Sweet Cherry Wine

Spring is nearly sprung. We all can't wait. We're slipping into sandals every chance we get. We're toying with the idea of scanty clothing. And depending on where we live, we are doing more than toying with it!

But spring is often the season that scares women. We've been able to hide our bodies under layers of thick clothing for months. Now we're afraid that our flesh is not only pasty but a little too jiggly. But we love the feel of that spring air on our skin. It just makes us want to take off our clothes and kick off our shoes. Yet we've been trained to be overly critical of our bodies. To see them as unsightly if they are not in line with a certain type of expectation. Regardless of how big or small a woman's body is, the average woman struggles greatly with her body image.

I say, let's give up on the hunger for acceptance from the masses who have a warped view of what is beautiful. Let's embrace who we are. Where we came from. And what made us the fantastical creatures we are today.

Let's drink it in. And pass it around.

And ever remember these wise words from one of the most beautiful women of our time:

~ Clarissa Pinkola Estes ~

It makes utter sense to stay healthy and strong, to be as nourishing to the body as possible. Yet I would have to agree, there is in many women a "hungry" one inside. But rather than hungry to be a certain size, shape, or height, rather than hungry to fit the stereotype; women are hungry for basic regard from the culture surrounding them. The "hungry" one inside is longing to be treated respectfully, to be accepted, and in the very least, to be met without stereotyping. If there really is a woman "screaming to get out" she is screaming for the cessation of the disrespectful projections of others onto her body, her face, her age.

The idea in our culture of body solely as sculpture is wrong. Body is not marble. That is not its purpose. Its purpose [is] to protect, contain, support, and fire the spirit and soul within it, to be a repository for memory, to fill us with feeling--that is the supreme psychic nourishment. It is to lift us and propel us, to fill us with feeling to prove that we exist, that we are here, to give us grounding, heft, weight...The body is the launcher of those experiences. Without body there would be no sensations of crossing thresholds, there would be no sense of lifting, no sense of height, of weightlessness.

The body is like an earth. It is a land unto itself. It is as vulnerable to overbuilding, being carved into parcels, cut off, overmined, and shorn of its power as any landscape.

There is a line in Ntozake Shange's "for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf." In the play, the woman...speaks after having struggled to deal with all the psychic and physical aspects of herself that the culture ignores or demeans. She sums herself up in these wise and peaceful words:

here is what i have...
poems
big thighs
lil tits
&

so much love

11 comments:

Jenn in Holland said...

My love, you are divine. What a wonderful post and yes, here's to spring, to our wonderful bodies and to breathing it all in!

said...

Wow Teri. You continue to nourish my soul...

Thank you again for sharing your insights.

Much love.

wanderling said...

Great post, here we are in Autumn which is probably the best month here. After the heat and humidity of summer, the crisp, fresh morning air and dazzling blue of the skies are like music. It then hits 31 C in the afternoon and we realise summer hasn't given up her grip just yet, but almost. I don't want to put on layers of clothing though dammit.

Anyway this isn't really relevant to your post but I know you are a huge movie buff so I have to warn you about the movie "Blindness". It has some very disturbing images and is quite degrading to humanity and will make you feel sick in the stomach, so it might be one you want to avoid. I wish I could get it out of my mind. See it at your own peril.

Frequent Traveler said...

We put so much pressure on ouselves as it is. Nice to just enjoy our bodies and not take them too seriously :)

Anonymous said...

and ur also a crack head! you are sexy!!
SHeeesh

take that for what its worth coming from a dude with lil hair, big tits, neon white skin, farmers tan, ave unit, squinty eyes, and him self confidence!

One Man’s Opinion said...

I love Spring, because I hate the cold. I got to say though, that we tend to celibrate the spring time too early. Spring rarely shows it's happy face on time and we have to wait for it to come in, fashionably late.

Oh, and by the way, us guys sometimes are very aware of the problems with our own bodies, we just get over it a little faster then you ladies. Well, some of us anyway.

MindyMom said...

This is great! I feel SO much better about baring my less than perfect body now. ;)

Thanks for sharing this. Cheers! (with my sauvingnon blanc)

dadshouse said...

Nice post, and a great reminder that we don't have to feel judged. We all can just enjoy being humans with whatever bodies we each have. Being human is so much more than flesh and bones, anyway. Love the Clarissa Pinkola Estes citation. Running with wolves...

Melissa Banigan said...

Yes, spring certainly has us shedding clothing and baring our bodies! A couple of years ago I realized that looking divine is as simple as taking care of the mind and body. Simple, but easier said than done!

Great post...

Jormengrund said...

Well said Teri.

Myself, I take each and every person as they are.

Why?

I'm not much to look at myself, so if I'm willing to accept and love myself, why can't I also do that for everyone else?

Plain, simple, and to the point, no?

Mark said...

Yes, it is time to accept and love our self's in whole and that includes our form. Our body will change that is simply part of the process, we should embrace the change and love ourselves fully!