Loving Your Body

They say your body is a temple. Who this "they" is nobody's really sure, but they say it anyway.

I'm feeling quite lucky as of late. I'm loving my body. Not so much because I think it looks the way I think other people would like it to look, but because it feels the way I want it to feel, it exists as the corporeal spirit house I've built it into over the years.

It's not about "physical" beauty, it's about comfort that comes from within. Don't get me wrong, I still groom quite a bit, shave my chest every so often, my face, trim the uh hum, pluck my eyebrows, and the little bitty hairs on my feet. But to me these are minor things in the maintenance of this temple I live in day by day.

I've reached a point in my life where the most attractive thing to me is comfort with oneself. See, it's not about this so called fitting into the "physical beauty" of what we think we should look like, it's about being happy with what you have, who you are, who you want to become; building your temple as you see fit, and the understanding that your temple is just that: yours, and nobody else's, and you are allowed to choose who you want to share that temple with.

I love everything about my body. I love my hairy legs, my long wonderful dark hair, my long legs, my fingers, my feet, my everything. My body is my body, and for me, my body is perfect. It is exactly what I want it to be. Of course, a temple takes maintenance, but a temple without a spirit is simply a piece if unliving architecture. But when used for worship, when respected, when cared for, and when appreciated, a temple is an expression of existence itself. And that's what my body has become for me.

Far from the misinterpreted views on stoicism, I enjoy my body and the pleasures it brings me. I love how my muscles burn and build themselves after every mini dance session, how when I lift weights I get stronger and am able to push myself physically further each time. I love the way water feels flowing over my body as I shower, or enveloping me when I swim in the sea or river. I like it when I pleasure myself, the way only I know how to do (for now). Feeling comfortable in one's body opens a ton of doors.

But perhaps the biggest door that loving my body has done for me is allowing me to love others. What is love if it cannot be shared? I love the diversity in people's bodies. And even if identical twins, it's what's on the inside that counts the most. The most beautiful people to me are not those who the mass media has deemed attractive, of which I know practically none of them personally. The attractive ones are the quirky oddballs, the ones with passion, the ones who think way too much, the ones who read for fun, the ones who are always sticking their heads in the clouds, the ones who worry less and play more while still holding their life semi-together, and the ones who build themselves from within. They're the ones who are comfortable in their own bodies. The ones who truly believe that their temple body is all their own, that nobody else can maintain it like they can, that they are the master groundskeepers, they know all the inns and outs, the dos and don'ts, highs and lows, but most of all how to treat themselves with respect. The respect and love that they know they deserve, that we all do. And no matter what size, shape, condition, etc. your temple might be in, if you have pride in it and care for it deeply, it will show. And not necessarily physically, for it's the spirit that the temple houses that is more important than the exterior.

You may not always be able to see what a wonderful spirit someone houses within their body simply by glancing at the exterior, but a good spirit can always be felt if you give it the chance.

And this amazing thing happens, suddenly you see bodies as simply the architecture that houses the most beautiful, tough yet delicate, souls. And so it becomes not about exterior, but about all that beauty that's housed within. And you may never see that beauty if you simply walk away because of what others have told you what a beautiful temple exterior should look like. Don't allow others to live your adventures for you, and remember that in each of these temples is housed one heck of a beautiful and unique soul. Beauty within can be seen and felt when you allow others the chance to flourish in building their own bodies and admiring and respecting the temple that is all their own. Bodies are beautiful.