Losing Weight with Self-Mastery, Part III Insights Nov 2003
My weight loss continues, despite the fact that I eat potato chips daily. I'm changing my body and my mind to become a naturally slim person. If you don't have weight issues, these insights and tools can teach you to make other positive changes in yourself.
Success required new pants in a size I'd never thought to see again, three full sizes below my previous pants. Excited, I decided to step up my body's ability to shed excess pounds.
I ran into body image issues, but not in the way I'd expected. After testing this with others, I can present it as a common theme: expectations. When you're slim, people have different expectations than when you're big. Men look at me differently. Women make assumptions about my lifestyle and attitudes. What a fascinating experience - which triggered all sorts of subliminal issues.
Since subconscious fears aren't the same as what we think, it's usually both disconcerting and entertaining to find out what's going on under the conscious mind. Sometimes it's hard to believe our subconscious can have such a radically different agenda than what is going on in our minds. Subconscious fears are often irrational, and no amount of reason is going to change that.
The simplest method for resolving the disparity between what we think and other elements of self is a tool I refer to as Campfire. There is a recorded version of Campfire on the Self-Mastery Meditations CD. Read this several times, paying attention to each step, before trying it.
Use meditation to take you to a safe place removed from all external influences. Let a chair appear. This chair is very important because it represents the position of authority within your self, and represents your ability as an adult to make decisions about your life. Sit in the chair.
During this meditation, it's not unusual to have elements of yourself try to claim the chair, so make up your mind you're keeping it, because you're the one making the decisions for your life. If you do lose the chair, take it back. Remember, keeping the chair is about keeping your ability to make decisions free of irrational fears.
As beginners with this method, address one element at a time. Later you may be able to address groups of inner self figures.
Call out, from your self occupying the chair, a part of you that has a problem with being slim. (You can address other issues this way. You can call out a part that has a problem living abundantly, or being healthy, or whatever you need to address.) Let that part of yourself take form as a figure in the space around the chair, as if you're sitting around a campfire to chat. Don't worry about what the figure looks like, because the forms are often unusual. Imagine a shower of white light on both of you, to surround you with healing energy.
Here's where you get to converse with a part of your inner self and find out what it thinks is going on. A part of your self that might emerge may be an inner child, a suppressed characteristic, a parental influence you've absorbed into your self, social programming, different elements of your brain, or different elements of your body. You can have a conversation with your liver, or your brain stem, or your six-year-old. It's a fascinating insight into what is going on underneath the part of your mind that you hear in your thoughts.
Remember, some of these elements of self have limited comprehension. If you're talking to an inner child that is six, then you're dealing with the mentality of a six year old. Refrain from issuing orders - use compassion. The first step is to acknowledge the fears and needs with love, even if they seem invalid or foolish. What is simplistic for you may seem overwhelming or scary for your inner child.
If your inner figure won't talk, it's because they don't trust you to hear them in a loving way. Just sit with them and give them love. Keep the shower of light streaming over both of you. Depending on the kind of trauma you've experienced, this step may take some time. It is truly worth it because this method can make radical, permanent changes in your self, your body, and your life. Give the elements of yourself love and healing, and listen to their concerns.
Sometimes just hearing their concerns and treating them with respect is enough to trigger a healing process or a release. Sometimes it takes a little more work, and a lot more light. Realize that you're establishing trust for yourself, within yourself, which is the root of all healing. By facing and addressing these hidden needs, you are teaching yourself that you can be trusted to take care of you. You are teaching your subconscious self to feel safe.
When you have done enough for the moment, call the elements of your subconscious back into the self occupying the chair. Sit for a while in a shower of light. Finish your meditation.
As you use this process, you may find yourself being aware of your inner self even when you're not meditating. That's a great development because it means you're connecting to your subconscious, your body, and your needs. Use your judgment about meeting those needs.
Sometimes it is appropriate to give these inner selves what they desire. Sometimes it is not. You can always give them respect, caring, and light to comfort their fears. You can acknowledge those fears and help the parts of yourself evolve to a stronger place using healing light. You can use healing light to comfort them even when you're not meditating, any time you're aware of a reaction in your self or your body that isn't corresponding to what you're thinking.
It's probably obvious that this tool can be used for a lot more than losing weight, and that's very true. Many of the figures will be parts of yourself that were suppressed, denied, wounded, and otherwise damaged, that you can now accept, heal and evolve to an adult authentic state. Be patient allowing these parts to come forth - sometimes they've been suppressed for a very long time and letting them emerge may be challenging. Start with one at a time, and perhaps start with gentler issues, to get the feel of the work.
When you first meet these parts of yourself, remember hugs are a powerful healing tool. This is a whole new way of getting it together!
A recorded version of Campfire is available on the Self-Mastery meditations CD Living Your Light.
This research has evolved to the Mind Over Weight Weekend Workshop.
|
Self-Mastery
Relationship
Challenge
Going Beyond Success
EVENTS
|
