Attitude

I’ve been reading some medical conversations on fat. Seeing people who talk about how wonderful weight loss has been for their health, I have to wonder how much attitude comes into it.

If a person hates their body daily, if they dread leaving the house for fear of ridicule and attack, if they believe they are unlovable and unworthy, how do they perceive their body (their health)? Negatively, of course. They will force their body past its natural boundaries: over-exercising, under-eating, denying its needs and wants. They will focus on every ache and pain. They will see natural events as weakness and proof of moral failure. And, in my experience, they will feel sicker.

On a spiritual level, I have to believe that all that negativity directed at a body affects the health of that body as well. I think this is true on a societal level also. How can all that negativity directed at fat not hurt fat peoples’ health? I think that, if we are not aware and consciously deny that negativity, we can take that negativity into our selves and allow it to make us unhealthy.

On the other hand, if a person loves (or, at least, accepts) their body as it is, if they practice being in touch with it, if they treat it gently, if they give it rest when it needs rest, if they give it food when it needs food (and don’t feel guilty for doing so), if they eat with pleasure, if they move however their body desires (as little or as much), their perception will be much different. Rather than seeing each ache and pain as proof of unworthiness/unlovableness, they just become aches and pains; instead of seeing a health problem as moral failure, they see it as a problem to be solved to the degree possible. On a spiritual level, I have found positive energy and love powerful healers, whether focused on my own body or others. Self-love is also a powerful shield against others negativity.

Whether we choose self-hate or self-acceptance, I believe our attitudes drastically change the way we treat and feel about our bodies. Is it really weight loss that has made these people feel better or is it self-love?