Thinking Peace, Acting Peace

You may have heard the rumor, and it’s true.

I’m doing three webinars in 4 days on the journey into peace with eating.

The first one is Sunday, November 8th. 8:30 – 10:00 am. You can also get the chance to attend Tuesday, November 10th at 9:00 am AND Wednesday, November 11th at 9:00 am.

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Some people have told me, what I share applies to all addictive thinking (not just food) and I get it.

It’s pretty true.

The process of becoming peaceful within starts with looking at the inner disturbance, but it doesn’t really matter what the disturbance actually is or how it looks when acted out.

I happen to have years of experience both in my own journey, and working with others, to end the battle with eating…..

…..but humans do nutty and extreme behavior with just about anything.

My study of this for several decades has given me some insight on my own recovery, and how others enter eating peace as well.

But it’s really about ending the addiction to fearful thinking.

I know not everyone has eating woes (which is why I’m sending this note today to everyone, including the daily Grace Note family of readers, not just eaters).

Fearful thinking is quite incredible to consider dropping.

When you feel like you have to DO something (eat, drink, smoke, check your emails, stay on facebook, game, over-exercise, read, fix yourself)….

….are you afraid of what would happen if you didn’t ACT?

What’s the worst that could happen if you hold still?

Nooooo!!!!

When I first went on a meditation retreat I thought I was being tortured by 1000 tiny ants hammering on my head and inside my skin about 3/4s of the time.

I woke up every night at 2:30 or 3:00 am.

I was on a wooded wild mountaintop, with distant views of the Pacific ocean very far away.

At night, there were no lights, and lemme tell you, not one view.

I was sharing a room with a whole line-up of women all on cots, all sleeping. I would disturb them if I turned on any lights.

I was trapped!!! It was sheer torture!!!

I joke around, but we all know what was really disturbing me was not the silence, the stillness, or the lack of entertainment.

It was me facing my own inner life.

My thoughts, my feelings, my awareness of the world.

It wasn’t exactly….good.

Who would you be without your beliefs about the dangers of life, or the dangers of this world, or the dangers of eating compulsively, or the dangers of not eating compulsively?

Who would you be without your escape behavior?

Who would you be if you took a very deep breath, and paused, and noticed your body and your environment?

You might say: I don’t know.

But not knowing feels somehow much better than KNOWING you are totally in danger, or that you’re a bad person (and so are others) or that this world is somehow threatening.

So even though I don’t have all the answers, that’s for sure, I do notice something remarkable.

It’s OK to not know.

Right now, I’m entirely safe and quiet and peaceful, even while I’m typing these words.

You probably are too, if you’re reading this note.

Who might you be without the belief you’re in danger, or in trouble, or something’s wrong with you, or you’re very small and unworthy?

I keep discovering that who I’d be is Not Acting Violent anymore with my eating, or anything else.

I keep working on my thoughts, and my feelings, and everything else falls into place with balance.

“You cannot be nonviolent if there is any part of yourself that you are in opposition to. You are not truly serving if there is any part of yourself to which you will not extend compassion. Your love will always be conditional as long as you are excluding any part of yourself from it. Suffering cannot be healed through self-hate. Only through compassionate acceptance can suffering be healed. If we accept, if we open ourselves, life will transform us.” ~ Cheri Huber in There Is Nothing Wrong With You

Whatever your addictive thing is, even if it’s telling your troubling story about the world, you can slowly, slowly unravel the knots that bind you.

We’re doing it together.

Question your thinking, change your actions (eating, or anything).

You really can.

Much love, Grace