Did anyone watch Oprah yesterday? She had an author on who wrote a book about womens' relationship with food and the "spiritual aspect". Even though I don't believe I am much of an "emotional eater", I watched and couldn't help drawing the comparisons between alcohol and overeating.
The author was very interesting (actually the few words she got to interject were, Oprah basically took over and explained the author's work to the audience to educate us.... but that's another story) The basic premise of the book is that we eat to block out uncomfortable feelings (fear, boredom, lonliness, self hate, etc.... sound familiar?) We we eat, we numb ourselves and feel nothing for awhile, but eating makes it worse actually doubles, or triples or quadruples our problems.
The solution is the learn to live and experience our feelings and realize that we can survive feeling them. The feelings and problems maybe a gateway to actually changing things and leading to a more spiritual existence. A big thing was also treating yourself with kindness and not shaming yourself into doing better - it never works.
It reminds me of the budist monk Pema Chodron's work. (which I really recommend) Currently I am reading "Comfortable with Uncertainty" and listening to "When Things Fall Apart." Same kind of philosophy... learning not to numb out but how to experience what you are feeling.... I've tried to avoid all of my uncomfortable feelings for over 20 years, ranging from slight boredom to total devastation over a loss through alcohol instead of food. Starting to actually experience everything is scary at first, but it can be done.
The author was very interesting (actually the few words she got to interject were, Oprah basically took over and explained the author's work to the audience to educate us.... but that's another story) The basic premise of the book is that we eat to block out uncomfortable feelings (fear, boredom, lonliness, self hate, etc.... sound familiar?) We we eat, we numb ourselves and feel nothing for awhile, but eating makes it worse actually doubles, or triples or quadruples our problems.
The solution is the learn to live and experience our feelings and realize that we can survive feeling them. The feelings and problems maybe a gateway to actually changing things and leading to a more spiritual existence. A big thing was also treating yourself with kindness and not shaming yourself into doing better - it never works.
It reminds me of the budist monk Pema Chodron's work. (which I really recommend) Currently I am reading "Comfortable with Uncertainty" and listening to "When Things Fall Apart." Same kind of philosophy... learning not to numb out but how to experience what you are feeling.... I've tried to avoid all of my uncomfortable feelings for over 20 years, ranging from slight boredom to total devastation over a loss through alcohol instead of food. Starting to actually experience everything is scary at first, but it can be done.
awprint: RUBY Imagine yourself doing What you love and loving What you do, Being happy From the inside Out, experiencing your Dreams wide awake, 
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