There are 3 spots left for the Friday 8 week teleclass that starts in less than 2 days where we zone in on what we’re thinking and feeling about food and eating.
And we investigate. We’re just looking. No big expectations.
You might be saying “Jeez, where would I begin?! That’s a big topic….and a frustrating one. I want to think LESS about food, not MORE about it.”
I’ve found that the more irritating and long-lasting a problem has been (and mine was awful when it came to food and eating) the better it’s been to examine.
Like it had an important message for me. (It did).
What ARE some of those ways of thinking about eating and food that really don’t feel that great?
Here’s what I used to believe:
- if I eat a lot, I’ll gain weight
- if I binge, I’m evil, selfish and greedy
- if I starve, I’m selfless, powerful and right
- if I eat from the “bad” list of foods, I’ll pay for it, I’m bad
- if I eat from the “good” list of foods, I earn points, I’m good
- I must control my cravings
- cravings are wildly powerful and impossible to control
- I’ll always have cravings
- thin is better than fat
- I hate being too hungry or too full
That was only the beginning.
I also believed that eating made me feel better.
I thought eating could change my emotional state. It actually DID change it temporarily. Sort of.
If I felt better for just a wee bit, I always went back to feeling lonely, angry, sad or depressed…even after I got something to eat.
No amount of ice cream was ever enough, if I was in “that” mood. And pretty soon, the thing I had reached for to help me out (food) actually made me feel worse.
Rats.
Now, most of us know these days that diets don’t release us from our pain around food and eating.
Many of us have learned that dieting actually makes the pain around food or eating worse.
But throwing our hands up doesn’t work in the long run either.
Funny that it’s either give up or crack down. Other options aren’t spoken of or tried, or even considered.
But what if you could slow down….so very very slowly…so that in each moment of every day you were aware and in touch with an inner feeling that said when to eat and when to stop.
Because every person is born with that.
You already pretty much know that you do not need someone to come in and tell you what to eat, when to eat it, how to eat it, where to eat it. In fact, that’s impossible.
You don’t need to read another nutrition or diet book, unless that’s fun for you.
(I had fun learning new things about what I was eating and my body last summer that I never could have heard before, when I had a co-dependent, desperate, addictive relationship with food).
What if you could unravel your greatest fears, including fears about being fat, or greedy, or possessed, or powerless?
I love simply taking a look. Noticing.
Nothing more.
No other big weight-loss plans. No feeling that you need to be punished.
So if you’d like a group to do The Work with to see what’s going on under the surface of all your conflicting beliefs about food and eating….then what a great time to do it!
We’ll meet right up into the dark, wintry season full of holiday gatherings and food traditions.
Who would you be without the thought that you have a problem with food?
You may wonder who you’d be without having this “problem” with food or your weight, like maybe that’s weird to even imagine (I used to feel like all my problems were problems with food).
You may be worried. It’s not a lollipops-and-roses answer necessarily. Maybe it’s even disturbing…who would I be if I didn’t obsess or think about food? If I didn’t have this addictive pattern?
If you’d like to investigate…come join us.
It’s fascinating. It’s even fun.
“Something like food, or alcohol, or drugs, or sex, or working, or shopping, or whatever we do, which, perhaps in moderation would be very delightful–like eating, enjoying your food. In fact, in moderation there’s this deep appreciation of the taste, of the good fortune to have this in your life. But these things become imbued with an addictive quality because we empower them with the idea that they will bring us comfort. They will remove this unease.” ~ Pema Chodron
Our class meets November 1 – December 27 from 9 -10:30 am Pacific Time. It’s a great time for this “looking” at this time of year. Join me!
Much love, Grace