First of all, I want to share an epiphany I had this week. The timing is interesting because this week was the traditional holiday of the Epiphany, which celebrates the revelation of Jesus Christ, especially to the Magi.
It was in the morning, in the washroom, as I was getting ready for work. I just saw a picture of how losing weight was not about depriving myself more, but it was, in fact, about caring for myself more. It was about caring for "me," in a way I never have. Caring for me meant eating wonderful foods that nourish my body and moving in a way that makes me feel young and alive. Caring for me meant "paying attention," to what my body really needed. And this caring is not goal-oriented, or focused on results: it's just a beautiful thing to do.
When I say I saw this, that's what I mean. It was just like a vision of it: that hit me all at once. Not my mind, but my heart and my spirit. And my body. It became very real to me. I believe truth has to hit us, in our hearts, before it truly becomes real to us.
Love is not about "doing right." It's about caring. I have always thought of myself as a caring person. But it is usually for others. Caring for myself has been much more of a stretch. And I mean really caring. Not being selfish and demanding. Just caring.
In fact, binge eating looks like caring for one's self, because it selfishly eats more than it needs, but it's not. It's actually abusing one's self, because one doesn't need tons of food like that. Abuse of others or one's self is never love. And that's what I do when I binge: I abuse myself.
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| Eating well and exercising is love, to ourselves. (Image by Prawy, via Morguefile.) |
Eating well and exercising is the opposite: it is love.
It is funny that a couple of days after I had this epiphany, that I ran across this powerful video from the site at Anti-Jared. This video confirmed the feelings and thoughts that I had, so nicely.
I close with this, and I would love to hear your thoughts.
