Let Them Eat Cake

Matthew 6:22-23 "The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light, but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness." It's common knowledge that if you want to change your body, you have to change what food you feed yourself. But the big change, the true change, the hard change, is changing the mind. And this comes also through being fed, but it is what you feed yourself through your eyes that makes the difference. Here are some ways I fed my eyes poison, and my poisoned mind harmed my innocent body. Perhaps a few of these sound familiar: - Looking at women in my life, passersby, and on magazines and focused on the characteristics that I wish I had, criticizing where I fell short - Looking at "fitspo", "thinspo", and other social media accounts, poring over them and letting self-hate motivate me to work harder to look like them - Watching movies and focusing on the Hollywood-thin bodies of the actresses and fantasized about how I would be so much happier if I looked like them - If I spent time with friends who I viewed as more beautiful, I would either resent them or resent myself. Or both. The images of women who are professionally fit/beautiful, or just genetically gifted by societal standards are everywhere. You can't avoid them unless you literally wear blinders everywhere you go. But these are merely smells; the FEEDING happens when you dwell on them, use them, and compare yourself to them. Blood in the water, and the sharks start to swarm. That kind of thought process is a choice, but after so many years of repetition it can seem involuntary. It's time to take back your eyes, and take back your mind. It takes time and intention, I had to fight to take my eyes and thoughts captive. I learned I had to create strategies to fight these daily battles with my own eyes. When I saw someone that made me feel insecure, I would force myself to say, "That is her body and this is my body. They are both good bodies." Find a mantra of your own that reminds you of your own strength and uniqueness, write it down, put it on a post-it, make sure you see it or have it with you at all times. After some time it will be the new default and your mind will begin to heal. Gone will be the days that you bludgeon yourself for simply existing in the body God has created and you can finally start to walk in freedom. Unfortunately no matter what country you live in, standards of beauty exist and our eyes will constantly take in the message that in some way, you are not good enough, but these standards are entirely subjective and you are not subject to them. Another part of the process is filtering to the best of your ability the things you see. Avoid perusing the magazine covers telling you that you can get the perfect butt in 6 easy moves as if one butt is better than another. We sit on them all the same! Unfollow the accounts that trigger you, stop comparing yourself to people who are professionally fit and/or good looking. Start following as many body-positive accounts as possible, with every size, shape, and color of human. Learn to appreciate the beauty in every body, for it does exist. Soon you will also see it in yourself. Feed yourself the love and acceptance you deserve, and you will be filled to bursting. Spread the love!