This is one of those posts that even as I feel inspired or compelled to write it, some part of me says “no.. don’t..they’ll hate it, it’s too (fill in the blank) and part of me wants to go back to doing whatever I was doing before the idea landed solidly in my consciousness.
For a long time I’ve seen our struggles with weight, eating and the associated painful emotions as one of the avenues that moves us towards a spiritual path . Because the pain around it’s so painful, it catches our attention, making us willing to walk through the proverbial fire. At what point do you find the kind of grace that comes when you know you can’t go it alone, and aren’t meant to?
I’ve seen this process as a “firewalk” for a long time.
Seen it as a soul-call- The pain that asks you to go “higher” ..to pay attention to the changes you need to make in order to really come out of hiding, to shine brightly, to be who you’re here to be. Pain can be a persuasive teacher.
To lose the weight, or stop eating in secretive ways that smother you in self-loathing and shame, you’ll need to “break contract”. Both with aspects of yourself and the patterns that are running you, the ones no longer serving you. This is where powerful change happens, and things get interesting. This goes so beyond a diet book or the next food plan.
This has the potential to be your most powerful spiritual transformation, if you are willing to see it that way, and use it as such.
You’ll have to be willing, I believe, to move through some iteration of the death and rebirth cycle.
There will be parts of the way you see yourself, parts of the ways you present yourself in the world, of the ways in which you relate to others… all of the many patterns that define how you see yourself and allow others to see you...that get transmuted as they are put through the fire, if we went to stay with that metaphor.
You’ll say goodbye to the part of you that perpetuates various types of self-harm. Whether it’s holding your body hostage with unwanted extra weight, or eating vampire foods that leave you feeling drained of all life-force energy, or hurting yourself through relationships that deprive you of what you want and deserve, or of not letting your gifts be seen in the world and keeping yourself from engaging in ways that are satisfying and uplifting.
And…you’ll have to be willing to choose this.. with great love for yourself, and with the willingness to stay conscious. Not easy when food or eating or relationships ups-and-downs have become so compelling.. so diverting.
So what will you do? Have you noticed yourself feeling that it’s “time” to tend to your heart’s longing to make some big changes.. and then feel yourself back off, because you’re afraid? Of course.. that’s what happens. Back and forth, back and forth. And there will always be really good reasons to wait.. you could wait forever and ever.
But your Higher Self.. the truest part of you never abandons you. You feel her.. she wants better for you. She has a vision for you, and knows that you are playing so much smaller than what is meant for you. Death and rebirth.. they don’t sound like a real picnic do they?
And yet.. what comes when you release the layers of what is not-you? What is less-than-you. What is meant to go so that you can open to the beauty that is so ready to flow through you as soon as you make room for it… As you even pause to imagine this, I suspect you begin to get at least a whiff and a sense in your heart and your IntuitiveBody of what that could be like. And it’s real… uniquely yours.
I want that for you.
If you’ve felt like this, if you feel like this now and are a little bit curious of how I can help,then you may be interested in my new 6-week individual programs. Email me to set up a no-strings consult. I’ll respond within 24-hours. Promise. Lisa at IntuitiveBody dot com.
With love from my heart to yours..
teryll says
Transformative! I got such a visual when I read this post – read it last night and again right now, it made think of a song called Refiner’s Fire. What you describe (so poetically, I might add) is a refining process. We need to get rid of the gunk so that we can shine brightly for all the world to see……love this!!!!!
Lisa says
Love the metaphor of refining.. and yes putting things through the fire for transmutation is a practice that I love and use.. writing and burning..getting rid of the gunk but also really consciously choosing to be who we truly are.. not the illusions of “not-good-enough” in whatever forms we have been trapped in for our inability to see and know beyond that to the truth. Make sense? Big love to you Teryll.. xox Lisa
Teresa Deak says
Beautiful! I’d like to think the butterflies can stay with us while we walk through that fire – reminding us of the beauty and ease and peace that we are walking towards.
Hugs and butterflies,
~Teresa~
Lisa says
Teresa.. always love the butterflies.. and just want to mention here that having totems are really helpful. .a source of great power and comfort and energy ..each animal/insect/bird etc has it’s own “medicine”. I love how you expand the butterfly medicine into your work and presence…I think it shows us another way to shift our energy and align with something that holds the qualities that we want and need. Love to you, Lisa
Christie says
Lisa – whoa, big revelations here. There’s a comfort level with the person I am now. I’m not sure who I will be when I walk through that fire. Will I be a “better” version of me and that part is what scares me!
Lisa says
Christie.. laughing.. can hear the “whoa” in my head.. So yeah.. we are all extremely “comfortable” even in our discomfort..and that’s the tricky part.. I believe though that our fears or limiting beliefs tend to be about our not-true selves.. and that who we will be is more free, more our true nature, more of the best of who we already are.. And.. (getting on the soapbox here for the finale) that we already have a sense of who that is.. we know that we are more powerful or talented or whatever.. we sense that “other” .. but are afraid of shaking things up.. how will we be received. Who might be threatened.. what will change.. It truly is our firewalk..
Love and xox.. Lisa
Denise Hughes says
Lisa,
THANK YOU FOR THIS POST. It is divine timing for me. There is a dance going on inside me right now with food and my body. I love what you say here? “But your Higher Self.. the truest part of you never abandons you. You feel her.. she wants better for you. She has a vision for you, and knows that you are playing so much smaller than what is meant for you. Death and rebirth.” I feel this part of me coming forth, the higher self part…she is leading over the parts that want to stay small…soon I do feel she will be leading the dance! Thank you for writing this piece. Your deep knowing of this journey is so evident.
XX
Lisa says
Denise.. thank you for this..We all teach what we are learning and this is something that I feel the “tension” of often. Like many of us, we can sense the edge of the other side, and there is fear of various parts of the process or what the transition will look like. I love all your selves.. Love, lisa
Jessica says
When I think about “shining brightly,” I always think of fire — I think of stars flaming and burning to shine through the darkness. So it’s interesting that you suggest the journey is a ‘firewalk’ to your chance to shine.
It’s amazing and inspiring that you can bring your own struggles to the surface and use them for teaching, helping and “birthing” other souls who need help. I’m so thankful you’re here! xoxo
Lisa says
Thank you for that Jessica.. thankful for your support and wisdom as well. The firewalk image is always present for me around this work.. the transformation is so challenging on so many levels and so sacred.. calling up these parts of us that are so powerful and bright. Anyways.. thank you for “seeing” it with me. Love, lisa