How we can all feel good about ourselves, whatever our size.
I saw an article a few weeks ago with this incredible before-and-after set of photos of an overweight, post-baby woman who then became totally “bikini-worthy.”
So I had to click the link, of course, to have a look. No question about it—the “after” photo of this woman was a stunning shot. She looked fit, toned, healthy and gorgeous. I read on, eager to discover what her secret was; what profound magical method it was that she had used to shed however-many-number of pounds.
There it was, a long and detailed tract of the super lean, restrictive diet she had put herself on for a year. No carbs, no dairy, no fruit, no nothing. The sample diet she had shared in the article seemed to consist of little more than hummus, celery and endless amounts of steamed fish. Healthy—yes. Exciting, delicious, fun lifestyle—no.
I decided in that moment that I would choose to continue being a little bit fat.
Yes, I could do with losing at least about 10 pounds so that the Bébé dress I bought earlier this year would fit that much more snugly. But if it’s at the expense of not eating fruit, freshly baked breads, Greek yogurt and honey for a year, well then, I choose emphatically to continue being 10 pounds more than I should be.
Science is a wonderful thing. It’s revealed so many revolutionary ways of understanding the way our bodies work and the effects of new foods, super foods, bad foods and good foods on our health. It’s sad though that “health” has so often come to be equated only and necessarily with thinness.
The glut of diet programs, weight-loss fads, fat-burning supplements and specialized bikini-body workouts are now as much a part of our daily consumer choices as the aisles of (“forbidden”) food in supermarkets. There seems to be no excuse not to be “healthy” (read: thin) given the huge number of aids, YouTube videos and literature on the subject.
Articles like the one I read aren’t necessarily always an encouraging, inspiring thing. They don’t just tell the story of an overweight person who chose discipline and a healthier lifestyle. There is often also a more sinister sub-narrative that raises its eyebrows at the reader and challenges her—“If this person can lose xx pounds, why can’t you?”—even if the reader may not actually be unhealthy or overweight.
The titles of these articles alone are almost always weight-centered, like “I lost 120 pounds, ask me how!” or “How one man lost 200 pounds in a year.” Rarely are these articles presented through the perspective of someone choosing a healthier lifestyle, discarding bad nutritional habits or incorporating fitness into their daily routine.
There it is: the continuous, unceasing reminder that we should all be striving toward thinness. From cabbage soup fasts, to low-everything diets, to 20-minute fat-blasting workouts, the desirable end result is usually almost and entirely about becoming become a thinner version of ourselves.
I am not ignoring the fact that for a percentage of people who are facing the health risks of being dangerously overweight, losing weight is a part of becoming healthier. I don’t discount that and understand how important it is in these cases to count calories and lost inches.
Problems arise when that very same method is being adopted by people who aren’t facing any health risks—who may, in fact, be completely healthy, fit people—but who still feel that they would be healthier if only they were five, 10 or 20 pounds lighter.
So I’d like to suggest flipping things around a bit; looking at things through another lens.
Logically and biologically, it would follow that by following a healthy way of living, eating and exercising, everything else will find its proper balance. We would lose weight if we needed to lose weight, we’d gain muscle if we needed to gain muscle, we’d balance out all the other things that come from not being healthy—stress, cholesterol, diabetes, poor complexion, hair loss etc.
And what does it mean to live healthily? In the face of all the new diet and exercise schemes, I think that actually, we all already know what it means to live a healthy, balanced, feel-totally-awesome lifestyle, without having to follow any fad or buy any specialized products.
Intuitively, deep down inside, we do know the basics of living well. We know when we’ve had enough to eat,what kinds of foods are good for us, what makes us feel good and what makes us go into a slump, how much exercise we need to do, when to stop when we’re exhausted and when to rest.
We know this not just intellectually, but physically—our bodies are always telling us what we need to do; we just need to listen.
One’s body will tell us when it feels like a massive binge on Chinese take-out. It will also tell us when it’s had enough so we don’t insist on finishing every last fortune cookie. Our bodies will take us dancing, running, swimming, trampolining and playing; but they will also make us rest and sleep.
I read something beautiful a while ago, about how we shouldn’t change our bodies so we can love them.
Ultimately this is about focusing on health: the physical health of our bodies and the emotional health of how we see and relate to our bodies. We love our bodies—this temporary shell on loan to us for this lifetime—so we treat them well, nourish them, feed them, move them, hug them, stretch then, let them dance, discipline them, give them a treat sometimes and most of all enjoy them.
Enjoying our bodies is to indulge in the beautiful, sensual things like good food, good sex and the rush of an energetic run in the mornings. But also, I think enjoyment is about ensuring our bodies are at their prime health so that they truly get the most out of these things and appreciate, at our body’s fullest capacity, the good food, good sex and energetic run.
This is true whatever size we’re at, whether we’re trying to lose weight or gain weight, whether we’re severely overweight or dangerously underweight.
This is true because it’s a matter of health and of helping our bodies be at their optimum functioning levels, not merely a matter of what we look like.
Yes, ideally, I would still like the scales to tell me that I am 10 pounds lighter and to see my dress size drop to a single digit. But then, I have to ask myself what it really is that I’d like to get out of being that much thinner. I don’t have any illnesses, I live a happy, active life, and I’ve been medically cleared for good, prime health.
So what is it? To be more attractive? To feel more energetic? To turn more heads? To tighten that gap between me and the Victoria’s Secret models?
I realize now that if I only just went back to focusing on being healthy, everything else would find its rightful place. When I’m feeling healthy, my skin glows, my hair is shiny and I’m a face full of radiance. When I’m feeling fit after a big run and deep session of yoga, I’m also confident, joyful and there’s an extra bounce in my step.
Automatically, without being a single ounce lighter, I realize now that being healthy alone is enough to be more attractive, feel more energetic, turn more heads and gain almost as many admirers as the Victoria’s Secret angels.
With a focus on health, instead of weight, I find too that I enjoy life a whole lot more. I eat without guilt and play with abandon. I move and shift and indulge the very real needs of my body instead of spending good hours of my day fussing over diet plans, exercise schedules and meal replacement shakes.
It isn’t only when I achieve a vision of thinness that I am deemed healthy and attractive.
I am attractive because I am living healthily.
And if that means I shall always be a little bit fat, with a few extra pounds to shed, then that’s exactly what I shall be.
The very first dust jackets (or dust wrappers) appeared in 1832 with the sole purpose of protecting books during transport between the printer and the bookstore. The dust jackets themselves were worthless and the plain paper was discarded when the books were unwrapped for display in bookstores. At the end of 1800s publishers began making pictorial dust jackets, but the wrappers were still disposed of more often than not. In the decades that followed, dust jackets became marketing tools that featured beautiful illustrations as well as promotional text about the book and its author. Booksellers began to leave the jackets on for display as they were often more appealing than the plain cloth cover underneath. In the 1920s there was a resurgence of collecting modern first editions, and a widespread insistence on a high standard of condition made the dust jacket more vital than ever. A recent book described as 'mint' or 'as new' was expected to be in its original jacket. Because dust jackets were disposable for so long, today they are considered to be one of the most valuable aspects of a collectible modern book.
Beyond protecting the condition of book, the jackets might offer something unavailable in the book itself. You might find a blurb by T.S. Eliot on the wrapper of an old Faber and Faber poetry book, or an original illustration by a renowned artist. Many of the most recognizable dust jackets were designed by artists handpicked by the author or their publisher. Bloomsbury Group member Vanessa Bell gave her sister Virginia Woolf’s books a distinct modern style. Bell used no more than two or three colors for her book designs, but the dust jackets remain some of the most beautiful in literature. Illustrator Virgil Finlay was a pillar in the pulp science fiction world, and was awarded two Hugo Awards for his illustrations in science fiction books. Finlay designed the stunning cover of H.P. Lovecraft's sci-fi classic, The Outsiders and Others. Renowned children's book illustrator Garth Williams lent his style to countless stories, including Laura Ingalls Wilder's Little House series and E.B. White's Stuart Little and Charlotte's Web.
Other times the dust jacket designer is a nameless employee at a publishing house. In the case of Go Tell it on the Mountain, author James Baldwin despised the publisher's original design and demanded it be changed before going to print. A few copies of the original design do exist - in fact, it made our list. Some authors aren’t willing to leave the design up to someone else. Evelyn Waugh illustrated a rare edition of Vile Bodies, and Ian Fleming tried his hand at design with a 1955 edition of Moonraker.
We scoured our vast selection of vintage books for the most beautiful dust jackets, and soon discovered that selecting just 30 was a nearly impossible task. This selection ranges from 1917 to 1969, and really is just a drop in the bucket. From abstract design to detailed illustrations, enjoy these gorgeous vintage dust jackets.
My Love, my heart aches exquisitely for your love, it craves your love, it swells with each word you whisper, pumps wildly at the vibration of your name and denies its beat when you draw me in close.
Let’s never fight this love, let’s not battle for it or against, let’s surrender each cell of our souls and absorb and submerge in the bitter sweetness of our worlds that we make believe are true and almost wish to deny.
For I love this pain we both share, I love the intense, thrashing sensations that electrocute my mind to alert me that you are close by. And my erotic demands that cry out to you when you are too far from my touch.
I love the pleasure and the ecstasy, the thrills and the twists and the bends that carve dirty dust tracks with their desire.
I am compelled to love your love, the force is stronger than I, and I shall never attempt its defeat.
So, I will love you, My Love, and I will love this love that found us until…
I’ll love you till the light’s too scared to shine and steal the dark.
I’ll love you till each mountain drops below to kiss the ground.
I will love you till the wind stops still to torture breathing lungs.
I’ll love you till stubbornness lies between shores and crashing waves.
I’ll love you till each burning bridge no longer burns.
I’ll love you till every grain of sand spills through glass hours.
I’ll love you till the pulse of earths core’s no longer heard.
I will love you till each raindrop’s caught in thirsty lips.
I will love you till each bright wishing star’s fell from the sky.
I will love you till the alchemist’s blends won’t mix to gold.
I’ll love you till each poisoned drop no longer kills.
I’ll love you till my bare foot prints have touched all land.
I’ll love you till the magnets force is too weak to pull.
I will love you till every primal thought has left each mind.
I’ll love you till the blazing phoenix simmers down.
I’ll love you till all spider’s silky webs have finally spun.
I will love you till all the lonely wolves no longer howl.
I’ll love you till every dove that visits no longer sings.
I’ll love you till a never ending infinity meets its end.
I’ll love you till the last long lash finally draws to close.
I love you from now and from whenever and till forever when we meet in far off time.
My love is limitless for this love. It is endless and it’s careless and it’s frantic and it cares for nothing more than to live and then die slowly within the depths of this love.
When the rain is blowing in your face, And the whole world is on your case, I could offer you a warm embrace To make you feel my love.
When the evening shadows and the stars appear, And there is no one there to dry your tears, I could hold you for a million years To make you feel my love.
I know you haven't made your mind up yet, But I will never do you wrong. I've known it from the moment that we met, No doubt in my mind where you belong.
I'd go hungry; I'd go black and blue, I'd go crawling down the avenue. No, there's nothing that I wouldn't do To make you feel my love.
The storms are raging on the rolling sea And on the highway of regret. The winds of change are blowing wild and free, You ain't seen nothing like me yet.
I could make you happy, make your dreams come true. Nothing that I wouldn't do. Go to the ends of the Earth for you, To make you feel my love To make you feel my love
Just when I think I can take NO MORE! The mist comes in to tell me... "You think too much!" She comes to blind me to my surroundings, to bring my attentions closer to self. She envelops me in silence... Quiets the chaos around me, to allow me more ease in quieting the chaos within... So that I may hear what lives beyond the din of my own mind... So that I may hear the voice of Spirit ~ the guidance within that will never lead me astray. The voice of Love, and of Light ~ and of Truth.
Just when I thought I could take no more... The mist came in to show me my abundance ~ and with love and gratitude, I sent her on her way. I was ready to see the new dawn.
Dogs come into our lives to teach us about love..They depart to teach us about loss. A new dog never replaces an old dog; it merely expands the heart. If you have loved many dogs, your heart is very big.
