I've have returned to one of my favourite books; Siddhartha by Herman Hesse and it has got me thinking about the challenges of weight loss. When asked about his talents the eponymous subject of this tale said that he could wait and think and fast. I wonder if this could be good advice in today's busy high consumption world. Weight gain and obesity are much reported as a western health epidemic but this tends to miss the individual and their own personal challenges. Many try to simplify this to 'You should eat less and move more!' . There is some truth in this but we all know this so why are there are still many overweight people in the world?
I know that I can often squash rising anxiety in the evening by hitting the fridge. The fix is instant but not lasting and i have been trying overtime to takes Siddhartha's approach. When anxiety, thoughts or emotions I don't feel comfortable with arise I try to catch myself on the way to the fridge or biscuit barrel and encourage myself to stop for a moment before mindlessly shoveling the food down. I then invite myself to wait and think about what i am feeling in this moment. If we can find the courage to allow strong emotions to come they will tend to pass through us quite quickly and be gone as soon as they arrived. This is easier said than done as this is often done out of awareness.
Sage level mediation and fasting skills may be out of our range but if we can catch ourselves and be kind to ourselves when challenging feeling come we may just be able to support our physical health at the same time as our mental health.
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