Building a Body That Keeps Up with Your Heart (1) | A story about wanting to align myself from the body, not just the heart

☕Lately, there's been a bit of a change in me

Lately, there's been a bit of a change in me.

Up until now, I've tended to write a lot about
aligning the heart.

About being an HSP.
About human relationships.
About having a core of one's own.
About self-acceptance.
About how to deal with being sensitive.
About how you can still move forward while remaining gentle.

At Cafe Le Miracle, too,
I feel like I've mostly offered things like
a sofa to sit on when your heart is a little tired,
a warm drink,
or a place where I can tell you that it's okay not to push yourself today.

Of course, that won't change in the future.

Talking about the heart has always been important to me.
I'll probably keep writing about it again and again.

Or rather, I can't really imagine a future where I don't.

Because I'm the kind of person who tends to hold meetings inside my heart.

There are so many agenda items.
Internal meetings tend to be held pretty much every day.

But lately, I've added one more thing to that.

Aligning the body.

I think I might have reached a turn where I want to properly look at this, too.

I don't suddenly want to become a diet coach.
I don't want to create a place to compete over weight.

I don't want to go to a world where I manage everything strictly,
saying, 'Yes, today was perfect,'
or anything like that.

If I went to a world like that,
I'd probably just quietly turn around at the entrance.

Before even taking off my shoes (lol).

This was not my battlefield.
Excuse me~.

I think it will be like that.

But you know,
what I'm feeling right now is
something much closer to everyday life.

Once my body started moving a little better,
even my emotional reactions started to change slightly.

Once I started being a bit more conscious of what I eat,
I even started to see how my feelings settle down.

I'm a little surprised by that.

☕ Sometimes, when you build physical strength, the thorns in your heart decrease

Lately, I've been going to Pilates,
doing a little exercise at home,
and reviewing my diet.

I'm not doing it in a super stoic way, though.

In my case, if I get too stoic, I won't keep it up.

How can I continue without pushing myself too hard?
What kind of eating habits will satisfy my feelings too?
What should I eat to calm not just my body, but my heart as well?

I'm doing this while thinking about things like that.

And you know,

little by little, my body has started to move!

When that happened,
the way I feel when doing housework is a little different than before.

When you're tired,
rather than the housework itself,

isn't it exhausting to do housework
when you don't have enough physical strength?

Doing the dishes.
Laundry.
Tidying up.
Preparing meals.
The little things around the house.

Each one is small,
but when you're tired,
for some reason, none of them feel small.

With just the dishes,
a huge event is being held inside my heart.

Wait, again?
Were the dishes waiting for me today too?
Can't you guys just disperse?

There are days when I feel like that.

And at those times, even though I don't want to think it,
thoughts like
why is it always me?
would sometimes come up.

In truth, that's not how I want to think.

But I think when your remaining physical energy is low,
the margin in your heart gets whittled away along with it.

This isn't because I have a bad personality,
but perhaps it was simply a lack of energy.

I've started to think that way recently.

Once I started being able to move my body a little more,
even with the same household chores,
the number of days I could move with better energy increased.

For me,
this was a change I felt before the numbers on the scale.

☕　☕　☕

☕ You can align yourself from the heart, or you can align yourself from the body

I think people are made up of both visible and invisible parts.

Body shape.
Posture.
Skin texture.
Facial expression.
Way of walking.
How clothes fit.

These are the visible parts.

But deep inside, there is the state of the heart, isn't there?

Fatigue.
Impatience.
Anxiety.
Self-denial.
Sense of security.
Confidence.
Energy that is uniquely yours.

These are the less visible parts.

Until now, I have written a lot about
aligning the invisible parts, if anything.

But recently, I've been thinking.

It is fine to start by aligning your heart.
It is also fine to start by aligning your body.

When your heart is aligned,
your body may find it easier to move.

When you move your body,
the thorns in your heart may diminish a little.

When you adjust what you eat a little,
your feelings may settle down.

When you use your muscles,
you may realize that you can still move.

I think it doesn't matter which one comes first.

However, what is important is
not to align yourself while blaming yourself.

This part is probably extremely important.

A diet done with the energy of self-blame will not last.
Building a body to make yourself hate yourself probably won't last either.

Or rather, even if it did last, it would be painful.

You don't have to go out of your way
to pave a painful path for yourself.

What I want to do
is not that kind of thing.

I no longer
want to lose weight by wearing myself down.

I want to gradually shape my body
so that I can express my own unique energy.

☕ Sometimes, low calories alone are not enough to satisfy the heart

I have also had various realizations about food lately.

There are so many diet-friendly ingredients, aren't there?

Vegetable soup.
Salad chicken.
Protein.
Low-calorie items.
High-protein items.

Of course, they are all convenient.
They have helped me quite a lot, too.

But there is something I realized recently.

Even if it seems good for the body,
there are combinations that don't satisfy the heart.

For example, vegetable soup and salad chicken.

The honor students of the diet world.

They're proper.
Serious.
Probably the kind that would even get praised by a teacher.

The type that gets 'good attitude' written on their report card.

But if you ask me if my heart is satisfied with that every time,
that's not really the case.

After I finish eating,
the little me inside my heart says:

Wait, are we closing up shop for the day with just this?

Inside the cafe of my heart,
the little me is making a slightly dissatisfied face.

What a troublesome customer.

But if I ignore her, it'll be a disaster later.

If I ignore that voice,
there's a possibility I'll be drawn to something incredibly tempting later,
like bread or sweets.

Bread, you know,
it pretends not to call out to you, but it really does.

So lately,
I've started looking at more than just calories,
I check if my heart will be truly satisfied.

In my case,
I find comfort in a combination of natto, egg, and rice.

At this point, this might be a sense of comfort hardwired into my DNA.

It feels like a proper meal.
It settles my mind.
It makes it less likely that I'll feel like
something is still missing after eating.

Also, eating a salad bowl with pumpkin salad and a boiled egg
with sesame dressing is satisfying.

Sesame dressing,
if you only look at the calories, it's on the higher side.

Compared to other dressings,
it can sometimes be about 100 kcal more.

But if that 100kcal satisfies your heart,
and saves you from eating unnecessary things later.

That might just be the nutrition
I need to keep going.

Sesame dressing wasn't just a dressing.

It was in charge of maintaining my peace of mind.

It might have a bit of a presence in the calorie world, but
it's doing its job.

I've started to think about it this way.

☕　☕　☕

☕Things I want to write about from now on

So, from now on, I'd like to write a little bit
about aligning my heart and body together.

For example, stories like these.

The story of a day when I was low-calorie but not satisfied.
The story of me being proud for eating salad chicken, but my heart wanting rice with natto.
The story of how sesame dressing wasn't the villain.
The story of how soy milk protein was my peace-of-mind drink.
The story of wanting to build a body that suits me, rather than just getting thin.
The story of how having more stamina reduced the emotional thorns during housework.
The story of how workout clothes aren't about motivation, but tools to align myself.

Somehow, the things I want to write about have suddenly increased.

Cafe Le Miracle is suddenly having a new menu development meeting.

Manager, things have gotten a little busy.

But this kind of busy is actually kind of fun.

I, who have been writing about the heart until now,
now want to try aligning myself from the body side as well.

I think this isn't about going in a completely different direction,
but rather a continuation of what I've been doing.

Without leaving my heart behind,
I will also align my body.

This is my theme right now!

☕ Things I hope reach the people reading this

I would be happy if, after reading this, someone felt even a little bit like this:

Dieting doesn't have to be about blaming yourself.
Building your body can be thought of more gently.

It's okay to look at more than just low calories; you can look at what satisfies your heart.
It's okay to look for a way of eating that suits you.

Even if there are days you can't do it, it's okay to just start again.
It's okay to align yourself from the heart, or from the body.

I hope that in that way, you can relax your shoulders a little.

I am not writing this as someone who has perfectly succeeded at dieting.

I've dieted many times,

I've had times it went well,
times it didn't last,

times when I was thin,
and times when I built muscle,

so I'm writing this as someone who has been through it all.

I mean, I have plenty of experience.
I have a mountain of experience that I can't write on a resume.

That's why I think this.

Methods that don't last, well, they just don't last.

It seems obvious, but
if you ignore this,
you'll just end up back where you started.

Things that suit you.
Things that satisfy your heart.
Things you can continue in your daily life.
Things that bring out your own unique charm.

I want to cherish those things.

☕ As a new menu item for Cafe Le Miracle

From now on, Cafe Le Miracle might add a few body-building menu items.

But don't worry.

I won't suddenly become a manager who holds a protein shake in one hand
and talks endlessly about muscle groups.

Maybe.

No, I might talk about it a little bit.

Lately, I've been getting a little curious about things like protein and muscles.

But, basically, it's always a cafe.

While serving warm drinks,

What did you eat today that made you feel calm? What kind of exercise do you think you could keep up? Haven't you been blaming your body too much lately? What kind of wonderfulness suits you, I wonder?

It's a place where I have those kinds of conversations with regular customers.

Not competing over weight, not blaming yourself, but taking care of and aligning both your mind and body.

Building a body that doesn't leave your heart behind.

I'd like to write about that little by little, too.

If there's anyone who thinks they'd like to read stories like this, I'd be happy.

Is there anyone who wants to explore this loosely with me? ☺️

☕ ☕ ☕

☕ Next, I'll try writing about food

Next, I'd like to write a bit more concretely, starting with a story about food.

The day I was eating things meant for a diet, but for some reason, my heart wasn't satisfied.

The day I was proud of myself for eating salad chicken, but my heart was craving rice with natto.

Those kinds of stories—a bit funny, but actually quite important realizations.

If you'd like,
please take a seat at the next table as well ☕

☕ This work is a series of articles for the Creative Awards 2026 submission.
Subsequent articles will be compiled in this magazine after they are published.
I will add them in order to make them easier to read through.

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