Debi Johnson Coaching

 We all have things in our life that we wish were different than they are.  I know sometimes it hurts the heart just to think about them, but just think for a moment, what else is possible?  What changes would you like to see happen? 

Let’s ask some questions.

Maybe you are sitting in your living room right now, looking at your laptop, I-Pad, Droid or whatever device you own.  As you are checking out your favorite blogs or Facebook, what are you digging?  What excites you? Are there any ideas getting sparked back in the corner of your mind?  If you could wake up in the morning and do something different, what might it be? 

Get a piece of paper or your journal and write “It really is possible that I could …….” and fill in the blank.  What are you longing to do ~ it could be big or small?  In fact, sometimes the greatest things can happen in life when taken in small steps.  Use that wonderful imagination that you have.  Maybe you are longing for a new job; or maybe just to wake up and really want to go to the job that you have.  Maybe you want a healthier body.  How could you make that happen?

I know that I am asking you lots of questions, but you see my friend, you are the only one that has the answers.  Sometimes they seem so hard to find, sort of like buried treasure.  If you ask your true self, dig around and explore,  then just let the ideas flow. 

At this point think of yourself as the map maker drawing the map to what you really, really want.  You can do this anytime and move toward the life that you desire, one little step at a time.

As I build my coaching business I truly want to work with women and men that feel as if they are trapped in a life time of emotional eating. 

I feel very compelled to use my blog to speak to those that feel wrapped up in emotional eating, bulimia, or diet hell.  I want you to know that you know that it is not you!  You are not your food thing!  You are you! 

It does not define who you are!  You are a unique person with your own amazing qualities.

The emotional eating has been a coping mechanism that you have used to handle events in your life that you were not able to face at the time. 

It is NOT who you are!

Imagine…..If you were to wake up in the morning and somehow a miracle happened, you had no thoughts, memory or knowledge of any food issue ~ just who would you be?

How would you define yourself?  What would you do differently?  What would you tackle in your life?

Think about it, journal about it.  I-M-A-G-I-N-E! 

Just imagine the possibilities….You are amazing just as you are.

Do you really listen to your body?  Do you value what it tries to tell you?

Many times during my adult years I have held onto disorder eating.  My mind always felt seemingly detached from my body.  I simply ignored it!  If it was hungry, tired, sore, or sick I rarely stopped to listen to it. I allowed the disorder to dictate what  I should or shouldn’t eat,  how much I ate or if I should eat at all.  I chose to tune my body out!

Now, after doing a lot of personal work with some amazing coaches, I live in my mind/body/spirit connection. They all work in unison. I use my lovely body as my compass to direct me toward my best, essential self.

Last weekend as I tried to climb a mountain ten miles high, part of it in the snow, I forgot about paying attention to my body. I have always compared overcoming the obstacles of my life to that of ascending a mountain, envisioning that if I ever worked my way to the top, I would essentially be complete.  So last weekend, I told myself “this adventure represents the mountain of your life and you have to make it to the top. (One of my life’s lessons has been that it is not ever a good idea to say “I have to”).

Most of the climb went well as I hiked up to the top. However at 7500 feet the climb was much, much harder than I had imagined. At that point, I got very dizzy and weak. My fingers were frozen and hurting; my body did not want to move, however my stubbornness didn’t listen to my body, even as I kept sliding back down in the snow.

Finally, I sat down, totally exhausted!  As I tried to calm myself , I took deep breaths that soothed me.  As I sat there in the stillness, it dawned on me that I was not listening at all to my body. Did I ask its opinion? Did I trust that my body would give me guidance along this pathway? No, I treated it as if it weren’t a part of this adventure; like it didn’t even matter. I had forgotten about my mind/body/spirit working together. Once again, it was my mind disconnected from my body. I truly believe I can do anything when I trust my amazing body and listen to it’s messages.

I ended up walking back down the mountain. I felt much better at the lower elevation out of the snow. No, I didn’t make the climb that day, but I will be back after the snow melts. The lesson learned that day totally overshadowed making it to the top ~ stay in touch with my body!

We all descend mountains everyday in our lives, be it overcoming something like an eating disorder, working at a job that we don’t like or just in trying to get our life together.  Every day we give it our all. Our bodies give us signals when we need rest, play or food.  Perhaps our body is trying to get us to recognize a feeling that we have been pushing away.

Our goal is for the mind, body and spirit to connect and to work in unison.  This trio makes the mountain climbing of life so much easier!