We’re not here to perfect the vehicle in which we arrived.

A consistent theme around attachment to the body has surfaced from my clients, family and friends. Although this isn’t a new struggle, it has been the top concern as I’ve sought feedback in creating my most recent programs and retreats.

It seems we’re all wrapped up in worrying about the body that we often-times feel “stuck” with. Having fought this same battle myself, here I share what I’ve personally discovered and experienced as truth and a way out:

Consider: You are not your body.

In reality, the body is a vehicle from which we are to live out our purpose and heal the gaps between us and pure love.

Looking at this, we can begin to tease out the greatest hurdle we impose upon the true purpose of the body:

When we don’t love the body, how can we effectively utilize this body to merge into the unity of love?

This question reveals within itself the start of our journey.

We must love ourselves first. This is cliche, I know. And it’s truth. If you squeeze an orange, you get orange juice. If I squeeze you, what will I get? I’ll get whatever you’re full of. And most of our species is full of self-loathing. And, being that the physical body is a convenient and easy target, we begin our self-sabotage there.

It’s unnecessary here to go into the myriad ways we destroy our sense of worth by abusing the body, as I’m confident that with a little introspection and observation, you are able to observe these behaviors within yourself and others. I will, however, bring awareness to the source of these belief systems that position the body in a rigged game.

Our body standards are set by our culture. Our culture annihilates our sense of worth and any identification with reality through our conditioning to live in a constant state of guilt. This conditioned behavior has created our experiences, which now color our projections of the future, since we have no other frames-of-reference from which to construct something different.

The difficulty in this is that we have chosen unfortunate standards from which we have conditioned our minds and the minds of the generations preceding and following us.

The joy and celebration in this is that we can change it.

In order to change anything, we must be able to see clearly that which we wish to change, and to find the source of misperception.

The misperception here is that the body is who we are.

True perception—found in all scriptural/ancient truths— reveals the body as a vehicle for liberation.

We are brought into this existence with the exact curriculum we need to get past our sh*t and realign with love (God). That is it. That’s what we’re here to do. And, we’re given a body in which to do it. But our culture and species have taken this body hostage and have told us what it should and shouldn’t be. We don’t hold other manifestations of nature to this standard, but we utilize this method to annihilate ourselves (insane behavior, by the way).

And for what?

The problem with being caught in this illusion— that we are the body and that the body is supposed to be any way other than exactly as it is— is that it distracts us from our work. We often get so caught up in our imagined shortcomings that we cannot show up for the authentic connection and service that we are here to engage in. We dump immense amounts of energy into self-loathing. Then, we not only make ourselves unavailable for life, we may actually seek to make everyone around us as unhappy as we are (misery loves company).

Ultimately, we’re reversing the intention of our existence.

So, consider the importance of the message I’m sharing here.

I understand body issues. I venture to say everyone does. This is our normal. When we begin to get it that everyone has this feeling, we can start to question the systems that create this sense of lack within us. Why are we continuing to blindly beat ourselves up over a standard we had no say in, rather than dismantling the source of the standard?

I could go on about the source of these standards (media, idolizing empty celebrity life, fear-based control, etc,), but here, I’m simply asking you to question why we have allowed ourselves to become slaves to this phantom system. And to consider what could be an alternative.

The body is to be honored. Not worshipped. And, although it seems counter-intuitive, obsessing over flaws is a form of worship. It’s selfish. And it’s essential that we get the f*ck over it and get on with our purpose.
The body is a gift we’ve been given in this existence. Learn to appreciate every curve, every dimple, every so-called shortcoming, every handicap, every scar, everything.

And, understand that it—the body with the curves, dimples, shortcomings, handicaps and scars—is not an indication of your worth. In any capacity.

If there are behaviors to reign in for the health of the body, do so. But don’t do it as punishment. Do it as love. And immediately move into a space of gratitude for the opportunity we have to be on this ride of existence, in the body given, in the first place.

We must move into awareness and stop wasting this moment wishing for a different seat on the ride.

 

Relephant read:

A Flawless Explanation for the Meaning of Life.

~

Author: Mikela Rae

Editor: Travis May

Photo: Flickr/Ian Burt