More than my BODY

This morning I shared the following video on my facebook page. I encourage you to watch the video!

https://youtu.be/o75DivztU1I

In this video Kaisa Keranen is real about body image.

She goes into explaining how she is viewed by others for her body. She was critiqued for being too muscular a few years ago, but now is glorified for her body because strong and beautiful is currently accepted. But as the video plays on, she explains there is more to her. There is more to this woman than her body. Media changes and in a few years from now, the media could go back to glorifying
women who are skinny and don't have a muscular frame. But ultimately, the take away message is,

The way YOU view your body can't ride on how the world views our bodies.

Movement isn't about being able to look a certain way in a pair of jeans.

Kaisa asks the question at the end of the video, "Why do you want to look a certain way? If you accomplish that goal, is that what will make you happy?"

Hmmmm...
Deep question right?

What is happiness?
The dictionary defines it as feelings of pleasure or contentment.
Synonyms are contentment, satisfaction, pleasure.

My question to myself is, can I look in the mirror with feelings of pleasure or contentment?
I literally see this every single day. I train women daily who REFUSE to look in the mirror. They HATE and despise the person looking back at them. This breaks my heart because I look at the individual and think, do you not see what I see? Do you not see your beauty?

All too many times, myself included, we look in the mirror and see every single one of our flaws. We see that strand of hair that won't fall right, We see our hips are too wide. We see the muffin top hanging over our pants. We see our back fat. We refuse to raise our arms to wave at someone for fear that our arm flab will wave too. C'mon ladies!

If all of these things we see were magically fixed, WOULD YOU BE TRULY HAPPY?
Real question.

Happiness is an inside job. I know I'm not THAT old, but with age comes a greater understanding of WHO I am. I tweeted last week that for the first time in my life, I can look in the mirror and love myself. Let's be real, our worth isn't based off of our jean size and all too many times if we can't fit into a size 2 jean, our worth is somehow less.

Great real! Who are you? Are you a mom, daughter, sister, aunt, granddaughter, god-mom, school teacher, accountant, personal trainer, stay at home mom, saleswoman, or whatever title you recognize with... YOU ARE MORE than the size pants you wear.

Ultimately, the question comes down to are you working on being a better version of yourself? Are you taking time to show your kids what healthy means? Are you taking time to show them how to cook? Are you taking time to go for a walk? Are you taking time to read or listen to a book? Are you teaching and instilling honorable characteristics in your children?

Honesty is WE ALL HAVE our flaws. We all have things we need to work on. But we all also have our strengths. We all have things we're good at and God has blessed us with. Don't try to be a robot and become someone or something you are not. BE YOU because ultimately, the best person you can be is you.

Strive to be better. Challenge yourself to be better. Love yourself. Love God. Love Others.
Be Blessed
Alison