I’m back with part two of my favorite quotes from Women Food and God.
Among the many astonishing things that Geneen Roth accomplishes in this book, one thing that really intrigued me was the way she dissects the mind-body connection. She establishes the importance of both intuition and mindfulness in overcoming emotional eating.
I’m going to take a quick stab at paraphrasing how these two concepts intersect. Your mind can play tricks on you, but your body doesn’t lie. So above all, trust your body. However, you won’t know what your body truly needs unless you pay attention to it. That’s where mindfulness enters the equation.
These quotes convey that much more eloquently:
Our minds are like politicians; they make stuff up, they twist the truth. Our minds are masters at blame, but our bodies…our bodies don’t lie.
By definition, eating compulsively is eating without regard to the body’s cues; it therefore follows that when you develop the capacity to steer your attention back to your body, are aware of what it says and are willing to listen to it, compulsion falls away.
If you actually listen to what your body (not your mind) wants, you’ll discover that it doesn’t want three weeks of hot fudge sundaes despite the panting and salivating that is evoked at their very mention.
Thich Nhat Hanh, the Vietnamese Buddhist teacher, says, “There is no way to happiness – happiness is the way.” Just so, there is no way back to the body; the body is the way. You have to leave and then you return. Leave and return. You forget and then you remember. Forget. Remember. One breath and then another. One step and then another.
And finally, three more awesome quotes that I just couldn’t leave off the list:
Combine the utter inefficacy of dieting with the lack of spiritual awareness and we have generations of mad, ravenous, self-loathing women.
We treat ourselves and the rest of the world as if deprivation, punishment and shame lead to change . . . And although I’ve never met anyone – not one person – for whom warring with their bodies led to long-lasting change, we continue to believe that with a little more self-disgust, we’ll prevail.
The possibility that there is a place in them, in everyone, that is unbroken, that has never gained a pound, never been hungry, never been wounded, seems like a myth as far-fetched as the Sumerian goddess Inanna ascending to earth after hanging on a meat hook in hell.
{If you missed part one, check it out here.}