Over the weekend I had some rare spaces of times to sit in the sun and read. First on my list – trying to make it through a few more pages of my new Sacred Text: Women Who Run with the Wolves
To take pleasure in a world filled with many kinds of beauty is a joy in life to which all women are entitled. To support only one kind of beauty is to be somehow unobservant of nature…There cannot be one kind of baby, one kind of man, or one kind of woman. There cannot be one kind of breast, one kind of waist, one kind of skin.
Why have I believed the lies that there is only “one kind” that matters, that’s good enough? Enough!
In essence, the attack on women’s bodies is a far-reaching attack on the ones who have gone before her as well as the ones who will come after her.
I’m not OK with my own longstanding contempt for my body to even remotely impact my daughters. Enough!
Destroying a woman’s instinctive affiliation with her natural body cheats her of confidence. It causes her to perseverate about whether she is a good person or not, and bases her self-worth on how she looks instead of who she is. It pressures her to use up her energy worrying about how much food she consumes or the readings on the scale and tape measure. It keeps her preoccupied, colors everything she does, plans, and anticipates. It is unthinkable in the instinctive world that a woman should live preoccupied by appearance this way.
How is it that I became this preoccupied with my appearance; that I stopped living in the “instinctive world?” Enough!
Suppose…the body is a God in its own right, a teacher, a mentor, a certified guide? Then what? Is it wise to spend a lifetime chastising this teacher who has much to give and teach? Do we wish to spend a lifetime allowing others to detract from our bodies, judge them, find them wanting? Are we strong enough to refute the party line and listen deep, listen true to the body as a powerful and holy being?
Why have I spent a lifetime chastising a body that is “a God in its own right?” Enough!
I am strong enough to listen deep, listen true to my body and a powerful and holy being. I am enough!
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All I have to say is I MUST get my hands on this book!!!
Nicki´s last [type] ..The EPA and Security Issues
It’s definitely a must-read. I have a friend who reads it once a year…if not more frequently. A Sacred Text, for sure.
Wow. Just…wow.
Cranky Fibro Girl´s last [type] ..An Instance Where I’d Like Some Ants To Be Marching
Mmmm, thanks. So glad it spoke to you. Would love to hear more about how/why!
What surprises/disheartens me is not my own feeling about my own body, as I’ve reached an age where shifts are happening that….um….well.
But I’ve also noted how often I *receive* the message that this is where a large part of my value lies — and how often I get pulled back into believing it. (Becoming reacquainted with many friends I went to high school with who still, at our age, are starving themselves to compete in pageants that are bikini-based only, requiring no talent or community service has not been helpful along this line. HA) It has, at times, led me to not necessarily change my view of myself, but of others, colouring my view of the world in ways I think have led me to miss out on what might have been some beautiful connections.
The contempt goes both ways at times, doesn’t it, Deb? Toward ourselves most frequently, but also toward others who either have what we don’t (as we perceive such) or who emphasize what we have chosen not to. All messy. All hard. All culturally constructed. And that’s what we need to change…one woman at a time – the cultural messaging/mandates that determines what is beautiful. Thanks, Deb. ‘Appreciate your candid thoughts.
I found Estes book when it first came out and it’s now worn and dog-eared. I return to it again and again.
Body image has been so tough! I’m just beginning to re-embrace this body I’m in and it feels good and it feels scary. Scary? Not sure about why yet.
Thanks for sharing this.
Kimberley´s last [type] ..Yoga Witness
I think I get the “scary” part, Kimberley. At least for me, what’s scary is what it might look like if I truly embraced my beauty and power. Overwhelming. All-encompassing. Larger-than-life. Nearly god(dess) like. It can feel overwhelming. But more and more, I recognize that it’s others’ fear I’m responding to…not my own. Would love to hear your ongoing thoughts and processing about this as it develops!
I picked up this book used and haven`t yet gotten around to reading it, but now I will! The relationship with her body is a lifelong one for a woman, and I am at the stage where I am challenging my own preoccupation, comparison, and degrading attitude towards mine. That`s one step. Next I`d like to get to the stage where I`m not thinking about it at all, where as the author says, I`m thinking about more important things, making big plans and building ambition.
Yep! So with you on both these steps, Amy. How powerful and amazing it would be if this was not our constant preoccupation; rather, our strength and the very source of our being.
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