When was the last time you thanked your body for all that it does for you? Its time to stop the battle with our bodies and love your body or all that it allows you to do

When I was a teenager, I told my Mum that I hated my knees.

‘You mustn’t hate your knees,’ she told me. ‘Think of all the work they do for you: they allow you to get around, they let you run and jump and dance.’

‘It’s a bit ungrateful to hate them when they do all that for you isn’t it? You should hug them and kiss them and thank them every day for all that they do.’

I’ve never looked at my knees in quite the same way again.

Our attitudes to our bodies are often to do with social conditioning. In past centuries it was ‘good’ to be fat because that showed you were wealthy and could afford good food – wealth was an important attribute then. Now it is considered beautiful to be thin, maybe because it implies self control – which is an important attribute now. Of course this is all nonsense, our bodies are what they are: we should take good care of them, but avoid making judgements.

We should thank our knees for letting us dance, our eyes for allowing us to experience the beauty all around us, our ears for letting us hear a baby’s giggle, or whispered words of love. Let’s thank our hands, which are truly a wonderful feat of nature, allowing us to paint a picture, knit a scarf, make a cake, plant a garden, write a book or wipe the tears from someone’s eyes. When we think of all it allows you to do, your really should love your body from the bottom of your hearts

Let’s end the battle with our bodies and be grateful for the vehicle that allows us to experience this wild and wonderful journey called life.