I rode my bike to the high school track and walk/jogged a mile today. On the way back home, I could feel my thigh muscles working as I pedaled along the neighborhood streets. I noticed my heart pumping, my lungs expanding, and was aware of the gift I was giving my body. I started acknowledging my cardio vascular, respiratory, skeletal, and central nervous system. The sensations in my body were its way of thanking me for finally following through with my promise to move!

As I was quickly approaching my house, I felt the wind on my face, and instantly remembered being 10 years old riding my bike on the flat top of Daniel Webster Elementary School in Daly City.

As I pictured myself in my mind, I automatically started swerving back and forth as I rode. The figure “S” shape of my final stretch home filled me with joy and happiness way beyond the basics of doing something good for my body. I was able to experience delight, and my body remembered the feeling of freedom of over 40 years ago!

This is one example of self-love.

Michelle Minero is a licensed marriage family therapist who specializes in eating disorder recovery. She created an intensive outpatient eating disorder program in 2000, brought ANAD (Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders, Inc.) to Petaluma shortly after and founded EDRS (Eating Disorder Recovery Support, Inc.), a Marin and Sonoma County based 501(c)3 non-profit organization in 2005. In 2011, Michelle co-founded the Love Warrior Community with her daughter, Emelina, an online community that helps people cultivate self-love, self-acceptance and body acceptance through creative expression. Michelle is finishing her book, Self-Love: The Only Diet That Works, and her dream is to see a world filled with people who love themselves and their bodies. Connect with Michelle on Facebook and Twitter and help spread the Self-Love Movement!