I love when synchronicities occur, calling my attention to something important, usually a vital message for me. When I opened my iPhone to Google this morning, I discovered a list of unusual holidays for today. Three of those jumped out at me.
The focus of my journey this year is on health, and making life a little more tender and art a little more robust. Those three areas appeared on the holiday list today. Please read about Artist as Outlaw Day and Tenderness Toward Existence Day on my Cindy Goes Beyond blog.
I was intrigued by Women’s Healthy Weight Day, leading me to think about my relationship with my weight, and that oft dreaded bathroom scale. What is an ideal weight, anyway, and who decides on that number for me?
Losing weight was not my intention when I stopped eating meat, sugar, gluten, dairy, corn and soy. Feeling better, walking better, releasing pain was my motivation. However, weight loss has occurred as a result of eating fruits and vegetables and avoiding the foods on my no list.
For my friends and family, colleagues and clients, what they have noticed most hasn’t been that I no longer use a cane when I walk. At least, that’s not what they first comment on. They remark about the weight loss.
I understand. We are a culture that notices physical changes. I like to point out that what they are seeing is me, being healthier. Me, feeling so incredibly good, I am euphoric.
What isn’t immediately noticeable are the changes within, and the shifts in my beliefs about health and food.
I have long had a hate relationship with the bathroom scale. I’m not sure when this object got to decide for me how my day was going to go, but one peek at a number either made me feel elated or made me feel like a failure.
With health as my goal this time, the scale has become unimportant. I rarely weigh, relying primarily on how my clothes fit as an indicator that I’m slimming down. I’m not free from the need to measure progress entirely. I still own a scale and I know approximately how much I’ve lost. However, I am letting more and more time pass by, in between checking in on my weight.
My desire is to let my body discover her own ideal weight. Rather than rely on the scale or a chart or someone else’s ideal, I am trusting my body to find her way to the perfect size for me. I am so much more than a statistic or a number on a graph. I am uniquely me. As I heal from viruses and inflammation, as I consume clean, wholesome food, simply prepared, my body will continue to respond by becoming healthier, leaner, stronger, more fit and vibrant.
Who I am and how I feel is so much more crucial to me than how much I weigh. Losing pounds has not been a strong enough motivator to succeed at maintaing my ideal weight. However, health, wellness, vitality and life are powerful inspiration indeed.
Very soon I will toss the scale. And check in instead with my body, my heart, my sense of wellness, to see how I am doing. That sounds pretty ideal to me.
