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Kim Mosiman
a rough-cut book bubble about
Reflections of Joy: Learning to Love the Woman You See While Becoming the One You're Meant to Be
Self-Help
Author Insight
Look in the Mirror
There is something I've come to notice about myself over the years, and if I'm honest, it's a little unsettling. I can stand in front of a mirror and almost instinctively begin negotiating with what I see—quietly noting what I would change, what I wish were different, and what I try to hide or improve. The more I’ve paid attention to that pattern, the more I’ve realized this is something uniquely human. We carry this quiet ability to reject being ourselves, not all at once or in obvious ways, but slowly and subtly over time. We learn how to present a version of ourselves that feels more acceptable, more put together, more in control. Without even realizing it, we begin to live from that place instead of from who we actually are. I understand why we do it. I’ve done it too. But I’m also learning that real care for myself asks for something different. It asks me to be honest, not just about how I feel when I look in the mirror, but about how I’m living in the body I’ve been given. Loving myself is not just about accepting how I look. It also means taking responsibility for how I care for my body—how I nourish it, move it, rest it, and pay attention to what it needs. I can acknowledge what is good, care for what is mine, and slowly return to who I was created to be.
Book Excerpt
Reflections of Joy: Learning to Love the Woman You See While Becoming the One You're Meant to Be
Look In the Mirror
"...one of the qualities that makes human beings so unique out of all other living species is our capacity to reject being ourselves.
To hide our identity. To put on a mask and pretend to be something we're not."
Happy Advent by Scott Erickson
Body Positivity is a growing movement today, as it should be. Each human is a gift, their bodies beautiful and unique. I would be surprised if any other creature gazes at its reflection, thinks, "I'm not worthy," and goes out of its way to change.
But somewhere in the celebration of everybody, there has to be a discussion about responsibility. Body positivity should be a celebration of what our bodies are capable of, not an entitlement to push our bodies to unrealistic limits. Our basic skeletal frame is not meant to bear the burden of excessive weight. Our hearts were not created to sit at rest, and our brains were not designed to stare at screens for hours at a time.
We have a responsibility to take care of the body we've been given. If we came with an owner's manual, it would undoubtedly provide guidance on the right fuel, safe use, and regular check-up schedule.
Hopefully, you've begun creating such a manual, and I will lead you using the assumption that you want to make changes to improve your health.
Nothing in the following pages is meant to diminish the beautiful differences we possess, but it will lean towards best practices of eating whole food, daily movement, quality rest, cultivating relationships, mental growth, and spiritual engagement.
It's easy to lose weight. I know because I've done it at least one hundred times! The trick comes in finding a way to settle into a healthy, happy, and sustainable place. Our natural bodies are incredible machines; most of us are born with the ability to overcome health issues with time, care, and occasional medicine.
It's important to reflect on what's good in us and to use it as the foundation to build the rest, so that's where we'll begin. And because I know you have to learn to walk before you run, I used the word "like" in this first chapter, but my goal is for you to be able to love yourself long before you reach your goal.
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