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I took this photo yesterday and had that feeling of “there you are”. That feeling of recognition. Of familiarity. Of feeling at home in myself and seeing that reflected in a photo.
But it was interesting to notice because this was not a typical kind of selfie that I would have that experience in. As up until about 6 months ago this perspective wasn’t in my repertoire of how I would take photos of myself. 6 months ago I probably would have taken his photo and not felt that homecoming and self-recognition as it was a very unfamiliar way of seeing myself.
In my classes we explore this idea of becoming familiar with ourselves again and it felt interesting to notice this as I see it as a direct result of shaking up the way I was taking my photos. Normally I’d be taking it from above, like a typical selfie, but in Body Curiosity we shook that up and took photos from all sorts of unexpected perspectives with the intention of refamiliaring and renormalizing seeing our body again. And while I have experienced that process time and time again in this healing journey, it felt cool to notice it right when it was happening today and I wanted to share that with you.
We pick up the camera and take a photo wanting that self-recognition, wanting to feel like we know the person looking back at us. But I think we often get stuck in seeing ourselves only through one perspective, one typical way of taking an image of ourselves. Or we get stuck in yearning for that recognition (and often we feel that by meeting societal body standards and getting that validation) in feeling recognized as ‘beautiful’ or ‘photogenic’ and take photos in the ways that we know we’ll recognize ourselves in those ways. But that’s external recognition. That’s not what heals us. That’s not what changes us. Internal self-recognition does.
And through these experiences I believe more than ever that we can find that internal self-recognition with ourselves. That any kind of photo, if we experience it regularly and meet it with as much compassion as we can on that day, will lead to being able to eventually see it and experience it as a familiar perspectives of ourselves. To recognize our body and ourselves in it and see ourselves from a non-judgemental, neutral perspective. Indeed, this process of re-normalization takes time (and there is no one timeline) but it’s these moments where we take a photo that we might have critiqued in the past and say “Oh, there you are!” and see ourselves with that recognition.
Let’s spark that that process of coming home and becoming familiar to ourselves through our own lens. If you’d like a guide in that process, come join me for one of the upcoming E-Courses like the 30 Day Be Your Own Beloved E-Course or the Take Your Selfie for Yourself E-Course (don’t hesitate to write to me via the contact form if you’re not sure which one is the best fit for you).