How Can I Love My Body?

That’s the big question, isn’t it? How can I love my body, when it’s scarred and wrinkled and freckly and fat?

We’re not taught how to in school. We can’t learn it by reading women’s magazines. TV and newspaper ads don’t give us much guidance. And I don’t see a lot of support for women adoring their bodies from various religious communities.

What women learn from these various institutions is how to loathe their physical selves, and how to de-value their bodies, how to distrust their physical appetite, and how to perform, act, be, and look a certain way in hope of achieving a certain result. But we’re not taught how to love our bodies.

We knew, when we were young, how to love our physical selves. Babies and toddlers are fascinated with their bodies. They giggle with delight and pleasure when you tickle their toes, play with their fingers, and teach them to make faces and stick out their tongues. Babies take pleasure in their physicality. Unfortunately, as we mature, we move further and further and further away from our physical selves, and eventually many of us replace the love we had for our bodies with self-loathing, self-hatred, misery.

How can we reclaim a connection with our physicality? How can we re-learn to love our bodies?

Here are few suggestions:

LIVE A SENSUAL LIFE. Although the word “sensual” may hold “sexual” connotations for some, I am using the word “sensual” to mean the five senses. Use and enjoy power of your five senses! This spring, I have been enjoying the variety of sounds that birds make as they wake up up in the morning. I’ve been inhaling the fragrance of flowering trees and shrubs. I’ve been loving the softness of my cat’s fur. I’ve been enjoying the sparkling sweetness of fresh strawberries. And I’ve been relishing the taste of fresh-ground coffee in the morning.

LOVE AND APPRECIATE YOUR FAVORITE BODY PART. What part of your body do you like? Is it your hair? Is it the color of your eyes? Is it the shape of your mouth? Is it your skin? Take a minute or two to really think about what you like about your body. Want extra credit? Take out a pencil and a piece of paper and write it down.

LOVE AND APPRECIATE YOUR LEAST-FAVORITE BODY PART. This isn’t always easy to do. Your body is a total package, whole and complete in itself, and it wants you to love it--all of it--even the parts are “too fat” or “too droopy” or “too wrinkly” or “too this” or “too that.” As you come to accept and like and appreciate and acknowledge every part of your physical self, you may come to accept and like and appreciate and acknowledge every part of your life.

And that’s where true pleasure begins.

Up Next: “In Praise of Nourishment”