My Body is a Wonderland

I started reading a new book this morning. This one is about cell-level healing. It's about how amazing our bodies are with their millions of cells and how we as humans can somehow connect spiritually with our bodies at their deepest most scientific level and heal. The body is the temple to the spirit. And stuff. Blah blah blah.

Anyway...while reading, the author asked me to stop and appreciate my body. Acknowledge it's power. Be amazed by all the things it does to keep me alive without me even knowing. So, I did. Then she asked me to stop and list 4 things that I appreciate about my body. So, I did. Here they are:

1. I appreciate the way my body moves. Walking, skipping, jogging, dancing, jumping...it gets me up and down the stairs a gadzillion times a day. Around the lake. Up a mountain. Across the pool Through the grocery store. It gets me to the refrigerator and lets me chop veggies at the counter. It gets me to the bed for a restful night of sleep. There are plenty of people in this world who don't have this simple gift of movement that I take for granted everyday. Thank you, body!
2. I appreciate the way my brain processes my thoughts and lets me express them. Chatting with friends. Nagging my husband. Journaling. Writing this blog. Just sitting and contemplating. Telling my loved ones I love them. Pen to paper. Finger to keyboard. It's amazing how I can think (period) and how those thoughts find their way into my world. Thank you, brain!
3. I appreciate the way my body digests and processes the things I put into it. It filters out the bad stuff and absorbs all the good. When I think about all the filtering my body had to do in its younger years....beer, wine, vodka, the occasional cig, burgers, fries, sugar...it's truly amazing the work it's done for me! And, now...all the medicines going in...my cells having to try and discern what to use and what to throw out. My liver. My kidneys. My lymphatic system. My skin. Thank you, filtering fellas!
4. I appreciate the way my lungs breathe and my heart beats without my ever having to think about it. All those little (but huge live-saving) processes that go on even when our minds are occupied with everything else. My breath. My heartbeat. All proof that I woke up alive today. Thank you, organs!

After I finished this little exercise...I realized that the true things that I appreciate about my body...to my amazement...have nothing to do with what size pants I am wearing these days or how I look in the latest style of jeans or what I see when I look at my bald head in the mirror.  This, in itself, is a big change for me, I think. Yes, I am a woman, therefore, I still beat myself up about my thighs and my belly and my lack of physical fitness. But, really...when it comes down to it...I appreciate the fact that I can walk around the block (even if I sound like a broken lawn mower walking up the hill) and that my thighs can get me up and down those stairs at home, even if I can't put on my favorite jeans from last winter, and that mah belly gurgles with lovingly-prepared food, even if I almost always wish it protruded a little less fully from my body. I should BE so lucky.