Your Body And the Law of Attraction

I want to share this perspective from the Law of Attraction today, which is why it becomes so important to start with creating the best possible relationship with your body now, not waiting for it to become something else before you choose to love it:

"If this body does not feel the way you want it to feel or look the way you want it to look, it is very natural that a large number of your thoughts (a very imbalanced proportion of your thoughts) would be slanted toward the lack side of the equation rather than toward the truly desired side of the equation. From your place of lack, you will attract only more of that, and that is the reason most diets do not work...your attention is given to the stuff you do not want, and so you hold it to you. The way to get to where you want to be is to give your full attention to what you do want, not to give your attention to what you do not want."

--from Money and the Law of Attraction: Learning to Attract Wealth, Health and Happiness by Esther and Jerry Hicks

What can you do today to focus on what you do want, rather than on lack? Can you give your body love and a vision of what you want rather than shutting down or criticizing? How would that change your life, how you relate to your body, and--ultimately--the outcome?

Tumblr's Love Yourself Challenge!

I love this image on tumblr--and there are many others that will inspire you, make you smile, and remind you that we're all in this together. Caring for and loving ourselves gives a beautiful gift to the world around us.

This week, go to their site and post a comment or one of your own images. Spread the word!

http://www.loveyourbodychallenge.tumblr/com

Your Body Is Your Valentine

If you haven't already, I highly recommend taking a look at Marianne Williamson's A Course In Weight Loss, which is a truly spiritual approach to finding your way into right relationship with your body and your weight, using many of the principles of A Course In Miracles. This quote in particular seems appropriate to share with you today:

"Love and love only, produces miracles...That includes your love of self, and your body is part of who you are. If you love your body when you're thin but hate it when you're not, then you love yourself conditionally, which is not love at all. If you can't love your body, you can't really love yourself."

Think about this just for a moment and let it sink in. If your body is an essential part of yourself, then no matter how much 'work' you've done to become enlightened, make peace with life or with others, if you still resist, fear or hate your body then you can't yet say you love yourself. Your body needs that love and peace too.

Is there anything stopping you now from choosing love? Do you set conditions for your body which, when you meet them, will allow you to love it? What if the whole point is to choose love for its own sake, so that your life can be lived freely, miraculously and without the pain of judgment?

This doesn't mean that things won't change. Only that change will come from love, from wanting to forgive yourself and your body and work together, rather than being at odds with each other. So many times we think we can create change out of force, fear or judgment. But mostly we find ourselves right back where we started from. It won't mean much to you to lose weight if it comes from fear and if you know you haven't found that place of love within. Your body will rebel against that and so will you.

What loving act could connect you to your body today and how could you begin a relationship of love instead? How could you let your body know you want to begin to work together rather than outside of it, judging you both? Take that step today. Make your body your Valentine. Here are some possible ways you might declare the change:

1) Go for a walk.

2) Get a massage.

3) Write a love poem to your body for all it does for you.

4) Put on some music and dance.

5) Light candles and make some time to meditate on the body, checking in on all you feel.

6) Take a hot bath or shower.

7) Put some delicious-smelling lotion on, slowly and deliberately, letting your body know you're consciously experiencing the sensations.

8) Choose to slow down over your food and listen to what your body needs, how it feels.

Stepping into love is an act of courage that is demonstrated every day. And yet, at a certain point, it really is the only choice we have if we want to give up our bitterness and stuckness and live a different kind of life. As we do this with our bodies, we begin to do it with our whole lives. Your body has a Valentine's gift for you too; all you need to do is to connect, listen, and open yourself to its world of sensations and presence, calling you into the moment in which it lives.

A Prayer to Honor the Body

I've been thinking lately about that prayer of St. Francis, how it encourages us to address the needs that are before us by providing what is needed to the world. I wonder how much we do that with our bodies, which we so often ignore in the face of our to-do-lists. Sometimes we need a reminder of the path we truly wish to tread.

This poem is written to honor the body, and remind us of the simple things it requires from us, and is oh-so grateful to receive...

Prayer On Behalf of the Body

Body, make me a kind caretaker of your wisdom.

When you are tired, let me give you rest.

When you are hungry, let me feed you what you truly need.

When you feel sadness, let me comfort your soul.

When sickness comes, let me listen to what you are telling me.

When you are well, let me celebrate the gifts you give.

Where there is breath, let me breathe it;

Where there is energy and light, allow me to let it in.

Where there is bliss, fill me to my fingertips and toes.

Great Teacher and Vessel,

Allow me to give you what I also know I need:

Not so much perfection as an open heart to all that is.

Not so much judgment as compassion for who you are and what you do,

Not so much hatred as love,

Not so much resentment as respect for all you have to show me.

For it is in giving you what I need that I learn how to give it to myself;

And in giving it to myself

I can truly begin to experience my place in this world.

Amen.