The Bud

I was recently at a women’s writing group where we watched a performance by Lizzo, a voluptuous, female pop-star, expressing an uninhibited freedom to the masses with her sexy, voluptuous body. She strikingly exuded self-confidence, unabashedly allowing her whole being to shine while she sang and danced on the stage. From her example, I felt a sense of permission to break free from my own limited body images formed early in childhood and the narrow images of beauty often displayed on TV, the front covers of magazines, and the modeling my mother demonstrated. I was taught early in life that thin was the goal and that it was going to be a struggle to reach that goal. Lizzo’s ability to comfortably inhabit her female form spoke to the capacity we each have within us to accept our unique body and genius–to let go of the chains of cultural conditioning, to stop comparing ourselves to other people’s bodies, and to claim our inherent “Bud” of beauty.

What is a Bud? 

One definition, is a form put forth in a small growth that develops into a flower, leaf, or branch.

Saint Francis’s wise words on a Bud:

“The Bud stands for all things, even for those things that don’t flower, for everything flowers from within, of self-blessings; though sometimes it is necessary to reteach a thing its loveliness, to put a hand on the brow of the flower and retell it in words and in touch that it is lovely until it flowers again from within, of self blessing.  As Saint Francis put his hand on the creased forehead of the sow, and told her in words and in touch blessings of earth on the sow, and the sow began remembering all down her thick length, from the earthen snout all the way through the fodder and slopes to the spiritual curl of her tail . . . the long, perfect loveliness of sow.”

How does this relate to your health?  In every way. 

The Bud cannot be, if we do not put ourselves beyond the limiting images and beliefs of our childhood, culture, and self.  If you have forgotten how lovely you are, let someone remind you.  You deserve to feel good!