Your life is built on three pillars – your spirit, your mind and your body. You only have one of each. All three need your constant love and care.

But, when did you last tell your body that you love it? Not recently I suspect.

Why not? Isn’t that what a lover would do? Say: “I love your body!”

So, if you don’t tell your body that you love it, is it a sign of how little you love and notice it?

If, for a long period of time, your lover failed to tell you that they loved you, would you start to suspect that their ardour had cooled, that they were taking you for granted?

Don’t feel bad. Most people take their body for granted until pain tells them something is wrong. Or until they cannot fit it into a special item of clothing they want to wear.

But, is it right to take your body for granted? Would yours perform better if it felt loved and cared for?

That depends on the nature of your love and care. If you treat it like a spoilt child and buy it everything it demands like chocolate, fatty foods, cosmetics and expensive clothes, you may gratify it in the short term, but over time it will degenerate, grow fat, become lazy and wrinkly.

But if you truly love it and care for it thoughtfully, feed it with healthy, nutritious foods, exercise it and tone its muscles, it will certainly look better, provide more energy, last longer and make you more proud and confident.

It is the difference between inconsiderate, self-indulgent love and thoughtful, caring love.

Try this exercise now, tell your body, “I love you.”

Stop reading and let the feelings flow.

How did that feel?

Did it seem unnatural, or uncomfortable? Did some parts of your body feel left out? Did they feel that you weren’t talking to them because they’re not worthy of your love?

Is this telling you that some parts of your body are not in as good a shape as you know they could be? Would they be more loveable if you toned them up a bit? With better nutrition and exercise could you make them more attractive?

Love is a powerful motivator. People will travel to the ends of the earth to be with those they love. They will spend fortunes to adorn those they love. They will labour long and hard to provide for those they love. Many vendettas have been caused by love.

Simply by declaring your love for your body, by treating it like a well-loved friend, you will find strong motivation to take the action necessary to get your body into great shape.

Then you’ll get a great benefit, as your body looks better and better, so you’ll become more attracted to it and love it more and more. Then you’ll want to do even more for it. You’ll find yourself caught up in a never-ending upward spiral of bodily improvements which will help create a longer and happier life.

A good place to start your good intention is to sign The Slim Pledge.

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