Happy New Year!
It’s the beginning of 2019, and with that you may be determined to everything right this year.
You will FINALLY eat healthy and eat less.
But how are you going to get this done?
Let me suggest how NOT to get it done: WILLPOWER.
We’ve all tried willpower to help us change our habits, and it might work at first, but most of the time it wears out.
Because WILLPOWER takes a tremendous amount of ENERGY.
Every time you say “no” to something you really want, or eat something “healthy” while everyone else is having something that you’d rather be eating, you’re RESISTING.
When you resist something, you’re using willpower.
And, in this case, it’s not actually the food you’re resisting; it’s the thought “I really, really want to eat that!” that you’re resisting.
Because food is just food; it just IS.
It’s what you think about the food that makes the difference.
For example, you may LOVE chocolate, but your neighbor two doors down might be completely indifferent to it. Same food, two different thoughts.
So, you’re not fighting the food, you’re fighting your THOUGHTS about the food.
Make sense?
When you use willpower, it’s as if you’re running away from a monster that’s chasing you (in this case it’s the thought that “I really, really want it!” that’s the monster.)
Eventually you’ll get tired of running, because no one can run forever.
And that’s when the thought will get you, and you’ll eat the food, almost against your own will.
As you can see, WILLPOWER IS EXHAUSTING.
Now, consider a feather.
A feather is soft, weightless, and moves seemingly effortlessly.
Imagine that instead of running away from your thought about a food you’re trying to resist, you instead approach it with a feather.
Yes, a feather.
Approaching the thought shows that you’re not afraid of it, because you know it can’t hurt you; it’s just a thought.
When you get up close, you’ll see that it’s just a bubble containing a few words strung together forming a sentence. It’s harmless.
Then you can gently tap the thought bubble with your beautiful, delicate feather and watch it disappear.
In this way, you’re not FIGHTING the thought, WRESTLING with “should I, or shouldn’t I?”, or RUNNING in the opposite direction.
You’re just ALLOWING the thought, BECOMING AWARE that it has no power, and then LETTING IT GO.
Poof!
Sounds lovely, doesn’t it?
But you may be thinking you can’t possibly do that; it can’t be that easy.
And I’m telling you it can be.
If you’re really willing to see that food is not out to get you, that your thoughts about food are not evil, and that you’ve had those ruby slippers all along, everything can change.
Your only difficulty will be picking the most beautiful feather.
When have you tried willpower? Did it work for you?
I’ve definitely used it in the past, especially when I first tried giving up sugar, and also when I became vegetarian.
Now I’ve learned that I can’t power my way through change over the long haul.
Gentle awareness is the only thing I know that works, especially when you do mess up (and we all do.)
With willpower as your fuel, you’ll likely throw in the towel…
But with gentle awareness you’ll have the energy and understanding to pick yourself up and try again.
Keep moving forward,
Debbie
P.S. Boot Camp and Yoga classes are starting up this week in Rosemere! January 7th and January 10th… Get more details or sign up on my CLASSES page. Hope to see you there!