Building a healthy relationship with our bodies is part of our well-being. I know this can be hard. You might have things about your body you don't like. Many of us came up in an environment where there was a singular standard of beauty, making it harder to embrace our bodies when they don't match up exactly.
For me, as a lifelong athlete, I have mostly had a positive relationship with my body, but lately, I've been struggling with the spreading white spots on my face from Vitiligo. I write about it in my customized Zenit health and wellness journal. I don't like the way it makes me look, these blemishes. Yet, because it doesn't pose a health risk, doesn't cause me pain, and only has a cosmetic impact on me, I feel guilty about feeling down about this. My negative feelings towards "my spot" make me feel like I'm vain, superficial, and not grateful enough for still having my health, which makes me feel worse.
I've been using my Zenit health and wellness journal to write out these feelings, practicing my daily self care journaling. This has helped me extend more compassion towards myself in my self care journaling. I'm a human being living in a world that imposes restricted beauty standards, so it's ok that I still care about how I look. It's ok that I feel a sense of loss towards my old face. It's ok that it's taking me time to accept "my spot." My Zenit daily self care journal is helping me express my honest feelings as part of my self care journaling, which I'm finding helpful to move through sadness and guilt, and find my way to love and acceptance.
One way to build a healthy relationship with our bodies is finding love for what our bodies do for us. In one of our daily self care journaling Zen Texts, the prompt was,
"My body empowers me to..."
What comes to mind for you? As you journal to this prompt, you can write about your body as a whole, or the different parts of your body, from your hands to your skin to your lungs to your pinky toe. Remember, your body, whatever state it's in, whatever beautiful form it takes, is a miracle.