All of us have within us a wise inner-guru, who is available to us 24-7. Our inner-guru answers every question we ask with absolute truth, because that’s what it is there to do, so we can live in our fullest potentiality – the most expansive life possible.
I don’t know about you, but I am not always ready to listen to that truth and to the wisdom that often piggybacks on that truth. And, so, I forget that my inner-guru is there, and I answer my question for myself with the same old relentless patterns that don’t ever work (I rarely feel the wiser by answering my own questions by myself). So, with that said, I’m going to jump into the subject of the day:
Diet and the idea of diet is an imposed set of beliefs and interpretations that come to us by way of culture, ethnicity, family traditions, and religions: they each influence what to eat, how to eat, and when to eat.
Quite often it is through imposed acculturation
that we also learn how to use foods, and other substances, to help us cope with what reality has to throw at us. Because we are immersed and enmeshed in our cultures, our responses to food and to emotions, for that matter, become automatic: An impulse arises, and we train ourselves to feed the impulse unconsciously.
We are taught and trained by our cultures and families to ignore our truths, our suffering, and the many injustices we live with, so that the cultural ways stay intact (even when it doesn’t make sense to do so.). We feel powerless to do anything but ignore and numb our pain. For many of us this is required in order to maintain enough sanity to get from one day to another. I know this, not only through my own personal experience, but through my clients’ sharing of what it was like to live as if the best they could expect was to hope for a better tomorrow.
We have an interesting relationship with reality: When something is experienced as hurtful, or disappointing, few of us have the opportunity to say clearly, directly and out loud: "OUCH!" We aren’t allowed to express the truth of our experience. So, with our infinite wisdom, in service to survival, we learn how to mask, avoid, and ignore the sensations of hurt.
When we use food, or any substance or activity that numbs or masks our pain, we avoid the truth of our own suffering, while ensuring our survival, and the survival of our culture.
When we become conscious of these various impulses, how we’ve trained ourselves to eat and how to deal with emotions, we are then at choice to choose another way. We are free to discover a way that allows us to freely express ourselves in the world. I believe that this is what we came here to experience “ the fulfillment of our Human-Spirit!
I realize thus far, through my own journey to well-being that, so much of our reality doesn’t make sense. In fact, it is filled with insanities. Each of us is doing the very best we can do with the tools and trainings passed down through generations, to survive the circumstances of our lives. For some, the insanity is too great “ betrayal, violence, and abuse in all its disguises has some of us just give up, as it is often too much for our human heart to bear.
The majority of us survive. And, while many of us long for living in wholeness, peace and happiness, few of us willingly take the path to make that happen.
Those of you who are reading this, in this moment, are willingly taking the path. You are hearing the wise inner-guru tell you that it’s time; that the consequences of your current choices do not support you in experiencing the fullest expression of your essential nature; and that you have the strength and courage to hear the truth and to experiment with doing somethings differently.
To diet like a guru, we practice with very small implementations, with no dramatic results expected, good, bad, or otherwise “ just to see what is possible. We exercise, stretch and strengthen muscles of listening, speaking, and experiencing our truth. We become curious and daring enough to ask questions of our inner-guru, and hear the answers we know to be our highest truths.
Just for today, listen for your truth. You might want to journal or talk with someone about these truths “ a coach, a therapist, a sponsor, or minister. If you feel safe, speak your truth out loud, even if it’s not the truth you want to admit to others or to yourself.
When we listen for the truth, and begin to speak our truth, even when it’s not what we want to hear or to say, we begin to cultivate something exceptionally important: an authentic relationship with ourselves. When we cultivate and strengthen this authentic relationship with ourselves, we nourish self-respect, self-honor, self-appreciation, and dignity. Just small incremental shifts in this direction will allow you the ability to choose to shift what has forever felt like an imposed way of being with food, drink, and other substances.
There comes a point in every person’s life when the suffering is too great, and all that is left to do is to speak the truth: "I am human. I am in pain. I am ready to live another way. Empower me to choose differently."