You Only "Think" You Hate Your Body

When I heard Byron Katie say "I am what you believe me to be" - it felt freeing.

Because I realized that I couldn't control someone else's perception of me.

Now that might seem like a scary idea when we feel we need someone to see us a certain way in order to feel ok. But when we don't need that, and we recognize that no matter how hard we try they are going to see us how they see us, we can become free.

I also realized that "I am what I believe myself to be".

How we see someone else, and how we see ourselves has one thing in common: our thinking.

Our thinking is actually how we experience life. We perceive situations, others, ourselves, our body, through the filter of our thinking.

When we have positive thoughts we feel good. But when we don't, we suffer. And let's face it, most of our thoughts lean towards the negative than the positive.

When we don't realize we are thinking, we are trapped by it. Our life is either good or bad depending on what thoughts are going through our mind.

It's like being on a boat in the middle of the sea without a motor. Whichever way the current is moving we go along with it. If the weather gets rough, we have to brace ourselves until it ends, experiencing whatever damage results.

But if we are in the same boat with a motor and we know how to use it, we could navigate the waters more skilfully. No matter what the conditions.

That "motor" exists within us - it's called our inner wisdom. And when we know how to access it, life gets better.

The thing is our inner wisdom is quiet, and our negative thinking is loud.

Our negative thinking is chaotic, repetitive, old, heavy, stressful.

Our inner wisdom is clear, concise, open, intelligent, loving, lighter, calming.

This is why I'm such a proponent of practices like meditation, yoga, and journaling. They are practices that help us strengthen our awareness that we are thinking, and open up space to be able to hear that quiet inner voice of intelligence.

Listening to our inner wisdom can change how we relate to our body, and our entire life.

Click here for resources to help you feel better in your body.

Photo by Milad Fakurian on Unsplash