Love your body every moment. Show your gratitude and appreciation in 6 easy ways.
My body is my best friend! I love it unconditionally!
Our body is the vehicle via which we experience the world. We move around, see and hear, taste and smell, touch and create, and interact with all that is around us. We rely on our bodies every moment.
Often, we even identify ourselves with our bodies and often compare ourselves to others by looking at our body’s shape, health, abilities, and flexibility.
Occasionally, however, we don’t like our bodies or complain about them. They ache, gain weight, lose flexibility, or start acting in funny ways. From time to time, we feel pain or notice gray hair and dark circles under our eyes. Some of us believe that with age our sight and hearing deteriorate. We even blame our bodies for not being perfect or attractive.
The truth is that our body is what we project it to be. If we hate our body, it loses its health and sparkle. If we love it, it repays us by being healthy, beautiful, and energetic. Whatever the state of our body is at the moment, we have caused it with our way of thinking, attitude towards it, and overall behavior.
That is why I choose to love and appreciate my body. Daily, I choose to care for it and be grateful for its great service.
6 Ways to Love and Appreciate Your Body
1. Love your body here and now
Imagine the following situation: you do your job to the best of your abilities. You do everything you can to complete your tasks accurately and on time. Your boss, however, is way too demanding and never praises your work. Instead, they constantly give you more and more to do, always find something to criticize you, and often express their anger with you. The more you want to excel and prove yourself, the more work and complaints you receive.
Now, let’s turn things around. Imagine that you do your job to the best of your abilities. You do everything possible to complete your tasks accurately and on time. Your boss is very happy with your performance and often expresses their gratitude for your valuable work. Even if you make a mistake or don’t know how to do something, they provide you with all the necessary tools and time so you can improve. They never get angry but rather show understanding and willingness to help you get better.
Be honest with yourself. How would you feel under each of these scenarios? Which situation would you prefer? Which boss would you love to work for?
Well, concerning your relationship with your body, you are the boss, and the body is your employee. Tell it how much you love it and appreciate its work and efforts. Help it gets better, and reward it often. Appreciate it here and now, and enjoy its dedication and excellent performance. Love your body, and it will love you back.
2. Take good care of your body
If you expect a lot from your body, make it possible for it to do so. Take good care of your precious body so it has the energy, excellent physical condition, and motivation to meet all your demands.
Every morning you have good energy and motivation to work. As the hours pass by, you get tired, so you take a break, refill your cup of coffee or tea, and have a little snack or lunch. You refresh yourself, so you can keep going.
Every night you go to sleep, so you have a big break. Occasionally, you take time to unwind and recharge. Sometimes, you go to the SPA, to the movie, read a book, or go on a vacation. All of these you do, so you can recharge. As a result, you have the energy to keep working. The more you relax and recharge, the better your performance at work is.
It is the same with your body. The more you let it has a break, the more it heals itself and has a good energy to serve you. So, to show your body that you love it, make its work easier by feeding it nutritious foods and drinking plenty of water. Exercise regularly so your muscles and bones are in good condition. Give it enough sleep so it can restore its power and energy. Groom it and be kind to it. What better way to show your body how much you love it?
3. listen to it and be grateful for the messages
Your body is smart and knows what is best for it and what harms it. It often tries to communicate this with you only if you are open to listening to it. Show your love and appreciation for your body by trusting its messages.
For example, if you feed it food that is good for it, it will be energetic and feel light. If you feed it food that is toxic (in one way or another), then it will feel sleepy and tired.
If your body hurts somewhere, then there is something you are not doing right. Instead of feeling angry at it, try to find out what you can do to improve.
Imagine that in your office, one of the pieces of equipment doesn’t work properly, and you try to communicate this to your boss. You know better that if the equipment doesn’t work, then you won’t be able to do your work, and the entire business will be affected negatively. Instead of listening to you, however, your boss yells at you and demands you concentrate on increasing your productivity.
It doesn’t make sense, does it?
But whenever your body tries to tell you something by aching here and there or not feeling good, it simply lets you know that something needs your attention. The sooner you fix the actual problem (not the symptoms), the sooner your body will get back to being productive. Love your body by learning to trust that it knows better when something with it is not working well.
4. Think and behave in a positive way (in general)
Be a positive person in general. Not because you want your body to serve you better, but because that’s who you are. Be loving, kind, compassionate, and passionate. Choose loving and peaceful thoughts and words. Be mindful and open.
Imagine working in an office where everyone is grumpy and angry all the time. The boss is never happy and often snaps at their subordinates. People are scared to talk openly, and even if they do so, they complain all the time.
Now, imagine working at a place where everyone smiles and laughs. People help each other and give each other compliments. Imagine your boss as an open-minded person who is approachable, caring, and has a good sense of humor.
Under which scenario would you be more productive?
I would work better within the second environment, and so would your body. That is why try your best to love your body, create a sunny and funny working atmosphere for your body, and watch it flourish.
5. Do not complain about your body
Many people (and I used to be one of them) tend to complain about one thing or another. Some of them (again, I used to be one of them) believe there is nothing they can do about an issue, and by complaining, at least they get the negative emotion out (so all of a sudden, they become positive people).
In fact, by complaining, we simply focus our attention on the problem and give our power away. Complaining doesn’t solve a problem. Yes, it is important to identify the problem and realize that this is something that bothers us. But let’s stop at this point and start thinking about the solution.
Let’s use a work-related example again. Imagine that your boss is not happy with your performance. Instead of talking to you privately and trying to find a viable solution, they start complaining to everyone they meet about your poor performance.
How would you feel? Perhaps shamed, guilty, stupid, unworthy? Or anything else in this line of thought.
Now, imagine your boss is not happy with your performance. Instead of complaining left and right, they book a meeting with you and discuss the issue privately. They ask for your opinion, provide you with a couple of solutions, and agree to work with your on improving your skills. This sounds like a dream boss to me!
The same principles apply to your relationship with your body. If there is something that you don’t like about your body, simply make a note. Don’t complain mentally or to other people about your body. This is not helpful and would not result in a miraculous improved performance.
Instead, do some research and come up with one or more strategies to get your body in a better shape and/or health. Try these strategies and listen to the body’s messages. See which one works best for you and stick to it.
Complaining is a useless activity. You can use your energy and time in better ways including loving your body.
6. be grateful for your body
Have you ever heard other people saying, “You’ll see it when you believe it”? I’ve heard and read this statement in so many books that it’ll be hard to cite them all. Also, the one “Energy flows where attention goes”?
This also applies when you talk about your body. The more you are grateful for your body’s health and excellent condition, the more it will self-regulate towards excellent health and shape.
If you don’t feel like your body is in perfect health, then start by finding one single thing that your body performs well, and be grateful for it.
For example, I hear perfectly and breathe easily. I often recognize the great work my body does in hearing and breathing. My hands are very flexible. I can perform so many tasks with them, so I make sure to thank my body for this. My legs carry me around all day, and I am grateful for this.
The more things you find to be grateful for, the more you show your body that you love it. The more you show your body that you love it, the more its self-healing power increases.
If you focus only on the health issue and nothing else, then all of your energy goes on “feeding” the issue rather than the solution. Instead, try switching your focus to some positive aspects of your body. Don’t punish your entire body for the bad performance of one or a few parts of it.
Everyone loves the feeling of being valued and appreciated. Everyone enjoys being recognized for their efforts. So does your body. Love your body, and it will respond in loving ways.
