Faith Storms

I have a distorted relationship with food. Instead of viewing food as fuel for my body, it is emotionally charged for me. Food is a friend, a comfort item, a way to try to handle things like anxiety and worry.

Approaching this with harshness or meanness will only make the cravings worse and our ability to handle them reduce. We need to approach this issue with self compassion.

Let me walk you through how I did this yesterday. What follows is my own inner dialogue, my self talk.

I hate that I have food issues. I hate that I overeat. I hate that I have this problem. I do judge myself negatively because of this. Why do I have this problem?

Stop. Take a breath. This is a moment of suffering. You are struggling. You are hurting over this. This is hard.

Every day you must face your enemy. Every day you have to wrestle with an obsession. Yes, maybe you are obsessed with food. And that is so hard, because you HAVE to interact with food each and every day! It is ok that you find this hard. It IS hard.

As I say this to myself I have my hand over my heart. I find this very calming and soothing. And I take deep breaths. Also calming.

Others feel as you feel. Many others struggle with food, just as you do. You work with them every day! Many of your friends also struggle with food and weight and body image. And it is ok to struggle. It is ok to not like this. It is ok to feel angry that you have to struggle. It is ok to feel sad about your struggle. All feelings are welcome.

Let me be kind to myself in this moment. Breathing is nice. Let me take a few more slow, calming breaths. Let me tap on my mad and sad feelings to ease the intensity.

And maybe this can get better. It feels better already. It feels less heavy on me. I feel more hopeful and not all alone in this.

This is how self compassion works. I encourage you to practice it today.