If Your Body Could Talk: letters from your body to you

By Jacquie Sharples

If your body could talk, is a book written for women struggling to find time for their bodies, written by a woman who has been there and experienced it firsthand.

If your body could talk, is a collection of letters written from your body to you.

Ask yourself the question, if your body could talk what would it say?

"Did you hear me at dinner to

• Language: English
• Publisher: Carpe Diem Wellbeing Pty Ltd
• Release date: Dec 19, 2013
• ISBN: 9780987479617

Book preview

To the wonderfully talented person who picked up this book,

Thank you so much for using some of your precious time and energy to read these letters. I know you are busy and have a never-ending to-do list. I hope you get something in return for the investment of your time and energy. I don’t promise to have the answers, but I do have plenty of questions.

Over the years I’ve come across so many intelligent and amazing people and there is one thing in particular that I’ve seen and heard too many times. Some people say it through their actions; some show it by the condition their body is in; some think it to themselves and some just come right out and say it out loud. However they choose to express it, it still amazes and saddens me. It’s the expression, the action, the words: I hate my body.

When I see or hear that sentence, it makes me wonder how you can hate the one thing that makes it possible for you to do everything that you do.

When I see someone who hates their body, through their actions and their words, I can’t help but think, What must this person’s body think of them in return?

I found myself asking the question, if our body had a choice about who owned it, would it choose who it is with now? Or would it find a new partner?

If your body could leave you at any moment, would you be nicer to it? I can’t help but think, if we were a little nicer to our bodies, we would all be healthier and happier. Health and happiness — two things everyone seems to be in a constant search for.

At times it feels like we live in a world that is hell bent on making us focus on whether or not we like the look of bodies and then drives us to spend countless hours trying to change. But if that’s not making us healthier and happier maybe it’s time to ask some new questions. It’s time to think about things from our body’s point of view. To ask the question does your body like you? And what would your body change about you and your life, if only it could?

Although our bodies do talk to us, it is often in a language that we can’t understand. So what if they had the chance instead to communicate to us in plain old English? And so the idea for this book came about. A collection of letters written from your body, to you.

I once heard Seth Godin, a thought leader in the business world, say that a book is a souvenir of an idea. This book is a souvenir of the idea that your body can communicate with you, that your body is tired of being ignored, that your body loves you, that your body is a gift, that you can’t do anything without your body, that you and your body are a team, that you could and should love your body and love your life.

What a crazy idea that is.

Think about it. What if your body could talk? What would it say to you?

Thank you again for picking up this book. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it.

Love always,

Jacquie xx

To all of you beautiful ladies whom this should concern,

I hear the things you think about me.

I hear the things you say about me.

A little while ago you told someone that you didn’t like me. That if you had the choice you’d change almost every part of me. And you said it right in front of me, too, as if I couldn’t hear you, as if you didn’t even care about my feelings.

I wasn’t the only one. You and your friends sat around together, complaining about all of us, pointing out what you dislike, squeezing the areas you loathed and lamenting over the things you hated. I could sense the others felt the same way I did — a little angry, a little sad and ready to give up trying.

The most ridiculous part of it all is that we only look and feel the way we do because of the choices you make. We’ve been trying to communicate with you all to tell you what we need. But you don’t listen.

I just feel so hurt and frustrated. I thought maybe there are some things you don’t know about me and that if you did know, we could both be happier. It’s time for you to hear how I feel about all of this.

So I decided to write you some letters. I chose letters because I know how much you used to love getting letters and I know you’re too busy to read anything that is too long. I’ve tried to write to you in language you can understand, so hopefully you will listen. Please take some time for this, to hear my side of the story. Read the letters with an open mind and picture me, your body, when you are reading them.

I told some of the others about my idea and they joined in, too. Every body had something they wanted to say. The letters are all different, some may resonate with you more than others, every body is unique afterall. We collected the letters and put them in this book.

You can read the letters in order or you can open this book at any point and read any of the letters individually. I don’t mind which way you do it, just please read them, think about them and do something.

If you choose not to read this, to not listen, to rush on with your to-do list, excuses and to keep drowning me out, don’t be surprised when I stop listening to you, when I don’t look and feel the way you want, when I don’t move properly, when I’m sick, when I’m tired, when I’ve had enough and am forced to opt out of our relationship.

We’re a team. It’s not all about you, your career, your social life and your needs. I have needs too. I know we can fix this. I know we can make things better.

Please don’t leave it too long.

Please don’t put me on the bottom of your to-do list.

Please don’t take me for granted.

I won’t be here forever.

I am a gift that was given to you. A gift you only get once.

Love always,

Your Body

Dear Josie,

We need to talk.

You complain about me all of the time.

You say you wish I looked different.

You say that you don’t like the way I feel.

You say you hate me. Hate!

I don’t know if I can take this much longer. If I had a choice who I belonged to, do you think I would choose you?

Think about it.

Think about how you treat me.

Think about what state I’m in right now.

Do you think I would choose to stick with you?

Or do you think I’d choose someone who treated me with a bit more respect - someone who actually spent a bit of time being nice to me, looking after me and acknowledging how important I am to them.

I don’t get to choose my owner, I don’t get to choose what I eat, I don’t get to choose what I do each day, I don’t even get to choose when I sleep. I’m completely reliant on you. And I know that.

But don’t you realise you’re completely reliant on me, too? Anything at all that you want to do with your life, you need me.

We are partners for life. I am with you from the first breath of your life to your very last.

No-one else.

Just me.

Wouldn’t it be better if we were friends, if we were able to handle the sight of each other, if we helped each other?

We need to get back on the same page and do things that make each other feel good. I need you to spend some time learning about me and paying attention to me.

I want to be your partner in a long, healthy and happy life. Not something you look at and cringe, something you cover up, something you medicate to shut up and something you take for granted.

One thing is for sure. I will not be here forever. I’m not invincible. You cannot be here without me. You can’t work without me, you can’t travel without me, you can’t build a business without me, you can’t see your friends without me, you