To be beautiful means to be yourself. You don’t need to be accepted by others. You need to accept yourself. – Thich Nhat Hanh
The body is miraculous but we certainly have a hard time treating it that way. Instead we punish the body by controlling and restraining it instead of honoring and enjoying it. Why are we so hard on ourselves? Why do we reject rather than accept? Why do we hide rather than celebrate? Our body is the only true home we have here on earth, so why can’t we be kinder?
Buddhists, and in fact most Eastern religions, believe having a body is a precious thing. It’s in the physical world that we get some serious soul work done; the work of transformation, of growth, and of seeing in new and unexpected ways. The body is also the way we experience joy, wonder, and awe that leads us to greater enlightenment. When we fully accept and inhabit our body the process of healing and transformation speeds up and lets us live in a state of open expansion.
The truth is our body is a crossroads and we are always in the in between, always changing, always transforming. We are crossing forms, from what we’ve been to what we’ll become, but the in between and not clearly defined always makes us nervous. We want to know not wonder. But this is not really the truth our bodies offer and trying to make our bodies conform to something they are not means we miss out on the joy of becoming, the joy of imperfection, and the joy of discovery. We also miss out on the gifts already in our possession. If we can learn to love our bodies for what they really are instead of an idealized fantasy we’ll live a much happier life.
The present moment and all the experiences life can give us, the exhilaration, the tears, and stunning silences are happening within us in the home of our body. Being able to open to more joy, contentment, and awe every day is the real work the body was made for. Not just fleeting joy but the kind of joy that takes root in the soul and gives us a glimpse behind all the masks we wear at something deeper than our shallow imagining or careless grasping. The body is there as a container for all of it, all the joy and love that’s always available to be experienced and lived out loud.
What better way to work it out then with love and joy? Of course it is always the how that plagues us and this is where systems, rules, and organizations come in to lend a hand, but these are merely guides. Getting too bogged down in shoulds, oughts, right-doing, wrong-doing and what others think can leave us shipwrecked. Here we need to be able to trust our body, trust that we know in our bones and blood what is best for us. If we pay attention we’ll feel it, then all we have to do is follow where it leads without second guessing or comparison.
Everything out there in the world always leads us back inside. It’s up to us to see what is there with more clarity. If we can align our authentic feelings with how we live in the world every day we bring to light the greatest gift being in the body offers, joyous communion, growth, and the evolution of embodying more of our true selves. Make your home in the body right now, not after you’ve lost ten ponds or you put your make-up on, not when you feel better, are more confident, or rested and ready.
Just come home now. Come home to your body just as it is and plant the seeds of greater joy, delight, and love in being exactly who you are right here and now.
kb
