These past six weeks have provided me with incredible elation, spiritual highs, miraculous dreams come true, the deepest sadness of my life so far, and an experience of the body collapsing, begging for rest, under the weight of compounded life experience.
You see, in the midst of me absorbing and processing the sudden and devastating loss of my father on October 10th I was offered an opportunity of a lifetime:
Then less than a month later my ultimate dream came true, Oprah Winfrey interviewed me in front of 10,000 people about my own personal Deeper Cravings journey of reclaiming my relationship with my body (to watch click the photo at the bottom of this letter).
Then 2 days later we gathered as a family to say a final good bye to dad at his internment. What a time of paradox; joy and pain, pride and sadness, beauty and suffering. What I recognize is that life offers us so many opportunities for gratitude; as much in the joy as is in the sadness.
Another profound paradox I observe in my Deeper Cravings work is the fact that so many of us do not feel at home in the one true and constant home we have throughout our lives: our own body. A fact I now view as an incredible injustice.
This thanksgiving perhaps instead of warring our body through obsessing over calories ingested, I'm inviting us all to call upon a grateful heart to marvel on the gift that our body gives us day in and day out. By simply being here; alive, it allows us to taste each day, including the bittersweet taste of paradox.
Wishing you ease and balance in your relationship with food and your body this holiday season.
Peggy
Support: Enjoy - Permission to Feed
The Deeper Cravings way believes that the relentless restriction required within the diet mentality is likely responsible for much of the compulsive eating when one 'blows' the diet.
This holiday season I suggest reassuring yourself that you will let yourself have all of your favorite holiday foods but rather than get hung up on the 'what' to eat you will promise yourself you will be mindful of 'when'.
So rather than approaching your holiday gatherings and parties from a framework of deprivation you will instead stay connected to the physical experience within your body and allow the favorite foods as long as your body is not already even slightly full. This attention to portions and physical sensations has us approaching the body from an attitude of kindness and support rather than pitting ourselves as distrusting watchdogs poised to deny.
photo credit: <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/z_b/2052721105/">Danube66</a> via <a href="http://photopin.com">photopin</a> <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.0/">cc</a>
Peggy is interviewed by Oprah about her original Deeper Cravings journey
Click the image to watch Peggy's moment on stage with Oprah.
If you are interested in taking your own Deeper Cravings journey email peggy@deepercravings.com for your complimentary consultation.
