The journey to self-compassion

I am more than a body.  You are more than a body.  Our body is the physical thing that allows us to experience everything around us.  And let me tell you, your body is the least interesting thing about you.  The journey to self-compassion is a tough one.  It starts by recognizing how frequently you speak negatively about yourself.  If you’re not aware of the negative language you use, you aren’t going to be able to change it.  Then it's important to recognize where these unrealistic expectations about our body have come from.  Here’s the simplest example i can give you. Look at every movie you ever watched growing up as a kid.  The main character was young, beautiful, thin.  And the villain, they were fat and ugly.  So who did we aspire to be?  The truth of the matter is, we do age, our bodies do change, our hair does gray, we do get wrinkles.  Those changes are inevitable.  And the alternative to those changes, either we’re dead or we’re obsessed with fighting an inevitable battle that we shouldn’t have to fight in the first place.  Your body has been through everything with you.  It’s allowed you to have experiences, good and bad.  Criticizing our body and being at war with it, don’t show it any of the appreciation it deserves.  It’s not that I’ve stopped caring, it’s not that i’ve given up.  I recognize the changes AND recognize they’re normal.  My list of responsibilities has grown exponentially.  My priorities have shifted.  My time is spent elsewhere.  I absolutely still care about my health and also recognize that when i say my “health” i mean more than just my physical health.  I mean my whole health.  My mental health, my emotional health.  Which oh by the way, impact my physical health.  We have to start giving ourselves permission to change.  It’s going to happen regardless.  If we spend more time accepting who we are rather than fighting to prevent inevitable change, there’s a lot of “health” to be gained from that.