Declaration of Empowered Health
I declare that I am committed to living the life I dream of by standing in my “Empowered Health”.
And I invite you to do the same.
The 4 pillars of “Empowered Health” are LOVE, WISDOM, PLEASURE, AND POWER.
I invite you to use these 4 pillars to form a strong foundation of true, pure, and lasting health.
When you do this you can begin to step away from the trauma and suffering associated with our culture’s definition of women’s “health”.
Let’s face it, we live in a male-dominated world, even in 2022.
Women have been indoctrinated to please men for a very long time.
As a result, since we were little girls we were slowly brainwashed to minimize ourselves, keep quiet, be nice, obey, hide our power, suppress our anger, and of course, be beautiful.
If we refused then love was withheld or withdrawn.
We noticed that and wanting to be loved, we submitted.
Naturally, we all questioned ourselves. Am I beautiful enough? Am I thin enough? Are my boobs too small? Is my ass too big? Should I speak up or will they admonish me? Maybe I’m not as smart as I think? Can I do that?
And the diet industry was right there feeding into those fears and doubts.
“Don’t worry little girl, we have the solution.” “Just eat less and move more.” “And if you are hungry, suck it up or you won’t get the love you crave.” “And when you look at the billboards and magazines and when you watch TV and movies you will see what the ideal woman looks like and acts like.”
And so we bought into it. We thought that if we could just do a little more, be a little better, work a little harder, we could live up to those impossible, fake as fuck standards.
Sadly, we all have internalized these messages and they lead to self-sabotage, self-critique, self-loathing, and a general feeling of “I’m not enough”.
This usually results in some of us striving for perfection and constantly feeling like we don’t live up and/or feeling like a failure before we even start and hence not giving ourselves enough gentle attention, compassion, forgiveness, or care.
In this modern-day the messages are more subtle, often clothed in words like “for your health” or “for your best interest” and hence the recurring internal negative dialog can be very subtle and insidious.
Ladies, our daughters are still being told these lies and are experiencing that same self-sabotage!
That is why I wrote this Declaration.
This needs to stop and only we can do it. They will not just hand us the power. They will not quietly agree that we can love our bodies as they are and define health by our own standards.
So, let’s take action.
WHAT ACTIONS CAN YOU TAKE?
First explore the 4 pillars of “Empowered Health”: LOVE, WISDOM, PLEASURE, AND POWER.
Each of these areas is important for Empowered Health.
And they are all realized through being present, being aware, listening to your inner knowing, and connecting with who you really are.
Starting with LOVE, I invite you to be tender, kind, and gentle to yourself.
Practice “loving presence” by being present and giving yourself the attention and appreciation you deserve.
Your WISDOM is there for you. You don’t have to do much.
Your body and your mind have all the wisdom you need to improve your health.
Rather than squishing down the emotions and sensations coming from your body, explore them. Give them the attention and appreciation they deserve.
When you practice loving presence you will notice there is so much to take PLEASURE from.
The most nourishing pleasures in life are simple and available to you at any moment.
I am going to invite you to step into your inherent, limitless, and natural power.
When you practice loving presence, you take the time to love yourself and appreciate your inherent wisdom, and you have fun doing it, your POWER will naturally be revealed to you.
It’s like magic.
I AM INVITING YOU TO CREATE A NEW PARADIGM WITH ME.
I am inviting you to take a breath, look inside, let your emotions flow.
Get angry!! Get sad. Get scared. Savor the pleasures of life.
Feel those emotions that you need to feel in order to break (and breathe) through the pain, and empower yourself to take action.
Speak your truth.
Be present.
Be in love with yourself unconditionally.
Have fun.
Tune into your inherent wisdom.
Be curious.
Take a moment every day to appreciate the health that you do have.
Nourish your body so tenderly and beautifully it sends shivers down your spine.
Eat foods that please your body and soul.
Show your sisters, daughters, lovers, mothers, aunts, and friends that they can do the same.
Open up to Empowered Health!
Jill Cruz, MS, CNS
