What's Grandma Got to Do With It?

We rarely want to face the music. Unfortunately, if we choose to keep our heads in the sand, then life will teach us some new songs, many of them not very enjoyable. I this I know this from my own personal experience. Living a highly stressful life without paying attention to the things I needed to do to keep me healthy, nearly killed me. This is not an exaggeration, but pure truth. I never truly understood how sick a person could become just from eating the wrong foods & not eating the right ones. In my case, I finally ended up hospitalized, still with no diagnosis. I remember lying there thinking, "suppose this is all about my nasty eating habits?" And, this is exactly what it turned out to be & this is why I have great interest in people such as Claire. I came to understand that the number of people who are disorderly eaters is beyond belief. I finally decided to take a food history on every client who came to my private practice, no matter why they were there. Fear of flying? Tell me about your dietary habits. Want to enhance your self-confidence? First tell me what you eat for breakfast. Fear of public speaking? I understand, but let's talk about breakfast, lunch & dinner. Can't sleep? Let's start at breakfast. And next....let's talk about your Grandmother...

NOTE TO NEW READERS:

This experiential blog/workshop is based on my new book, "How Many Cookies Will It Take to Make Me Happy?" If you are new to my writing, you might want to read the earlier mini-chapters. They are available on FaceBook, The PublishersMarketPlace & at the following link. Remember to scan down to find the earliest chapters & work your way up. http://beyonddisorderlyeating.blogspot.com/
A bit of background.... we are working with creative Interactive Self-Hypnosis imagery, planting suggestions directly into the creative subconscious mind as you read along. What appears like a story is a series of self-hypnotic sessions, designed to bring about desired lifestyle changes. The inner mind is creative & rather child-like, loving to play with images, especially when they are emotionalized. Just like the saying, "a picture is worth a thousand words", well-planted mind images, can be worth hours of therapy. We can actually change or motivate in 1/200th of a second. So come along & look forward to some lifestyle-changing events.

THE FAMILY TREE

Unfortunately, in the practice of modern medicine, there is little help for understanding what sits underneath the addictive personality, or why people have compulsive, emotional or stress eating & especially the cravings for those sugary or high glycemic carbohydrate foods. During the time I was hospitalized I began to think a lot about this & intuitively knew that there was something more to this than just my being an out-of-control eater. It was difficult for me to visit most of my secret & bingeing activities & it took awhile before I was able to talk about them to anyone other than my most private Self. But, on the other hand, I'm grateful to them, because they opened the door of learning for me & it was on the other side of this door that I learned about how my Grandparents played a part in my then present problems.

There are certain genetic tendencies that cause the pancreas to over-produce a hormone called insulin. And these genetic tendencies add up. So, if one of more grandparents have had these certain diseases, it's more likely that they passed on these tendencies to you. When insulin is over-produced, there is a heightened physiological desire to eat something sweet....usually a refined carbohydrate or sugar. There's also a desire for other substances such as caffeine, alcohol or even a cigarette. Each time you go to satisfy these urges, more insulin is produced & blood sugars get out of balance. As time goes on, something called insulin resistance forms on the cell borders, making insulin less effective & so the pancreas produces more, eventually burning out. This is how adult onset diabetes develops.

In my case, both sets of grandparents had active disease states that caused insulin to be over-produced. These included heart & circulatory disease & late onset of adult diabetes. There were two smokers & one alcoholic grandparent. All of these diagnoses played a part in my seemingly crazy compulsive eating issues.

Knowing this was a real eye-opener & a tremendous help to me. I was no longer someone with "two personalities", for this is what I believed. I finally understood what was going on & realized that I could actually turn this around & get better. I didn't have to develop any of these diseases, even though I had the genetic tendencies. Yes, this was going to be a full-time job, but as I saw it, there was no choice, at least not for me. I had & still have no interest in developing any of the killer diseases. This knowledge served as a powerful "inner motivator" to me. I filter much of my eating & drinking life through this "filter." It doesn't matter if I'm in a restaurant, at a friend's home for dinner or shopping for groceries. I never forget about Grandma & Grandpa!


( continued in next blog/workshop)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Copyright 2009 Elizabeth Bohorquez, RN, C.Ht
May not be copied or reproduced without permission of the author.

Elizabeth Bohorquez, RN, C.Ht is author of Sugar...the Hidden Eating Disorder & How to Lick It. She is also the writer/producer of over 350 mp3/CD programs in the areas of medicine, health, prevention, addictions, self-development & sports for adults & children.

http://www.hypnosis-audio.com
http://www.sugar-addiction.com
http://www.international-medical-health-writers.com

BurnOut & Killer Food Stress

I'm working with Claire who is one of my clients. If you missed this part of the experiential blog/workshop, please go back to the past two entries where Claire introduced herself. This picture in time will allow you to benefit from the work I'm doing with her.

The first area I need to address with Claire is that of her "food stress" because this is a big major life stressor & one that is certainly having a gigantic impact on her life. In fact, probably most of her symptoms are related to this particular stressor. That's not to say that she doesn't have other stress-producers, but when there is a big inner stressor that is out of balance, as there is in Claire's life, then one can naturally assume that is the case. Once her food is back in order, it will be easier to evaluate the symptoms that remain in reference to other stressors. There are two kinds of stressors, internal & external. Food stress is an internal stressor. Another internal stressor is the body reaction to external stress. Both of these are under control of the Self. Outer stressors are those delivered to the Self by others, such as work, family & relationship stress. Some of these can be self-managed, but not all. Some things are simply out of one's control. However, it's important to remember that one cain control the body response to any outer stressor. Reacting rather than responding is always a personal choice.

One cannot go half-way when managing stressors. All of them need to be addressed at the same time & ongoing. This will be the most important part of Claire's new self-discipline. She must become self-responsible to & for herSelf. All co-dependent & self-ignoring behavior need to be put to rest. You may be surprised that I see Claire as being co-dependent, but she is. She has not taken responsibility for her own body & mind, even leaving this up to me because, as she told me, she is paying me for her sessions, just like she paid her physician to examine her. She tends to complain, taking the victim stance, once again, pure co-dependency & it needs to go. On a side note, can you see the difference in her professional behavior versus her self-care behavior? What would happen if she went about her executive workplace position using her self-care behavior as a model? I need to help Claire to see this clearly, not to embarrass her, but to encourage her to use her work model in managing her personal life. That is a very successful area in her subconscious mind & she can bank on that.

NOTE TO NEW READERS:

This experiential blog/workshop is based on my new book, "How Many Cookies Will It Take to Make Me Happy?" If you are new to my writing, you might want to read the earlier mini-chapters. They are available on FaceBook, The PublishersMarketPlace & at the following link. Remember to scan down to find the earliest chapters & work your way up. http://beyonddisorderlyeating.blogspot.com/
A bit of background.... we are working with creative Interactive Self-Hypnosis imagery, planting suggestions directly into the creative subconscious mind as you read along. What appears like a story is a series of self-hypnotic sessions, designed to bring about desired lifestyle changes. The inner mind is creative & rather child-like, loving to play with images, especially when they are emotionalized. Just like the saying, "a picture is worth a thousand words", well-planted mind images, can be worth hours of therapy. We can actually change or motivate in 1/200th of a second. So come along & look forward to some lifestyle-changing events.

TOOL BOX REVIEW

You already know about these tools & accompanying techniques. However, since they are new to you, it's always a good idea to have an asset list available.

HIGHER POWER OR SELF * THERAPEUTIC SELF * COOPERATIVE UNBALANCED SELF * EMOTIONAL MANAGEMENT * MINDBODY HEALTH GARDEN * HEALTHY EATING TABLE * THEATER OF THE MIND * GOLDEN EGG * CIRCUS OF THE WORLD * THOUGHT MANAGEMENT* REGRESSION & FUTURE PACING * SCHOOL HOUSE LEARNINGS * WORKSHOP LEARNINGS

FOOD STRESS & WEIGHT GAIN

Claire is very unhappy because she is over-weight & while she complains about this, it's apparent that she hasn't made the connection between her scale weight, eating habits, nail biting, hair pulling, fatigue, roller coaster emotions, or anything else. She seems completely in the dark about how her mind & body are connected, as well as their needs. She complains of high stress & the need to release on weekends with excess alcohol, but doesn't connect her weekday habits with those on the weekend. To use her own words, she is just like a messy desk, but it's more than that. Claire needs to be educated about the workings of her own body & mind. Often this is a difficult awakening for someone who is highly educated & successful, mainly because they tend to believe that they know all there is to know, but luckily Claire is already deeply relaxed inside her Golden Egg, where she is very susceptible to self-hypnotic suggestion.

I'm going to talk to her, just as if she were not in a deep state of relaxation, the difference being that she will accept what I have to say & will not present resistance. I want her to know that she has severe food stress & that this is one of the biggest underlying factors for having an unhealthy lean body mass & body fat percentage. Notice I did not say "unhealthy scale weight", as the scale is not the best way to determine a healthy weight. While the scale weight could fall in the "normal" range, that would not mean that the individual is at a healthy weight. I know this to be true for Claire, because it's obvious to me that she is not burning fat. Claire may think that she is 10 or 15 pounds over-weight, but the truth is that her body fat percentage is probably around 38%. The norm for a mature woman would be in the vicinity of around 25%. When the body fat percentage is too high, the lean body mass will be too low. Because Claire is skipping meals & eating low-level nutrition when she is eating, her lean body mass is actually being burned off to support the workings of her body systems. After all, each of her systems needs to continue to work & in order to do so, they need nutrition. Therefore the muscles will break down & be stored as fat for this purpose. Claire needs to know that her goal is to have her body burning fat, not lean body mass & that it is actually a good idea to build a bigger lean body mass, because this will form her permanent fat-burning mechanism.

In order to accomplish the above, Claire needs to obtain more knowledge from her deeply relaxed state & then this knowledge needs to be transmuted into a highly motivated action plan.


( continued in next blog/workshop)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Copyright 2009 Elizabeth Bohorquez, RN, C.Ht
May not be copied or reproduced without permission of the author.

Elizabeth Bohorquez, RN, C.Ht is author of Sugar...the Hidden Eating Disorder & How to Lick It. She is also the writer/producer of over 350 mp3/CD programs in the areas of medicine, health, prevention, addictions, self-development & sports for adults & children.

http://www.hypnosis-audio.com
http://www.sugar-addiction.com
http://www.international-medical-health-writers.comUpdated 6 seconds ago · Comment · LikeUnlikeYou like this.
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Beyond Burn-Out

Here we are working with "Claire" & her disorderly issues. As the paragraphs unfold, don't be surprised if the camera appears focused on you, for many of Claire's issues are Universal. If you have not read the earlier blog entry, please do. If you have been following along, you already know that addictions & disorderly eating issues tend to flourish in messy lives & in order to continually go towards health, a better level of Self-organization needs to be put in place. Claire has been living an unhealthy life for at least a decade, probably more. Unfortunately, this is not uncommon. In fact, there are many people who have never lived a healthy life, not even realizing that their daily life habits are actually leading them towards the "killer diseases" & early death. To make matters worse, they are teaching their children the same unhealthy behaviors & we don't have to look far to know that this is so. Childhood obesity is on the rise, as is adult onset diabetes, high cholesterol & even elevated blood pressure in children.

When Claire introduced herself, it was easy to see her level of confusion & inability to look beneath her symptoms. In fact, she didn't even see the large majority of her symptoms, the reason being that she was so detached from her body & mind. Most of her symptom reporting was superficial. Just from her words it is obvious that she is walking a tight-rope & unfortunately, she wasn't awake "yet." Therefore, the first order of business would be to wake her up. This is often the roughest part of the journey, especially for someone like Claire who borders on burn-out. The reality could possibly make her want to run & hide. But, the practice of imaginology or interactive self-hypnosis is a light & playful way to assist someone in being willing to climb out of their dark hole of existence.

NOTE TO NEW READERS:

This experiential blog/workshop is based on my new book, "How Many Cookies Will It Take to Make Me Happy?" If you are new to my writing, you might want to read the earlier mini-chapters. They are available on FaceBook, The PublishersMarketPlace & at the following link. Remember to scan down to find the earliest chapters & work your way up. http://beyonddisorderlyeating.blogspot.com/
A bit of background.... we are working with creative Interactive Self-Hypnosis imagery, planting suggestions directly into the creative subconscious mind as you read along. What appears like a story is a series of self-hypnotic sessions, designed to bring about desired lifestyle changes. The inner mind is creative & rather child-like, loving to play with images, especially when they are emotionalized. Just like the saying, "a picture is worth a thousand words", well-planted mind images, can be worth hours of therapy. We can actually change or motivate in 1/200th of a second. So come along & look forward to some lifestyle-changing events.

TOOL BOX REVIEW

You already know about these tools & accompanying techniques. However, since they are new to you, it's always a good idea to have an asset list available.

HIGHER POWER OR SELF * THERAPEUTIC SELF * COOPERATIVE UNBALANCED SELF * EMOTIONAL MANAGEMENT * MINDBODY HEALTH GARDEN * HEALTHY EATING TABLE * THEATER OF THE MIND * GOLDEN EGG * CIRCUS OF THE WORLD * THOUGHT MANAGEMENT* REGRESSION & FUTURE PACING * SCHOOL HOUSE LEARNINGS * WORKSHOP LEARNINGS

HELPING CLAIRE PUT OUT THE FIRE

Claire works in a very quick moving environment & part of her emotional make-up is to want things completed & off of her desk. Most likely, this is why she has procrastinated for so long, truly not wanting to take on this multi-faceted lifestyle change. She had lots of underlying fear, perhaps because she had failed in the past & now she feels so sick. What will happen if this doesn't work? When Claire came to my office she wanted to pass her problems over to me & have me fix them....& as soon as possible. What Claire doesn't realize....yet....is that no one can do this for her & that everything she needs is right within herself. The actual changes she has to make truly aren't that big & nothing that is beyond her capabilities. She also doesn't realize, because of her lack of experience in this genre of her life, that as soon as she starts to get her "ducks in a row", she will begin feeling so much better, both physically & emotionally. She will be breaking her hopeless-helpless cycle & taking control of her own life. She will be the writer, director & producer & that will energize her forward on her path to wellness.

I'll begin by having Claire relax deeply. Tense people relax quicker than mellow people & so Claire will benefit greatly from the feeling of true deep relaxation. I'm going to do this with some simple breathing from the abdomen, having her close her eyes gently & then introducing the "golden egg shape." Since change cannot happen through a tense mindBody, this is where we get on the merry-go-round. I'm going to allow Claire to enjoy this experience, also because I want to break her need to rush through her life. In the work we are doing here, rushing is not on the menu. Claire will be surprised to know that we're not going to visit the problems she brought into my office. Instead, we're going to explore some new venues. Being inside the "golden egg shape" is perhaps the most important venue for her first session. When we live hectic lives, we need to have somewhere to go that is ours & ours alone. Inside the egg will be that place for Claire.

While I do want her to notice the "circus of the world", we'll not go there today. Instead, it will be off to the Golden Path, stopping by at the MindBody Health Garden. I want her to meet up with her "body system plants." Claire has lost touch with herSelf, both physically & emotionally. She lives a "treadmill existence." The true Claire doesn't exist, only the Claire that serves others is out there every day. She doesn't even feed herSelf. She has lost connection with the purpose of her body systems & pays little to no attention to the yells & screams from those inner departments. As smart & talented as she is about her "TV career track", she is just the opposite when it comes to the running of her body & mind, almost clueless to the diseases & disorders she is inviting in. So, without any criticizing, we'll just have the body parts present themselves to her & open her eyes to what will happen if she continues along the same old paths & on the other hand, what she can expect when she changes her old habits. You'll notice that I've left no room for discussion here. Claire WILL CHANGE her old habits. That's a given.

( continued in next blog/workshop)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Copyright 2009 Elizabeth Bohorquez, RN, C.Ht
May not be copied or reproduced without permission of the author.

Elizabeth Bohorquez, RN, C.Ht is author of Sugar...the Hidden Eating Disorder & How to Lick It. She is also the writer/producer of over 350 mp3/CD programs in the areas of medicine, health, prevention, addictions, self-development & sports for adults & children.

http://www.hypnosis-audio.com
http://www.sugar-addiction.com
http://www.international-medical-health-writers.com

The DisOrganized Self Gets Help

We are working within the Personal Assessment part of the book where the reader is being helped to self-organize, both consciously & subconsciously. Addictions & disorderly eating issues tend to flourish in messy lives & in order to continually go towards health, a better level of Self-organization needs to be put in place.

Knowing where & how to begin is sometimes the most difficult & that is why there is so much procrastination, so let's get on the merry-go-round here. Most people come to lifestyle change issues with some arm-twisting from their doctor, perhaps some borderline blood work or obvious changes in health. Others come because their doctors can't find anything wrong with them & they are frightened because of how unhealthy they feel. There are still others who come to effect a lifestyle change because they want to lose weight for a special occasion. The first two scenarios will reap the best outcomes because the motivation is FEAR. The desire to "look good" tends to be a weak motivator & usually will not lead to a permanent lifestyle change. However, there are problems with utilizing fear as a primary motivator, because fear levels need to be kept elevated & you already know that negative mind states are not healthy mind states.

In the last chapter I invited you to truly commit to change, for without serious intent & commitment, there won't be change. OK, so now what? You are on the merry-go-round & this is a good moment for me to invite you into my office & observe as I work with a new client. We learn in different ways & here you will have the opportunity to learn by example. If you've been reading along, you already have sufficient tools & knowledge to understand the therapeutic concepts I'll be utilizing. In fact, by now you are already on your way to being a therapist to yourSelf.

NOTE TO NEW READERS:

This experiential blog/workshop is based on my new book, "How Many Cookies Will It Take to Make Me Happy?" If you are new to my writing, you might want to read the earlier mini-chapters. They are available on FaceBook, The PublishersMarketPlace & at the following link. Remember to scan down to find the earliest chapters & work your way up. http://beyonddisorderlyeating.blogspot.com/
A bit of background.... we are working with creative Interactive Self-Hypnosis imagery, planting suggestions directly into the creative subconscious mind as you read along. What appears like a story is a series of self-hypnotic sessions, designed to bring about desired lifestyle changes. The inner mind is creative & rather child-like, loving to play with images, especially when they are emotionalized. Just like the saying, "a picture is worth a thousand words", well-planted mind images, can be worth hours of therapy. We can actually change or motivate in 1/200th of a second. So come along & look forward to some lifestyle-changing events.

TOOL BOX REVIEW

Here are some of the tools & techniques you already have available. If you need a review, go ahead back & do so.

HIGHER POWER OR SELF * THERAPEUTIC SELF * COOPERATIVE UNBALANCED SELF * EMOTIONAL MANAGEMENT * MINDBODY HEALTH GARDEN * HEALTHY EATING TABLE * THEATER OF THE MIND * GOLDEN EGG * CIRCUS OF THE WORLD * THOUGHT MANAGEMENT* REGRESSION & FUTURE PACING * SCHOOL HOUSE LEARNINGS * WORKSHOP LEARNINGS

MEET CLAIRE

"I'm 38 years old & work in television production with a major network. I'm over-weight & completely stressed out. I'm a binge eater, rarely eating regular meals. I bite my nails & pull at my hair when I'm nervous. I've tried artificial nails, but pick those off as well & so I spend quite a bit of energy hiding my hands as they are a true embarrassment to me. Why can't I stop this? I know that I drink too much coffee & on weekends I find myself binge drinking. I've thought about this & think it is because I'm trying to fit in all of my fun & relaxation on the weekends. I do feel entitled to this because I don't have a minute to myself during the week. I'm married with two school-age children who are already over-extended in activities, making my life even worse because of time constraints, but what's a Mom to do?

Here's the frightening part. I truly don't feel well physically. I'm fatigued just about all the time & have frequent headaches. I truly do not remember the last time I felt well. I had a medical check-up & the doctor told me that I am fine. I am not fine & not even near to being fine. This frightens me even more than having a diagnosis of something. Is that strange or what? I went to counseling & found it useless because, despite everything, I'm a fairly happy & successful person. I have a good marriage & two great children. I'm just not well.

I don't know how to start o where to start. I'm like a "messy desk" that I don't seem to have time to straighten out because people, including myself, keep putting more things on it. I'm truly frightened that I will actually die from all of this stress, yet I can't seem to motivate myself out of this. My doctor offered me medications & I turned them down. I truly don't think they will solve any of this. I see this as something I must do myself. I think I understand what is past & what is not. I'm also quite clear about what I don't want. Why doesn't my subconscious mind respect this & help me to clean up my disorderly self?"

HELPING CLAIRE

What screams out to me, regarding Claire, is that she is very successful in her field, yet she hasn't carried over her observation & organizational abilities to her own life management. She even tells us that she is "like a messy desk." If we look closely inside ourselves, we will find that we do know how to observe & organize in many areas of our lives. This life experience is known as "resilience" & we all have it. What areas in your life do you manage well? Take a moment now, find yours & list these in your journal. And so, if you manage these, then you can manage others, including your eating issues or addictions.

Claire's life is chaotic & produces high level stress. She answers this by adding more fuel to the fire. There is no discipline to her eating, coffee consumption is up, she's bingeing & adding alcohol on the weekends. She tends to have compulsive tendencies, such as nail biting & hair pulling. If we could peak inside her body, we would be able to see the already present disease progression. This is what she is feeling & fortunately or unfortunately, her physician is not able to demonstrate this on laboratory tests. Claire is walking up the wrong path & change needs to be implemented before things get worse.

( continued in next blog/workshop)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Copyright 2009 Elizabeth Bohorquez, RN, C.Ht
May not be copied or reproduced without permission of the author.

Elizabeth Bohorquez, RN, C.Ht is author of Sugar...the Hidden Eating Disorder & How to Lick It. She is also the writer/producer of over 350 mp3/CD programs in the areas of medicine, health, prevention, addictions, self-development & sports for adults & children.

http://www.hypnosis-audio.com
http://www.sugar-addiction.com
http://www.international-medical-health-writers.com

Ducks in a Row

In order to stop or curtail any disorder or addiction, you need to get all your "ducks in a row." Being over-weight or having an eating issue is only a symptom & while these need to be understood in their own right, it is necessary to go below the surface, to the cause. This holds true for all adictions & disorders. In the book I've written, there is a very big chapter that is dedicated to opening up these underlying, subconscious mind files. When I work with clients in my office, this is always ongoing work & so for my readers, this is also ongoing work. Be sure to have your journal & one that is specific for "inner work." Your subconscious mind is very sensitive & even just opening a specific journal, will invite your mind to share things more easily. Also, be prepared to put aside some real time for yourSelf. This is not "quick fix" work." In fact, you will find yourSelf coming back to this area, time & time again, because as you begin to work with the techniques in this book, your curiosity will peak. It's good to know more, for the more you know about yourSelf, the more you can heal, as well as open to a higher level of creativity & performance in other areas of your life. So, you can now know, that having an addiction or eating issue, can actually benefit you in ways that you probably never imagined.

NOTE TO NEW READERS:

This experiential blog/workshop is based on my new book, "How Many Cookies Will It Take to Make Me Happy?" If you are new to my writing, you might want to read the earlier mini-chapters. They are available on FaceBook, The PublishersMarketPlace & at the following link. Remember to scan down to find the earliest chapters & work your way up. http://beyonddisorderlyeating.blogspot.com/
A bit of background.... we are working with creative Interactive Self-Hypnosis imagery, planting suggestions directly into the creative subconscious mind as you read along. What appears like a story is a series of self-hypnotic sessions, designed to bring about desired lifestyle changes. The inner mind is creative & rather child-like, loving to play with images, especially when they are emotionalized. Just like the saying, "a picture is worth a thousand words", well-planted mind images, can be worth hours of therapy. We can actually change or motivate in 1/200th of a second. So come along & look forward to some lifestyle-changing events.

UNDERNEATH THE DUCKS

While the ducks swim over the pond, what we need to do is to explore the waters underneath. You are already learning that it will be possible to change your lifestyle behaviors. The earlier chapters set the stage for breaking old patterns. You are beginning to understand that patterns have many parts, each part needing attention. In the past, you may have thought of a behavior or pattern as being singular, such as "I'm a compulsive eater", but this particular pattern can have a hundred parts or more. The more awareness you buld, the more parts you fill find & then, you will decide how you want to manage them. Do I hear groans? "This sounds like a lot of work. I just want to lose some weight & keep it off. Why do I have to do all of this? Isn't there another way, one that's not so time-consuming. How long do I have to do these things? When will all of this be over?" As a therapist, this always makes me smile, because remember, I also have disorderly eating issues, so the questions are not foreign to me. I've heard them hundreds of times, from others as well as playing in my own thought processes.

Here's the truth. The more you explore the water beneath the ducks, the easier it will be to change permanently. Yes, this does take some time, but remember, this is about your health, now & down the road. If you don't change now, when will you change? Also, if you continue along the "half-way" path, you will come to know that there is no such thing as "half-way." There are only two routes. One goes towards health & the other goes towards illness. Half-way is like "spinning" on the the pathway towards illness & the more you spin, the deeper the hole underneath your feet. So, in essence, it's important to find the joy in the journey. Then you can stop wanting it to finish quickly. Self-work is truly never finished & hopefully you will come to know that it is a good thing & you won't want to stop.

Let's talk a bit about "spinning." This is a huge time-waster that tends to complicate life. Your own memories can affirm this for you. Here's how. Think of how may times you thought about starting a program to re-order your life in some way? It doesn't have to be about losing weight or controlling compulsive eating, but it could be. Any memory will do. Now, pile those thoughts up in the theater of your mind. How high is the pile? How many minutes, hours or days does this represent? It's time to truly move forward now. Commitment is very important & I suggest that you spend some quiet time thinking about this. In fact, I'm going to suggest that you formally commit, in writing, to move out of your "spinning" position. While this may sound a bit child-like, it is not. Here's an example of what I suggest to my clients. I actually use this for my own self-development work. This is not done in a careless way, but just the opposite, in the form of a respected ritual. We clear the room, dim the lights, become meditative or inwardly still, locating that part of us that connects to our Higher Power or Self. When everything is in place, then we begin.

Statement of Intention & Commitment

I hereby state that I fully intend to work daily to develop my own self-mastery, as it applies to my issue/opportunity of ___________________ & hereby commit myself to doing the necessary learning & work involved. All of my thoughts & mind images regarding my issue/opportunity will be framed in positive, healing frames radiating full success. I commit to respecting, honoring & caring for all parts of my body at the highest level, understanding that they are a part of me & represent how I choose to see & respect myself.

I also commit myself to raising my desire in this regard, fully understanding that this desire will transmit to many other areas of my life.

Signed_________________________ Dated ____________________

Well done. Writing commitments are very powerful mind suggestions. Your own subconscious mind is now ready to work in your behalf & will not only remind you of your written words, but will find many ways for you to succeed, perhaps some you never even thought about on a conscious level. You are on your way.

KNOWING THE DUCKS

Here are some of the lifestyle behavior patterns that need to be addressed. These include, food choices, meal timing, serving sizes, snack choices, snack time, exercising, sleeping, excess habits, stress building habits & mood choosing.

There are many areas of lifestyle behaviors that are on automatic pilot. The areas above represent only some of the areas. It helps to imagine that each automatic pilot area has a separate folder in your subconsicous mind. As you work through the area of the book called "Personal Assessment", you will opening these folders & be able to research the many aspects of the automatic pilot program. Some aspects may need to be deleted, or mind-edited in some way. Other parts may appear to be fine, but it's a good idea to review these anyway. Your Therapeutic Self, aided by your now friendly, Unbalanced Self, may have some suggestions to make these even better. While automatic pilot has some benefits, it also has drawbacks. When you are not fully awake or engaged, you give up your rights ot observe, assess & manage your thought processes. Remember, thoughts are goals & whatever you play in your mind becomes your goal for that moment. Many people with eating issues, myself included, tend to eat blindly, not even realizing what's going in their mouth. This is a "spinning" behavior & one that needs to be brought to the surface & managed.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Copyright 2009 Elizabeth Bohorquez, RN, C.Ht
May not be copied or reproduced without permission of the author.

Elizabeth Bohorquez, RN, C.Ht is author of Sugar...the Hidden Eating Disorder & How to Lick It. She is also the writer/producer of over 350 mp3/CD programs in the areas of medicine, health, prevention, addictions, self-development & sports for adults & children.

http://www.hypnosis-audio.com
http://www.sugar-addiction.com
http://www.international-medical-health-writers.com