Friday, September 21, 2007

Day 4 (Friday, 9/21/07): "Conversations With Yourself" by Rabbi Zelig Pliskin


Little Black Dress, originally uploaded by sharp bokeh.

Today so far has been one of all-day fasting. I didn't plan it that way. It just happened. I decided I'd only eat when hungry -- which is something I am aiming for daily -- and surprise of surprises (!) I haven't been hungry until just now -- 5:00 p.m. I'm heading to the Village to get a few items, so for dinner I'll have one of those great seaweed salads in Pure Food & Wine. Yum.

One of the biggest breakthroughs I've had in the past few years is the realization that what I tell myself ABOUT myself has an impact on what shows up in my life (and on my bod!). For instance, as I gained weight little by very little over the years, I began to call myself names ("Oh, What a matron you look like" ... "ooh, you are getting huge -- what a piglet!" ... "Why can't you lose weight - you have no will power." ... "Why did you just eat that -- what is wrong with you?" and so on -- and I wasn't even near the weight I am now, so warped was my image of myself!)

It is no wonder it has taken me so many years to finally be on the downside of the weight problem I developed! As long as I was having conversations with myself like the above, I kept going in the DIRECTION of those negative ways. It's like my body was "obeying" my thoughts. Almost as if I was virtually programming myself for failure. And those thoughts all echoed how "wrong" I was! No wonder food became more and more inviting. It's miserable to think one is constantly WRONG . . . and food (or drink or drugs, for that matter) is a wonderful momentary pleasure to escape those thoughts.

This principle of kind self-talk applies to so much in life -- not just healthy eating / getting fit. I'm posting a link here that I stumbled on today that may be worth a listen if you can relate personally to anything I wrote above.

Conversations With Yourself - Audio Clips (Start with "Introduction" (at very bottom of page) or hit the "Click Here" icon in the middle of the page. Either way -- it's good stuff. )

. . . So today, I "see myself" in that little black dress (ooh lala)! Why not?!