PART THREE OF FOUR
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3) Put the pieces back together.
Now that your mind and heart and body can more or less sit in comfortable stillness for 90 seconds (or more), let's begin to re-populate it with some thoughts and questions that might actually benefit us along the way. In other words, let's use your brain to your advantage. Pick your vision from up out of that tunnel and broaden it to include your entire surroundings. See your circumstances as they exist in relation to said craving. And get curious.
What is happening in your world right now? An hour ago? An hour from now? When did you last eat? What was it that you ate? In what state did it leave you? Who have you seen or talked to recently? Who do you have to see or talk to this evening? What tasks have you told yourself you have to complete? Are you looking forward to them or can you sense anxiety coming on? Are you tired? Why? Jittery? Why? Content? Why? You get the idea. Everything matters. Because everything you experience tells your story. Even the drama or the grief or the boredom at your periphery, give them all a voice.
You know as well as I do that it feels good to get noticed, so pay your circumstances, and their resulting thoughts and feelings, some well-deserved attention. We are looking to start connecting the dots. We are exploring. Digging up our roots, you might say, so that nothing is left undone. Yes, for those of you paying attention, that is a near-quote to a famous song by Bastille.
Quick caveat: You're not going to get very far in the first 90 seconds of this exercise. And that's OK. This is not a race. And there isn't a finish line anyways, so stop trying to hurry through it all. Patterns take time to identify, and then even longer to redirect. The Grand Canyon wasn't carved out in a day, and can you imagine the time it would take for that river to wear away at it's rock walls with enough force to change the direction of its current flow permanently? Yikes. That's why quick fixes don't work, and that's why this isn't a quick fix either.
So play with your puzzle pieces for the 90 seconds you have before eating the bag of chips or the container of ice cream or sipping (guzzling) the bottle of wine. Take longer if you're having fun trying to figure yourself out. Acknowledge all of the things that are contributing to your current situation, both physical and mental. Invite them in. Get curious. Ask questions. And seek to understand your patterns. They are yours, after all, and no one else's.
And don't worry about taking copious notes of all the above, just notice for now. Be amazed. Your mind is made up of so many layers and nooks and crannies. It's a miracle. You can think about what you think about. And even more important than that, you can wield your mind to think about the things YOU WANT to think about. So give yourself permission to intentionally make sense of it all. And therein lies the answer to this entire thing called life, and to this whole battle we've been fighting against our cravings since the beginning of time. You don't have to be a victim to your thoughts and feelings, you can actually direct them as you so choose. Super empowering, right? You've got this. In fact, you are the only one who can get it.
No one else can tell you why you crave sugar at 10pm, why you can't help but eat donuts on the way to work, or why you let that dang Netflix show keep you up until 1am when you have to wake up at five. And no one else but you can choose to try a new approach, and then another, and then another. But without seeking to discover your why's first, all of those approaches will leave you cold, because you're only ever addressing the symptoms and never the root cause. I implore you to spend time putting your puzzle pieces together first, before letting frustration and impatience take over on the battlegrounds of this epic war we've all too hastily declared on these innocent little things call cravings.
And with that, I feel the next step coming on, don't you?
Click Here for Step Four!
Intrigued even just a little bit by what you read here? There's a book for that!
Never Count Calories Again ~ The Ultimate Guide to Loving your Healthy Lifestyle without the Stress of Dieting
Here's to putting our healthiest selves first more and more often, as we connect more deeply and honestly with our inner power and passion!
Jenni :)
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