When I look back at the time wasted on worrying what other people thought I shake my head in disbelief.   As much as I hate to quote the obvious but oh boy! do I wish I could put this much wiser spirit into the much younger body back then.  As an Australian size ten and after having slimmed down in my mid-teens, I still wore long jackets to cover up what I considered was one of my many defects, all the while still thinking that someone must be staring at my “huge” size ten butt.

I had an array of them, even for the summer.   More ironically, I thought it was my secret, that no one would notice my clever attempt at the the big cover up.  I felt like I was living a lie and I was.

The fact is my body was a stranger to me.  We did not have a relationship at all let alone a healthy and nourished one.  Sure, I enjoyed getting dressed up (as long as my butt was covered!) and most definitely enjoyed some of the male attention that came my way but the truth is there was such a void in between.  I think my spirit was locked away somewhere in there too, along with my heart, far from the maddening crowd and far from the mind of a person that never felt good enough.  It was perhaps much safer that way.

It is a lonely journey when we find our Self fragmented in such a way that we have lost all connection with who we really are.  Our birthright is to be nourished in all its forms, so that we can in turn nourish others.  Delicious wholesome foods, laughter, sunshine, movement, kindness, awareness, good company and most importantly good old Vitamin L (Love) are just some of the ways that can help us move along the path to re-establishing the connection we came into this world with.

Like any relationship worthwhile it takes kindness, humour, gentleness, patience and an open heart to nurture it to wholeness.  The payoffs?  The ultimate sense of freedom and connection felt simultaneously.  Feeling whole, alive, nurtured and nourished.  Being comfortable in our own skin….. Sounds like heaven to me.

Shayne x