Being mindful and connecting to your intuitive self is a daily aim for eating disorder recovery. Eating mindfully and intuitive eating allows you to stay aligned with viewing food as fuel and a source of pleasure and nourishment.
The holidays provide an Ooey-gooey, Bitter-sweet opportunity for being in practice with mindfulness and your intuition.
If you are in early-stage recovery from an eating disorder or you have daily struggles surrounding food, the cynical part of your brain sarcastically says, “Oooooh Goodie,” I get it, mindfulness can be difficult when your brain is only quiet during sleep.
Do me a favor, take a moment and take a big, deep breath to really take in and…
Create space for the self that serves you for your highest good.
Allow that self to step into the driver’s seat. Give space for the perspective that opportunities of perceived struggle can ultimately end up being a gift to self.
This life school you are a part of, the struggles, that one-day you will view as the gift that woke-you up to being more of who you are today; are a daily practice of recovery-related behaviors.
A mindset of self-compassion, humor, and the perception that all this practice has meaning is required to be successful while shifting your thoughts and behaviors to align with the goal of one day being recovered from an eating disorder.
Intuition and mindfulness go hand in hand: in order to be intuitive, you must have created space through your practice of being mindful.
When I think of mindfulness, I think of being present in the moment with whatever is showing up in my life or in my thinking: whatever I am doing, eating, speaking, or holding space with or for is an opportunity to practice mindfulness.
This allows me to be in my awareness, my intuitive self; which gives me a much better chance of getting my needs and wants met.
The holidays provide an overwhelming amount of input for those in eating disorder recovery. You can view this time of year from two perspectives: run-for-the-hills and/or hide under your covers,
OR
You can see each and every moment that presents itself as a struggle as an opportunity to do three things:
- Practice being mindful (slow down, pay attention to your feelings, do and be with intention to create space within yourself to:
- Intuit your next steps by asking what it is you need and want
- Take action based in self-care, self-love, and self-compassion
This all sounds simple, but it is truly a lifetime commitment to continue to come back to mindfulness within ourselves and get our needs met in a healthy and functional way through our intuitive facilities.
Part of being in recovery from an eating disorder or food-related struggles is that you are the one that is in charge of how mindful you remain around food, family, and STRESS.
Recognizing the gift of being present to yourself means you realign to your mindfulness practice when you get off center. This can look a number of ways for you. The practice of intuiting your path and becoming your own beacon of light starts with your mindfulness practice: here are some ways to practice mindfulness in an effort to connect to your intuitive self:
- Breathe
- Meditate
- Be Where Your Feet Are (seriously, you aren’t out in the future; you are not a fortune teller; intuition allows you to be intuitive in the moment… be present!)
- Ask yourself: What do you Need Right Now?
- Eat to Maintain the Necessary Energy to Accomplish your Goals
- Give Yourself Permission to be Imperfect (life school offers you practice on the path towards being recovered from your eating disorder)
- Remain in Your Power: Your Value isn’t Negotiable
- Respond vs. React (Allow for a Pause if You want to React… aim for your intuitive self to have a voice, it can’t be heard when you are flooded with emotion)
If you spent a long-time looking outside of yourself using food to cope, your pattern got set-up to believe that what you needed or wanted had to do with food. When you practice mindfulness with the aim being to awaken your intuitive self; you gain clarity for the undercurrent that drives your longing. This gives you an increased chance of actively being in self-care.
The tricky part about becoming mindful to what you need or want in each moment is that it might be the first time in your life that you have begun to ask yourself: what do I need or want right now; and so, you may have no idea.
That is okay.
Recovery is a practice every single moment and it can be really exciting to get to know all the versions of yourself and incredibly overwhelming too.
As you learn to be more mindful of your inner self, your intuitive nature, you will wake-up to the power of getting your needs met; and then when you sit down at the holiday table (metaphorically…this holiday table represents the shopping, the gatherings, the alone time, the mindset of how you perceive the holiday, and the struggle to maintain a recovery mindset with food), you will have the intuitive answer to all you need and want in the moment.
Here are 10 reminders to help you maintain your mindfulness practice this holiday around food.
Should you feel the pull to amp-up your intuition and need a boost to get out of overwhelm emotionally, I would love to be a part of your journey. Contact me. Not quite ready, no problem, sign-up for my newsletter to stay in touch or live stream my radio show The Food Fight or listen to past shows here.
Lorri Lancashire is the founder of High Vibe Soul, LLC. a coaching program for women that struggle with recovery from food-related issues and negative body image. Lorri works as a mindset coach and is also a Masters clinician as a Licensed Professional Counselor in Texas. She has a private practice working with individuals and couples. Lorri is a Certified Eating Disorder Specialist through IAEDP (International Association of Eating Disorder Professionals). She has trained with Pia Mellody, the Beck Institute, and Terrance Real and is completing her training as an RLT therapist.
Click here to download Lorri’s free “I Am Solution” and begin to recover your joy!