hey, chocolate cake.

i often talk about honoring things like your inner wisdom, your wants, your wishes + your desires, or honoring the call to tend to your self-care

but here’s the thing — my understanding of honor + the ways we’ve been traditionally taught to show it are not the same

mine has little to do with respect or obligation — which doesn’t mean respect isn’t involved, or that i want you to take it lightly

it’s that, for the most part, honor is shown to be a very duty-driven, respect-forward act —

and that so doesn’t land for me

back in my teacher days, we taught our students the acronym RISE to help reinforce positive behaviors. it stood for respect, integrity, safety + security, and excellence (and yes i made a poster in french for my classroom!)

integrity was always the toughest one for kids to understand, because it’s a bit more nuanced than the rest

(glad i don’t have to try to teach it these days, because wow, so many current events anti-examples would surely confuse things even more)

it helped to talk about doing the right thing, even when no one was looking. even if their 10 + 12 year-old selves weren’t overwhelmingly MAKING those choices in their lives yet, they understood the difference

when i talk about honor today, it’s kind of the same — you’re not doing it because someone’s looking, so you’re not showing it in the ways someone else might expect to see it

it may BE a sign of respect or something you feel bound to do, but you’re not doing it as a MEASURE of that respect or duty, for someone else to judge + record

you’re doing it for love — respect + duty come as a result of that love (and not that wedding vow love that tangles honor with obedience)

if we take honor, and specifically here honoring oneself, to be driven by love + bound by a commitment to love oneself so very well, then it has an entirely different feel

to honor as an expression of love inspires a commitment beyond duty, a care beyond respect

to honor your body driven by love for it may lead you to do all the same health-giving things, but your experience of doing them gets to feel light + loving, and your experience of receiving the things gets to feel tenderly, terrifically nourishing + nurturing

and that’s the kind of honor your bod, babe energy i’m here for this year

if you’re looking for continued space in which to navigate what it takes to honor your bod, your brain, and your whole sacred knowing self from a place of love, ask me about FORTIFY, an extended coaching community experience i’ll be sharing soon

and tell me, how do you honor YOUR bod, babe?

xxoo, cc

ps: honor can be so damn SERIOUS. what a revolutionary act, to let it be fun, joyful + light — so, get out there + honor ur bod, babe!

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