What am I hungry for?
What would truly satisfy me?
(resource included)
I recently attended a training on SATISFACTION.
The facilitator invoked such curiosity and almost horror in me when she gave an example of filling ourselves up with the wrong thing. (yes, I tell you the rest of the story...)
Not wrong as in "bad". Simply wrong as in won't fill the true LONGING, it won't satisfy!
There is a beautiful dance between longing and satisfaction that I get to explore.
The idea that I could misinterpret feelings and signals in my body and choose something that does NOT SATISFY.
This leaves me empty with exaggerated longing, craving, wanting....
Many of us formed a connection between food and ____________________? Comfort, punishment, celebration, shame, guilt.... all of the above?
Do I go to food when it's not physical nourishment I need?
REAL food as nourishment satisfies.
Here's what the trainer said, "The body could signal agitation and lethargy, which my brain may interpret as "bored", and when I am bored I...
Eat
Shop
Sleep
Scroll social media
Crave sex
Alcohol
Workout
Clean my house
Rip out the yard....(I know a bit extreme, and you know who you are!)
Yet the body signal may really mean "I AM LONELY" which can only be satisfied with connection to myself, my people and my Designer.
In my practice I see this often, somewhere the path to food gets established as the way to "satisfy" appetites that will NOT BE SATIS-FED with food.
Consider these possibilities....
I feel sluggish and distracted, I reach for caffeine or sugar yet I need SLEEP or WATER, OR MOVEMENT or________________.
I feel exuberant and energetic, I reach for ice cream yet I need someone to share this with me, I need companionship and connection!
I have muscle tightness and a headache and I take pain-relievers yet I really need some self-care or spousal care.
When reaching for something: food, caffeine, alcohol, scrolling and numbing - get curious....
"What am I truly longing for, what do I REALLY need?"
Here you'll find a need inventory These are innate needs of human-kind.
What have you been settling for.....what is your heart longing for......?
How do we retrain that brain? With curiosity and compassion.
Take a few breaths
Grab a glass of water
Ask your self, "What would truly satisfy in this moment?" "What do I really need?"
We know its a need for nourishment when real food is a satisfying choice,
if you find yourself craving something compulsively you are likely trying to meet a different need with FOOD.
This will leave you hungry, empty and DISATIS-FED!
The beautiful thing about life and the way our brain is wired:
we can learn new things.
What would happen if you chose what truly satisfied? What if that choice is always available to you?
You can. I promise, you truly can!
If you would like support on the journey of being SATIS-FED, let's chat.
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