Perfection, the concept of

Caroline Berg Erikson pregnant, still and beautiful. Give thanks to the Creator!

Mom under fire for her body

There is a story about a white woman who posted a picture of her slim aligned body on Instagram. It was remarkable because it was four days after giving birth, and she looked like she'd never carried a child full term. She looked like a woman fresh out of the gym, or away from the beach so fit she appeared. Well, being the wife of a professional athlete, and white and good looking didn't go well for her. Around the entire globe were reactions to her 'selfie', and many of them were unkind, didn't understand her, didn't want to like her or understand her, and there were the many who deeply resented what appeared to be an assault to the self-esteem of normal women whose bodies take time to either find a new shape, or return, if they are young enough, to its pre-pregnant form.

What the mother wrote about her condition expressed a sentiment only women would know and deeply understand. "I feel so empty... Four days after birth." read her caption. She may be genetically gifted as the prenatal nutritionist and spokesperson for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, Melinda Johnson said in the article I read by Beth Greenfield, about the mother in the line of fire, Caroline Berg Eriksen, "... "But we can't say she's unhealthy, we can't say [what] she is. The picture alone doesn't tell us anything at all about her health, the health of her pregnancy [or] even her happiness." 

What this story told more than anything else were stories of pain around esteem and social outrage at the fact of how little people have control of the images in their heads. The powerlessness in the tone of Mrs. Eriksen's critics was revelatory and at the same time painful in the stark honesty that comes after a blow to one's consciousness. Caroline Berg Eriksen's story is very much a part of all of us, and is within the Ojibwe story of how Beaver got his tail. As told by Roland LaBarge, whom I personally do not  know, it goes like this:

Once upon a time there was a beaver that loved to brag about his tail. One day while taking a walk, the beaver stopped to talk to a bird. The beaver said to the bird, "Don't you love my fluffy tail?"

"Why, yes I do little beaver," replied the bird.

"Don't you wish your feathers were as fluffy as my tail? Don't you wish your feathers were as strong as my tail? Don't you wish your feathers were just as beautiful as my tail?" the beaver asked.

"Why do you think so much of your tail, little beaver?" asked the bird. This insulted the beaver and he walked away.

After walking for a while, he stopped for a drink by the river and saw a muskrat. He walked to the muskrat and said, "Hello little muskrat. What do you think about my tail?"

"Well, it is very beautiful and big and fluffy," answered the muskrat. "Is it also a strong tail?"

"Why, yes it is," the beaver answered. "Do you wish you had a tail like mine?"

"I didn't say I wanted a tail like yours. I just asked if it was strong," the muskrat replied with a disgusted voice.

The beaver quickly turned and began walking back to his dam. He was angry because he felt that the animals were being rude to him. He was very upset and decided to take out his frustration by cutting down trees. After cutting down a couple of trees, he came to a very large one. He knew that it would be a great challenge for him. So he went to it. But as he was cutting, he kept thinking about his tail and didn't notice that he was cutting at a bad angle. Before he knew what was happening, the tree began to fall toward him. He jumped to get out of the way, but he didn't jump fast enough, and the huge tree fell on his beautiful tail! He tugged and pulled and finally dug away the earth to free himself. When he finally pulled his tail from under the tree, he was horrified to see that it was flat. The beaver was very sad and started to cry. As he was crying he heard a voice. It was the Creator.

"Why are you crying?" asked the Creator

"A tree has crushed my beautiful tail," the beaver cried. "Now no one will like me."

The Creator told him that a beaver is not liked for his tail but for his kindness and wisdom. He also told him how to use his flat tail. "Now your tail will help you swim rapidly," the Creator said. "And when you want to signal a message to a friend, all you have to do is slap your tail on the water."

Hearing this made the beaver happy again. When the animals saw his flattened tail they were shocked! But the beaver said, "It's better this way."

From that day on, the beaver never bragged about his tail, and all the animals liked him.

That's how the beaver got his flat tail.

The other side of these stories is the missing ingredient: sacredness. Pregnancy as discussed in the media outlets, and in the lexicon of modern life is not aligned with sacredness in a way that will change the levels of existence for millions of women thus changing dialogues within and amongst themselves into higher vibrational levels! When life givers change the world follows and changes raiment.

- Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories 12.7.13

Caroline Berg Eriksen is a Norwegian fitness blogger and more importantly a mother and the wife of a professional athlete.