If you are sick of the usual food and exercise related advice to heal emotional eating and food addiction, I don’t blame you. Real relief has little do to with managing food or a new exercise regime. It has to do with allowing yourself to find true pleasure so it’s not just about the party in your mouth.
Last weekend in my new little town, I had signed up for a Sunday afternoon workshop with a well known horticultural writer, Tovah Martin, whose articles I’ve loved for years in magazines like Victoria. It was going to be held in a local vintage/gifts store, and let us plant our own little indoor container gardens. I was all in. I both wanted to be around women who liked to create leafy keepsakes plus get into my body and out of my head (I occasionally take my own advice).
It was an already chilly bleak and gray November afternoon but everything in me lit up when I walked in. Loads of tiny plants were waiting to be chosen. Big glass cannisters of gravel and charcoal and of course dirt (planting soil). A big white work table.
I had brought with me one of my favorite planters, a square tin with off-white chipping paint, bought from one of my favorite nurseries ages ago and couldn’t wait to fill it with beautiful greenery in time for the short gray days of late Autumn and Winter. Which will probably be even longer now that we are in more northern climes. I’m still amazed that I have chosen a colder more wintry place to live but will spare you that tangent.
Getting my hands in the dirt, the feel of it and the uniquely fresh smell of it, that alone made me happy. The visual focus on choosing the right combination of plants and how to configure them was pure pleasure- most things that let me (and probably you) get out of the running-noisy-engine of our thinking mind and moving into one of the senses is a relief.
Feeling the sweet softness of the mosses, the tiny pots of ivy and other little greens, getting to make my own tiny woodland was peaceful and satisfied me deeply… body, heart, of course spirit. We are creators. Even this small project reminded me of the pleasure and essence of that.
The finishing touches were a large heart-shaped clay mushroom.. some strips of moss, little shreds of birch bark. I didn’t want to be done. Was tempted to run home and haul back any empty container I could find to make more and more.
Being absorbed in this peaceful happy way was something I was craving in the midst of my busy week, in the midst of adjusting to so many new things, and in the mist of nesting- always a way that I seek to ground and comfort myself particularly when in transition.
I want more. More little gardens indoors, more time with my hands in the dirt, more creative focus that brings me back to center and clears out all of the energy-draining over-thinking of daily life. I am dreaming and imagining where I can bring more of nature inside this new home of ours.
I believe that for many of my clients that have found their way clear of using food to self-soothe, or who are free of the ruminating and obsessing about body size or eating-plans, finding time to play, time to connect with a focus on something creative…time to be in your senses… is one of the best ways possible to get distance from the pain of food and eating related struggles.
When you take time to play, to create, to sink into the visual or tactile or other sensory pleasures, it’s healing. It feels good. It’s nourishing in all the right ways. You find other parts of yourself that are completely whole, that are still innocent, that remember who you truly are. I think that’s a really good thing.
I want that for you. Check out my little mini-garden in the photo above. So far it’s doing beautifully and I love looking at it.
And you? I’d love to hear from you. Let me know what creative projects or moments gave you pleasure and peace in the comments below.
If you’re still trying to find a way out of the swirl of overeating, obsessing about eating and weight, trying everything out there but not getting the relief… still not able to keep your promises to yourself.. please contact me- We will customize something just right for you… relief- whether in the form of weight loss, eating patterns that drive you crazy, ongoing thoughts about it all that drain you.. I can help. Just email me at Lisa at IntuitiveBody dot com..
With great love from my heart to yours…..
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