Do you find yourself constantly seeking out diet advice or jumping on board with the newest weight-loss program? Do you feel like your thoughts are consumed with what to eat or what not to eat? Do you wish you could be free from the non-stop chatter of the monkey-mind, obsessing about how your health or your body is not enough?

Happy New Year! Did you spend yesterday setting SMART specific, measurable, attainable, relevant and time-bound goals?

For example:

“I will lose ten pounds in 2 months.”

“I will give up sugar for 30 days.”

“I will save $100 a week for 8 weeks.”

Ready for a little Spanish lesson? It will be relevant, I promise!

I am currently teaching my Spanish students the difference between the two verbs that represent “to be” (ser and estar), and the different situations in which to use them.

This can be confusing, as in English we just have just one verb that means “to be” (conjugated as I am, you are, he/she is…)

We’ve arrived at another holiday season and I am hearing from coworkers and friends that routines are collapsing under the weight of holiday tasks and obligations.

Those of us who value our routines can feel a little uncomfortable during this period of change and increased demands on our time. 

This week I am following up my previous posts on “Feeling the Feels” and “Cultivating Awareness”.

Let’s say you have cultivated an awareness of automatic responses to uncomfortable emotions. You want to change these behaviors but you don’t know where to start.

You may discover your self-soothing behaviors are incredibly powerful. This is because you have been using them automatically for so long.

Last week I discussed the possibility of liberation from conditioned self-soothing behaviors that occur in response to negatively charged emotions.

In my opinion, the first step in learning this process is awareness.

One of my favorite songs in the Broadway musical Book of Mormon is “Turn it Off”. The gist of the song can be wrapped up in the following lyrics:

You say you got a problem?

Well that’s no problem!

It’s super easy not to feel that way!

Today my morning trail run felt different. It was drizzly, the forest felt gray, the vibrant yellow leaves had disappeared from the trees. The woods that had felt like a technicolor dream world now seemed moody and dead.

If you have been reading my posts for a while you might have realized that I believe in the power of words, for example, my previous discussion of “weight loss” versus “weight release”.

Today I would like to discuss the word “should”.

If I had a penny for every time I’ve heard someone say, “I really shouldn’t be eating this!” as they bit into a sugary treat….

I have great news for you: Any diet can help you release weight!

And I have not so great news for you: Any diet will stop working if you don’t confront the underlying issues of emotional eating.