Ministering To Yourself – Sometimes in Drastic Ways

Sometimes just before the winds of change blow their fresh cool breezes blow into your life things can feel a little flat, or just really stuck and stagnant. Incredibly blah and awful even. Some of you know that I’ve been in a personally emotional low since my beloved dog Campbell was killed by Coyotes at the end of July. It’s been a bit over 5 weeks, and I’ve not been doing well. Lots of sadness, lots of weeping, low energy, low motivation, grief in otherwords. This on top of a year of very intensive nonstop work. Oh and my oldest son Luke leaves for college next weekend. And my husband got laid off about 6 months ago. Got the picture?!!

So… I was feeling like I needed a little something. We know that feeling. It can take the form of buying shiny little baubles or shoes, overspending. It can lead to overeating just trying to numb the numbness or the emotional yuck. Some women even go out and have an affair. I don’t recommend any of these when you are feeling depleted and lost. I promise you, none of those solutions will help, not ever.

Anyways… I needed to feel better and I needed to do something different. But the guidance didn’t really “come in” that way, it came in as me picking up a really really old book that I’ve had for probably 10 years- an old classic called the “False Fat Diet” by Elson Haas, M.D. It’s basically about detoxing from all of the foods that you might be reactive to or allergic to that cause your body to have cravings or store fat.

I happen to have a lot of sensitivities to food- I am allergic by nature, I had allergy shots from the age of 3 til I was 22. I am very aware of my body’s extreme sensitivities to gluten, dairy, corn, citrus, chocolate… and a few other things. I’ve seen for years that the things I really crave are the things my body totally can’t deal with.

I’ve always felt like the Princess in the story the Princess and the Pea– sensitive in so many ways. Most of my work with Intuitive Body is based on helping women use their sensitive natures and intuitive gifts to really thrives… end of commercial break.

Anyways- after rereading Dr. Haas’ book I decided to do a juice fast as a simple means of an elimination diet- getting rid of absolutely everything I’m sensitive/allergic to and giving my body a rest. It felt like a way to really nourish my tired, blue, stagnant little self and maybe bring some aliveness back. It gave me something different to do, something to indulge my compulsive nature, and also a way to just gently restore my system.

It’s working. I feel better. I feel lighter. My mood has improved. My sking and eyes look better. I have stopped weeping as much. I am feeling kind of like myself again.

This is Day 3.

This is not the post about juice fasting-will probably write more about all that later. This is the post about how sometimes when you’re feeling really terrible, you might need a change, and your guidance and your spirit might gently show you where to find it. Just want to make sure that you get that as the point versus this being about fasting or weight loss (especially since my last blog post was about not following food fads or “cults” – I love Dr. Christiane Northrup’s expression for crazy eating ” food macro-psychotics”).

Anyways, while this may seem like a food/diet thing… this was actually about an act of healing. Taking time out to gently nourish and minister to myself in a simple yet unfamiliar way to break through a painful pattern of grieving and try to provide a kind of attention that my body may be benefitting from.

It is the end of summer. Always a bittersweet time and I am still feeling many things, many of them very sentimental.

Love and blessings to you-

Lisa