Changing Paradigms and Growth

We can change our opinions, views, thoughts, actions, values, looks. We can even change our brains to think in a new way that we never thought possible. It takes work and extreme openness and a lot of times a professional if we are seeking serious brain change.

I noticed two changes in myself this week that I am especially happy to notice and am honestly in awe of.  What made me notice my change were two different posts on  Facebook actually. 

One was the meme that says something like, pray for all those fighting battles they don't talk about or we don't know about....something to that effect.  It made me think about how I used to view that post because I first saw it a few years ago.  My pendulum has definitely swung.  I used to have the attitude that...yeah, here is to all the people who inwardly struggle and aren't talking about it or whining or asking for help or wanting attention or pity.  I was the classic Viking that Brene' Brown describes and I just saw Victims all around me.  Today, I read that post and I responded with a comment about how we all need people and we need to share our lives. Sharing and vulnerability are looked down upon in our culture and it is so wrong and it makes us sick to hold onto that view. We need to share and being vulnerable is not weakness, it is strength and it builds more strength.  Humans were not created to be alone.  When we hold our problems inside....something will eventually have to give...physically and or mentally. Illness will happen when we do not take care of our bodies and minds.

When I think about that post now, I see that people who hold things inside, need prayers to share their lives above all else...even if it is just with one person. My old attitude which served me for over four decades at least...made me sick with anorexia (other factors of course but had my problems been shared, I likely would have avoided being underweight and actual illness).

I still am not great at sharing a lot but this right here helps; my therapy helps.

The other Facebook eye-opener was a post in one of my support groups about getting rid of the scale.  I made a comment about what worked for me with the advice of my therapist.  I am on a streak of not weighing now for over three weeks.  woohoo..that is a big deal. I received a comment back about how the scale should be seen as a tool for health eventually.  I strenuously but kindly disagreed.  I wrote that the scale is in no way a determining factor of my health. I could have gone on and on but the bottom line is, I have changed. I used to be chained to the scale.  It was what determined my daily mood for YEARS!

The scale harms my health. It keeps me from wanting to gain weight. It fixates me on a number which is meaningless.  Also, this week, I had to go see one of my doctors.  I asked her not to tell me the number on the scale as I closed my eyes tightly and explained that I was in therapy now for anorexia.  She was so supportive and I know she will continue to be.

Change is possible...whether you are looking to do something serious or small.  In my belief system too, change requires God's help. God helps me through the people He has put in my life...family, friends and professionals. Listen to the prophets around you and jump on the swing....get your feet off the ground and embrace movement of your mind and body.