Ain’t No BODY BETTER

by Elaine Smookler

When you make a point of being curious, kind, and non-judgmental about all the shenanigans your body will get up to, you may find it much easier to manage it all, and love your body, just as it is.

Long, lean, smooth, and shapely, my ever-youthful Ken and Barbie dolls clearly had it made. Their perfect smiles beamed with joy no matter how many times I accidentally dropped them in the toilet or threw them down the stairwell. Shining and glorious, beyond sickness and death, their changeless bodies would remain as their maker intended, and patented them, to be.

The rest of us, on the other hand, find ourselves with bodies that just won’t stop changing. Sometimes we

ABOUT THE AUTHOR of the dynamic dynasty known as your body? Might you feel differently about yourself if you choose to love every lumpy, bumpy, numb, and tingly stage your body journeys through?

Elaine Smookler is a registered psychotherapist with a 20-year mindfulness practice. She is also a creativity coach and is on the faculty of the Centre for Mindfulness Studies in Toronto.