easy in my body
I don’t like to brag, but I’ve been up before 7 to walk the beach every day this month. (Please, kindly refrain from mentioning that today is only the 4th)
It happened the first day because I wasn’t sleeping, and the husband-person was, and the sun was shining, and the birds were chirping in the window, and somehow the soft morning air cast a spell on me and next thing I knew, there I was on the beach, wondering why I had wasted all of July NOT walking on the beach.
I was only out 20 minutes or so, but when I got home, all sun-kissed and wind-swept, I was feeling alive and happy and darn proud of myself. Which is what got me out there the second day.
I walked a little farther Tuesday, and as I strode along the packed sand near the water’s edge (okay, ‘strode’ might be too strong a word, but it was definitely faster than ‘ambled’) I realized that I could feel my thighs moving inside my pants; not the soft jersey rubbing against my legs exactly, but rather against a thin layer of air between my skin and the fabric, caressing me as I moved.
And then I started to notice a delicious looseness in my body. I could feel my blood pumping, and my soft breath loud on the quiet beach. I took off my shoes and felt the cool sand under my feet, wiggling my toes to bury them gently in the sand. I edged up to the water, letting the cool river water kiss my toes, watching the wave pattern change around them.
And I remembered, it’s really that easy to feel good in your body. To notice that you are a beautifully complex, exquisitely sensitive organic creature, experiencing life moment to moment to moment, and all you have to do is stop and notice.
Today, feel the warm water of the shower cascading over your body, notice the rough cotton of the facecloth brushing your skin, savour the stream of soap bubbles gliding down your body. Be present to the warmth of the towel enveloping you, the softness of the t-shirt as it drapes over your body, the stiff smoothness of your jeans as you smooth them over your hips. Notice the earth beneath your feet as you move through your day.
Give yourself permission to notice how good you can feel in your body.
