The other day I was talking with that lovely man in my life and our conversation meandered to the topic of living the good life and the choices we make to support it. Maybe we choose gorgeous living food. Maybe we move our bodies with vigorous, sweaty, heart pounding exercise. Maybe we choose good friends. Or simply get restful sleep.
As he shared details of his personal disciplined path, which includes both exercise and meditation, I started to ponder my own healthy journey. The adjustments I’ve made have allowed me to maintain vitality and vision through the intense commitments I’ve taken on in the last couple of years: raising two dynamic girls; working towards earning my bachelor’s degree; keeping a small business going; and creating a beautiful love relationship.
The practices I use to support all I ask of my body and spirit take time and commitment: the yoga in the wee hours; the pedaling my bike over rugged trails; and the meditation/prayer throughout the day. Oh, I can’t forget the consumption of lots of gorgeous, green food. All this, as you can imagine, works. Yet, there’s one surprise that came up for me in our conversation: I wanted to overcome my preoccupation, or obsession with food. When I said this his eyebrows knitted. He simply asked, “what do you mean by food obsessed?” He appeared genuinely bewildered. “I can see you eat healthy (and different than others), but you don’t eat too much or anything…”
I thought about what he asked me. I thought for a while actually. How WAS I obsessed? Everything I came up with, was something I had felt in the past. Nothing was a current way of being. In days gone by, I might have eaten the wrong things a bit too often. Or, I might not have felt well because of a food indulgence. Or I might have had vivid dreams about the next thing I wanted to pop into my mouth.
I have been releasing these ways of thinking and being for a while. Through meditation, visualization and an opening to the possibility of another way of being, I think a shift just happened. I don’t know exactly when I started feeling lighter and less attached to food. Just like a headache that suddenly subsides, the funky energy around food was gone, without any recollection of an ending point.
I was surprised and delighted at this realization. Whew, who knows where a good conversation will lead you?. Life changes. People really CAN and DO change. The stories we tell ourselves need to be questioned and changed too.
A toast, beauties: To new stories.
Be very well.
Kathryn
