A few months ago, I decided I wanted to create a social media challenge to help people cultivate CHANGE! Power Your Spirit kept whispering into my ears, it was nudging me and finally I caved…. and my God am I happy I did!
Rhia & I started something this month called the power your spirit challenge which is a fun challenge on facebook & instagram where we take photos of ourselves (in various yoga poses and while doing kind acts) in order to create a SELF LOVE REVOLUTION!
A revolution means that I need soul warriors who are ready for change. I need people who are ready to change their own conversations around self-love. I need people who are strong (or want to be).
YOU are a soul warrior. That’s why you’re here!
The other day I was given an opportunity to change my own conversation and it made me think. We all have these times in our lives when something isn’t going right, when society is cruel or a loved one says something hurtful and at that moment we are the victim. We are hurt and angry and saddened by the world around us – but what if we changed that and flipped it on its head. What if being called fat was one of the best things that could happen in your day?
Throughout my own revolution (which I am still breathing and living every day) I needed to go through a few steps. In order to feel abundant love, we first need to go through a process and while I was going through this I wrote a few things down for you to remember!
1) Do Not Assume: The interesting thing about being called fat this week was that the person did not call me fat, but made a inference to my extra pounds put on since my wedding day. As I tend to be am overly sensitive at times I immediately started to get upset. I assumed that both myself & the other person thought I am fat! I wanted to cry because I was angry & hurt. The next emotion was regret from my weight gain and then questioning myself. All of these emotions came from an assumption that someone thought I was fat. When we assume it takes us out of reality & love and into a dark place that can be avoided and is no longer necessary in our lives. No one called me fat in that moment but my assumption lead to an array on un-loving emotions. Which brings me to step two…
2) Do Not Spiral: As women we have a tendency to completely spiral out of control. Someone mentions they don’t like your new hat and suddenly you are crying about that time in Mexico when a spider monkey grabbed your belly and everyone started laughing. Don’t go there, don’t let yourself spiral. SET EMOTIONAL LIMITS. It is so important to set emotional limits for yourself. I am not saying don’t cry (that’s a beautiful part of life), I’m saying be aware of your emotional limits. Just like 50 shades know when to say NO (yes, I went there).
3) Give Yourself Permission: Give yourself permission to cry or to be upset. Just for a moment. Get it all out there. By getting it all out there we are releasing that emotion. When we ignore our emotions they stay with us for a lot longer than you could ever realize. You know that moment in yoga when your hips are SCREAMING in half pigeon and you are cursing the teacher. It’s in that very moment that you remember an asshole ex-boyfriend of yours who hurt you and destroyed your heart – you see emotion has a tendency to hide within our physical bodies and by giving yourself permission to let it go now you are freeing yourself and allowing all the upset to be gone. You are giving yourself permission to move to the next step!
4) CHANGE THE CONVERSATION: A self-love revolution cannot happen without changing our conversation. Just because society hurt you today does not mean you aren’t perfect right where you are. Give yourself permission to be upset, but then reel it back in. Stop crying and give yourself the love you truly deserve right now. YOU ARE PERFECT RIGHT WHERE YOU ARE. This is the perfect moment to LOVE yourself and to take the language you are currently using and flip it on its head. Change words like hate into love and begin to look at yourself differently!
5) Know you’re right where you need to be: Some of you aren’t quite happy with their current weight or image and that’s perfectly okay! Self-love doesn’t necessarily mean being happy with where you are forever… it means being happy with where you are right now. Self-love is giving yourself permission to love yourself no matter where you are in the journey.
6) STOP PAIRING YOUR WEIGHT WITH HAPPINESS: When were you happiest in your life? Probably not at your ideal weight. Or your weight had nothing to do with it. Stop pairing it. I wasn’t at my ideal weight at my wedding, but I was beaming with joy. I was the happiest in my life because I was marrying my best friend. Weight often does not have anything to do with our ideal bliss in those BIG moments of our lives. Get out there and start living now. Have fun and be happy no matter where you are – have fun NOW and do not wait to be or feel skinny. Be happy instead and understand that you are right where you’re supposed to be.
7) You are NOT alone: Know that you are not alone. Our society is cruel and as a band of women we need to rise up to create kindness. LOVING ourselves needs to come first… and then we can continue to serve the world with kindness. Action tip: write a list of everyone who loves you or is in your community – fastest way to kick alones ass!
8) You are WORTHY of LOVE: The way one person thinks of you does not diminish your worthiness. You are worth not only of another’s love, but MOST IMPORTANTLY you are worthy of your own love.
Believe me as a yogi and a woman, I’ve been there myself. Yesterday I needed the space to cry, but in the moments afterwards I was brave enough to change the conversation and create motivation.
Being called fat made my day because it made me want to motivate you, empower you and help you understand that you ARE NOT ALONE and you are WORTHY OF LOVE.
This coming month I am launching the second round of The Ahimsa Project and we dig so much deeper. We discuss love, worth, yoga and desire. I would be so blessed to have you join us on a SELF LOVE REVOLUTION!!!
Click here to learn more & sign up for the revolution. 6 weeks of online love, support, yoga & motivation to bring more kindness and self-love to the world.
Sending you love, love, love
Namate,
Jenny
This is so honest and SOO beautiful , thank you for sharing, it speaks to me deeply 😉 <3 SELF LOVE REVOLUTION!
Self love revolution!! Love love love. ❤️
Thanks Jenny – great post! In my spiritual journey, I am working on the agreement ‘Don’t Take Anything Personally from the book, The Four Agreements. It’s a challenging one indeed, but worth every step.
I agree!! Worth every single step 🙂 Thanks for stopping by Lisa. <3
I admit that I am a very sensitive person in the sense that if anyone were to say anything negative towards me I will assumed that I am unworthy or nobody loves me. It took me a long time to let go of my own self perception and start to love myself more. My happiness and self worth is not determined by what others think of me but by how I see/ love myself. Lovely words of wisdom Jenny x
Oh dear Cassie, you’re right: YOU ARE WORTHY!!! Your self-worth is how you look at yourself and it’s time we all stepped up to the plate. Sending you a ton of healing love tonight!!
I love the honesty on your blog. I recently went through a major life trauma and my body didn’t quite react the way I thought it would. I was gaining weight due to stress. I woke up one day and realized that most of my worry came from worrying about how I would be perceived as a health coach gaining weight. The truth was I needed to take time to get better on the inside. So I silence all the judgmental voices and focussed on how I wanted to feel: beautiful, fit & strong.
Great words of wisdom.
Thank you so much Webly! I feel the only way I can be of service to others is by being truly myself and having the wherewithal to be honest in my journey as well. I’m not perfect, no one is. And part of being a teacher is allowing others to see you for YOU and to help them understand that even as people in the health industry, that we are real and so much more than the magazines.
Thank you for YOUR honesty! 🙂 I’m glad to have you here.
Love this Jenny!!! Thank you for the Laugh Out Loud Spiral example!! Great insight here!!
Hehe you’re welcome! I never experienced that example but we have a big tendency to spiral quickly! Have a great afternoon.