Have you ever downed an entire package of chips, crackers, or cookies? Ate pizza or cake until you felt sick? Drank more coffee or wine than your body wanted? Do you remember how you were feeling at the time?
I ask because sometimes we overeat to help distract us from emotional pain. This is a pain I am all too familiar with. I had a very long term relationship with peanut m&m's! That was just one of my go-to's to cope with the pain of my mother's death and stress throughout my life. Those days are behind me now, but it was a long journey!
Think about it—have you noticed that sometimes when you overeat you’re not hungry at all? What you are is lonely. Or angry. Or sad. Or resentful. Or frustrated. Or something else.
So what hurt are YOU holding on to?
Tap Into the Power of Forgiveness
Wouldn’t it be more effective to address your uncomfortable feelings? The best, most thorough, most divinely perfect way to do that is forgiveness.
Forgiving is not easy, even for the most enlightened among us. If you’ve been allowing your present health to be controlled by past hurts, I urge you to commit to forgiving. These steps can help:
Talk to sympathetic friends and family about your desire to forgive. Chatting with others is tremendously comforting.
Write a letter to the person you’d like to forgive. You can decide whether or not you send it.
See the situation from the other person’s perspective—your own perspective may change.
Don’t forget to forgive yourself. Sometimes we can be harshest with ourselves.
Understand that you are responsible for your own attitude. Don’t let holding a grudge keep you from feeling free, open, and powerful in your own life.
Forgive and watch how much easier your relationship with eating becomes.