If I body-shame a woman, it is more a reflection of me being critical of my body, me not being able to keep up to certain standards I have, and so making sure that the women around me feel the same way.
Interpretation
Body-shaming reveals one's own insecurities rather than the flaws of others.
Rupi Kaur's quote highlights how negative judgments about another person's body often stem from an individual's own insecurities. It suggests that when someone criticizes or body-shames others, they are projecting their inner struggles and dissatisfaction with their own body image, rather than objectively assessing others. This reflection emphasizes the importance of self-acceptance and promotes understanding that our perceptions of others can be influenced by our personal challenges.
In practice
In a discussion about self-love during a workshop, one might say, 'Remember, body-shaming others often reveals more about our insecurities than it does about them.'
There have been articles saying that all women need to read my book. I ask, why not all men? In fact, that would be even more valuable because we women want to sit down with men and tell them - this is how we feel, this is what we go through.
When I was little, my dad told me about Anandpur Sahib and the court of Guru Gobind Singh. That we came from a tradition of poets, warriors and artists who created when it was illegal to create... we're groomed to be reckless in the defense of what we feel is right.
I wasn't entitled to dream so big. The idea of me being a writer wasn't even possible in my mind. Even when I began to write and first published, I couldn't call myself a writer.
The way a small child might dream of visiting Disneyland, I dreamed of writing books. Never did I think my poems would become that.
I was always writing for myself. I wrote what I needed to write and hear - that's what makes it powerful.
There was no market for poetry about trauma, abuse, loss, love, and healing through the lens of a Punjabi-Sikh immigrant woman.
Think of all the women you know who will not allow themselves to be seen without makeup. I often wonder how they feel about themselves at night when they are climbing into bed with intimate partners. Are they overwhelmed with secret shame that someone sees them as they really are? Or do they sleep with rage that who they really are can be celebrated or cared for only in secret?
We don't do enough to help older people recognize how much they matter.
In the process of planning and having a wedding, I forgot there would actually be a marriage, a union of minds, bodies, souls, and issues that would come together as soon as the ceremony was over.
When the people we love stop paying attention, trust begins to slip away and hurt starts seeping in.
We care what happens to people only in proportion as we know what people are.
Love, the quest; marriage, the conquest; divorce, the inquest.
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