Outside the encircling warmth of that love, you are not at
home, you are agitated on a soul level, and you are likely to do something
to act out your agitation. This is not bad news, by the way . It means you’re
a mystic at heart. You will never for get what this issue in your life has put you through—
and, at the deepest level, you won’ t really want to. For when you look in the
mirror and see only the happy person whose body weight has become a
source of pleasure and not pain, you will know that you have seen a
miracle. Y ou will know that you have learned a spiritual secret that you
could have only found in the depths of your darkness and at the height of
your despair . Even though the tears you cried on the way to your miracle were the tears
of someone who wondered at times if life was even worth the pain, you will
know in your heart that it was. For ultimately it showed you something
about God and about yourself. The person you will be on the other side of
this problem, as you continue on your journey far past the station called
“Weight Loss,” will have a secret smile that only something much more
powerful than weight loss itself could have given you. It will not just be
your body that is renewed, but also your heart and soul. And where you will go from there will be a dif ferent future than you
would have had were you still ravaged and lost in food hell. Having been
delivered from that awful place, you will notice those who seek delivery
themselves. And with often no more than a gentle smile, but sometimes a
more substantial reach, you will be there for others as you have felt the
invisible spirit of love reach out for you. You will be someone who, having received a miraculous healing, can
work a miracle in the lives of others. There will be a depth to your words,
reflecting the depth of your hard-earned wisdom; a kindness to your spirit,
reflecting the celestial touch that reached out to you in the depth of your
misery; and a power to your personality that one only encounters insomeone who has stared down the devil in his or her own soul. Congratulations. This is not the end; it is your new beginning. You are not who you were yesterday , you are not who you’ve been taught
to think you are, and you are not your body . You are a spirit who lives
eternally in a realm beyond the material world, wearing a physical body like
a beautiful suit of clothes. And you don’ t just know that now . You truly
know it. It is not just a metaphor; it is truth. Your spiritual self is not secondary to your material self: It was here
before your body was born, and it will live beyond its dying. It is not a
symbol; it is who you really are. Beyond your body , there is a body
brilliant. And everything you’ve ever been through, including the horrible
paths you have trod through the hell of dysfunctional eating, have
ultimately served but one purpose only: to get you here, to this point, to this
knowing, and to this peace. Feel not only the physical; feel the body brilliant. When sitting, feel your
body … then sense the spiritual body that sits within you. Simply feel its
presence; that is all you need do. Feel not only the physical; feel the body brilliant. When standing, feel
your body … then sense the spiritual body that stands within you. Simply
feel its presence; that is all you need do. Feel not only the physical; feel the body brilliant. When walking, feel
your body … then sense the spiritual body that walks within you. Simply
feel its presence; that is all you need do. These are subtle actions, yet they will change your life. For what you feel
is what you will feed. The fact that this will diminish your weight is almost
incidental. Y ou’ve given birth to a new sense of self. Y ou are leaving
behind a merely material sense of who you are, and identifying instead with
the spirit within you. In the spiritual realm, you carry no excess substance,
because you are love and love only . This journey ends a personal nightmare and initiates a more awakened
way of walking through life. Y ou have turned to God for help with your
weight, and you have felt Him respond; be sure now that you yourself do
not abandon the relationship. W eight has been a wounding in your spirit,
but it is a wounding that has brought you to your knees—and in that way , it
has become a blessing. It has taught you humility , it has brought you to a
greater understanding of the awesomeness and mercy of the universe, and ithas brought you home to your true self. Now that you’ve encountered such
mysteries, do not allow yourself to for get what they taught you. You know now that miracles occur naturally in the presence of love, and
that your compulsion erupts in the presence of fear . You know that any
moment of blocked love is an invitation for fear to enter . You know that fear
fuels the ego, activates addiction, and makes inevitable your return to
suffering. Y ou know that whenever you choose love, even when your
resistance is great, love will always be there to save you from yourself. Remember these things and you will be fine. That which you have thought of as your greatest burden has, in fact,
become your greatest miracle. Any remorse you feel, any regret over pain
you’ve already suf fered, will be magically transformed into joy . All the
happiness you denied yourself when in the throes of food hell is awaiting
you now , having been put in a “Send Later” file while you were overeating. Now you will be able to download all the marvelous, free, and bountiful
energies that were deflected by your compulsion. From the pleasure of
wearing a cool pair of jeans to the discovery of the value of fresh, or ganic
food; from the fun of dancing to the satisfaction of a healthier lifestyle, you
will enjoy  yourself in a way you have not allowed yourself in quite a while,
if ever . This is a path you’ll walk for the rest of your life—not just to manage
your food issues, but in order to find and live the truest version of yourself. Your work will be, every day , to vigilantly monitor your thoughts—so you
won’ t have  to monitor your eating so vigilantly . The lighter your thoughts
are, the lighter will be your appetite. As mental and emotional obesity fall
to the wayside, then so will their physical counterpart. Y ou will become,
throughout all dimensions of your being, your “light-filled” self. Open your journal once more and ruminate on what this course has been
for you … what has been dif ficult, what has been easy , what you feel
you’ve accomplished, and what you feel you will be continuing to work on
as you move forward. W rite down things you’ve learned about yourself as
you’ve gone through this course, and what changes you’re making as a
result of your insights. Notice how your self-perception has changed since
realizing that you are so much more than the body of flesh that your
physical eyes perceive.Glance at your altar and think of who you were when you began building
it, how much less you understood about yourself, and how much more
vulnerable you felt back then to the addictive demons that have so
terrorized your life. Regardless of whether you feel that all the demons have
yet retreated full-time to their lair in the realms of nothingness, notice how
certain you are, somewhere in your mind, that you are not alone in fighting
them—and that the battle, in fact, is already won. Know now , and do not
forget: there are angels to your left and angels to your right, there are angels
in your kitchen and angels always with you. Y ou have called for help, and
you have sensed its arrival. No matter where you are on your journey to light, there is one thing you
have realized and should always keep in mind: the darkness is behind you. In fact, the darkness is gone. Reflection and Prayer
Close your eyes and settle into a relaxed and peaceful place. Now see in your mind’ s eye the house you live in. W atch as a band of
angels comes to visit. As soon as they arrive, they get busy . First they
modify your kitchen. They go to the sink, open the refrigerator , check out
the cupboards. Y ou can’ t tell exactly what they are doing, but you know it’ s
good. They find that secret stash you have and laugh as it disappears in their
hands. They are transforming your environment, turning everything into
light. They go to your bedroom and open up and or ganize your closet. They
clean out the drawers. They’re making everything wonderful. Then you notice that they go everywhere you go in life, from your home
to your car to your workplace to anywhere else. Y ou notice that they are
filling up the world. As they look at something, it becomes more beautiful;
as they touch an object, it turns into blazing light. And finally , they turn to
look at you. By the time they start to pour light upon you, they see in you
the light that is already there. They themselves beam more brightly as they
look at you. They see your spirit, dressed in a most beautiful suit of clothes:
the body brilliant, the body beautiful, the body good. They bow in honor of the light in you. And there is joy , for them and for
you.Dear God,  
Today I walk in gratitude  
for the miracles Y ou have worked in me,  
for the lightness of my being  
and the changes that I feel. May the chaos of my former self  
be only a memory now , dear God,  
never mor e to haunt my soul. Thank Y ou, thank Y ou, thank Y ou. Amen
OceanofPDF .comOceanofPDF .com ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 
In addition to the inestimable contributions by Oprah W infrey that were
mentioned previously , many others helped bring this book to life as well. My friend and colleague the compassionate and brilliant Grace Gedeon
opened up her heart and her schedule to me, helping me understand things I
otherwise would not have understood about the secret hell of addictive
eating. She traveled halfway around the world to share her wisdom, and any
help this course might give to others could not have happened without the
help she gave me. I hope that I have written a book that is worthy of her
tremendous contribution. My friend and literary midwife Andrea Cagan, with her inimitable way
of speaking both to my weaknesses and my strengths, helped me greatly as
I struggled to put my ideas to paper . As she has been before, she was a great
gift to me. I appreciate Katherine W oodward Thomas for her insight and clarity
about her own experience, further deepening my knowledge of the secret
life of the overeater . Thanks to Kathy Freston, my “Inspirer ,” whom I referred to in Lesson 1 1. Her book Quantum W ellness  has helped me and countless others understand
the spiritual principles involved in healthy eating. I thank Reid T racy for publishing this book, and allowing me the time
and space to write it as well as I could. I deeply appreciate Louise Hay and Jill Kramer for doing their own work
so marvelously , enabling me to more ef fectively do mine. My thanks to Christy Salinas, Amy Gingery , Jacqui Clark, Jeannie
Liberati, and Mar garete Nielsen for their excellent and gracious approach to
the publishing process. Also to Bryn Best, Donna Abate, Heather T ate, and
Nancy Levin, my abiding thanks.And to Shannon Littrell, my gratitude is deep for the inspiring and
always encouraging support. Some people are like literary angels, and you
are one. This book has been a work of love, created and tended to by many loving
hands. T o all those above, I am deeply grateful. OceanofPDF .com ABOUT 
  
THE AUTHOR
Marianne W illiamson  is an internationally acclaimed lecturer and the
best-selling author of A Return to Love, Healing the Soul of America, A
Woman’ s Worth, Illuminata, Everyday Grace, The Gift of Change,  and The
Age of Miracles,  among other works. W illiamson has done extensive
charitable or ganizing throughout the country in service to people with life-
challenging illnesses (she founded Project Angel Food in Los Angeles). She
also founded the grassroots campaign to establish a U.S. Department of
Peace. To learn more about W illiamson’ s work, and to join her e-mail list for
notices regarding her lectures and events, visit her W ebsite:
www .marianne.com . OceanofPDF .comHAY HOUSE TITLES OF RELA TED INTEREST
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_OceanofPDF.com_A_Course_In_Weight_Loss_-_Marianne_Williamson.txt
Summarize the following text section accurately and concisely. Maintain specific details and numerical information, and use anti-repetition mechanisms:

        Outside the encircling warmth of that love, you are not at
home, you are agitated on a soul level, and you are likely to do something
to act out your agitation. This is not bad news, by the way. It means you’re
a mystic at heart. You will never for get what this issue in your life has put you through—
and, at the deepest level, you won’ t really want to. For when you look in the
mirror and see only the happy person whose body weight has become a
source of pleasure and not pain, you will know that you have seen a
miracle. Y ou will know that you have learned a spiritual secret that you
could have only found in the depths of your darkness and at the height of
your despair. Even though the tears you cried on the way to your miracle were the tears
of someone who wondered at times if life was even worth the pain, you will
know in your heart that it was. For ultimately it showed you something
about God and about yourself. The person you will be on the other side of
this problem, as you continue on your journey far past the station called
“Weight Loss,” will have a secret smile that only something much more
powerful than weight loss itself could have given you. It will not just be
your body that is renewed, but also your heart and soul. And where you will go from there will be a dif ferent future than you
would have had were you still ravaged and lost in food hell. Having been
delivered from that awful place, you will notice those who seek delivery
themselves. And with often no more than a gentle smile, but sometimes a
more substantial reach, you will be there for others as you have felt the
invisible spirit of love reach out for you. You will be someone who, having received a miraculous healing, can
work a miracle in the lives of others. There will be a depth to your words,
reflecting the depth of your hard-earned wisdom; a kindness to your spirit,
reflecting the celestial touch that reached out to you in the depth of your
misery; and a power to your personality that one only encounters insomeone who has stared down the devil in his or her own soul. Congratulations. This is not the end; it is your new beginning. You are not who you were yesterday, you are not who you’ve been taught
to think you are, and you are not your body. You are a spirit who lives
eternally in a realm beyond the material world, wearing a physical body like
a beautiful suit of clothes. And you don’ t just know that now. You truly
know it. It is not just a metaphor; it is truth. Your spiritual self is not secondary to your material self: It was here
before your body was born, and it will live beyond its dying. It is not a
symbol; it is who you really are. Beyond your body, there is a body
brilliant. And everything you’ve ever been through, including the horrible
paths you have trod through the hell of dysfunctional eating, have
ultimately served but one purpose only: to get you here, to this point, to this
knowing, and to this peace. Feel not only the physical; feel the body brilliant. When sitting, feel your
body … then sense the spiritual body that sits within you. Simply feel its
presence; that is all you need do.
That they will have a newfound sense of self and a deeper understanding of themselves and the world, and will be able to use this newfound wisdom to help others.
What is the author saying about the person who has overcome their struggle with weight loss?
To reflect on their journey, acknowledging the struggles they've faced and the lessons they've learned, and to keep in mind the spiritual principles they've discovered.
What is the author suggesting that people do to change their perspective and move forward?
That the true self is a spiritual being, and that the physical body is just a suit of clothes that can be worn and discarded.
What is the author saying about the nature of the self?
The importance of spiritual growth, self-awareness, and personal transformation, and the idea that the reader should not forget the lessons they've learned on their journey.
What is the author emphasizing in the book?
To vigilantly monitor their thoughts, which will in turn help them to monitor their eating habits, and to continue to nurture their spiritual growth and self-awareness.
What is the author suggesting that the reader should do to maintain their progress and continue their growth?