How to love your body: Part 3 -
Body Appreciation
By Tanja, Psychologist for Eating Disorders & Body Image
In the last two parts of the series “How to love your body”, I talked about Body Awareness and Body Neutrality. In the next step on our journey to body love, I’m going to talk about body appreciation, which is a powerful way to feel better about your body. Instead of focusing on how your body looks and worrying whether your body is “good enough”, you can try to feel appreciation for what your body actually can do for you every single day.
Hi there!
I’m Tanja. I’m a qualified psychologist specialising in eating disorders, negative body image and body hate. I’m also a survivor of anorexia.
My mission is to help you to end your lifelong struggles with food and your body and inspire you to uncover and embrace you true worth. Read more…
If you want to read more about how you can fall in love with your body, read also the fourth part of this series Body Love and Acceptance.
So when was the last time you felt grateful for just having a body? Don’t be frustrated or sad if you can’t remember even one time you felt appreciation for your body; many of us go through life without ever appreciating our bodies. Instead, many of us tend to talk negatively about our bodies, often in a much harsher way than we talk about other people’s bodies.
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Appreciation for your physical surroundings
Categories
Anorexia
Binge Eating Disorder
Bulimia
Intuitive Eating
Mindfulness
Orthorexia
Strategies for Recovery
To get a better idea of what appreciation looks like, we are going to focus on the physical things around you first. We all have a lot of things around us that we just take for granted, such as a bed, fridge or washing machine. But are we aware of what they do for us or how much comfort they bring us? Probably not.
Let’s change this today. Throughout your day, try to identify which things you are thankful for. For instance, you could be thankful for your bed (in which you can rest), your fridge (which keeps your food fresh) or your washing machine (which cleans your clothes). By doing this, you will realise that your life is much more comfortable, efficient and easy than you realise.
You might have also realised that some things aren’t perfect, but you still appreciate them. Your towels might not be as fluffy as hotel towels or one of your chairs might be wobbly, but they are still useful and provide you with comfort and support.
Appreciation for your body
After you have experienced what appreciation looks like, take a look at your body. In the same way that we take for granted the things around us, we usually tend to take for granted what our bodies do each day, such as the ability to hug a family member or walk to a friend’s home.
You don’t have to think that your body is beautiful or perfect for it to be worthy of appreciation.
Initially, you could appreciate that your body works for you to keep you alive every single day. Your heart beats, your stomach digests and your lungs breathe without you doing anything. How amazing is that, when you think about it? Or can you imagine having to concentrate on every single heartbeat? Probably not. So take a moment and be truly thankful for the amazing job your body does to keep you alive.
If you still struggle to feel thankful for your physical body and feel bad about yourself, you can try to focus on and appreciate your body’s sensations. Being able to touch, smell, see, taste and hear is a privilege that makes you unique. You can enjoy the sour-sweet flavour of cherries, listen to one of your favourite songs, breathe in the delicious smell of freshly baked croissants, feel the raindrops on your skin or watch the sunrise over your hometown. None of these sensations would be possible without your body.
Whether you like to run, dance, sing, cook or climb rocks, you can do this because of your physical body. Your body makes it possible for you to enjoy life.
Your body’s ability to communicate verbally and non-verbally is also worth appreciating. It allows you to make friends, talk to your loved ones and express your thoughts and feelings.
A powerful method to show your appreciation for your body is to write down which of your body’s qualities you are thankful for. You could place this “gratitude list” somewhere you will see regularly, such as on your bedside table, desk or bathroom mirror.
Truly feeling appreciation towards your body can be difficult to achieve. But no matter how your body looks, keep in mind the body you have is the only body you will ever have.
So no matter how you perceive your body, there is always something about your body for which you can be thankful right now.
You don’t need to struggle alone on your recovery journey. Simply get in touch to discuss how I can help you.
It is entirely possible to overcome an eating disorder or body hate – I have done it, others have done it and so can you!
Join the Body Acceptance & Food Freedom Collective
Receive a weekly dose of inspirations to help you make peace with your body and food.
Don’t worry, we hate spam too. You can unsubscribe any time.
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Hi there!
I’m Tanja. I’m a qualified psychologist specialising in eating disorders, negative body image and body hate. I’m also a survivor of anorexia.
My mission is to help you to end your lifelong struggles with food and your body and inspire you to uncover and embrace you true worth. Read more…