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Yes, I've talked myself into it. I am going to accept myself today. Great intention, but why, why is it so hard?! Why is it so very hard for us humans to accept ourselves? Can one truly embrace oneself, flaws and all, without cringing. Without wanting to run to the store to buy the latest diet pill, race to confession for absolution, or just suffer quietly in the agony of your own imperfection.
Can I ever look at my body and appreciate my body for all the good work it does everyday. Instead of oogling it like a hard-hat worker at a construction site, sizing me up from head to espadrille. Can I ever be able to look at my body with compassion and self-love? Look at it in awe for all it does for me everyday to allow me to live this life. For the gallons of life's blood it pumps through my veins every hour. Do I send my body love, or only hate, Do I look in the mirror, smile and say, "Thank you, legs for getting me where I need to go today."
Or do I look in the mirror, sneer and say, "Ugghh, gross." Do we reject our body parts? And if so, how long can we go rejecting them before they start rejecting you?
In life, a lot of stuff isn't about you. A store manager snaps at you, a driver gives you the finger, a waiter is impatient. It just isn't about you. It's them and how they chose to react. It is their misplaced anger, their frustration in a dead-end job, their fear, their bitterness, that is put on top of you. You were there to receive it with just the right circumstances to trigger it. But don't ever get a big head, it's not always about you, kiddo.
So here we are in this life. Trying ever so hard not to take other people's poop, personally. Staying vigilantly knowledgeable about the lack of "it being our fault"... our problem. The world does not revolve around our singular, yet flawed self. We are absolved. And then we are thrown a curve ball, a contradiction. Only to realize that sometimes, it is personal. It's all about you. You, baby. Like the time you did something so wrong, so selfish, you even had to admit it to yourself that was a bad call.
Like the time you hurt some one's feelings, lied, manipulated. Like the time you looked at your butt in the mirror and said, “Ugghh, gross."
We have choices in life. And those choices are chosen by you. Only you choose your choice of perception, reaction feeling, thought, emotion. We can choose to be defeated. We can choose to be sad. We can call into evidence all our circumstances and claim, yes we have every right to be miserable.
Then again, we can call into evidence all our circumstances and claim, yes we have every right to be happy. Imagine that, being thankful for the very things you want to get rid of, toss aside, just make go away.
Seeing your circumstances as just that, circumstances. Knowing that all is transient and subject to change, we can find our peace there.
Some preacher man told me that no one is just "happy". Happiness is a choice. In fact, you can even choose to be happy while you search for happiness.
I'm going to smile at my legs today. After all, they've taken me everywhere I've ever had to go.
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Janet Podleski is one half of the sister act that wrote the bestselling cookbooks, Looneyspoons, Crazy Plates and their latest, Eat, Shrink & Be Merry! Janet and her sister, Greta, are also monthly columnists for Canada's number-one magazine, Reader's Digest, and were voted into Canada’s Top 40 Under 40 in 2000. The sisters and their inspirational, self-publishing success story have been featured on dozens of national TV programs such as The Today Show, CNN, Canada A.M. and QVC, as well as on hundreds of radio shows, and in magazines and newspapers across North America. In addition to a B.A. in Psychology, she has also earned a degree as a Registered Holistic Nutritionist. 
Brenda J. Ponichtera is a registered dietitian and author of several award-winning cookbooks, all designed to prove that "healthful eating doesn't have to take a lot of time in the kitchen."
Calorie Bargain: Oikos Organic Greek Yogurt
Calorie Bargain: Green Mountain Gringo Mild Salsa
