POST 11

My journey to food freedom, and away from a fear of food, has been stimulated and inspired by so many people I've met and experiences I've had. 

For the last year, I have been spending a few hours a week selling clothing to women and girls in a fashion boutique.

It has been a major eye opener, to bear witness to all the unique individuals who have come into the shop, and hear from them, how they feel about their bodies.

A remarkable moment came for me, when a woman of about 40 came in to buy a dress for a wedding.  She was an extra small and most of our dresses were much too big for her.  But I gave her a little black number that I thought would hug her small frame and look fabulous.  And it did!  But she didnt think so. All she was able to focus on was that her butt was too big!

It was at that very moment that I had an epiphany:

If this gorgous woman who is tall, and long and lean and much more toned and fit than I, can't see her own beauty, then what hope to I have?

It was like someone held a mirror up to me and showed me how my current state of mind was no different from this womans. My own ideals about needing to be as close to 'perfect' as possible in order to feel happy with myself were certainly reflected back to me when I served this woman.

About 98% off all women I serve, from 15 years of age, to 80, really talk about what they don't like about there bodies.  I started noticing that not many people come in and obviously are loving themselves and how they look.

In my own life, how I feel about how I look, is a reflection of how I feel about myself.  Our appearances are most certainly  extensions of how we see ourselves and percieve ourselves in the world.

If I am trying on clothes, or in recent days, a bikini, and all I can see are my 'flaws' like cellulite, veins and skin rolls, instead of drawing my attention to how healthy I look and how sexy my ample boosoms are, then I don't think I'm feeling much love for myself.  And I want to feel love for me!

So todays blog is dedicated to my customers in awe and respect of their own journeys with self acceptance and love! For me, I have discovered that self-acceptance starts with allowing myself to eat what I want when I want, and to accept how I look and feel, with joy and love.  Not an easy task, but one worth its 'weight' in gold!

I send love to all the women in my life, who remind me everyday, how important it is to love ourselves first and foremost.  By bearing witness to such beautiful and captivating women who stuggle with their own feelings of self love, it allows me to feel that I am not alone.

When I see women who are so beautiful and sexy and vibrant, and I hear them worry about if their butt is too big or tummy too rounded, and all I can see is how amazing they look, I realize that we are all in this together!

I feel honoured to be a woman today!