Could befriending your body help you love God?

My sister Jahnaya has always had a strong body. She is naturally muscular and enjoys a great degree of health. Physically, she has always been the stronger sister. She was a speedy sprinter in high school and a force to be reckoned with on skates during our hockey days. She recently gave birth to her second beautiful baby, and she speaks often about her gratitude for the physical strength of her body.

Media promotes the belief that skinny is best and clean eating is blessed. Society often inaccurately measures health by pounds and pant size.

Recently, Jahnaya’s appreciation for her physical vitality struck me as she described how deeply she appreciates her body for carrying her kids and playing at the park. Research reveals it is rare for a woman to appreciate the gift of her body. Over the years, I have struggled to do this.

Approximately 91% of women are unhappy with their bodies and only 5% of women naturally have the “ideal body type” portrayed by media. As a result, many live with a low-grade dissatisfaction with their bodies and train their brain to override the messages their bodies are trying to communicate. Recently, my friend Andrea Crisp hosted Dr. Jillian Murphy (Of the Food/Freedom Body Love Method) on her podcast (Check out The Courage Cast, it is amazing!). Mr. Murphy explains, “When you are pursuing weight loss you are in the mode to ignore your body, to override it, to overcome hunger, to push down appetite, to ignore cravings, to not be tune to needing a rest day because you need to stick to the plan.” This mindset prevents us from living and loving fully with both body AND soul.

The problem is not just about body image. Our culture highly values logic and productivity. I recently listened to a friend describe the advice given by her Professor. He told her, ‘I don’t care what you feel, tell me what you think’.

The notion of “mind over matter” is popular in our culture and teaches us from a young age to set intuition aside and give all credence to our minds. However, we mustn’t believe everything we think – our thoughts are not always true. Your “gut” or your “second brain” contains millions of neurons and we get information by heeding these too – they inform our brains about our emotions.

Most people devalue the information that can be gleaned by listening to their “gut” and instead, override their intuition and depend on logical thinking. They adhere to the popular belief that your body is serving you best when it looks good, is productive, is accomplishing something or is experiencing pleasure. Yes, logically speaking, this seems like a purposeful way to live. After all, we are wired to thrive when we live on purpose. However, studies of the brain show countless ways you limit your joy and potential when you feel like you are working against your uncooperative body, to achieve your goals.

By incorporating practices of presence in your body, you open pathways to connect with God, in your body and soul, and become free to pursue God’s purposes. Instead of asking, what can my body do for me? What if we paid more attention to the query, what is my body telling me? What if our bodies are not primarily for our use, but for our good? What if we viewed our bodies as a gift to enhance our connection with God and realize His purposes?

How can you grow this mindset?

One way is to practice connecting with God by paying attention to your breathing. At a pause in your day, invite Him into the present moment and focus on your breathing and your body, with gratitude, for five minutes.

How could this help you love God with your body AND soul?

Love Him through connection.

Connect with God. By increasing your “focus muscles”, you grow capacity to communicate with God and be fully present with Him.

Love Him through appreciation.

Appreciate your body. By having gratitude for your physical body and being present with God, you renew your mind by receiving the gift of your body – instead of appreciating it only when it is productive, or looking “good” (whatever that means…)

Love Him by allowing Him to guide your decisions.

Make decisions with confidence. By attuning to your body, you can integrate logical reasoning and your intuition to make decisions with confidence.

Love Him by loving others.

Connect with others deeply. By growing your capacity to be fully present with others, you are able to truly and deeply engage in conversations and activities that you value.

Love Him by empowering others.

Grow your capacity to influence your world for Jesus. By focusing your attention on others, you can act with emotional intelligence that allows you to tune in to others, for their benefit, for their growth and for God’s glory.

Yes, this is to live pursuing God’s purpose for your life: to love God with all you are.
Heart, mind, body and soul.