My body is my temple.

‘My body is my temple’.  When I first heard this phrase a few years back it struck a chord for me; yes we need to honour and worship our body, and be grateful for it and treat it accordingly.  This makes so much sense.

But hang on…

In my journal the other night it occurred to me that there’s another side to it.  

After I wrote the affirmation ‘I love my beautiful body’, logically my next thought was ‘my body is my temple’, however instead what came out onto the page was ‘my body is my happy place’. 

I realised I don’t want to liken my body to a temple, a place of worship which evokes perfection and unattainability.  The motto ‘my body is my temple’ just reminds me that I haven’t been treating my body like a temple, so it brings up feelings of guilt and inadequacy.

Instead I wrote these words:

My body is my happy place. It is my home.  Home is where the heart is. My body is my home. I am ready to come home.

It’s the idea of just being with my body.  Just hanging out with her.  Feeling comfortable and at-home.  Just accepting her as she is; and at the same time knowing she accepts me just as I am.  She doesn’t expect me to feed or nourish her perfectly, and I don’t expect her to look or perform perfectly.

It’s the realisation that I have been home-sick (body-sick) for just be-ing. Now is the time to come back home… instead of hanging out at my mind’s house all the time.  Being in my mind is my worry place, whereas being in my body is my happy place.