S2: EP 37- Weight Gain and Emotional Eating with Lindsley Brooks

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Living Fully Alive Podcast available on Apple Podcast, Google Podcast, Spotify, and Youtube

SHOW NOTES

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“If we make self-love or body acceptance conditional, the truth is, we will never be happy with ourselves. The reality is that our bodies are constantly changing, and they will never remain exactly the same. If we base our self-worth on something as ever-changing as our bodies, we will forever be on the emotional roller coaster of body obsession and shame.”

— CHRISSY KING

On this episode, join Mary and her cohost Lindsley Brooks as they talk candidly about our most intimate relationship… the one we have with our own body. Often when we have worked hard to cultivate love for our bodies it can bring on a lot of shame when our bodies “backslide” and the unconditional love goes into question. But it isn’t about never getting triggered, or never feeling anything but love for our bodies. It is about how quickly we can move back into love when we start to slip into negative self talk.

When we begin our personal journey through body acceptance we are anxious to “get there”. We can’t wait until we arrive and we never again have a negative thought about our body. We love ourselves unconditionally, and everything is perfect all the time.

It usually isn’t long before we realize it doesn’t work like that. We never perfect this body love thing. It’s a relationship that we have to feed and nurture. It’s ongoing and ever changing. Just like our bodies.

Our bodies are constantly changing.

Age.

Hormones.

Sickness.

Stress.

Injury.

Our bodies are often a physical manifestation of what is happening on the inside. Because our body is an amazing barometer that helps to illuminate what we are really longing for and needing. Allowing your body to speak to you is the greatest way to wake up to your life.

COVID-19 has left us feeling out of control and in some ways our bodies are the one things we feel like we should have control of. When emotions and trauma feel too heavy we often hand the roll of emotional processing to our bodies. Instead of processing our emotions and feelings we may decide to restrict our food, emotionally eat, work out more than usual, abandon our typical work out routine…

Whatever we have chosen to do during this time to survive is okay.

For some of us survival over the last couple of months has left us with bodies that we don’t feel the best living in. The work is tuning into your body and using her as your barometer on what you should be doing and not doing. We need to ask ourselves some questions…

When do I feel the most free in my body?

What would it look like to embrace this body right now?

If I did love my body what would I see?

If I did love my body how would I want to move?

If I did love my body what would I feed it?

If I did love my body how would dress it?

This is an opportunity to create a new dynamic with our bodies. To begin to build an intimate relationship with her. To allow her to speak to us about what we need to release and what new we can bring in to begin to live more happy and healthy lives. We need to take back the responsibility of processing our emotions. We need to approach her with grace, kindness, and most importantly gratitude.

Th first step is to offer forgiveness to our bodies. It can be as simple as this beautiful Hawaiian prayer of forgiveness.

Ho’oponopono Prayer

I’m sorry, please for give me, thank you, I love you.

Offering this prayer whenever you need to, whenever you feel like you have been harsh, unkind, and impatient with your body is an easy way to begin to cultivate a relationship with your own body. To get to know her. To give her what she needs. To live in harmony with her.