For days I have been thinking about writing a post about Geneen Roth's book Women Food And God (Simon & Schuster, 2010). I am not having much luck.
My dilemma is that the book is written by a woman, who has had problems with weight, for women who have trouble with weight. I don't fit that description.
Yet I had a feeling that this book would speak to me.
I was right because this book is about so much more than gaining or losing weight. It is about clearing out the clutter in our inner lives to get to the heart of who we really are ~ not who we we have always been told we are...or who we think we should be...or even who we think we will be someday.
It's about facing the truth about ourselves now.
Roth writes, "Another way is possible - seeing what's actually there beneath our interpretations of what's there - but it requires questioning that which most of us have never, not once, dared or even thought to question: the many assumptions we take to be the truth" (p. 100).
We face that truth through our bodies. If we pay attention to what we are physically feeling, we will get in touch with what is true about us. We are afraid of what we will find. We shouldn't be. What we will find is that we deserve love and kindness.
She doesn't say it's easy, but the reward is great. "But when we welcome what we most want to avoid, we evoke that in us that is not a story, not caught in the past, not some old image of ourselves. We evoke divinity itself. And in doing so, we can hold emptiness, old hurts, fear in our cupped hands and behold our missing hearts" (p. 34).
I was running the vacuum today and thinking about this book and where I am right now. I thought, women have been suffering long enough.
It's time to find another way. No one else can do it for us, but we can do it for ourselves.
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7 comments:
I LOVE this post, Sharon, and the realizations that come with it. I think Roth is right. It is all about embracing the body as sacred. It is our guidance system and checkpoint. A huge shift happened in me when I claimed this. It has not been easy. I sometimes still don't listen to my body as the navigator, but I continue to try to be faithful to it. I hope you will too! Roth is very wise. I adore her work. I may have to put this book on my must-read list. :-)
GREAT post! There's been many books linking food to spirituality. I love the New Testament Church's gathering to eat a meal, praise, and share testimonies.
There is the sacred element in food that big business tries to squash.
Patti
It really is about meeting ourselves where we are now and treating ourselves with the highest regard. If we don't do that for ourselves, who will? I also believe that we develop ways of thinking at a very young age, coping mechanisms, that become the stories we believe about ourselves. It takes some deep digging and the courage to confront these old ways of thinking. Some of them will never go away, but will continue to pop up like a Jack in the Box every time they're triggered. I've found that recognizing the old patterns has been a major step in defusing their potency and that gives me the option to choose to do things differently.
"I am not having much luck."... Well Sharon you found the exact right words today. So many things take a while. A few days,weeks,years.
As women we know intimately about cycles and waiting. Our bodies do it all the time. But learning to be ok with the waiting and in between times in our everyday lives takes love and patience. And listening. Lots of listening. I have a sign in my kitchen that says "listen loud".
I have been blessed to find a yoga teacher who is also my masseuse. With her help I have learned to hear my body. What a lot it has to say! And it is not always easy. Wonderful thought inspiring post - Wow- thank you so much.
Thanks for bringing this book up.I read this book a few months ago and have been keeping a diary around its ideas ever since. Even though the last time I tried to follow Geneen's "no diet" advice I gained weight instead of losing it. But I love her writing and her heart. I've read all her books, some more than once. You are so right, they are not just about weight. And happy ending here--I actually finally felt the mind/body connection she talks about. In my body instead of just intellectualizing it which is what I did before and why I gained weight. Thanks for starting the conversation, Sharon!
There seems to be a common theme among many blog posts of looking inside ourselves for the truth, the answer. It is tough. It takes years. But it is well worth the journey. Thank you for sharing this. You are right. Regardless of weight, we all have demons, and we are trying to debunk the myths those demons have whispered in our ears for too long.
Thanks for the inspiration Sharon. As someone who struggles with the mid-life weight thing I find that it is hard to focus on me in that way. Sigh.. it's a process.
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