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Acceptance vs. Approval - How to truly heal your relationship with your body

Updated: Oct 30, 2020

In the body-positive world, thereโ€™s a whole lot of โ€œLOVE YOUR BODY LOVE YOUR BODY LOVE YOUR BODYโ€ going on.


Thereโ€™s nothing wrong with this.


Obviously loving our bodies would be a wonderful achievement. But for many people, especially people with long-held negative beliefs or distorted views of themselves, finding self-love can feel like an uphill battle.


Loving our bodies is a form of approval. But accepting our bodies is the first step to healing.

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7 years ago I was sitting in group therapy listening to another woman talk about how hard it was to love herself.

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I chimed in and said, "๐˜บ๐˜ข ๐˜ฌ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฐ๐˜ธ... ๐˜ ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜ฌ ๐˜ข๐˜ค๐˜ค๐˜ฆ๐˜ฑ๐˜ต๐˜ข๐˜ฏ๐˜ค๐˜ฆ ๐˜ช๐˜ด ๐˜ฅ๐˜ช๐˜ง๐˜ง๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฏ๐˜ต ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ข๐˜ฏ ๐˜ข๐˜ฑ๐˜ฑ๐˜ณ๐˜ฐ๐˜ท๐˜ข๐˜ญ."

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Upon further exploration, we realized this group member was actually struggling to APPROVE OF her imperfections. Not accept them. Thereโ€™s a subtle difference between the two.

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This important realization has stuck with me ever since.

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APPROVAL = means you LIKE something.


(Giving it a thumbs up. ๐Ÿ‘)

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mindfulness, acceptance, body image, body positive, body neutrality, mindful awareness, self love, self compassion

The body positivity movement has a lot to do with approval. The goal is to like and even feel proud of our curves, dimples, and boob sweat.

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But approval is often the result of a lot of HARD WORK. And loving our bodies can feel like a far off goal at times.


Approval attaches value to our bodies.


If hating our bodies is a negative charge, then approving of our bodies is a positive charge. Weโ€™re saying โ€œhey, I like you.โ€

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But when we take a look at what body neutrality stands for, ACCEPTANCE is the name of the game.

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ACCEPTANCE = Being with what is.


(Without a value judgment.)

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๐–๐ž ๐œ๐š๐ง ๐š๐œ๐œ๐ž๐ฉ๐ญ ๐ฌ๐จ๐ฆ๐ž๐ญ๐ก๐ข๐ง๐  ๐š๐ง๐ ๐ฌ๐ญ๐ข๐ฅ๐ฅ ๐ง๐จ๐ญ ๐ฅ๐ข๐ค๐ž ๐ข๐ญ.


Read that again.


You can accept your body and still not be in love with it.


Acceptance is surrendering to what is. What exists.


Anything other than acceptance is the rejection of truth.


The rejection of facts. And that rejection causes tension.


Rejecting your body as it is, can only lead to frustration and disappointment.


mindfulness, acceptance, body image, body positive, body neutrality, mindful awareness, self love, self compassion

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One way you can work to accept your body - view it without judgment - is with a body scan meditation.


This is a simple mindfulness practice, often done while laying down (yessss total relaxation ๐Ÿ’ค), where you bring your attention to every body part - one by one.

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I've written and recorded a body scan meditation that's available for you to download right now! You can get started moving towards acceptance right away!


So light some candles, set aside 10 minutes, and turn inward!



I encourage you to strive for acceptance rather than approval at the beginning of your body healing journey.


It's the quickest path to end suffering.

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The moment we stop resisting what is real. What is true. What's right in front of us... the moment we feel peace.

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Trying to change your body OR trying to love it both require a lot of energy and action.

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Seeking approval from yourself and others gets exhausting.

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๐€๐œ๐œ๐ž๐ฉ๐ญ๐š๐ง๐œ๐ž ๐ข๐ฌ ๐š ๐ฌ๐ฎ๐ซ๐ซ๐ž๐ง๐๐ž๐ซ๐ข๐ง๐ . Which in turn uses much less energy.

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๐Ÿ‘‰Can you ALLOW your body to exist as it is?

Without feeling the need to change it?

Without feeling the need to love it?

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๐Ÿ‘‰Can you ACCEPT the parts of yourself that make you human?

Without cursing their existence?

Without feeling the need to flaunt them?

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The ideas of acceptance vs. approval can extend into all areas of our lives.

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โœจWhat's one thing you're going to ACCEPT today? ๐Ÿ‘‡๐Ÿ‘‡


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Don't need the body scan but want to stay in the loop on future blog posts and receive helpful tips in your inbox every Monday morning about intuitive eating, body image, and mindfulness?


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