Body Thoughts: Exploring Uncomfortable Feelings with Curiosity

Plus the menu for the week of January 27-31st

Last week at the office, a recurring theme among my clients was body non-acceptance. While I support people in various areas of health—like digestive issues, heart disease, or navigating perimenopause—our conversations last week centered around the challenges of accepting body changes. There was resistance to how the body looks or feels, distress about clothes not fitting as expected, or frustration with changes in body size in areas where our culture tells us they “shouldn’t” be.

When someone comes in with such strong feelings, I’ll admit that I sometimes feel overwhelmed too. A part of me wants to flip a switch and make it all go away for them. But since that’s not how things work, I want to share three areas we can explore together when facing uncomfortable thoughts about our bodies. These aren’t just for changes in size but also for dealing with bodies that feel injured, tired, or aging.

1. Understanding Thoughts: Watching the Mind Without Judgment

My understanding of how thoughts work comes from my life coach, Helen McLaughlin, and one of her mentors, Amy Johnson, whose book Just a Thought has become a resource I recommend to many clients.

Here’s what I’ve learned: thoughts, whether positive or negative, can create suffering when they take us out of the present moment. Thoughts about the past, the future, or “should” statements often disrupt our peace. But here’s the key—these thoughts are not you. They aren’t created by you, and you don’t choose which thoughts pop up.

Try this exercise: tell me what your next thought will be…

You can’t do it, can you?

Thoughts about our bodies—whether they tell us our pants are too tight or that an ache in our knee means we’re “getting old”—often aren’t ours either. They might come from diet culture, something a parent or coach said years ago, or messages we’ve absorbed over time. When we recognize that we didn’t create these thoughts, we can stop blaming ourselves for them.

When an uncomfortable sensation arises, like snug pants or an ache, notice how quickly the mind jumps in with a story: