It's a little messy.
You've had a rough day.
Your cup is nowhere near (even) 1/2 empty.
Your co-workers were talking $hit about you at the office, your pants feel too tight, and you've been too tired to exercise all week.
You did a good job holding back the tears all day, but when you finally get home and nestle into your cozy, womb-like couch – forget about keeping it together.
Before you even realize it, you pull out the leftover gluten free double chocolate brownie pan from last night's potluck, pour an oversized glass of red, and try to get a little relief.
Deep breath...
Many of us are taught to think of food solely as a means to sustain our bodies, our energy, and our health.
Most days, we overlook our primal love affair with pleasure and the complexity of how food plays into our emotional survival.
Although nourishing ourselves emotionally with food is basically unavoidable, we often find this delicate story of ours wrought with challenges, shame, guilt, suffering and self-sabotage.
Come with me on a little journey back in time…
As Eve took the famous bite from the forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden, she not only 'sabotaged' paradise on earth for both her and Adam, she also, supposedly created her own suffering and was ejected forever from the pleasure of paradise – YIKES.
This is just the beginning of OUR story around eating.
The forbidden fruit complex is one that has taken over the mold of eaters (especially women) everywhere.
We restrict. We binge. We make up personal "rules". We break them. We comply. We rebel. We find ourselves stuck in an endless downward spiral that is not only destructive, but self-loathing and challenging.
Today's insights will help you navigate the ultimate love affair – the one we ALL have with food.
3 Food Psychology Fortunes For YOU (hint: they are not what you think)
In today’s world, we often complain that are left with few tools to comfort ourselves, to deal with the day-to-day stress, to cope with loneliness, body image, and the common ways we over schedule, over extend and over do.
Food becomes one of the perfect outlets for our pleasure and our pain.
We can’t abstain completely because we need food to survive, and yet we are left completely lost in knowing how to have a healthy relationship with food in both our bodies and minds.
Today, I am going to remind you of the innate mechanisms and wisdom that you already within yourself.
This reminder is to guide you back to your own intuition where your body, sensation, and presence can help you live more authentically with your most primal relationship – You + Food.
Forgive yourself
As you reveal your past around your eating, you will likely find a few skeletons in your closet. Shame that has you stuck, guilt that you can’t shake and old ways of being you would rather sweep under the rug. Believe me, you are not alone.
Most of us have old behaviors from our past (some that still creep into the present) that are old, outdated, self destructive and even risky. It seems then when we hit a certain point of imbalance – intense emotionality, or transition – the old ways can pop out to say and unwelcome, yet familiar hello.
As the wise Brene Brown says: “Shame cannot survive when being spoken of and met with empathy”.
We cannot change our past. Our old ways of being were most likely the best ways of coping we knew of at the time. We know more now. We are wiser, more experienced, stronger, and more resourced now then we were then. There is no comparison.
Forgiving ourselves for our pasts allows us to focus on the present rather than waste our energy dwelling in something we cannot change.
No matter where you have been, how ugly things have gotten – all you have today is the present.
Breath. Feel. Forgive.
“Do the best you can until you know better. Then, when you know better, do better.” ~ Maya Angelou
Make Down Time Happen EVERY day.
When we give ourselves time to SLOW down, we also give ourselves time to listen, feel and honor our inner landscape each day.
Although our personal journeys with food are all unique, we can all benefit from these daily doses of self-love and attention.
Slowing down, resting and relaxing every day allows time to process what is occurring in our lives in a manageable way. The happy, the sad, the fearful, and the struggle.
When our emotions have space to move through us, we don’t have to use food to manage them.
Live BIG
We seek pleasure. Food is one of our most primal forms of pleasure – we use food to commune, celebrate, and share joy.
AAANNNDDD... food can become the only form of pleasure we know, often because we are lacking other forms of pleasure in our day-to-day lives.
We have un-learned how to treat ourselves, forgotten to take time to relax and let go, and relinquished filling up on pleasure in other areas of our lives – nature, love, laughter and connection.
We CAN savor and enjoy our eating in a mindful way. We can also fill up our lives with inspiration, joy, like-minded community, adventure, nature and play. This will help us balance the source of our pleasure each day and redefine this pleasure burden that we have put solely on our relationship with food.
“Take your pleasure seriously” ~ Thomas Eames
The Yoga of Eating ~ Full Moon Weekend Retreat Joyful Journey Hotsprings September 16th-18th
Reconnect and restore in the majesty of the Colorado Rocky Mountains with a retreat designed for your health, nourishment, and body-mind-spirit connection.
Soak in the sacred waters of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, enjoy the delicious organic home cooked meals, and share in the sisterhood of connection and ritual.