I find that I have to remind myself about healthy eating. You would hope and probably believe that we should “get” that it is important for us to make healthy choices about food and our activity levels. And we do on an intellectual level. But it isn’t something that we only have to learn once–that once we do understand it we never have to deal with it again.
Sure there are people who don’t have to think about it. If you are raised with a healthy eating model and healthy self-image and body-image then maybe you don’t have to remind yourself about eating healthy. That is a theory out there…that we actually know instinctively what and how much to eat. The theory goes something like this—if you don’t teach kids bad habits they will gravitate towards healthy foods and make good food choices.
Sounds great in theory, but (1) we’re not kids anymore and (2) we WERE taught some bad habits…that’s why we’re here.
What we have to do then is retrain ourselves…and if you remember learning anything challenging you know you have to repeat the lesson many, many times…sometimes, many, many, many times. Think about when you learned to ride a bike. You could see other people do it. You knew it was possible. But you had to learn how to get balance, how to steer, how to pedal and how to put it all together.
It is important that we are gentle with ourselves while we are learning—whether we are just getting training wheels or we have been riding a while and are just a little rusty. If you find yourself feeling like a failure, talk to yourself like you would to a beloved child. Give yourself permission to figure out where the “oops” was and why so you are less apt to do it again…and allow that this is all part of the process.
Here are two affirmations that I love—they are great all the time, but especially good when we are trying to learn new skills and/or we have gotten a little rusty in our health habits.
My body achieves its natural state of health and well being flexibility and strength
I love myself as I am–I no longer wait for perfection
Another tool that I find really helpful for shifting my mindset for weight loss is meditation. I’ve been trying a couple new meditation CDs lately and one I’m really liking is called Flow-dreaming by Summer McStravick. This is a guided meditation that helps you tap into your emotions and energy so you can manifest what you want—whether that is improved health, relationships or finances.
Flow-dreaming meditation CD is available from Hay House
