Awakening Radiant Health Part 3: Creating Space
/For the last few weeks I’ve been encouraging you to look inside for peace and to the present for appreciation. You might be thinking,
“How is this going to help me achieve my weight goals? I need a program to tell me what to eat and when to eat it!”
Has this type of external instruction worked for you in the past? I’m guessing it hasn’t. Maybe temporarily, but if you look back on the pattern of your dieting career you can see that you have consistently placed your hopes and dreams on the condition of the next plan working.
But lasting radiant health comes from looking inside and discovering your personal path. It starts with observing the limiting beliefs that keep you stuck and making space to tap into your internal wisdom. This is the missing ingredient from so many weight loss programs promising quick fixes.
I will tell you, when I began my coaching career I was passing out meal plans and food lists left and right. But something didn’t feel aligned. Now I know it is because everyone’s path to health is unique and while external sources can inspire, they can not create true change. That must come from within.
This is why in Part 1, I encouraged you to understand that you are whole and exactly where you need to be. I suggested observing the thoughts that tell you that you are not enough, that you are broken, and that you need something external to fix you.
In Part 2 I asked you to acknowledge that there is more right with you than wrong with you, and that what you appreciate appreciates.
Perhaps you were dipping into the practice of observing your thoughts and spending more time in appreciation, but you feel frustrated because negative thoughts kept slipping in.
Did you notice judgey thoughts?
“Ugh, my clothes don’t fit and I feel uncomfortable in my skin!”
“I ate way too many cookies and now I feel horrible!”
Did you notice victim thoughts?
“It is so hard for me to lose weight!”
“It’s not fair, my genetics have cursed me!”
Did you notice obsessive thoughts?
“If I have a bite of that cake I will lose control and eat the whole thing!”
“I have to run an hour on the treadmill to make up for last night’s splurge.”
Did you notice thoughts of resistance?
“Appreciating things feels fake. There is nothing to appreciate.”
“I am not whole nor perfect. My health is a mess and I am out of control!”
Did you notice thoughts of lack?
“I don’t have time to cook meals or exercise!”
“Healthy food is too expensive!”
If any of these thoughts sound familiar, congratulations!
Observing these thoughts is the first step in understanding that they are not you.
Just focus on that amazing sentence for a second: those thoughts are not you.
They can be summed up as your ego. For most people the ego is the dominant, controlling force in life.
The truly amazing thing is that you can be free from your ego!
And, just a reminder, you are absolutely normal, no matter how crazy you think your thoughts are, nor how overwhelming and controlling they feel.
If you are reading this, I’m guessing that a part of you already knows that your thoughts create your perception of reality. Thoughts of judgement, victimhood, obsession, lack, and resistance will create more of that in your future.
It probably feels impossible to change those thoughts, so why try? Instead, simply practice observing your thoughts as a detached witness.
The more you do this, the more you will understand in your core that the thoughts are not you.
This week I would like to take the practice of observing your thoughts up a notch, by actually creating space in each day to observe them. This is practice, and I can assure you, the more you practice, the more you will understand in your core that your thoughts are not you!
Let’s start with creating just ten minutes of quiet space in your day.
This ten minutes of space can take many different forms, but make sure it is quiet and still. The goal is to notice your thoughts when they appear, to realize they are just thoughts, and then to release them.
Here are some ideas for creating space, starting with my absolute favorite.
Meditation. If you are new to meditation, I recommend beginning with a guided program, like Calm or Headspace.
Sitting in nature.
Journaling. If you are a writer, perhaps you can write down those thoughts as a form of observation.
That’s it, just ten minutes! How exciting, you are going to learn to detach from conditioned thinking by simply observing the ego.
Your life is about to become so much more expansive and free!