Monday Musings...

Happy Monday!

It has been a few days since my revelations and realizations took hold, but let me tell you that the shift is palpable...and welcome...and wonderful...and joyful.

I'm not completely there yet, accepting myself wholly and fully is going to be a process but I can see it happening...feel it. This morning I walked down main street and where I normally look at myself in the shop windows and think negatively, today my inner dialogue was different...it was more accepting and appreciative, it liked what it saw.

All around me the world is changing and the direction is a glorious one primarily of acceptance and appreciation how can one not help but be happy? When you are happy those around you are happy, and supportive and appreciative and loving and generous and kind...it really is true...the energy you put out into the world is the energy you get back.

I stumbled upon a new to me blog last week and today's' post was a good one. Over at Marc and Angel Hack Life they are talking about the 9 Things you Do NOT Need to Be Happy. Check it out, it is worth the read and will have you realizing how true this list really is.

And because every post needs a photo I thought I'd share something from my 'Beautiful Inspiration' board on Pinterest...

via my Pinterest

Happy Monday! Hope your day holds beauty love and laughter!

Revelations and realizations...

When I turned thirty my world changed...I settled into being me I cared less and less what those on the outside thought or said about me and I found a new sense of self. Now as I approach my fortieth birthday I am feeling a further awakening or embracing of who I am and who I want to be.

My whole life my weight has been an issue for me. I always thought my life would begin if I could just lose the weight...and we are not talking a little weight, we are talking about 75-100 pounds at different points in my life. Then I met my husband and he fell in love with me...curves and all. It was powerful and maybe should have ended my fixation on my weight, but it did not. Together he and I struggle and while we generally eat healthily, we are both stress eaters and he in particular tends to nurture others (read me) through food as he loves to cook. I have devoted so much time and energy to thoughts of my weight and longing to change it, willing the scale to move in my direction, cheering when it did, scowling when it didn't. Too much energy...energy that I can and should be directing elsewhere.

I came across a wonderful photographer who is compiling a book called the 'A Beautiful Body Project'. Jade Beal is an Arizona photographer and mother who is essentially wanting to show the world and it's women just how beautiful our bodies are no matter our size. The images she is compiling are compelling and I will admit, difficult for me to look at at first. I have never seen a real body represented in mainstream media. I have never seen images of real bodies in magazines, or in the movies. I grew up with the Molly Ringwald's the Julia Roberts', the Gwenyth Paltrow's...the apparent ideal body type and image, the one we all strive to become. The one we all relate to as beautiful and sexy. I will never be a Julia Roberts, though I do have a killer smile that could giver her a run for her money... So after I came across Jade's project and read a quote (I do not remember if it was Jade or another photographer and I am paraphrasing) about how he/she has photographed many many women naked and all of them whether a size 0 or a 22...all of them have rolls when they sit down, I realized that perhaps it was time to find a way to embrace this body of mine.

Following Jade on Facebook led me to The Militant Baker who is the fierce young women who took on Abercrombie and Fitch via her own photo-shoot and subsequent media popularity (check her out here), which started a slow paradigm shift in my own mind. I looked at her images and thought why can't that body, not dissimilar to my own be considered sexy? But still it is not what I had been hardwired to consider as appealing and so I continued to fight with the scale, and my wardrobe...or desired wardrobe. I would continually go to my Pinterest board 'Personal Style' and pin outfits like this

via my pinterest

As you can well see this beautiful woman is no where near a size 18-20. All of the fashion on my board is of this nature, so far from my reality that all I could do was continue to try to reach that ideal. And then slowly something started to change...slowly I started to see a shift in the fashions showing up on Pinterest for repinning...slowly I started to see this

also via my pinterest

And then I had the thought to search plus size fashion on Pinterest and whole new world flooded in to me. It had me starting (just last night) a new board called Embracing Me... and I have vowed to immerse myself in this board regularly so that I may see the image of myself, the kind of woman I am beautiful in all my curves.

both images via my pinterest

And so as I move into my forties I will let the number on the scale go...it won't be easy it has been my nemesis for so long. I will focus on my current beauty not an unattainable beauty, and I will focus on making this body, the healthiest it can be, because...

via my pinterest

Parenting...

Today I read two blog posts over at Huffington Post. Both were on the same topic...a 7 year old who has identified himself as gay. Both were written by his parents, one his mother, one his father. Both were wonderful.

Amelia writes about the first time her son verbally identified himself as gay and the moments since. It is an eloquent account of how she is managing this realization and it's early onset. She talks about how she and her husband are simply accepting that this a part of their son just as his love for Lego is a part of his seven year old self. Amelia's husband Dave has written a blog post in response to many comments to Amelia inquiring about how he is reacting to his 7 year old sons revelation. Dave is also eloquent, understanding and non-judgmental. He says "I don't see how a father, or any parent, can look at their son, the one they've loved since before the child was even born, and upon hearing him say, "Dad, I'm gay," turn their back on him."

I had to share these posts because Amelia and Dave are parenting role models. Regardless of whether you believe a 7 year old is capable of identifying his or her sexual orientation, the heart of the matter is showing your children love and respect and acceptance.

via my pinterest, original source

Thank you Dave and Amelia! Loving the children in your life is the easiest and most rewarding thing in life.

Happy Tuesday all!