Here's to being 34!

It's gonna be a great year! My friend Marne posted this on her blog. It was so good I had to pass it along..."Geneen Roth, an international teacher, speaker, and writer of bestselling books on emotional eating, is the author of this article. Sounds like I need to look her up more.According to Geneen, slowing down is the most direct route to self-acceptance---and to giving yourself what truly nourishes you. She goes over what a typical day in your life might be....rushing in the morning to get up, eat, get the kids out the door on time, make it to appointments, run those errands, get the shopping done, take the kids to lessons, etc. Do you feel as if your life (not to mention your feelings of self-worth) depends on crossing things off a lengthy to-do list?Um, yes.So then Geneen says to ask yourself if you feel anything when you are rushing around except a sense of urgency. She calls this bingeing....instead of bingeing on food, you are bingeing on rushing around, to get in everything you possibly can. She then poses the question: How do you feel about yourself afterwards?Not feeling like you have done enough or feeling like you didn't get much done evokes feelings of disappointment in yourself, guilt, failure, and anxiety. She says that rushing and bingeing are driven by the belief that you are not allowed to take the time to live the life you really want. When you binge, no single taste lingers deliciously on your tongue. When you are hurrying, you experience only the mad dash from one thing to the next. Neither one is about enjoyment....of your life or your food. Geneen says: Think about it for just a minute. Is it possible to truly care for yourself, to treat yourself as though you are valuable and deserve every good thing in life---and then rush through that very life without giving yourself any time to enjoy it? Can you really stand at the refrigerator plowing through last night's cheesecake with a true sense of self-worth and calm?Geneen points out that: When you rush and when you binge, you miss every ounce of available pleasure you could be having. You substitute cheap rushes of adrenaline and chasers of guilt for the real pleasure of living life on your terms. So at the end of the article she gives an assignment:Move at "soul speed." Human bodies need more calm and peace. It's only at that pace that we can truly begin to listen to ourselves and to get to know ourselves in a way that leads to acceptance, kindness, and a desire to give ourselves what really nourishes us. Try leaving one errand of your to-do list every day. Try eating--for just one day a week--exactly what your body wants to eat. Don't rush through eating--and don't rush through your days. Savor the many tastes of your life".So what do you think? I think this is great advice to live by and that's exactly what I plan to do this 34th year of my life. Just this morning I was wallowing in self pity, feeling like my life has been overrun by domestic responsiblities, children, finances, etc. NOT THIS YEAR! 34 is going to be different. A year will pass whether I move at "soul speed" or continue to rush and binge. My whole life I have rushed and binged. Don't get me wrong - I have accomplished many great things along the way but I think I am ready to move at soul speed. I am excited to embark on this adventure. If I don't get the results I am striving for I can always go back to rushing and bingeing for year 35.
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