If our thoughts and beliefs shape our physical reality, wouldn’t it stand to reason that those same thoughts and beliefs shape our physical bodies?
Think about it: The Law of Attraction states that whatever we pay attention to grows. And we, as a society, pay an awful lot of attention to the upkeep and physical state of our bodies.
So, you may wonder, “If we are consumed with being thin, attractive and healthy, why is it that as a society we keep getting heavier? And even when we achieve a state of physical health and on the outside look great, why do we still suffer from low self-esteem or have a negative body image? The Law of Attraction must be broken.”
It’s complicated and I certainly don’t have all the answers. However, I’ve lived through this madness for several decades and have thought a lot about why diets and weight loss programs fail most of society.
I’ve come to the conclusion is that we need to show our bodies more gratitude, love, kindness and forgiveness.
Question anything that makes you hate your body.
Filter out the noise.
Love your fine self.
Easier said than done, I know.
Bodies in all shapes and sizes are beautiful. Some people feel quite comfortable with carrying extra weight and feel their curves are natural, sexy and appealing. Good for them! Having a healthy self-image is a life-long issue for many, and whoever can achieve a positive one should be commended.
The conundrum is we have so many unrealistic and arbitrary standards of beauty pushed on us by the media and Hollywood we could never humanly live up to them. Yet despite knowing these standards are bogus, we still accept them as our standards.
Standards of what, exactly? Standards of fantasy. Because that’s all Hollywood is.
Unless someone is paying you a million or so dollars to be in a movie or on the cover of a magazine don’t buy into it. Being famous is a job. It’s a job that pays well, but it comes at a very high cost. You trade your humanity in for objectification and scrutiny. Can you imagine how demoralizing it must feel to have your image tweaked with Photoshop after starving yourself down to nothing for a role? Being told by your boss that your ass looks great, but your breasts need some help? It’s a losing battle. Worse, you’re segregated from the rest of “normal society” which, for better or worse, can really screw with your identity and how you define yourself as a member of the human race.
You’re not buying it? Fine. That’s a whole other blog, anyway.
My point is, unless you’re getting paid to give the illusion of perfection for entertainment purposes, you’re wasting your time and energy.
Still, carrying extra weight creates a lot of dissonance for many, many people. They feel that not only is it unattractive (totally subjective), extra weight also puts you at risk health wise. This is may be true. But let me also point out that from a health standpoint, you can carry extra weight and still have a healthy heart, and be thin as a rail and have high cholesterol. It depends on the individual. The scale is not the only indicator of physical health.
Also there are plenty of thin, fit people who are not emotionally or mentally healthy when it comes to their weight. You don’t have to be anorexic or bulimic to be so obsessed with staying thin that it consumes your thoughts and life. Mind you, I’m not advocating being overweight: I’m just helping you see that being thin doesn’t necessarily make you healthy. It’s not that cut and dry.
To be healthy, your mind and emotions need to be in a good place, as well as your body. As a society, we commend people who adhere to strict diets and exercise regimens at the expense of their mental health – after all the results are a great looking body. However, having your ego wrapped up in your fitness level and appearance just invites self-punishment and low self-esteem.
If you hate yourself for gaining a pound after a weekend binge, even if you’re a size two you will probably not emit the same high vibration of attraction energy as a woman carrying an extra 25 pounds but who feels confident and beautiful. After all, what you believe about yourself is the energy you emit. If you believe you are unattractive, you will attract people and circumstances that support that belief. Conversely, if you believe you are beautiful, you will attract people who believe that, too.
Regardless of what end of the spectrum you fall on, this is for sure: The need for body perfection is an ego need. The soul is perfect and has nothing to prove. The ego is imperfect and is wrapped up in proving itself otherwise. The soul suffers in silence when the ego is in control. When the ego is off on a bender, it holds your thoughts and emotions hostage. The soul has a hard time getting through to you about how inherently perfect you are when it’s ganged up on. Your body becomes the battle ground for a civil war.
At the end of the day, as a society we’re not getting thinner and we’re certainly not getting happier. Food continues to be our drug of choice and we hate ourselves for it. Something needs to change. But what?
To start with, I believe our collective focus is skewed. If we spent more time and energy focusing on “thin” without automatically associating it with “fat” my guess is we would probably have less of a problem. We think we’re focusing on being thin and happy, but really we’re focusing on running from and fighting fat. And what we focus on grows. Fear of weight gain, self-loathing over extra body weight… that’s where the emotion lies. And emotions are what the Law of Attraction picks up on.
But it goes deeper…
It’s my opinion that over eating, turning to food for comfort, using food as a drug, and eating for reasons other than physical hunger are not problems unto themselves but instead symptoms of an even deeper problem. The drive to eat to survive lives in the oldest part of the brain. It’s deep rooted and not something we have as much control over as we think. Willpower is no match for this ancient, primal need to eat and survive.
In astrology, instincts and eating are connected to the Moon, as is the nurturing love of the mother. It’s the subconscious, what’s hidden, the inner child. I’m not trying to turn this into an astrological discussion; however, I like how astrology interconnects these qualities. The Moon rules the sign of Cancer: Show up at a Cancer’s doorstep and get a hot meal, warm blanket, a sympathetic ear and a warm hug. Ahh…. Feels nice, right?
When we are searching for comfort, we instinctively turn to food because food is tied to this old-brain nurturing. The foods we turn to when we’re looking for comfort are often filled with sugar and fat, which for physiological reasons give us a natural high. Let’s face it: There’s a reason why ice cream is a comfort food and celery isn’t.
I’m not saying that people who overeat all have mommy issues. No, that would make this a psychological problem and what I’m saying goes much deeper than the brain. This is a spiritual problem.
I believe there is a soul-level hunger that mimics the actual physical appetite. When we are not living lives in line with our soul’s purpose, we feel empty inside. Hungry to feel connected. We subconsciously confuse this emptiness with physical hunger and attempt to fill it with food rather than with making changes in our lives that put us in touch with our Divine guidance. We turn to food to fill us when there is a disconnect between how we’re currently living our lives and our personal missions on earth for this lifetime. Your subconscious uses food in an attempt to create a bridge between reality and fulfillment.
This is really why diets don’t work: Because they don’t address the real problem. They address the damage caused by the problem. But until you get to the root of the matter, even if you loose weight and keep it off for a while, the result will inevitably be the same.
So instead of asking yourself, “How do I get off the weight loss rollercoaster once and for all?” dig deeper. Are you happy? Do you feel as if you are fulfilling your life’s purpose? Do you have dreams that you’re ignoring? Are you doing what you feel you’re called to do? These are the questions you need to really ask yourself before starting another weight loss program. You can’t start working on your body before working on your deepest needs. And you’ll probably find that once your innermost needs and desires are being addressed, your mind, body and emotions will get into synch and your weight will naturally start regulating itself.
Remember, it’s our feelings (our beliefs and the emotions that are a result of these beliefs) that create our realities: If you have hatred toward your body you will get a body you hate. Your body is not the enemy. Instead, it is the reflection of your innermost beliefs about yourself and your place in the world. It doesn’t matter how thin you get: If you don’t address what you need in order to feel peace, happiness and self-love, you will still feel disconnected and unfulfilled when you’re thin.
Anyway, thanks for hearing me out. I don’t presume to have all the answers and if my perspective doesn’t resonate with you, just walk away and pretend it never happened. However, it’s my belief that how we’ve approached this issue in the past hasn’t worked and it’s time we looked at it from a different angle. You have nothing to lose — other than unwanted weight — if you consider your deepest, soul level needs and use the Law of Attraction when embarking on a weight loss plan.
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