Don’t hold so tight to your story about limitations, problems and obstacles.
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It’s very possible that you are too committed to your problem and it’s keeping you from seeing the truth about your choices or the freedom in the solution.
I got an email from someone just yesterday and in it, she was describing to me that she is an emotional eater, she turns to food to escape and she finds pleasure in it.
Makes sense. I’m sure that it is both an escape and also immediately pleasureable.
But I’m also sure there are other true things she isn’t seeing or attaching to because she’s so attached to the situation as she sees it.
No matter what your story is, don’t hold so tight.
Don’t cling to the circumstances or rationalizations.
Ask yourself, “what else might be true?”
What might be more true?
What am I not seeing when I tell this story or describe things this way?
Let’s use the above situation as an example.
What if instead of saying that food is an escape, you start to look at why you want to escape to begin with?
Instead of continuing to choose food because it allows you to escape, examine why you want to escape, what you want to escape, and how you can make changes so that you don’t want to escape your own circumstances.
What needs to change so I no longer feel the need to escape?
Or, how can I escape in a way that doesn’t hurt me or hold me back?
And how about that pleasure part?
Does emotional eating really bring me pleasure?
Look at how you feel afterwards.
Are you happy? Are you happy with the outcome of emotional eating? Is it worth it?
Think about drugs for a second. Narcotics.
Yes, you might experience some pleasure when using cocaine (I’ve never tried it), but that isn’t how most of us consider cocaine. We think about the consequences. We determine that the pleasure we might feel isn’t worth the risk. The downside.
Unfortunately, when it comes to food, we often don’t think about the consequences, the tradeoffs and how we’ll feel afterwards. We just think about the moment at hand.
Is it really all that pleasurable when the outcome make me unhappy, dissatisfied or unhealthy?
Might you derive more pleasure from consistently taking great care of yourself? Might that feel even better than emotionally eating?
Don’t you deserve to find out? Aren’t you willing to invest in that story to see if there is something more true there? More valuable there? More pleasureable?
Relax your grip on your story about pleasure to consider the consequences.
Get in the habit of asking questions like:
What else might be true?
What might be more true?
What am I not seeing?
What can I do to find out?
Don’t hold so tight to the stories about your your problems, struggles and limitations.