Accept the body: love yourself completely

Learn to accept your body: you are beautiful the way you are.

Accepting the body as it is, embracing its shapes and colors, its textures and its smells, is an act of unconditional love for life . It is for the brave, not for sinners. It is of humans, not of egos.

Many societies stipulate standards of external beauty that, according to them, are perfection. Specific guidelines must be followed to enter what they judge to be the category of "the beautiful."

However, how is it possible that the image that some have of beauty conditions thousands and thousands of people? Why should one seek extreme thinness, when health is affected? Why be obsessed with long legs when you were born a different height? Or looking for overly muscular arms when lifting weights is not our hobby? Why feel insufficient if one does not correspond to the criteria of a minority? And even, why feel ugly and guilty if one does not meet the aesthetic expectations of the majority?

This habit of wanting to please others, even subjecting the body to an ordeal, is destructive and disproportionate .  Seeking security in external approval does not bring confidence or peace, although many do not even want to think about it.

Each one is born with a different appearance, a different body and unique genes. Why destroy the essence of each being in order to create a mass of equal people? Why go against authenticity and look for similarity? Why grant beauty only to a minority? Does not a divine spark reside in each individual?

Outer beauty is just an illusion. The physical appearance of a person cannot be the determinant of its value. It is ephemeral and fleeting. It is relative and fluctuating. The body is a temple, but it does not condition the sufficiency of a person . It must be treated with love and respect, but it must not be a source of ego. It must be cultivated to connect with the divine; but he is not the divine. The body comes and goes; however, real beauty endures in the face of any fatality.

Learning to accept the body and take care of it with the greatest respect is beautiful. Seeing a miracle from heaven in the body of others is beautiful. Accepting the changes that time brings with it is beautiful. Everything that colors the skin, wrinkles or smoothes it, is beautiful.

When one sees things as they are, without beliefs or judgments, without comparing or waiting, reality emerges, beautiful and spontaneous . The true sense of beauty is revealed to him who watches her.

How can we connect with that real beauty?

Looking without exposing our desires or using our memories. Contemplating things with ever new eyes . Meditation is a very useful practice to empty the mind of thoughts and see everything beautiful again. The "art of seeing" must be cultivated so as not to fall into the error of the ego and its imprisonment, to achieve freedom and let oneself go. Being beautiful is an attitude, not an appearance . Being beautiful is a behavior, not an effort . Real beauty comes from authenticity: and that means accepting yourself as you are. Without seeking transformation, only evolution .

Pampering and taking care of oneself is not a sign of ego or a source of suffering if it is done from the heart. If you enjoy each action. However, when one goes out of his way for his body and his life is governed by hedonism, at the cost of suffering and pain, health and well-being, then it is self-destruction. An apparent beauty that actually hides a growing ugliness .

How to learn to accept our body?

There are different very beautiful and simple practices to learn to empty ourselves of conditioning and accept our body.

• Accepting the emotions and sensations that arise when seeing our body : observing the thoughts, emotions and feelings that arise when observing our body is essential to accept it first, and love it later. What does that mean? Acknowledge our aversions. What is it that we don't like about ourselves? Our sagging buttocks, our skin wrinkles, our crooked teeth? Can we live with that? Acceptance begins with recognition : I am aware that I don't like this about myself, but I can live with it and accept it as it is. It is not a question of lying to yourself : one must know the reason why one does not look beautiful and learn to live with it without denying it, running away from it or repressing it. In the rejection drastic solutions appear to solve the problem; in the acceptance clearer answers appear on how to deal with the problem . With the first attitude, we will try to change the body from suffering; With the second attitude, we will try to change our perception and awaken love.

• Looking in the mirror : Stand in front of a mirror. With or without clothes. As you prefer. Observe yourself for a few moments. Stop identifying that body to your name, age or sex. Just observe it as it is: its shapes, its colors, the different tones it has, the textures... Let your eyes look gently at everything that makes up the body in front of you. Your face. Your hair. Your neck. Shoulders. The chest. Belly. The hips. The legs. Don't strain your gaze. Do not project any mental image onto any area. Watch it for 5 minutes. Without moving, without looking for any kind of forced position: stay natural. Imagine that you have never seen a body before: therefore there is no kind of criteria to judge or define it. It simply is. And you observe it without remembering, without wishing, without waiting. This practice must be repeated daily for at least 3 weeks: this will help us learn to see things as they are, without the veil of ignorance that arises from the ego, without the routine and monotony that arises from memory. To see things from authenticity and spontaneity; to see life in its real dimension.

• Change from peace, never from aggressiveness : finally, when a person has completely emptied his ego, he is able to see the real needs of the body at that moment. It is prepared to transform, little by little, all those things that REALLY need to be changed and that affect physical, mental and spiritual well-being. From acceptance and contemplation, one is more lucid. More aware. And more mature. At that moment, one can make decisions from understanding and respect, from patience and kindness. And also learn to settle for what is. It is brave to abandon yourself to the present moment; of cowards to run away from him constantly.

Remember that the body is an existential instrument; it is not your true identity . It is a vehicle that life, generous and majestic, has given you so that you can consciously connect with your essence. So that you can return to the state of peace and spontaneity that is part of your real nature.

The body is not an end in itself: it is the means that allows you to live. Feel. flow .

Mae Knapnougel