Love Your Body Day

Stolen from my sixth-floor-RA-sister E.:

"To all of the fabulous people in my life,

Last year on Love Your Body Day, I sent out an email to all the most important women in my life asking them to slow down and think about all the amazing things their body does for them each day. This year, I want to reach even more people.

Love Your Body Day is a national day dedicated to celebrating the body that you have and loving it for whatever it looks like and all of the things it allows you to do. It’s so easy in our culture to get caught up in criticizing our bodies (“Ugh! Look at my thighs” or “I hate my body” or “If I was only a little skinnier…”) when what we should really be doing is thanking our bodies for all the things it does. When I was younger, like most young women in high school, I definitely had issues with my body. It wasn’t until I stood in front of my mirror, at first painfully and forcibly, in my underwear and repeated over and over again “Damn girl! You’re beautiful!” that I really started to see my body for the beautiful, wonderful, mysterious thing that it is. I did this almost every day for a year until my natural reaction to my body turned from a negative and critical one, to one that is loving, gentle, and forgiving.
While affirmations might not do it for everyone, it really did help me.

It also helped me to look at my body as not only a physical entity to be judged by society, but as something that allows me to do lots of things that I love. Here’s just a sample of some of the reasons that I love my body:

I love my body because it knows how to hold people close.
I love my body because it lets me kiss the people that I love.
I love my body because it gets out of bed each morning and lets me go live my life.
I love my body because it forgives me when I feed it too much ice cream on bad days.
I love my body because my eyes are awesome and change color all day long.
I love my body because my long arms let me reach tall things and embrace all people.
I love my body because it looks fabulous in a good pair of jeans.
I love my body because it dances.
I love my body because it gives me a voice, helps me make noise, and most importantly, lets me speak up and out.

Love Your Body Day is truly a day for everyone. Comment with the reasons you love your body, or feel free to repost this note for all the people in your life to see."


Reasons I love my body:
It can dance like a goof or a goddess.
It can run six miles.
It tells me when it's hungry, when it's tired, when it just needs me to slow down. (And when I listen, it feels pretty good again soon.)
It's strong, resilient, and in top conditioning--and that upper limit just keeps rising.
Its curves are gorgeous: my neckline, my waist, the muscles in my arms, legs, and back are all my favorite parts.
My eyes change color when I'm irritated, or really happy.
It lets me give really good hugs.
It likes yoga.
When I'm exhausted from a good run or gym day, the slight buzz in my muscles feels like a pat on the back: "Good job. That's it for today."

What are yours?