Beautiful

Tonight my son and I had dinner together, and he was talking about what you can learn from TV, even from shows that at first glance may not seem educational, like his fave: South Park. I had to agree with him, and though both my kids think it's goofy that I am into Glee, that show does an amazing job of tackling tough topics such as teen pregnancy and body image.

I've been thinking about the body image issue a lot lately. As my daughter gets older, I want to be sure I am a good role model for her of both healthy diet and exercise and healthy self image. There's really no more powerful messenger on this topic than Mercedes from the Glee cast singing Christina Aguilera's Beautiful:

Don't look at me

Every day is so wonderful
Then suddenly it's hard to breathe
Now and then I get insecure
From all the pain, I'm so ashamed

I am beautiful no matter what they say
Words can't bring me down
I am beautiful in every single way
Yes, words can't bring me down... Oh no
So don't you bring me down today

To all your friends you're delirious
So consumed in all your doom
Trying hard to fill the emptiness
The pieces gone, left the puzzle undone
is that the way it is?

You are beautiful no matter what they say
Words can't bring you down....oh no
You are beautiful in every single way
Yes, words can't bring you down, oh, no
So don't you bring me down today...

No matter what we do
(no matter what we do)
No matter what we say
(no matter what we say)
We're the song inside the tune
Full of beautiful mistakes

Now I'm not saying it was a mistake to chop my hair off -- I did it because I really needed a dramatic change, and it delivered. But I will say that with winter approaching, I am missing my hair. I miss the way it both looked and felt under my hat. I don't like the feeling of being exposed -- either literally, to the elements -- or more figuratively -- by no longer having the masculine ideal of long hair. And it's not just that. I prefer it that way, both in terms of how it looks and in the convenience of being able to put it up.

It's ok. I know it'll grow back. And as it does, I know that I have an opportunity to embrace a beauty that is much deeper than the kind associated with the length of one's hair:

And everywhere we go
(and everywhere we go)
The sun will always shine
(the sun will always, always shine)
And tomorrow we might wake on the other side

Loving the body we're in by being kind to it -- both by not bringing it down with harsh words and by eating well and exercising -- is one of our main missions on this planet -- because it helps us be all we can be in the world.

It would be great if it were simpler, but it just isn't. Not for many of us, anyway. At the hotel gym in Milwaukee I got to talking to a woman who oversees 6 companies now -- by one measure super successful -- but her yo-yoing weight is a never-ending struggle. I reckon the answer to such struggles is to spend more time looking inward, which is a big reason I both practice and teach yoga.

I stumbled on this video a while back online, and along with Christina and Glee, it feels apropos to post it here. It's all about how women see themselves compared to how they look to others, and it's good motivation to connect with the light within so that we can both see and feel it shining, regardless of the length of our hair or our weight on the scale...