Originally published at road2wholeness.com on 4/25/16
Today I'm discussing a few subjects that I believe are strongly connected but may at times get wrongly misrelated. The Naked Love concept is something that came to me many years ago. The premise was to 1. Move from the idea of loving ourselves from a place of logic (example: "I'm not going to drive while drunk.") to a place of naked love (example: "Why must I get drunk?") and 2. To encourage people towards self-acceptance and self-appreciation by offloading some of our beauty regimens and cover ups so that we might really become more comfortable with what we were given. A similar initiative that addresses in part the second half of the Naked Love Concept has emerged in recent years and is generally known as the "body-love" initiative. In this blog, I would like to address how we might embrace the idea of body-love without getting stuck there at the risk of not addressing our health or even settling for disfigure within our bodies.
First, I'll like to say that I am really grateful for the body-love initiative and the issues it brings to the table. I think the movement takes the issue of acceptance solely out of the hands of the individual and opens the mind of society in general to the idea of being more accepting and accommodating of various shapes and sizes. I truly believe that having a movement and conversation as such thirty years ago would have been helpful in the shaping of my body image and self-acceptance. I also truly believe that self-acceptance is a necessary bridge that we must build before we can ever begin to address weight loss and body transformation from an authentic place. Not to mention, I've learned from personal experience that depending on how much weight we may need to lose and how our body shell reacts and rebounds from weight loss; we may need to use that bridge many times over. That being said, I sometimes feel like people flip flop and misunderstand self-acceptance and appreciation for self-love.
In order to address weight loss on the mental/emotional level we do need to challenge our understanding of and barometer for self-love. Without a doubt most people easily relate diet and physical fitness to weight loss but we hardly ever address the self-love component and perhaps when we do; it gets attributed to an issue of personal will more so than an issue of self-love.
For me the work of defining and deepening my self-love began many years ago and I believe that work was the foundation for the mind shift that allowed me to shed over ninety pounds. I'll like to refer again to the idea of Naked Love as I defined it above to now challenge body-love as it relates to extreme overweight and disfigure. Therefore, body-love (encompassing self-compassion and self-acceptance but often falsely classified as self-love) would sound like "I love myself just the way I am" and naked love (the deeper self-love) would sound like "I deserve better health and vitality". On the other hand, just so I cover all bases, a poor body image would sound like "I hate the way I look" and naked love would sound like "I know this is not my best self" (the word self in this case being used to address the physical body).
You see, true self-love is going to demand a greater level of honesty and that honesty is going to push you into greater personal integrity. With greater integrity there will be greater levels of personal development and accomplishments in general as well as in weight loss. Therefore, I am working to push us forward into a deeper and truer self-love; a Naked Love. This is the mental/emotional first step toward making a lasting transformation. We have to get past going at it on a logical level for a logical reason like, "I need to get healthy". That's the kind of phrase that sounds really strong and determined but it's not connected to any real emotion. It's almost like... "Let me say it before you say it". We have to drop down beneath our logic and address our behaviors on the level of what we believe we deserve because when you believe you deserve something, that belief will make you fight to have it. Think about it--People endure years of litigation over what they believe they deserve and they will often tell you..."It's the principle of the matter." Well, exactly! When we realize that great health and well-proportioned bodies are actually part of our Divine inheritance, we'll fight for it and we'll work to maintain it! I'm not negating the fact that there are clearly a number of body shapes and nuances but for each of those shapes, there is a healthy proportion. Please understand that a well-proportioned body is not reserved for some elite group of human beings. No, it is part of our Divine design and we feel better in mind, body, and emotions when our bodies are expressing in accordance with that design. So let's turn on the Naked Love and begin to uproot any mindset that is at work to keep us from our best selves. Let's repair our vessels so that we may be fully operational and ready for the road ahead.
This is my offering for today. I hope it blesses you. As always, I encourage you to... "Go within that you may never go without". The God within you awaits you! Until our paths collide again, I wish you... Peace, Love, Life, and Harmony!!
In Service,
NaTisha Renee Williams
the "Emotional Life" Coach
Today I'm discussing a few subjects that I believe are strongly connected but may at times get wrongly misrelated. The Naked Love concept is something that came to me many years ago. The premise was to 1. Move from the idea of loving ourselves from a place of logic (example: "I'm not going to drive while drunk.") to a place of naked love (example: "Why must I get drunk?") and 2. To encourage people towards self-acceptance and self-appreciation by offloading some of our beauty regimens and cover ups so that we might really become more comfortable with what we were given. A similar initiative that addresses in part the second half of the Naked Love Concept has emerged in recent years and is generally known as the "body-love" initiative. In this blog, I would like to address how we might embrace the idea of body-love without getting stuck there at the risk of not addressing our health or even settling for disfigure within our bodies.
First, I'll like to say that I am really grateful for the body-love initiative and the issues it brings to the table. I think the movement takes the issue of acceptance solely out of the hands of the individual and opens the mind of society in general to the idea of being more accepting and accommodating of various shapes and sizes. I truly believe that having a movement and conversation as such thirty years ago would have been helpful in the shaping of my body image and self-acceptance. I also truly believe that self-acceptance is a necessary bridge that we must build before we can ever begin to address weight loss and body transformation from an authentic place. Not to mention, I've learned from personal experience that depending on how much weight we may need to lose and how our body shell reacts and rebounds from weight loss; we may need to use that bridge many times over. That being said, I sometimes feel like people flip flop and misunderstand self-acceptance and appreciation for self-love.
In order to address weight loss on the mental/emotional level we do need to challenge our understanding of and barometer for self-love. Without a doubt most people easily relate diet and physical fitness to weight loss but we hardly ever address the self-love component and perhaps when we do; it gets attributed to an issue of personal will more so than an issue of self-love.
For me the work of defining and deepening my self-love began many years ago and I believe that work was the foundation for the mind shift that allowed me to shed over ninety pounds. I'll like to refer again to the idea of Naked Love as I defined it above to now challenge body-love as it relates to extreme overweight and disfigure. Therefore, body-love (encompassing self-compassion and self-acceptance but often falsely classified as self-love) would sound like "I love myself just the way I am" and naked love (the deeper self-love) would sound like "I deserve better health and vitality". On the other hand, just so I cover all bases, a poor body image would sound like "I hate the way I look" and naked love would sound like "I know this is not my best self" (the word self in this case being used to address the physical body).
You see, true self-love is going to demand a greater level of honesty and that honesty is going to push you into greater personal integrity. With greater integrity there will be greater levels of personal development and accomplishments in general as well as in weight loss. Therefore, I am working to push us forward into a deeper and truer self-love; a Naked Love. This is the mental/emotional first step toward making a lasting transformation. We have to get past going at it on a logical level for a logical reason like, "I need to get healthy". That's the kind of phrase that sounds really strong and determined but it's not connected to any real emotion. It's almost like... "Let me say it before you say it". We have to drop down beneath our logic and address our behaviors on the level of what we believe we deserve because when you believe you deserve something, that belief will make you fight to have it. Think about it--People endure years of litigation over what they believe they deserve and they will often tell you..."It's the principle of the matter." Well, exactly! When we realize that great health and well-proportioned bodies are actually part of our Divine inheritance, we'll fight for it and we'll work to maintain it! I'm not negating the fact that there are clearly a number of body shapes and nuances but for each of those shapes, there is a healthy proportion. Please understand that a well-proportioned body is not reserved for some elite group of human beings. No, it is part of our Divine design and we feel better in mind, body, and emotions when our bodies are expressing in accordance with that design. So let's turn on the Naked Love and begin to uproot any mindset that is at work to keep us from our best selves. Let's repair our vessels so that we may be fully operational and ready for the road ahead.
This is my offering for today. I hope it blesses you. As always, I encourage you to... "Go within that you may never go without". The God within you awaits you! Until our paths collide again, I wish you... Peace, Love, Life, and Harmony!!
In Service,
NaTisha Renee Williams
the "Emotional Life" Coach
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