I had a super fun night last weekend when I attended a concert in San Francisco. It was such a beautiful night with amazing music from 3 bands: Train, The Script and Gavin Degraw (all hotties on stage, for sure!)
While I was there, I had an awareness that I felt moved to share with you.
As each performer took the stage and broke into his first song, I kept saying to my friend, “Wow, he has such an amazing voice!” And it was true – they ALL had amazing voices. Each of them beautiful and unique in their own way, the kind of voices that can instantly cause a surge of memories and emotions to flood through you as you recall their music and the times you’ve heard it.
What I experienced in that evening was a deep gratitude that each of them had the courage to share their unique voice – their special gifts and talents – with me and with the world. Imagine the vulnerability they must have experienced the first time they got up on a stage to sing in front of people, or when they recorded their first song with lyrics from the heart. Scary, right?
And it made me feel really tender, because I thought immediately of all the women I see who are still afraid to let their unique voices be heard – not necessarily as a singer, but in their own lives. They are afraid or unable to share their gifts fully in the world because their energy is tied up with dieting, overeating, body shame, and trying to fix themselves… Know what I mean?
Instead they tow the line in a soul-sucking job or relationship while they secretly long for something that would fill them with passion. Or they work so hard to please everyone else that they’ve forgotten how to please themselves.
And meanwhile they are distracted or literally paralyzed by a preoccupation with what they should or shouldn’t eat, how many calories or points they can have, shame around their eating habits and rejection of their own bodies. There’s no energy left for anything else.
Furthermore, these same women beat themselves up for having their food challenges in the first place.
It’s heartbreaking.
But what if our challenges with food were not “problems” but simply clues, inviting us to look more closely at how nourished we are – not just physically, but on a SOUL level.
- Do you constantly crave sweets? Awesome! Where are you longing for more sweetness in your life? How sweet would it be to express yourself authentically, live a live of purpose, to have true intimacy with another, or to fulfill a lifelong dream?
- Is fast food your go-to reward? Great! What would make LIFE more rewarding? Would it be to get out of that soul-sucking job or relationship? To create a business of your own? To engage in some kind of service to others?
But so many of us miss the clues, and the preoccupation with food and fixing hijacks our capacity to take the necessary steps or risks that would give our lives meaning and truly nourish our souls. (Yep, it’s called self-sabotage and we all do it!)
Plus, we are taught from an early age that eating or looking a certain way is how you “get” to be happy and have all the good stuff… right? (Um, NO.)
I often ask my clients when they first come to work with me, “If your energy were freed up from this struggle you have with food, where would it go?” In other words, what might be possible for you to create with all that liberated life force?
It’s a big question, I know, some people find it downright terrifying. But I also know that the ultimate fulfillment and satisfaction – AND our ultimate freedom from eating challenges – comes when we are willing to feed our souls, no matter how scary it may seem at first.
So what’s your dream?
What’s the music in your soul you are longing to sing?
What if you were really expressing what’s in your heart and soul?
Whatever it is, the world is hungry to hear it.
Maybe it’s time for you to take the stage.
Maybe it’s time to be the Rock Star of your own life. How much sweeter would life taste if that were so?
