Throw Your Scale in The River
Posted on 09. Apr, 2010 by Ken Bechtel in The Goo Blog
I was speaking with a friend of mine yesterday and she mentioned she weighed more than she had in a very long time but people were saying that she looked healthy.
She was having to get used to her body feeling different than it had. And it was strange.
Unfortunately, in our culture we place a great deal of importance on weight. As if a certain weight equals health. Now weight obviously plays a role, but it is not the only factor.
This obsession with weight is one way we stay unconscious to our lives. We want it to be simple. If my weight goes up I am less healthy and if it goes down I am more healthy. Simple, now I don’t have to pay attention to anything else. But that just is not true.
Health is defined as a state of being free from illness or injury. Look at that, it says nothing about weight. And we can be ill or injured no matter what weight we are. Clearly weight, in and of itself, is not a definitive indicator of health. So throw your scale in the river.
We must stop looking outside ourselves to identify if we are healthy or not. We cannot lump ourselves in with everyone else if we are to be truly healthy. We are all unique and have differences in what serves us. Health requires personal awareness.
We need to pay attention and listen to our bodies. What are our instincts telling us that our bodies and beings need?
Take a few minutes as you start each day and ask yourself what you need that day to be healthy. Is it exercise or a nap or certain foods or more water or a particular type of interaction with people or animals or nature? Listen to the answer and trust it.
Health is not a number on a scale or a your Body Mass Index (BMI) or anything other than a balance of life. Only you have that answer.
