12 Bodyset: Accepting our Bodies – with Dr. Andrew Sodergren

Our guest psychologist Andrew Sodergren guides our Catholic audience through the four major psychological obstacles that keep us from accepting our bodies as gifts from God. We discuss the importance of getting to the stories that underlie our negative attitudes or feelings toward our bodies. Dr. Andrew leads a guided reflection on the body and accepting the body.

Show Notes

Coronavirus Crisis: Carpe Diem

Episode 12:  Bodyset:  Accepting our Bodies – with Dr. Andrew Sodergren 

Show Notes

To accept the body, we need to accept the body as a gift.  

Obstacles to receiving our bodies as a gift:

1.       Our bodies are imperfect and we are very aware of things we don’t like about our bodies, that fall short of the ideals that we have for our bodies.  Can be superficial issues, or more major issues such as disabilities and major medical problems.  Shame is often body-related.  Body as an obstacle to my self-perfection.  Our body and identity are given to us, not as blank slates.  There is meaning, order, and purpose already built in to our bodies, we discover those, we don’t create or command the meaning, order and purpose of our bodies.  Times when our bodies let us down, not strong enough.  

2.      We associate the body with sin or sinfulness.  We can blame the body for sinfulness and hold the body in distrust.  

3.      Our bodies link us to other people, especially in our families of origin.  My body reminds me of my past, my family.  

4.      How other people have treated our bodies.  How people react to our bodies.  We can despise our bodies because of what our bodies have elicited from others in the past.  

 

There is always a coherent story about why we might have feelings of hatred toward our bodies.  We want to get to the wound, pain, and the story behind the feelings of hatred for the body.  

The feelings toward the body and body sensations can point us toward deeper issues and realities.  

Hating our bodies means that we are hating ourselves.  

Guided reflection on noticing what is going on in your body and receiving it as a gift. 

Dr. Andrew and Dr. Peter discuss the need to resolve correctable disorder in the body and about the body either in this life or in Purgatory before entering in to heaven.

Get in touch at [e-mail] or at 317.567.9594.  Register at soulsandhearts.com for the podcast as well.

 

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