.

Set up an area just like you would for some private meditation time. Make sure you won't be interrupted. Make sure you feel safe.

First, take a moment and list all of your body parts. Start at the top or bottom and work your way down, creating a column.

Second, without much concerted effort or thought, read each word aloud, breathe, and write down the first things that come to mind in the next column. Write as much as you need to.

Do not let anything stop you.

Remember, you are a Warrior.

It is very important that you do this next step right away. Do not let the garbage that has floated to the surface drag you down. Time for some cleaning.

Third, in the next column, write down the beautiful truth about your parts. Be honest. Be loving. Be kind. If you must, imagine you are doing this for a friend, someone whom you wish to build up and support.

Remember, even if you are 100% convinced that your arms are "too fat," they still work, do they not? They still reach for your child or hug your spouse or allow you to plant those bulbs or pick up that pen.

Be grateful. Be willing to accept yourself.

The fourth step, then, is ongoing.

Everyday, for a week or a month or a year or however long it takes, use some meditation time to review these wonderful things.

And please, so that we all might support each other, come back here and use Mister Linky to link back to a post or two or three about this experience and what you learn.

Or...just share some of your thoughts and insights in the comments.