Most people agree: external rules help us live in a civilized society.
The problem comes when we take those external rules too far. When we internalize them and then forget they came from outside.
This morning, a lady at the gym told me, with a concerned face, her daughter-in-law had taken the exercise and healthy lifestyle too far, and was now “too thin.” “I don’t like it,” she concluded.
Smiling my friendliest smile, I responded, “I don’t think it matters whether you like it or not.” Having met the DIL, I continued, “I think she’s perfect.”
My intention wasn’t to praise the DIL’s looks, although she truly looks beautifully strong and healthy.
What I wanted to convey was that when someone takes care of their body in the way they know, and they feel healthy and strong, whatever the visual result is irrelevant. However they look is exactly how they’re supposed to look.
I see this “meddling” in someone else’s body size as an analogy of how we destroy other people’s internal guiding system by commenting on their choices and offering unsolicited advice. And of how we allow our own internal guidance to get disoriented by asking other people’s opinions on decisions that only we know how to make.
Your inner guiding system is powerful and always right: it’s called your emotions. If a choice makes your body vibrate with anticipation, go for it. If it makes your stomach turn upside down and want to run for the hills, don’t. That simple.
What current decision will you make using your infallible emotional guidance?
Love,
Carolina
Carolina Perez Sanz 