HEART TO HEART: Everybody Has a Different Body

Remember the old saying, "Variety is the spice of life?" Think of your body, with its unique shape, size and coloring, as one of the many in the spice rack of life.

Imagine how boring food would taste without the spices we add to enhance flavors. Now imagine how boring it would be to look out into the world and see everybody in exactly the same body. There would be no room for imagination and curiosity, because what you look like would be what everybody else looks like. Ho-hum. Gray. Flat. Flavorless. No way! It's wonderful that everybody has a different body because variety perks up the landscape, gives us something interesting to look at, something to be curious about. It fires up our imaginations. Be grateful that your body is not like everyone else's. Be grateful that your body is yours.

Repeat the following affirmation, " I appreciate my distinctly different body!"

Learn from the Innocence of Babies

As we grow older we grow wiser about many things. With age, though, we tend to forget some of the things that once came naturally to us—like eating when we're hungry, sleeping when we're tired, and crying when we feel bad or uncomfortable. If your responses to your needs for food, sleep, or comfort are out of sync, take a moment to learn from the innocence of babies. Watch how they respond naturally to their needs. Remember that you used to know those things, but you unlearned them as you became socialized, as you put on the culture's filters concerning how you "should" be. Babies may not know a lot about life, but they have an innate wisdom about living. Respond to your needs in an innocent way: eat when you're hungry; sleep when you're tired; cry when you feel emotionally distraught.

Repeat the following affirmation, "I respond to my needs in a natural, loving way."

— from Live Large! by Cheri K. Erdman, Ed.D.