Studying your experience when you feel compulsive, or overwhelmed with the urge to eat, or like you’re in a fist fight with craving….
….can lead to absolutely wonderful insight.
You think it can’t.
You might say “I already know what I need to do about cravings or compulsive urges to eat….I need to shut them down and control myself!”
But no.
I noticed this never, ever worked. Not in the long run.
So without fighting the moment or feeling repulsed about looking, let’s slow down and study what’s happening, in slow motion.
After you watch, let me know in the comments what you notice about your own craving moments. What else was going on, before you felt like eating? What were you feeling? What didn’t you like about your situation?
Tomorrow evening, I’ll be wrapping up registration for Eating Peace and starting the program with everyone the next morning (actually, to be exact, everyone will get the link to listen and watch the presentation tomorrow night Pacific time, so no matter what time zone, you’ve got Sunday all day to watch).
I’ve had lots of emails and questions about Eating Peace, so I thought I’d make a video and share some wisdom here with you that can bring insight to everyone.
This will be wonderful information to have whether you ever take Eating Peace online or not.
In this video, I talk about seven foundational principles or bedrocks that I’ve found serve as a base for building a beautiful relationship with eating.
They don’t have anything to do with willpower, controlling yourself, thinking positively, or following a certain food and exercise plan.
Not at all.
I tried all those things, and none of them ever worked to achieve lasting peace with my body and food.
These seven foundational rocks will help you find balance with anything, not just food.
And I have one important piece of information to share that I haven’t broadcast to the greater community….
….which is that once you participate in Eating Peace online, you’re in for life.
In other words, when you sign up, in the current version, you’ll have access to future updates and future versions of the program for as long as I’m offering Eating Peace.
I know everyone has their own timeline and path. Some people break the chain of suffering for years, then maybe relapse, and then reach a final resting point of peace and understanding with food and eating where they never go back.
Some people struggle for years and years with diets and resignation and maybe yo-yo weight gain and loss, then finally learn these principles instead of giving up, and they shift their relationship to eating, forever.
Most people are somewhere in between, and I want you to have all you need at different phases of your journey to peace, right when you need it, if I can be of service.
Therefore, wherever you are, if you’re an Eating Peace Online alumni, you can join us and take it again….no extra fee, for life.
Bottom line, I want people to feel good about eating, good about their lives, and connected to the greater universe so that they can bring their unique gift to this world and not get bogged down with eating problems.
Click here to watch the video to learn these seven foundations to Eating Peace. I’d love to hear how they work for you, where you’d like to develop one of them more, and any questions you have:
Lots of peace,
Grace
P.S. You can still register here today. And after this post, you can write me at grace@workwithgrace.com for information about future programs and when you can participate next time.
Whenever I start a new program, even if I’ve taught it many times before, I review the whole thing and often make little changes or notes.
Yesterday I was contemplating the way the Mind works when it comes to food and eating troubles as I reviewed the Eating Peace presentations, twelve 90 minute lectures with slides.
Beliefs, thoughts and views of the world sure do affect our lives in a deep way, including the way we eat.
Some of its conscious, some not so much.
The mind is quite remarkable, so busy, full, quick, and often–mistaken!
That Mind.
It’ll get things all twisted up and mixed around so you don’t know what’s up or down anymore.
It’s called making up stories based on past imprints or situations….worrying….anticipation….regret.
In the world of psychology, one term for the way thinking gets whacky when it comes to food (and other stressful stories) is….
….distorted thinking.
I talk today in this video about some of the ways we get distorted thinking when it comes to food….
….and the REAL origin or view of distortion (its not really about food).
I love how food is a reflection of how you feel about life.
Click here to listen, and leave a comment for me on my website, or on youtube after you watch–I love reading your impressions and feedback, and answering your questions.
Lots of peace,
Grace
P.S. Click HERE to read all about Eating Peace, the upcoming Online and Live Telecourse Program from February 22-May 31, 2015. Jam-packed with information and tools for healing the relationship with food, and with life.
Sign up here if you’re ready now (limited to 16, getting full):
full one-time payment
1st payment for 3-payment plan (now, 3/22 & 4/22)
Once you register, I’ll personally send you all the information you’ll need via email.
If you got the chance to watch my webinar on many in’s and out’s of healing eating troubles, thank you.
I was going through the webinar the other day and realized at the end, I talk about my upcoming online Eating Peace 3 month program….and the dates are for last autumn.
I did teach the course last autumn!
But now….it’s February!
And many of you have written me to ask….well, heck, are you teaching the online class again soon and how do I sign up?
That would be YES.
Registration actually opens tomorrow, on Valentine’s Day. I’ll send a quick, short email with details in the morning with how to register.
But such a comprehensive program may not be right for you, right now. That’s OK. It’s a pretty intensive, full program, with weekly webinars and additional weekly live calls for questioning stressful thoughts using The Work of Byron Katie. There’s only one week off between each module and we go all the way until the very end of May!
Click through to my website to read all the details about the entire program and how it works right HERE….
….but meanwhile….
….here’s a video where I expand on the areas I studied, all of which came together in a big interconnected way for healing:
Mind, Feelings, Body and Spirit.
In the video in each area, I give you a really vital key you can use for changing your relationship with food and eating.
Start to use these tools and principles.
As you change your inner world when it comes to food and eating, you help change the experience of eating from agony to joy.
When you feel the joy of being alive, having a body, and eating, you spread the joy just by being yourself.
Then more and more people can become free from self-condemnation when it comes to food, or compulsion with food, or terrible violent thoughts and behaviors with food.
“There is something better than endlessly pushing the boulder of obsession up the mountain: putting it down. And if you are willing to refrain from dieting and needing an instant solution, and if you want to use your relationship with food as the unexpected path, you will discover that God has been here all along….In each moment of kindness you lavish upon your breaking heart or the size of your thighs, with each breath you take–God has been here. She is you.” ~ Geneen Roth
Enjoy! And leave a comment, I love to hear how these ideas work in your life:
In the last 3 or 4 years I’ve had a strange and completely unplanned phase of gathering all the teachings I ever received around healing eating troubles….
….and categorizing them into four broad and spacious areas.
I did this because people asked me for help.
I wasn’t shy about saying I had healed from a raging eating disorder and whacked thinking about food.
But I also sometimes felt very reluctant to help.
It’s so intense! It took so long! All those healers, therapists, retreats, workshops, books, and degrees!
How could I ever put into words what I’ve learned about having a fabulous relationship with food?
But one day, I started.
I sat very quietly, considering what was the “answer” to this difficult problem with food, when there is too much, or not enough, and never any deep satisfaction?
I had worked with many clients over time, young women from teens to college students….and then older women all the way to age 80.
Then I had a man come for help with food and eating, and another.
I had lots of experience working with these people one-on-one, I had brought in self-inquiry especially in the form of The Work of Byron Katie to question what we thought was true in the moments we want to reach for food even though we’re not hungry.
And something started coming together to make this easier, more organized, more helpful.
The four broad areas I began to think about (and feel about) became the perfect areas for awareness of what really worked, and what didn’t.
Mind, Feelings, Body, Spirit.
It was so exciting to see what fit where along my journey, what was most important for me to learn, what really made a powerful difference.
Today in this fairly short video, I talk about this part of my freedom journey around food, eating and body….
….where I feel like after several decades of “work” on finding peace around food, I was drawn to take a look-see back over all the path I took, pick the very best of it all, the cream of the crop of teachings, and offer this to others who want to heal their relationship with food, too.
Because I know, every person who returns to joy and innocence with food has access to pleasure, joy, love and simplicity, not just around eating….
….but around everything else in their lives!
Seriously, it’s hard to believe, but the relationship with food, eating and the body really was an avenue into the deepest spirit within me.
If you change the way you experience food, you’ll change the way you experience your entire life.
Click below to watch today’s video.
Then, in a few days, I’ll send a video where I talk about the highlights I found in each area….
….Mind, Feelings, Body, and Spirit….
….that were the MOST important to learn to make peace with eating.
You can use them to help you heal the way you eat and the way you relate to food, or your size.
Most people when they think about trying to stop overeating, or obsessing about food, or trying to be perfect when it comes to eating….
…are told that your solutions for this dilemma are to change your diet, study nutrition, or get into personal training.
Not that there’s anything wrong with these. They can make a HUGE difference, and sometimes completely change peoples’ lives.
But in my deep recovery….
….and what I mean by recovery is NEVER thinking about what I ate my last meal or what I “should” eat later, not making foods “good” or “bad” with moral values attached, and never ever weighing myself or caring….
….I found that real peace comes from slowing down, questioning your stressful beliefs, and being with yourself with the greatest unconditional love.
As I’ve mentioned before (I know, like 1000 times) if you’re wondering where to begin, the best place is to write.
Here’s the next video about what else you might write in this journal, to understand yourself better, and your own mind and feelings.
And my favorite fun message to contemplate when it comes to food and eating:
Go Limp!
Relax yourself, your mind, and all you’re thinking and believing.
Put down the books, scales, measuring devices and planners.
See what happens (it’s really good).
We’ll be starting the next 3 month online program on February 22nd to learn all the inner factors at play around eating issues of any kind, whether you just want to lose some weight, stop nighttime overeating, or quit having bulimic episodes (I did them all).
For more about this contemplative and full program, visit Eating Peace Online.
Have you wondered what you’re supposed to write in your journal about food and eating?
Three key things come to mind that may help a lot:
your sense of hunger and fullness in situations with food
how you are feeling emotionally
what you really, really want (instead of, or besides, food)
These are big, wide subjects.
But getting your feelings and thoughts out from the inside of you to something you can re-read and investigate is sooooo powerful.
Don’t worry about making it perfect, or re-reading it right away.
First, simply express yourself.
See what’s going on.
Slow everything down to slow, slow motion—because then you’ll see what’s really there, without it fogging out or disappearing before you realize what drove you to eat the uncomfortable way in the first place.
Watch here to hear how I worked with my Binge Journal. Let me know how it goes for you by leaving a comment below the video–I’ll respond if you have questions!
Eating Peace – What goes in the Journal Part 1
Much love,
Grace
P.S. Eating Peace Workshop is sold out. If you’d like to be on the waiting list for the upcoming retreat here in north Seattle, write grace@workwithgrace.com. Click HERE to read more about the retreat.
One of the best ways to see what you’re believing that bothers you most deeply…
…to not allow it to flicker by unnoticed…
…is to write your thoughts down.
Did you get a journal dedicated to investigating your thoughts, feelings and experiences around food?
Mine was red bound leather, thin, with beautiful quality paper in college ruled lines.
In this Binge Journal, I began to write about my feelings about food.
The first place I started was AFTER the binge, or overeating episode.
Because I couldn’t remember nor did I want to stop and write BEFORE I ate, when I was overwhelmed with cravings and confusion, or anger, or sadness.
But as soon as I gave myself the gift of writing after compulsive overeating, I had a much greater awareness of what had been going on a few hours earlier, when I was triggered to eat.
The writing showed me patterns and insight.
And one day, a huge lightbulb went off when I discovered that quite a few binge-eating episodes were preceded by an interaction where I felt criticized and angry.
All it took was awareness of this.
I didn’t even need to “do” anything with the anger or fear.
Noticing made all the difference.
I say more about keeping a journal and how it worked for me right here. Let me know how it goes for YOU.
Your inner world matters.
The urge to binge comes out of your relationship to it, and what has happened that bumps up against that inner experience.
“One of the essential requirements for true spiritual growth and deep personal transformation is coming to peace with pain. No expansion or evolution can take place without change, and periods of change are not always comfortable. Change involves challenging what is familiar to us and daring to question our traditional needs for safety, comfort, and control….Becoming familiar with this pain is part of your growth.” ~ Michael Singer
Click HERE to watch my short video on more about keeping a journal:
P.S. Eating Peace Workshop is a way in, to find a way out. There are two spots left for the upcoming 3 day retreat in Seattle. Click HERE to read more or to register.
How do some people heal from eating battles, concerns with food and weight, or thoughts and cravings for food?
What’s the difference between someone who gets over it once and for all, and someone who goes back to eating in a way that feels self-destructive, or who gains and loses weight over and over?
The most common attempt to solve the problem of compulsive behavior around food is diet and exercise.
This may help, but people often stop right there and don’t continue to explore all the elements that make the “storm” of off-balance eating.
For me, the only answer to true healing from eating troubles….
….to become someone who no longer has any need to overeat, binge, starve themselves on purpose, gain weight, or attempt to control themselves with diets….
….is a deep form of self-inquiry.
You might say “seriously?!”
Yes.
The place to begin is to see what you’re thinking, believing, and feeling about not just food, but life.
In the moments you feel worried, nervous, sad, enraged, furious or hurt….
….those are your moments for investigation.
Here’s where to begin this journey, and the great question to ask yourself when you feel like eating when you aren’t really hungry (or you’re completely stuffed).
