I read Seventeen  magazine, so I knew this for sure. So many girls were
curvier , taller , sexier , and so forth. Karen had bigger breasts, T rudie had
better hair , and Cheryl just had that thing  that boys wanted. Conscious:  My body is ugly . It isn’ t good enough. Subconscious:  Therefore, my body deserves to be punished. Sick Thought #2: My body makes grown-ups squirm, so there must be
something wrong with it. I had no idea why my seventh-grade English teacher , who had seemed to
adore me, got so weird around me once my body began to develop. I had
the vague feeling that her strange attitude had something to do with my
body and my budding sexuality , but there was no one and nothing to guide
me through the vagaries and emotional land mines of puberty . I went back to speak to this teacher when I was in my early 30s, to
confront her about what I had experienced and to ask her if I had simply
imagined it. She said to me—and the day would come when I understood
this—that I had no idea what it meant to be a woman watching her own
sexuality fade while young girls around her were beginning to blossom into
theirs.My teacher had not meant to hurt me; she had not consciously rejected
me; she had simply felt a natural disappointment—disappointment she did
not know how to process except by projecting it onto others—in relation to
a situation that had nothing to do with my life and everything to do with
hers. I also remember my music teacher staring at my breasts once during a
piano lesson. This was before there was the social consciousness about
these things that there is today . He only stared, but if you’re sitting at the
piano and a young girl is standing next to you, you’re staring from up close. How I wish I could reach back in time and give that man a piece of my
mind. He died before I had a chance, but if I could have, I would have paid
him a visit along the same line as the one I paid to my seventh-grade
English teacher . Conscious:  Grown-ups act strangely around me now that my body has
changed. Subconscious:  Therefore, my body must be bad. Sick Thought #3: Daddy doesn’ t want to be around me as much anymore. My father ’s attitudes about sex and sexuality—while certainly not
prudish when it came to my mother!—were somewhat old-fashioned. He
seemed to want his daughters dressed in pink lace and white gloves long
past the time when our age or the fashion of the times called for either one. He seemed somewhat uncomfortable with my budding sexuality , yet I had
no idea what that meant or what to do with it. How could I? I remember a moment—I think many women have such memories—
when I went to sit on Daddy’ s lap and he made me get up and sit
somewhere else. This was a small but emotionally devastating moment for
me, although I realize now that it represented what would be a reasonable
act on the part of fathers when their no-longer -little girls come to sit on their
laps. All I could possibly have known then was that once I passed puberty ,
my father began to look at me in a dif ferent way . I didn’ t feel like I was
okay  in his eyes anymore, as though somehow I embarrassed him. My father continued to want to take me to the zoo on Sundays, long past
the time when going to the zoo was my idea of a really cool Sunday outing.The only way he knew how to relate to me, it seemed, was if I remained a
little girl. The inability of my parents to help me transition—and make their own,
as well—through my archetypal maidenhood was a product not of their lack
of love for me, but of their psychological ignorance regarding how to
handle the experience. There is nothing to for give here; there are simply
things to understand. Conscious:  Daddy doesn’ t treat me like he used to. Subconscious:  Who I am now sends Daddy away . Therefore, my new
body is a bad thing. Now just around the time when Daddy didn’ t seem to want to be around
my new body , some younger males did. And since I was bereft at what
seemed to be the loss of my father ’s love, I was subconsciously looking
around to replace it. Add to that the so-called sexual liberation of the 1960s,
and I see myself now as having been doomed to some serious confusion and
self-destructive behavior . Like millions of others, I went looking for love in
too many places, almost ensuring that I would find it too few times. Yet many of my experiences were positive. There is one moment deeply
ingrained in my memory that is a precious part of my past. I was walking through Hermann Park in Houston on a beautiful late
afternoon. I was wearing a long culottes outfit, red with white polka dots,
which I can see in my mind as though I had worn it yesterday . I was
probably 16 years old. A young man around the same age as I was walked
by, and he looked at me in an innocent and appropriate, yet decidedly male,
way. I had never experienced such a moment before. My body had a sexual
charge now , and he was old enough to notice it. He was no longer a little
boy, and I was no longer a little girl. But the ener gy was wonderful, neither
lascivious nor predatory , and our momentary encounter has remained within
me as one of my most treasured memories. W e didn’ t even speak, but in
that moment, I felt for the first time that I was a woman and not a little girl. That experience in the park was a lovely thing, like an enchanted image
from a fairy tale. But it was not the reality of ordinary , day-to-day life. I
didn’ t even meet the young man. The value of the experience was that it
gave me a window into the innocent, ideal beauty of my own untaintedsensuality . Life would provide me with more positive experiences of my
own physicality . But the purpose of this inventory is not just to celebrate the
good; it is also a way to root out the bad, by seeing it, understanding it, and
forgiving it. Sick Thought #4: My body is what attracts love. I know now that my body does not attract love; I do. My body attracts
attention,  but it does not necessarily attract love. It is my spirit and not my
body that both magnetizes and holds on to love. We are living in a society that gives to sexual chemistry a role beyond
what it actually has in the greater scheme of things, and all of us have been
privy to this dangerous confusion. Sexual chemistry is important, obviously ,
because without it the human race wouldn’ t continue. But the idea that if I
am sexy enough, he will love me  is a tragic error in thinking. If I am sexy
enough he might want  me, that is true, but whether he loves me or not is
based on way , way more than what happens in bed. It’s odd to consider now , but much of the sexual “liberation” of the ‘60s
was not true liberation for women at all. W e were liberated to have  sex, but
we were still doing it primarily as a way to please men. W e weren’ t yet
aware—nor were most men at the time—that our true value lay in
something much more important than our sexuality . That began to
fundamentally change in the ‘70s, not the ‘60s. Conscious:  Sex is fun. Subconscious:  Therefore, if I have enough sex, I will be loved. Sick Thought #5: My body is not important. When the correction came, it went way overboard. Around the 1970s, the
dangerous thought that a woman’ s body was all that made her attractive was
replaced by the equally dangerous thought that her mind  was all that made
her attractive. Millions of us bought into the notion that sexual
attractiveness merely played into male chauvinistic fantasies that reduced
women to sex objects. It’ s about then that we thought it was cool to burn
our bras, to stop shaving our legs or armpits, to refuse to let men open doors
for us … but then to go at it like bunnies at the end of the day , of course.Knowing that our value lay in much more than just the look of our bodies
was a huge realization. But the fact that a woman’ s body isn’ t the essence of
her value does not mean that her body has no value! Thinking, as many of us did in those days, that any male celebration of
our looks was traitorous to some feminist ideal—while we sure were
enjoying all that celebration once the lights went down—inevitably created
a psychic ambivalence and dissociation. On the one hand, we were young
enough to enjoy the amazing sensations of youthful sexuality . At the same
time, we thought the only way to be really cool was to deny its importance. Conscious : My sexuality isn’ t what is important about me. Subconscious:  Therefore, my body isn’ t important. It was at about that time that my compulsive eating began. And in
retrospect, I can certainly see why . Added to the above was the loneliness of
my college years, during which time I added the “freshman 15” pounds that
such experience often entails. By then I was pretty much of f and running
straight into the darkness of food hell, where I remained for almost a
decade. A Course in Miracles  teaches us to beware the power of an unrecognized
belief. I have come to understand that based on my own personal history , I
had an unrecognized belief that my body was not good, was not lovable,
was not even important … and then I set out, unconsciously , to prove
myself right. Dissociation from the body , for whatever reason, robs you not just of the
joy of healthy eating, but of even identifying with your own body . Dissociation is when you see yourself here, and your body is there. It’s a
sense that you are somehow separate from your body , which is a tragic split
from self. I am well aware that the gradual trauma of my own body history is
nothing compared to what many others have experienced. For those who
have suf fered physical abuse—sexual or otherwise—an overwhelming
horror has elicited an overwhelming need to escape from pain at whatever
cost.Many overeaters don’ t actually inhabit their body so much as hover
above it or to the side of it some 6 to 12 inches, reenacting an ancient
response—tragically necessary at one time—to a shattering experience such
as being whipped or raped. This experience might go back to the earliest
days of childhood, even as far back as three or five years old. According to a study at the University of Pennsylvania School of
Medicine, up to 33 percent of American girls are molested, and research
tracking the connection between a history of molestation to obesity is in its
early stages. For many people, an instinctive escape mechanism that developed
originally in response to such abuse now trips like a switch in reaction to
almost any form of stress. The subconscious commanded, “Flee! Flee!” and
the child who was powerless to flee physically developed the capacity to
flee psychologically . For the adult that the child one day becomes, the command to “Flee!”
still exists not only in reaction to danger , but also in reaction to almost any
form of physical or emotional discomfort. This applies painfully , and
perhaps particularly , as a reaction to sexual intimacy . Healthy sex requires that you truly inhabit your body , and for a victim of
sexual abuse, this would feel like surrendering to a warning bell. If at a
moment of profound trauma your spirit left your body to escape the reality
of the experience, and never fully reentered it on a consistent basis, then
how do you escape your escapism in order to show up for sex? This would
obviously be very dif ficult. Compulsive food patterns become, for those dissociated from their body
for whatever reason, a way to reenact the original escape from pain and
confusion. In one moment of chemically induced numbness, you can feel,
“Ah, I escaped …” Reenacting your earlier escape from physical trauma,
you once again leave the realm of your suf fering behind … if even for a
moment. A Course in Miracles  teaches that you create what you defend
against. Defending against a physical trauma, you’ve created a new one: the
trauma of compulsive eating. Today’ s lesson begins to unravel this route of horror , the instinctive path
you still walk in an ef fort to deal with pain and stress. These days, your
stress might look nothing at all like the physical abuse you endured as a
child—it might be something as mundane as your need to pick the kids upat school, get them to soccer on time, and still get to the dry cleaners before
they close—yet your subconscious mind continues to interpret your stress
as danger and reacts to it that way . “I must get out of here!” is all you know . And you “escape” into food. Your assignment now is to write your own personal story—where things
went right and where things went wrong. Explore how you came to
dissociate from, fear , and perhaps even hate, your body . And don’ t expect
all of this to be easy . Some of it might be funny , some of it might be
horrifying, some of it might be ridiculous, and some of it might be
extremely painful. What is important is that it be honest and true. By writing down your history , you will come to understand it more fully . And by understanding it more fully , you will emer ge from the darkness of
your subconscious bondage to fears that were born in a distant past. These
fears can be dissolved today , through grace and through love. In doing this
lesson, you begin the process. Use your journal pages to write your story , giving full attention to both
good and bad memories. Return this book to your altar after every entry you
write. Reflection and Prayer
Close your eyes and relax into a meditative state. During this time, allow
your mind to return to your experience of yourself as a baby , then a toddler ,
then a small child, and so on. During every phase of the meditation, allow yourself to see what you
looked like at a certain time in your life, how you felt about your body ,
what you went through, who was involved, where things went well, where
you were hurt, where you went unconscious, where you dissociated from
your body , where you began to hate your body , what attitudes you formed
about sex, where you decided to cover up your body with fat, and so forth. You will come to realize that your issues with eating have ultimately little to
do with food, and everything to do with thoughts about yourself. This will not be a quick meditation, or a casual one. There are many
feelings from your past that have remained unprocessed … many
experiences that you have not yet looked at through the lens of time andforgiveness … and many people, including yourself, whom you have failed
to understand. Use this course as a path to understanding now what you
could never have understood before. And remember: there is no rush. If done well, this exercise will probably
take some time. Dear God,  
I give to Y ou my past  
and ask that Y ou explain it to me. Unravel, dear God,  
the cor ds of confusion  
that bind me. Free me fr om the bondage  
of blindness and misunderstanding. Return me, dear God,  
to a sense of my body  
that is Y our truth, and no one else’ s, 
that is sacr ed and not impur e, 
that is loving and not punishing,  
that is joyful and not painful,  
that is healthy and not diseased. Please, dear God,  
undo my past and r eturn me to my  
innocent self. Amen
OceanofPDF .comLESSON 10
CONSECRATE YOUR BODY
Your body is not separate from your mind so much as it is a reflection of
it. As you change your mind, you change every cell in your body . Such thoughts as I am fat, I am ugly , and I hate my body  are like
commands given to your body to materialize accordingly . If you think
negatively about your body , your body will reflect your negativity . If you
think lovingly about your body , then your body will reflect your love. And
there is no such thing as a neutral thought. What is not love, is an attack. And what is love, is a miracle. Let us now consecrate your body to be used for holy purposes. Holy
purposes are love and love only , and as you consecrate your body to love,
all that is not love can no longer hold sway within it. Whatever is dedicated
to the purposes of love is protected from the ener gy of chaos. Write down this line: I eat in a way that supports my being of service to
love. That is a good one, by the way , to put on a Post-it and keep on your
refrigerator door . With this lesson, we embrace a new perception of the body in order to
make manifest a new physical reality . Begin each day with a prayer:
Dear God,  
As I awaken on this day , 
may my body and mind serve Y our purposes. May nothing but Y our Spirit  
be upon me. May my body be a temple to Y our Spirit  and a conduit of love. Amen
As you head to the kitchen, feelings of both fear and love will be
bubbling up within you. Fear would have you eat an unhealthy breakfast,
full of refined carbohydrates and sugar and such foodstuf fs as that. Or not
eat breakfast at all. That way you will have a harder time feeling the
lightness of your spirit, and fear ’s purposes will thus be accomplished. But
what would you eat if the only purpose of your body today was to serve
love’ s purposes? W ould you not eat a light, healthy breakfast in order to
support your body in doing God’ s work? Begin today to change your body by thinking of it as a temple for your
soul. Y our body is like an infinitely precious suit of clothes. It is not
essentially who you are, but it can be a sacred container for your spirit. Things of this world are holy or unholy depending on the purpose that the
mind ascribes to them; the holy purpose of your body is to serve your
loving communion with life itself. That is what it means to consecrate your
body . To honor your body , to treat it well, to add to its care and protection
from harm, is to honor the divine by honoring your body’ s spiritual mission. The holy purpose of anything  you do in the world is to honor the divine,
and your body is the physical basis for everything you do. In a previous lesson, you began to take stock of psychological assaults to
which your body has been exposed throughout your life. W ith this lesson,
you will begin to shift your body identification from that of a damaged
thing to that of a holy thing. Both your mind and your body will go through
a spiritual initiation, transforming first the one and then the other . The mind
will shift, and the body will follow . Your body was not created to house your fears, but rather to house your
love. And in your heart, you know this. Y our deepest yearning is not just for
your body to look good but also for your body to be good. W ith this lesson,
you will take your wish that this were so, turn it into an intention that it be
so, expand that into a willingness that it be so, invite Divine Mind to help
you make it be so … and it shall be so. Your task now is to consecrate your body , not just as a general intention
but rather as an actual directive from your conscious to your subconsciousmind. Y ou will write down your loving intentions in order to contain and
harness their power . In the last lesson, you wrote about your past; in this one, you will write
about your present. In any moment or any hour in which your body is
dedicated to the purposes of love, it is less prone to the purposes of fear . Let’s begin with what might be a typical day . Write down the following
categories:
1. Waking up
2. Breakfast
3. Morning activities
4. Lunch
5. Afternoon activities
6. Dinner
7. Evening hours
Now write two versions of this list. First, write down what you do now . Be honest with yourself; no one else
needs to read this. Go through your day and write down everything you do. Describe a typical day in your life: write down what you eat, what you do
with your life, how you feel about what you do, your thoughts about other
people, and so forth. If you go through this too quickly , just jotting down “I did this” or “I did
that,” then you will not receive the greatest value from this lesson. Y our
task—and the gift you are giving yourself—lies in being deeply honest
about how you live now . This lesson gives you the chance to look into the
mental control room of your life and observe the way you program your
experience. Next, write a second description of your day . Yet this time, consciously
redesign your life. Do not just write what you’re doing or how you feel
about it; rather , describe your day from the perspective of your higher mind. Write about the life you choose,  rather than one lived powerlessly at the
effect of habitual emotional and behavioral patterns. Choose to be the real
you as you write this: a conduit of God’ s love, here to extend love and to dolove’ s work on Earth. Allow love to dictate both your purposes and your
plans for the day . This will not necessarily be easy—at times it might even feel foolish—
because you’re training your thoughts to flow in a dif ferent direction than
they’re used to flowing. Y et that is the point. As you create the space for
love in every area of your thinking, you create a space for love in every area
of your life. Write either about the day now past or the day ahead. Below is an
example of such conscious redesign:
1. W aking Up
After I wake up, I do not let too much time go by befor e praying. I
thank God for giving me this day , and I pray that all I do today will be of
service to love. I pray for my family , for my friends, for my country , and
for the world. I surr ender the day ahead, asking that it be blessed and
that I be a blessing on it. I offer a kind “Good morning!” to those I see. Friends or family who
live with me, or any others who ar e in my house this morning, r eceive a
pleasant gr eeting fr om me. W ith a smile, a hug, a positive wor d; or by
giving them a glass of orange juice, I do what I can to be a loving
presence in their lives. From brushing my hair to putting on a nice r obe; fr om making
breakfast for my childr en to giving encouragement to my spouse; fr om
opening up a window or door to br eathe in the beauty of the new
morning, I celebrate and add to the good that is all ar ound me. When ther e is quiet, I take the opportunity to r ead scriptur e or
inspirational literatur e, to pray and meditate, to r eflect and contemplate
on all that is loving and divine. I consciously surr ender my day to God. When ther e is time, I do something loving for my body such as light
weights, yoga, or a short walk. I do this as a blessing on my body ,
gratefully serving it as it so serves me. Even if I don’ t exer cise for a
prolonged period, I do some kind of movement. Daily I do this … helping
sustain my heart and lungs and other vital or gans, allowing my skin to
receive the nourishment of the sun, str etching my muscles to make andkeep them str ong … I am taking car e of my body in or der to pr epare
myself for joy and for better service to the world. Note how dif ferent such programming is from what fear would pour into
your mind. The thinking of Divine Mind is 180 degrees away from the
thinking of the world, and it is your choice—as well as your responsibility
to yourself—to cultivate the thinking that will lift you above your wounded
self. If fear rules your thinking—if your intentions are not loving but rather
some form of, Oh darn, another day just like the last one. … They can get
their own br eakfast. … I don’ t care what he does. … I don’ t care how I look. … I just want to eat something. … I don’ t owe anything to anyone. … I don’ t
want to take time to pray . … I don’ t want to take the time to walk. … I hate
my life. … What point is ther e to any of this? … Ther e is nothing to be
happy about —then do not expect your physical appetites to do anything
other than reflect the fear that is in your mind. And for you, fear has taken a
specific form: the compulsion to eat inappropriately . It might seem at times that you have no control over your ur ge to eat—
and for all practical purposes, many times you do not. But you always  have
free will regarding what you think, and as you begin to think  differently , in
time you will begin to eat differently . Your compulsion will dissolve in the
presence of the divine. 2. Br eakfast
I feed my body this morning with loving nourishment. I do not harm it
with unhealthy food and drink; rather , I fuel it with healthy food or drink
that I know will make my cells mor e vital. With the food I eat, I help my body have gr eater ener gy and health, as
well as be mor e aligned with the spirit within me. My body is a holy
temple; I joyfully feed it with food that supports my divine purpose in the
world. 3. Morning ActivitiesMy morning is spent doing things that contribute goodness and light to
my family , my community , and my world. I use my body as an instrument
of peace, as I seek to shar e peace with others. My body serves me in
doing good and living joyfully . At every moment, I br eathe in the perfection of the universe and
breathe out any toxicity in my mind or body . My body supports me by
showing up as a positive for ce for everyone I encounter . My body is a
temple in which my spirit r esides, supporting me in extending love to all I
see. At work, I pray only to be an instrument of peace. I pray for all those
with whom I work or will encounter . I pray for their happiness and well-
being. I for give quickly and try not to judge others. I surr ender my job to Spirit and ask that with my work, I serve the
greater good. I feel the cells of my body awaken as I think these things; I
feel my body ener gized as I apply it to love’ s purposes in the world. While I do chor es, I ask that Spirit make even mundane activities a
thing of goodness. As I do my family’ s laundry , I think with love about the
cherished ones whose clothes I am about to clean, and feel gratitude for
the clothes I own. As I go to the stor e, I give thanks that I can affor d to
buy the essentials I need. As I pick up something for a family member or
do a chor e for someone else, I surr ender any r esentment I feel and ask to
be filled with a lighter attitude. I know my body is r esponding to every thought I think, and I choose to
think with love. This way , my body is made healed and whole. 4. Lunch
As I stop to eat lunch, I thank my body for the way it has served me so
far today , and commit anew to its sustenance and nourishment. I use
lunch as an opportunity to nourish not only my body but also my soul. I
stay away fr om frantic envir onments, and cultivate peace as I eat. I pur chase or bring fr om home healthy food. I am awar e that unhealthy
food choices abound in the world ar ound me. I do not judge those
choices, but neither do I participate in this cultural weakness by eating
unhealthy food, even if it is most easily available to me. I make thischoice in or der to do right by my body and my mind. I r ealize that my
body is a holy temple and deserves only nutritious, r estorative food. I silently say grace befor e my meal, thanking all the people who
contributed to the manufactur e and pr eparation of the food I eat,
thanking the earth for giving it to me, and thanking God for the fact that I
have food at all. 5. Afternoon Activities
I choose to give my body r est, that it might have a chance to r echar ge. I take r esponsibility for carving into my day even a short period of time
during which my body and soul can r ealign with Spirit, casting off the
stress of a world that is moving too fast. I allow my body some sort of
afternoon movement as a way to r einvigorate itself. Even a walk ar ound
the block is good for my body and pr ograms it in a healthy way . I continue to give it positive affirmations of love and encouragement as
I move thr ough the r est of the day , thanking God for the miracle of my
body and dedicating it continuously to the purposes of love. Befor e dinner , I take time to r est, pray , meditate, do yoga, take a bath,
light candles and/or incense in my r oom, and otherwise give my body and
soul the chance to de-str ess after the busyness of the day . I value r est and r ecognize its importance. I know that I alone am
responsible for cultivating a lifestyle that supports my health, my good,
and my ser enity . I know my body may r eact with compulsive behavior if I
fail to pr oactively cr eate a peaceful envir onment. I surr ound my body
with peace so that it will be at peace. 6. Dinner
As I pr epare for dinner , I dedicate this important time to goodness and
love. I pr epare myself inwar dly to be a vessel of love’ s goodness. The
goodness of my family gather ed ar ound a dinner table. The goodness of
my partner coming home to a loving envir onment after a str essful day . The importance of my childr en knowing that someone is waiting to
nourish them and listen to them at dinnertime.During dinner , I consciously r eject the frantic stimuli of the world. I
turn off the television and computers and insist that my childr en do so as
well. I pr epare a beautiful table, per haps with candles or fr esh flowers. I
say grace befor e the meal and include my family . I take r esponsibility for
a healthy envir onment while I eat, for I know that such an envir onment
supports healthy habits. In the food I pr epare, the way I dr ess, the way I behave, and the way I
interact with others, I pray to be a positive influence on those I love. I
feed healthy food, healthy wor ds, and healthy ener gy to others and
myself. I see the food I eat as a way to give thanks and service to the
body I have been miraculously given, and to feed those I love with
gratitude and devotion. 7. Evening Hours
I am grateful for having eaten lightly enough to have ener gy for a
productive evening. I use my time to deepen my r elationships, tend to the
emotional needs of my family , expand my mind, incr ease my participation
in the world ar ound me, and delve into the mysteries of life that emer ge
more clearly in the nighttime hours. If my envir onment supports it, I take
the opportunity to walk, hopefully able to see the stars in the nighttime
sky. A cup of herbal tea is my evening companion, supporting me in
pacifying my physical system as I head towar d sleep. I allow my body
and soul to r eveal their needs to me, as I use these hours to conclude my
day in a positive way . I attend to the needs of those ar ound me, honoring
my role as par ent, mate, and friend. I enjoy my life as it is. I honor its demands, and honor my desir es. I
take the time to br eathe in the r ealization of how fortunate I am, and
commit to living ever mor e fully with each passing day . I give thanks for
having lived this day , and I give blessings to all the world. It might seem at first that such a positive description is simply fiction. And if you have been living the life of an active addict, then that might be
true. But as you write a dif ferent description of your life, you create a lineof possibility that did not exist before. Do not underestimate the power of
your mind to reprogram your experience. Enlightened lines of thought counter dysfunctional habits. Even one
moment of insight—looking around the food court at lunchtime and
realizing with blazing clarity that its main of ferings are bad for you and that
you can choose differ ently;  looking at others and realizing that the healing
of your dysfunctional habits is intimately tied up with the love you extend
—leads to another insight and then another , leading at last to your escape
from food hell. It is not enough to simply read what I wrote in the last few pages. In
order to receive the benefit of this lesson, write down a description of your
own day . Begin by writing about your present life—simply describing what
is—and then reading it. Allow yourself to see the gap between the fear that
is, and the love that could be. Recognize how often your thought-forms are
weak, fear based, and almost sure to produce dysfunction. Now write a new statement of intention, a manifesto of love for all the
things you will do during your day , and allow yourself to gently lean into it. There is nothing new for you to do so much as something new for you to
imagine. Y our spiritually re-envisioning your life will begin to transform it. This new attitudinal architecture is not meant to tyrannize you, but to lead
you to freedom. A new way of eating, one that fundamentally and permanently transforms
you, can only be created within the context of a new way of being. Y our
desire to eat dif ferently is a sacred calling to take your entire life to a deeper
level. If you don’ t feel it yet, that’ s okay . But do still write it down, for that
is the first step. And, of course, return your journal to the altar when you are
done. Reflection and Prayer
Sitting quietly with your eyes closed, see your day ahead. W ith every
action you know you will be taking, actively see how you would probably
behave given past patterns. Now ask Divine Mind to reveal to you the
possibilities for a more enlightened you.See things you do; now see more loving things you could  do, or how you
could do what you do more lovingly . See yourself speaking harshly or
negatively , if that is what you tend to do; now see yourself speaking gently
and kindly . See yourself eating poorly or hurriedly , excessively or
secretively; now see yourself eating with appropriateness and self-care. As you allow Spirit to show you a new way of living, you will naturally
see within your mind’ s eye a new way of eating. Y ou will imagine what it
looks like and feels like to feed your body lovingly , to allow food to be part
of a lar ger matrix of love in your life. By imagining it, holding the vision,
and allowing the vision to come alive within you, you will gradually
experience it coming to pass. Dear God,  
Please show me how to live in love. May a new kind of eating  
come naturally fr om a new way of being. I devote not only my appetites  
but every part of me to Y ou. Wher e fear has blocked me,  
may love now fr ee me. Please teach me, God,  
how to live my life  
in the light of love,  
that my fear shall be no mor e. 
Amen
OceanofPDF .comLESSON 1 1
RITUALIZE THE CHANGE IN YOU
I have a girlfriend, author Kathy Freston, for whom healthy eating is an
art. Her books have influenced thousands, if not millions, of people on the
benefits of a more enlightened diet. Her example has had more of an impact
on my own thinking and behavior than she probably realizes, as I find
myself, in her words, “leaning into” a more healthy diet. I don’ t have a goal
around this so much as I am involved in a process. I realize what a gift she
has been to me—someone I know whose eating is grounded in natural,
nutritious, and spiritual principles. I’ve been a guest in Kathy’ s home several times, and consequently I’ve
been privy to what is in her refrigerator and kitchen cupboards. Her vegan
world is like a mysterious universe to me. I don’ t make notes … but I do
observe, and I ask questions. I’m not running out and trying to force myself
to become a vegetarian, but I’ve deepened my understanding about
connecting my spirituality to the way I eat. Knowing Kathy has had a subtle
but powerful influence on how I think about food. As a student of A Course in Miracles , I know that relationships are
assignments made by a loving universe, giving everyone involved the
opportunity for soul growth. Someone who inspires you to eat in a healthier
way is an important figure in your life. Kathy rarely talks to me about her
passion for healthy food—part of her power , in fact, is that she doesn’ t seek
to pressure others—but her presence is like a guiding light as I move toward
a healthier diet. This lesson involves finding your own Inspirer , as Kathy is mine. Whether your issue is excessive eating or simply better eating, there is
power in having a living example to look to. Your Inspirer is much like what 12-step programs call a sponsor . This
may be someone who has healed from food compulsion and now inspiresyou in your own healing. This person might help you navigate the various
temptations that confront you, and can understand what you’re going
through in ways that others never could. Or your Inspirer might be someone
who has never suf fered from a weight issue at all, but simply demonstrates
a way of being with food and with his or her body that you can learn from. It’s what your Inspirer demonstrates now , more than what he or she
experienced in the past, that makes this individual a beacon of hope for you
as you move forward. His or her very presence demonstrates what’ s
possible. Once you have identified your Inspirer , you will ask this person to
participate in a personal initiation ceremony that marks the beginning of a
new phase of your life. This initiation is not just a farewell to your
compulsive self, but also a calling forth of the spirit of your true being. Rituals such as this have a way of grounding the holy . Once your
psychological responses are infused with Spirit, you’ll feel more personally
capable of making real change. The initiation ceremony is sacred, and the people you ask to participate in
it with you are important. Y ou will ask them to “stand up” for you as you
make a journey into conscious weight loss. It is conscious in that it goes beyond the mere letting go of weight; it is a
letting go of the part of your personality for which eating excessively and
self-destructively has felt natural. Y our losing weight is not just the removal
of excess weight from your body; it is the removal of unwanted dynamics
from your mind. You are building new synapses in your brain, new tracks in your nervous
system, and new thought-forms in your problem-solving repertoire. This
process—leaving you no longer at the mercy of your out-of-control habits,
and giving you dominion over your body—makes your journey away from
food compulsion a spiritual initiation. With this lesson you create a ceremony , through which you pass from a
formerly weakened to a newly strengthened you. This journey is a spiritual
death and rebirth of sorts. The aspect of yourself that has struggled with
weight will be disappearing, and the aspect that is free of such struggle will
rise from the ethers of a more spiritualized consciousness. By agreeing to play the role of your Inspirer , this person willingly
contributes his or her goodwill and support to your ef fort at weight loss.Your Inspirer may never even talk to you about your struggle once your
initiation ceremony is done, or he or she may listen to you unconditionally
and without judgment day in and day out. Either way , that goodwill paves a
path of excellence for you to follow . Silently or verbally , your Inspirer
provides support and inspiration that will bless your path. Enough! with looking at thinner people and feeling jealousy or a twinge
of self-hate. Now that you have an Inspirer , you will begin to change your
perception of those for whom weight is not a problem, and instead begin to
see them as your teachers. They teach by example. Looking at them will no
longer trigger pain for you, but instead bring you a sense of joyful
possibility . Your Inspirer will be an example of someone whose healthy
weight invites you to move toward your own. Your Inspirer is only half of your team, however . There is someone else
who is equally as important to your initiation ceremony , and that is your
Permitter . This is someone with whom you share a dif ferent and unique bond: he or
she has the experience of food hell just like you. This person is either
inwardly preparing for his or her own healing journey or , like you, is
already involved in taking action toward conscious weight loss. The
Permitter ’s role here is to grant you the emotional permission to break free
of the cycle of compulsive eating, even if it means saying no to
dysfunctional social interactions upon which you have become dependent. The fear -based mind is very big on building alliances, but they are
alliances of suf fering. W e often find ourselves subconsciously collaborating
with others who share the same wounds we do, unconciously supporting
each other in justification and denial. Alliances can be powerful networks
of support and encouragement, but in the hands of the fear -mind, they are
anything but that. Perhaps your entire family is overweight and views your decision to
break free of the familial pattern as some sort of traitorous act. “Who are
you to think you can get thin? Who are you to start eating dif ferently? Are
you making us wrong for the way we eat? Do you think you’re better than
we are?”
Such social pressure from friends or family members can be deadly in its
power , bolstering every thought you ever had that your problem is
intractable and will never go away . How can you break free ofdysfunctional eating patterns if there’ s a chance that by doing so you might
hurt others’ feelings or risk losing their love? The Permitter is very important, then, for he or she ritualistically permits
you to break free of the chains that bind you. This person can say with
genuine sincerity that he or she wishes you well as you make the journey to
conscious weight loss, and is happy that you have found your way to this
point. He or she absolves you of any and every feeling of guilt that you
might be leaving anyone behind as you take this step. Rather , this individual
congratulates and thanks you for providing an example of liberation to
others who are ready to be liberated, too. The request to both your Inspirer and your Permitter should be made with
seriousness of intent, as this step is no insignificant matter . You will make it
clear that nothing is demanded of them other than (1) presence and
participation in your initiation ceremony , and (2) continued goodwill. Y et
the request should be made to people whom you know in your heart will
join you in this ef fort with a serious and sincere frame of mind. If you can’ t come up with any possible members of your initiation team
right now , that’ s fine. Just allow the desire to find them to stay alive in your
heart. The time will come, either a minute from now or weeks from now ,
when the realization of who would be perfect for both jobs will blaze forth
within your mind. When you are ready , their names will emer ge. Y ou will
not rush to ask them, perhaps, but will allow the spirit within you to guide
the process. There is no rush to any of this; rather , you’re learning to attune
yourself to a more natural flow of things. And this more natural flow of things will ultimately apply to your way of
eating as well. In returning to your spiritual center , you’re reclaiming your
natural sense of intuitive knowing about everything. From who should be
on your team, to what book might appear in your life to help you take a next
step, to food that would be a gift to you rather than a source of suf fering, the
universe supports you in your path toward health and healing. This isn’ t
because you’re special, or because overeating is somehow dif ferent from
other forms of wounding. It is because the universe itself is an expression of
divine love. The universe is a perfect work of infinite genius, ever creative, life
sustaining, and restorative. And its principle of perfection is built into
everything. As you realign your mind with Spirit, every cell of your beingwill return to its natural perfection; in time it will guide you toward every
right answer , every right choice, and every right morsel of food. You are now beginning a new chapter in the cultivation of your highest
expression as a human being. Y ou are embarking upon a journey to your
higher self, a journey that will both set you free and keep you free. Let us now ritualize the change in you. With both your Inspirer and your Permitter beside you, go to your altar
and remove the piece of fruit you placed there in Lesson 6. (For purposes of
this exercise, we’re going to say that it is an apple.) Place the fruit on the
special plate from your altar , and set it in front of you. Your ceremony now involves three things: a statement from you, a
statement from your Inspirer , and a statement from your Permitter . Each person is free to write and say what is in his or her own heart, but
here are some statements that evoke the power of the initiation ritual:
You
With this cer emony , I her eby state that I am r eady to embark on a new
journey in my life. I do not do this without tr epidation. I fr eely admit my
fear, but I embrace my faith as well. I am calling on a power within me
that can do for me what I cannot do for myself, to help me leave behind a
terrible compulsion and lead me to a new way of life. How I think about food … how I think about my body … how I eat …
how I tr eat my body … these subjects have become overwhelming for me,
but I surr ender them to God. I r equest a miracle. I pray for fr eedom, and
I thank my friends for being her e with me, praying as I pray and holding
the vision of my r elease into a new and better life. Amen. Your Inspir er
Dear  [your name],
I am honor ed to stand her e today , as a symbol of all those who wish
for you a total healing. As one who is fr ee when it comes to food, I praythat my fr eedom be shar ed with you. I wish for you a happy , healthy
relationship with food and a happy , healthy r elationship with your body . I speak to you as fr om the other side of a river that you now stand
befor e, both beckoning you and inviting you to cr oss to a new land within
yourself. I embrace God’ s promise that you shall be r eleased, and I envision you
in sweet and holy fr eedom. I hold that vision within my heart; I will hold
it always and I shall not waver . May you be blessed on your journey , and may my blessing r emain with
you as a light upon your path. Your Permitter
Dear  [your name],
Congratulations on the step you ar e taking today . I wish you well. While I myself have not yet embarked upon (or completed) my journey to
conscious weight loss, I am genuinely happy that you ar e making yours. I
know that your success incr eases my own chances, and I surr ender—on
behalf of anyone who might feel this way—any jealousy or other negative
feelings pr ojected onto you as you make your br eak for fr eedom. As you leave behind the pain of compulsive eating, know that I—and
many others, too—wish you well in your efforts. On behalf of all of us, I
wish you love and peace as you make this journey . Most important, I pray
for your success. I pray for your r ecovery and r elease. I pray that you
receive a miracle. After the third person has spoken, take a knife—a nice one, by the way;
no plastic!—and cut your apple into three pieces. Give one piece to your
Inspirer , one to your Permitter , and keep one for yourself. Now all three of
you are to eat a piece of the apple, symbolizing the role that each of you
plays in an ef fort that will now bear fruit. Reflection and Prayer
Today’ s reflection is a continuation of your initiation ceremony . Spend
two or three minutes in silence with your Inspirer and Permitter , as well asanyone else you have asked to witness the ceremony . Allow everyone
present to of fer their words of support. Perhaps you will choose readings
from literature or poetry to add to your ceremony . Close with a prayer . Dear God,  
As I enter into this new chapter  
of my life,  
please bless my steps forwar d. 
With this cer emony , 
may Y our Spirit come upon me  
and r elease me fr om my former self. Please deliver me to sweeter r ealms  
and teach me how to be, dear God,  
a freer person, a happier person,  
a saner person,  
without compulsion or fear . Bless, dear God, my friends who ar e her e with me. May they r eceive miracles in their own lives,  
as they have joined me in praying for miracles in mine. And so it is. Amen
OceanofPDF .comLESSON 12
COMMIT TO YOURSELF
Every overeater has heard them a million times: the admonishments of
weight loss. Y ou’ve got to stick to your diet, commit to the process, stay
with it no matter what, discipline yourself to “just do it,” and so forth. Y et
such admonishments only add to your anxiety; if you were able to
consistently be ther e for yourself, you wouldn’ t be an overeater to begin
with! While overeating would be seen by some as an indulgence of self, it is in
fact a profound rejection  of self. It is a moment of self-betrayal and self-
punishment, and anything but a commitment to one’ s own well-being. Why
would you be able to commit to a diet if you’re not already consistently
committed to yourself? Your relationship to food is a reflection of your relationship to yourself,
as is everything in your life. There’ s no reason to think that you’ll be
capable of loyalty to a diet until you address your basic disloyalty toward
yourself. Until your fundamental relationship with yourself is healed, then
your relationship to food is doomed to be neurotic. As committed as you might be to the process of weight loss, there will
always come those moments when your self-hatred rises up like an oceanic
force from the bottom of your subconscious mind, demanding to assert
itself. That’ s what makes addiction and compulsion so cruel: you could be
committed to your diet for 23 hours and 45 minutes during a day , then ruin
all your ef forts in 15 minutes. What is not self-love carries within it the seeds of self-hate, no matter
how small; wherever the mind is not filled with love, it has a propensity for
insanity . And just a tiny bit of insanity is enough to do it—in about as long
as it takes to open up a bag of cookies, you find a way to destroy your most
cherished dream.This lesson addresses your basic lack of commitment and compassion
toward yourself, your lack of self-care that leads you time and again to
punish and betray yourself. Only when you learn to commit to yourself will
you stop your self-sabotaging behavior . It’s not enough to just tell yourself
what not to do; you must learn a new way to think  before you can master a
new way to be. In the last lesson, you asked others to stand up for you; with
this lesson, you will learn to stand up for yourself. All of us wish we’d had perfect childhoods, with a mother and father
who modeled ideal parental attitudes and taught us to internalize the tenets
of self-love. Many of us, however , did not. Perhaps you grew up with no
one to model for you that you were truly valuable, that your thoughts were
appreciated, that your feelings deserved tending to, or that your worth was
deeply appreciated. And whatever was modeled—positive or negative—
became the model for your relationship with your adult self. That is simply
how adult personas form. If you were neglected as a child, you learned to neglect yourself as an
adult. If you were betrayed as a child, you learned to betray yourself as an
adult. If no one cared about your feelings as a child, you didn’ t know how
to care for your own feelings once you became an adult. Maybe on some
level your parents weren’ t there for you; and now , in the moment when you
overeat, you simply repeat the pattern by failing to be there for yourself. Or your parent or parents might have loved you very much yet simply
lacked the psychological tools to help you build an emotionally healthy
relationship with yourself. It’ s only recently , in historical terms, that society
has even considered the possibility that children have valuable thoughts of
their own. Looking back into your childhood isn’ t about figuring out whom
you can blame, or building a case to justify feelings of victimization. It’ s
simply about identifying your wound so the medicine of love can be applied
correctly . A way to repair a broken childhood is to allow God to re-parent you. As
a child, you had no choice but to depend on your parents’ love … and
where it was twisted or absent, you suf fered accordingly . Yet now you areno longer a child, and can redo your childhood by remembering Whose
child you truly are. By seeing that you are a child of God—by recognizing the unwavering
love and mercy He extends to you every moment of the day—you begin to
realign your attitudes toward yourself with His attitudes toward you. Y ou no
longer need to model anyone’ s neglect of you; you need only model God’ s
love for you. As you reestablish the divine connection that was severed by any
wounding in your childhood, your mind begins to move away from
thoughts that weaken you and instead think thoughts that strengthen you. You will learn to be ther e for yourself, and in a moment when you are there
for yourself, you simply don’ t want  to behave self-destructively . It won’ t be
so hard to commit to right eating once you’ve recommitted to yourself. It
will be natural. Appetites that reflect an unloving attitude toward yourself
will simply fall by the wayside, like leaves in autumn when their season is
done. This is a recommitment in that you were born with your connection to
your true self intact; while this connection might have been broken in your
experience, it was never broken in the mind of God. In Alcoholics
Anonymous, there is reference to “conscious contact.” Y our contact with
the divine is still there; it is simply no longer conscious. And by bringing it
back into full awareness, you will reconnect with it experientially . Like a
plug that has dropped to the floor , your mind needs to be plugged back into
the socket that provides its true sense of self. Grounded in our divine nature, every human being tends naturally toward
connection, creativity , and joy . Such is the natural flow of the human
experience, just as the bud flows naturally into the fullness of a rose
blossom. The dif ference between you and the rose is that, as a human being,
you have a choice  as to whether or not to let your blossoming occur . If the
rosebud were somehow able to deny the blossom the right to emer ge, then
what would happen to the ener gy that would have turned it into a blossom? Is it uncreated? Does it go away? No, because ener gy cannot be uncreated. When a natural flow of ener gy is denied, it turns into a kind of backward
flow, or implosion of identity . You are then tempted to misdirect your
creative passion.If you deny yourself your own passion, your own path, your own
longing, your own drama, your own life force, your own truth—then you
might be tempted to live vicariously through those who allow themselves
theirs. Y our creative ener gy has got to go somewher e, even if it is projected
onto others. Y ou’re tempted to live a life of fantasy if you deny yourself a
life of truth. It’s an easy path from a whole box of chocolates to immersion in the
latest tabloid, from denying yourself your own drama to drinking in the
drama of others. But it’ s not as though others were programmed for exciting
lives and you weren’ t. For whatever reason, some people were simply not
blocked in childhood the way that you were. They can more easily allow
themselves to experience the natural, creative drama of their own lives. Think of the person whose life you look at and secretly think, Oh, I wish
that wer e my life. Now imagine yourself in kinder garten with that
individual. Use your inner eye to face the truth here, and you will see that at
the age of five, he or she had nothing on you. Y ou came into this life with
the same creative ener gy and the same divine programming that everyone
else has. And you still have it; it’ s simply backed up, taking anti-expression
in the form of excess flesh. But all that can be corrected now . A valve that has been closed can now
be reopened. A habit—and that is all it is: a bad mental habit—can be
unlearned and replaced by your natural, spiritual proclivity to go forth into
the world and create the good, the true, and the beautiful. You should be committed to yourself because God is committed to you. How else but through the thoughts that naturally emer ge within you can He
impress Himself upon your soul? In listening to yourself, you’re tuning in
to the vibrations of Spirit that are the natural communication of the Creator
with the created. God doesn’ t have a plan for Miss America, but not for you. God doesn’ t
have a plan for some movie star , but not for you. There is a divine plan by
which each and every person’ s life is programmed for the highest level of
creativity and goodness and truth. There are roses and daisies and peonies
and violets, all very dif ferent but all very beautiful. Nature sees each of us
as expressions of itself, and to accept that expression, to honor the natural
flow of your own thoughts and feelings, is not just a gift you give yourself
—it is your gift to the world.Try to for give those who in their ignorance sought to block your truth,
whether five minutes ago or 40 years ago. And try to for give yourself for all
the years you have failed to listen to yourself. When you grasp excessively for anything in this world—and for you that
happens to be food—you deny what is trying to emer ge from deep within
you. Failing to experience what is supposed  to happen—your own internal
communion with self—you are thrown into an awful, primordial void,
bereft by what feels like the absence of your Creator . You don’ t really mean
to be grasping for food. Y ou mean to be grasping for God. And there is only
one way to do that. Y ou cannot find Him except where He lives. And He
lives in you. For this lesson you will use your journal pages, beginning a process by
which you’ll learn to support yourself … befriend yourself … commit to
yourself. Y ou’ll start by learning to dialogue with yourself, asking and
receiving the truth of what you think and how you feel. With every journal entry , you’ll have a conversation with yourself that is
long overdue:
1. You to self: What are your thoughts? This question shows that you care what your own thoughts are. Y ou value
them. If, when you were a child, no one seemed to care what you thought, then
you developed a habit of not listening to yourself any more than those
around you did. Perhaps you were teased for your beliefs by a parent or
sibling, teaching you to deem your own thoughts valueless. If either of
those situations occurred, it would have severed your connection to self in a
most fundamental way . If you don’ t listen to yourself, you can’ t honor
yourself. If you don’ t listen to yourself, you can’ t hear God’ s voice within
you. If you don’ t listen to yourself, you program your body to stop listening
to itself. And thus the food hell that follows. In your journal pages, morning and evening, write down your thoughts of
the day . Your writing will become a conscious repository for thoughts youwould have formerly discounted. Y ou speak, and someone listens. Whatever thoughts you can remember—whether you consider them
significant or routine—write them down and allow yourself to see, review ,
and bear witness to them all. They aren’ t good or bad; they just are. What is
important is that they are yours. Any positive thought obviously needs to be
heard by you. And any negative thought needs to be heard by you as well,
to be learned from perhaps and then surrendered for healing. Both thoughts
and feelings matter , and we will discuss feelings more thoroughly in the
next lesson. What matters now is that you realize that it’ s right, not wrong, to listen to
yourself. In the moment you overeat, it’ s not just that an inappropriate
dynamic is present; it’ s that a healthy dynamic is absent. By learning to
build anew the dynamics of a healthy self-regard, the craziness of your
compulsion is cut of f at the pass. 2. You to self: I forgive you for your mistakes. In the words of the famed Jewish sage Hillel the Elder: “If I am not for
myself, then who will be for me? And if I am only for myself, then what am
I?”
This lesson speaks to the first of those questions—your need to show
compassion for yourself as a prerequisite for attracting compassion from
others. If you are angry at yourself, then your body will register that
negativity . Your body , remember , is a reflection of your thoughts. As long
as you withhold love from yourself, your body will appear to withhold love
from you. If you didn’ t receive much mercy as a child—if mistakes were met with a
lack of for giveness or you were repeatedly told you weren’ t worthy or good
—then overeating is a reenactment of the message, “Y ou’re bad! Y ou’re
bad!” The fork or spoon with which you overeat is not something with
which you gift yourself, but rather a whip with which you punish yourself. And once you realize what you’ve done, once you see that you’ve fallen of f
the wagon again, then you’re thrown into a new cycle of anger—anger at
yourself for overeating! In your journal pages, morning and evening, write down whatever you
feel were mistakes, but then surrender them. Explore the feelings of bothremorse and self-for giveness. Feel the pain of knowing you’ve made a
mistake, but also the extraordinary relief that comes over your spirit once
you’ve atoned for your error and surrendered it to an all-merciful God. When you overeat, you show a lack of mercy for yourself. By reclaiming
the compassion that is natural to your true self, you will learn to eat
moderately as an expression of self-love. If and when you fall of f the wagon
—times when, despite your ef forts, you can’ t resist the ur ge to eat self-
destructively—you will begin to say “Oops” with a lighthearted acceptance
rather than a groan of despair . And that will decrease the chances that it will
happen again, for you will have stopped fueling self-hate with more self-
hate. 3. You to self: I think your dreams are important. A healthy person is constantly dreaming up the next best thing … from
what video would be fun to watch tonight, to whom it would be good to call
on the telephone later , to where it would be pleasurable to go for the
weekend. But if you don’ t listen to yourself, then how do you know  what
you think is the right place to go or the right thing to do? And if you don’ t
know the right thing, then you’re prone to doing the wrong thing. And that
includes what you eat and don’ t eat. Someone somewhere didn’ t listen to your heart, and as a consequence
you stopped listening to it, too. Not in every area of life, perhaps; in many
areas you might be very functional, even supremely successful. But your
subconscious mind chose an available tool by which to express the deeper
truth of a hidden self-hatred. The voice of the discounting or belittling grown-up has remained, for it
has not yet been ushered out. As a consequence, you subconsciously follow
the dictates of a ghost. Y ou still punish yourself; you still deny yourself;
you still discount yourself. And so it goes. The idea that you can fight such
a force by simply sticking to a diet is almost silly . In your journal pages, morning and evening, dialogue with yourself about
your true dreams. From going to Paris to looking beautiful, from writing a
book to owning your own business, from having a mate to having children,
what do you really long for? What do you really wish to be true for you? What is your heart’ s desire … for if you won’ t honor it, then who else will?It doesn’ t matter that Mommy or Daddy or your siblings or your teachers
or whoever else didn’ t value your dreams. God did, and He does. It’ s time
for you to start thinking like God whenever you think about anything …
including yourself. This journaling process is an important tool, and not just for losing
weight. It’ s a tool for cultivating your highest self. It’ s a way you listen to
yourself, by making it clear to yourself what you actually think and feel. The more space you give yourself to express your real thoughts and
feelings, the more your wisdom will emer ge. In listening to yourself, you
learn  from yourself. In listening deeply to the voice of your heart, you
reestablish relationship with your true self, so long denied. Start listening to yourself now and you will find that what you hear is the
music of your soul. Its sounds will accompany you as you move toward the
life, and the body , that nature intends for you. In the eyes of God, you are
more beautiful than you realize and more cherished than you know . Reflection and Prayer
The reflection that accompanies this lesson is a flow of consciousness to
apply to every moment of your life. Instead of asking yourself, “What do
you think?” and providing the answer only twice a day during a journaling
session, begin to dialogue naturally with yourself throughout the day . Remind yourself in every moment how important it is for you to be in
touch with your own thoughts and feelings. From that place only , will you
honor deeply enough the thoughts and feelings of others. If you deny
yourself, you will always deny other people. But by connecting to your own
truth, you will begin to connect more deeply with the truth in others. Forging a deeper connection with self and others, you will more easily free
yourself from a false connection to food. At that point, food will be become
as important as it is meant to be—no more and no less. Dear God,  
Please show me how to honor myself. Please teach me how to listen to myself. Please pr ogram my mind to know itself,  
that I might at last be fr ee. Teach me to appr eciate  
Your Spirit that lives within me. Show me how to be good to myself,  
that I might know mor e fully  
the goodness of life. Amen
OceanofPDF .comLESSON 13
FEEL YOUR FEELINGS
We’ve already established that the subconscious force of food
compulsion is made up of unprocessed feelings. Y ou seek, when you
overeat, to contain the emotions that swirl within you—to put them
somewhere, to put a lid on them, or to make yourself numb so you won’ t
have to feel them at all. What makes your emotions dif ferent, remember , is not what  you feel. What makes your emotions dif ferent is how you process them … and
sometimes how you cannot  process them.
_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:

        I read Seventeen  magazine, so I knew this for sure. So many girls were
curvier, taller, sexier, and so forth. Karen had bigger breasts, T rudie had
better hair, and Cheryl just had that thing  that boys wanted. Conscious:  My body is ugly. It isn’ t good enough. Subconscious:  Therefore, my body deserves to be punished. Sick Thought #2: My body makes grown-ups squirm, so there must be
something wrong with it. I had no idea why my seventh-grade English teacher, who had seemed to
adore me, got so weird around me once my body began to develop. I had
the vague feeling that her strange attitude had something to do with my
body and my budding sexuality, but there was no one and nothing to guide
me through the vagaries and emotional land mines of puberty. I went back to speak to this teacher when I was in my early 30s, to
confront her about what I had experienced and to ask her if I had simply
imagined it. She said to me—and the day would come when I understood
this—that I had no idea what it meant to be a woman watching her own
sexuality fade while young girls around her were beginning to blossom into
theirs. My teacher had not meant to hurt me; she had not consciously rejected
me; she had simply felt a natural disappointment—disappointment she did
not know how to process except by projecting it onto others—in relation to
a situation that had nothing to do with my life and everything to do with
hers. I also remember my music teacher staring at my breasts once during a
piano lesson. This was before there was the social consciousness about
these things that there is today. He only stared, but if you’re sitting at the
piano and a young girl is standing next to you, you’re staring from up close. How I wish I could reach back in time and give that man a piece of my
mind. He died before I had a chance, but if I could have, I would have paid
him a visit along the same line as the one I paid to my seventh-grade
English teacher. Conscious:  Grown-ups act strangely around me now that my body has
changed. Subconscious:  Therefore, my body must be bad. Sick Thought #3: Daddy doesn’ t want to be around me as much anymore. My father ’s attitudes about sex and sexuality—while certainly not
prudish when it came to my mother. —were somewhat old-fashioned. He
seemed to want his daughters dressed in pink lace and white gloves long
past the time when our age or the fashion of the times called for either one. He seemed somewhat uncomfortable with my budding sexuality, yet I had
no idea what that meant or what to do with it. How could I. I remember a moment—I think many women have such memories—
when I went to sit on Daddy’ s lap and he made me get up and sit
somewhere else. This was a small but emotionally devastating moment for
me, although I realize now that it represented what would be a reasonable
act on the part of fathers when their no-longer -little girls come to sit on their
laps. All I could possibly have known then was that once I passed puberty,
my father began to look at me in a dif ferent way. I didn’ t feel like I was
okay  in his eyes anymore, as though somehow I embarrassed him. My father continued to want to take me to the zoo on Sundays, long past
the time when going to the zoo was my idea of a really cool Sunday outing. The only way he knew how to relate to me, it seemed, was if I remained a
little girl. The inability of my parents to help me transition—and make their own,
as well—through my archetypal maidenhood was a product not of their lack
of love for me, but of their psychological ignorance regarding how to
handle the experience. There is nothing to for give here; there are simply
things to understand. Conscious:  Daddy doesn’ t treat me like he used to. Subconscious:  Who I am now sends Daddy away. Therefore, my new
body is a bad thing. Now just around the time when Daddy didn’ t seem to want to be around
my new body, some younger males did. And since I was bereft at what
seemed to be the loss of my father ’s love, I was subconsciously looking
around to replace it. Add to that the so-called sexual liberation of the 1960s,
and I see myself now as having been doomed to some serious confusion and
self-destructive behavior. Like millions of others, I went looking for love in
too many places, almost ensuring that I would find it too few times. Yet many of my experiences were positive. There is one moment deeply
ingrained in my memory that is a precious part of my past. I was walking through Hermann Park in Houston on a beautiful late
afternoon. I was wearing a long culottes outfit, red with white polka dots,
which I can see in my mind as though I had worn it yesterday. I was
probably 16 years old. A young man around the same age as I was walked
by, and he looked at me in an innocent and appropriate, yet decidedly male,
way. I had never experienced such a moment before. My body had a sexual
charge now, and he was old enough to notice it. He was no longer a little
boy, and I was no longer a little girl. But the ener gy was wonderful, neither
lascivious nor predatory, and our momentary encounter has remained within
me as one of my most treasured memories. W e didn’ t even speak, but in
that moment, I felt for the first time that I was a woman and not a little girl. That experience in the park was a lovely thing, like an enchanted image
from a fairy tale. But it was not the reality of ordinary, day-to-day life. I
didn’ t even meet the young man. The value of the experience was that it
gave me a window into the innocent, ideal beauty of my own untaintedsensuality. Life would provide me with more positive experiences of my
own physicality. But the purpose of this inventory is not just to celebrate the
good; it is also a way to root out the bad, by seeing it, understanding it, and
forgiving it. Sick Thought #4: My body is what attracts love. I know now that my body does not attract love; I do. My body attracts
attention,  but it does not necessarily attract love. It is my spirit and not my
body that both magnetizes and holds on to love. We are living in a society that gives to sexual chemistry a role beyond
what it actually has in the greater scheme of things, and all of us have been
privy to this dangerous confusion. Sexual chemistry is important, obviously,
because without it the human race wouldn’ t continue. But the idea that if I
am sexy enough, he will love me  is a tragic error in thinking. If I am sexy
enough he might want  me, that is true, but whether he loves me or not is
based on way, way more than what happens in bed. It’s odd to consider now, but much of the sexual “liberation” of the ‘60s
was not true liberation for women at all. W e were liberated to have  sex, but
we were still doing it primarily as a way to please men. W e weren’ t yet
aware—nor were most men at the time—that our true value lay in
something much more important than our sexuality. That began to
fundamentally change in the ‘70s, not the ‘60s. Conscious:  Sex is fun. Subconscious:  Therefore, if I have enough sex, I will be loved. Sick Thought #5: My body is not important. When the correction came, it went way overboard. Around the 1970s, the
dangerous thought that a woman’ s body was all that made her attractive was
replaced by the equally dangerous thought that her mind  was all that made
her attractive. Millions of us bought into the notion that sexual
attractiveness merely played into male chauvinistic fantasies that reduced
women to sex objects. It’ s about then that we thought it was cool to burn
our bras, to stop shaving our legs or armpits, to refuse to let men open doors
for us … but then to go at it like bunnies at the end of the day, of course. Knowing that our value lay in much more than just the look of our bodies
was a huge realization. But the fact that a woman’ s body isn’ t the essence of
her value does not mean that her body has no value. Thinking, as many of us did in those days, that any male celebration of
our looks was traitorous to some feminist ideal—while we sure were
enjoying all that celebration once the lights went down—inevitably created
a psychic ambivalence and dissociation. On the one hand, we were young
enough to enjoy the amazing sensations of youthful sexuality. At the same
time, we thought the only way to be really cool was to deny its importance. Conscious : My sexuality isn’ t what is important about me. Subconscious:  Therefore, my body isn’ t important. It was at about that time that my compulsive eating began. And in
retrospect, I can certainly see why. Added to the above was the loneliness of
my college years, during which time I added the “freshman 15” pounds that
such experience often entails. By then I was pretty much of f and running
straight into the darkness of food hell, where I remained for almost a
decade. A Course in Miracles  teaches us to beware the power of an unrecognized
belief. I have come to understand that based on my own personal history, I
had an unrecognized belief that my body was not good, was not lovable,
was not even important … and then I set out, unconsciously, to prove
myself right. Dissociation from the body, for whatever reason, robs you not just of the
joy of healthy eating, but of even identifying with your own body. Dissociation is when you see yourself here, and your body is there. It’s a
sense that you are somehow separate from your body, which is a tragic split
from self. I am well aware that the gradual trauma of my own body history is
nothing compared to what many others have experienced. For those who
have suf fered physical abuse—sexual or otherwise—an overwhelming
horror has elicited an overwhelming need to escape from pain at whatever
cost. Many overeaters don’ t actually inhabit their body so much as hover
above it or to the side of it some 6 to 12 inches, reenacting an ancient
response—tragically necessary at one time—to a shattering experience such
as being whipped or raped. This experience might go back to the earliest
days of childhood, even as far back as three or five years old. According to a study at the University of Pennsylvania School of
Medicine, up to 33 percent of American girls are molested, and research
tracking the connection between a history of molestation to obesity is in its
early stages. For many people, an instinctive escape mechanism that developed
originally in response to such abuse now trips like a switch in reaction to
almost any form of stress. The subconscious commanded, “Flee. Flee. ” and
the child who was powerless to flee physically developed the capacity to
flee psychologically. For the adult that the child one day becomes, the command to “Flee. ”
still exists not only in reaction to danger, but also in reaction to almost any
form of physical or emotional discomfort. This applies painfully, and
perhaps particularly, as a reaction to sexual intimacy. Healthy sex requires that you truly inhabit your body, and for a victim of
sexual abuse, this would feel like surrendering to a warning bell. If at a
moment of profound trauma your spirit left your body to escape the reality
of the experience, and never fully reentered it on a consistent basis, then
how do you escape your escapism in order to show up for sex. This would
obviously be very dif ficult. Compulsive food patterns become, for those dissociated from their body
for whatever reason, a way to reenact the original escape from pain and
confusion. In one moment of chemically induced numbness, you can feel,
“Ah, I escaped …” Reenacting your earlier escape from physical trauma,
you once again leave the realm of your suf fering behind … if even for a
moment. A Course in Miracles  teaches that you create what you defend
against. Defending against a physical trauma, you’ve created a new one: the
trauma of compulsive eating. Today’ s lesson begins to unravel this route of horror, the instinctive path
you still walk in an ef fort to deal with pain and stress. These days, your
stress might look nothing at all like the physical abuse you endured as a
child—it might be something as mundane as your need to pick the kids upat school, get them to soccer on time, and still get to the dry cleaners before
they close—yet your subconscious mind continues to interpret your stress
as danger and reacts to it that way. “I must get out of here. ” is all you know. And you “escape” into food. Your assignment now is to write your own personal story—where things
went right and where things went wrong. Explore how you came to
dissociate from, fear, and perhaps even hate, your body. And don’ t expect
all of this to be easy. Some of it might be funny, some of it might be
horrifying, some of it might be ridiculous, and some of it might be
extremely painful. What is important is that it be honest and true. By writing down your history, you will come to understand it more fully. And by understanding it more fully, you will emer ge from the darkness of
your subconscious bondage to fears that were born in a distant past. These
fears can be dissolved today, through grace and through love. In doing this
lesson, you begin the process. Use your journal pages to write your story, giving full attention to both
good and bad memories. Return this book to your altar after every entry you
write. Reflection and Prayer
Close your eyes and relax into a meditative state. During this time, allow
your mind to return to your experience of yourself as a baby, then a toddler,
then a small child, and so on. During every phase of the meditation, allow yourself to see what you
looked like at a certain time in your life, how you felt about your body,
what you went through, who was involved, where things went well, where
you were hurt, where you went unconscious, where you dissociated from
your body, where you began to hate your body, what attitudes you formed
about sex, where you decided to cover up your body with fat, and so forth. You will come to realize that your issues with eating have ultimately little to
do with food, and everything to do with thoughts about yourself. This will not be a quick meditation, or a casual one. There are many
feelings from your past that have remained unprocessed … many
experiences that you have not yet looked at through the lens of time andforgiveness … and many people, including yourself, whom you have failed
to understand. Use this course as a path to understanding now what you
could never have understood before. And remember: there is no rush. If done well, this exercise will probably
take some time. Dear God,  
I give to Y ou my past  
and ask that Y ou explain it to me. Unravel, dear God,  
the cor ds of confusion  
that bind me. Free me fr om the bondage  
of blindness and misunderstanding. Return me, dear God,  
to a sense of my body  
that is Y our truth, and no one else’ s, 
that is sacr ed and not impur e, 
that is loving and not punishing,  
that is joyful and not painful,  
that is healthy and not diseased. Please, dear God,  
undo my past and r eturn me to my  
innocent self. Amen
OceanofPDF. comLESSON 10
CONSECRATE YOUR BODY
Your body is not separate from your mind so much as it is a reflection of
it. As you change your mind, you change every cell in your body. Such thoughts as I am fat, I am ugly, and I hate my body  are like
commands given to your body to materialize accordingly. If you think
negatively about your body, your body will reflect your negativity. If you
think lovingly about your body, then your body will reflect your love. And
there is no such thing as a neutral thought. What is not love, is an attack. And what is love, is a miracle. Let us now consecrate your body to be used for holy purposes. Holy
purposes are love and love only, and as you consecrate your body to love,
all that is not love can no longer hold sway within it. Whatever is dedicated
to the purposes of love is protected from the ener gy of chaos. Write down this line: I eat in a way that supports my being of service to
love. That is a good one, by the way, to put on a Post-it and keep on your
refrigerator door. With this lesson, we embrace a new perception of the body in order to
make manifest a new physical reality. Begin each day with a prayer:
Dear God,  
As I awaken on this day, 
may my body and mind serve Y our purposes. May nothing but Y our Spirit  
be upon me. May my body be a temple to Y our Spirit  and a conduit of love. Amen
As you head to the kitchen, feelings of both fear and love will be
bubbling up within you. Fear would have you eat an unhealthy breakfast,
full of refined carbohydrates and sugar and such foodstuf fs as that. Or not
eat breakfast at all. That way you will have a harder time feeling the
lightness of your spirit, and fear ’s purposes will thus be accomplished. But
what would you eat if the only purpose of your body today was to serve
love’ s purposes. W ould you not eat a light, healthy breakfast in order to
support your body in doing God’ s work. Begin today to change your body by thinking of it as a temple for your
soul. Y our body is like an infinitely precious suit of clothes. It is not
essentially who you are, but it can be a sacred container for your spirit. Things of this world are holy or unholy depending on the purpose that the
mind ascribes to them; the holy purpose of your body is to serve your
loving communion with life itself. That is what it means to consecrate your
body. To honor your body, to treat it well, to add to its care and protection
from harm, is to honor the divine by honoring your body’ s spiritual mission. The holy purpose of anything  you do in the world is to honor the divine,
and your body is the physical basis for everything you do. In a previous lesson, you began to take stock of psychological assaults to
which your body has been exposed throughout your life. W ith this lesson,
you will begin to shift your body identification from that of a damaged
thing to that of a holy thing. Both your mind and your body will go through
a spiritual initiation, transforming first the one and then the other. The mind
will shift, and the body will follow. Your body was not created to house your fears, but rather to house your
love. And in your heart, you know this. Y our deepest yearning is not just for
your body to look good but also for your body to be good. W ith this lesson,
you will take your wish that this were so, turn it into an intention that it be
so, expand that into a willingness that it be so, invite Divine Mind to help
you make it be so … and it shall be so. Your task now is to consecrate your body, not just as a general intention
but rather as an actual directive from your conscious to your subconsciousmind. Y ou will write down your loving intentions in order to contain and
harness their power. In the last lesson, you wrote about your past; in this one, you will write
about your present. In any moment or any hour in which your body is
dedicated to the purposes of love, it is less prone to the purposes of fear. Let’s begin with what might be a typical day. Write down the following
categories:
1. Waking up
2. Breakfast
3. Morning activities
4. Lunch
5. Afternoon activities
6. Dinner
7. Evening hours
Now write two versions of this list. First, write down what you do now. Be honest with yourself; no one else
needs to read this. Go through your day and write down everything you do. Describe a typical day in your life: write down what you eat, what you do
with your life, how you feel about what you do, your thoughts about other
people, and so forth. If you go through this too quickly, just jotting down “I did this” or “I did
that,” then you will not receive the greatest value from this lesson. Y our
task—and the gift you are giving yourself—lies in being deeply honest
about how you live now. This lesson gives you the chance to look into the
mental control room of your life and observe the way you program your
experience. Next, write a second description of your day. Yet this time, consciously
redesign your life. Do not just write what you’re doing or how you feel
about it; rather, describe your day from the perspective of your higher mind. Write about the life you choose,  rather than one lived powerlessly at the
effect of habitual emotional and behavioral patterns. Choose to be the real
you as you write this: a conduit of God’ s love, here to extend love and to dolove’ s work on Earth. Allow love to dictate both your purposes and your
plans for the day. This will not necessarily be easy—at times it might even feel foolish—
because you’re training your thoughts to flow in a dif ferent direction than
they’re used to flowing. Y et that is the point. As you create the space for
love in every area of your thinking, you create a space for love in every area
of your life. Write either about the day now past or the day ahead. Below is an
example of such conscious redesign:
1. W aking Up
After I wake up, I do not let too much time go by befor e praying. I
thank God for giving me this day, and I pray that all I do today will be of
service to love. I pray for my family, for my friends, for my country, and
for the world. I surr ender the day ahead, asking that it be blessed and
that I be a blessing on it. I offer a kind “Good morning. ” to those I see. Friends or family who
live with me, or any others who ar e in my house this morning, r eceive a
pleasant gr eeting fr om me. W ith a smile, a hug, a positive wor d; or by
giving them a glass of orange juice, I do what I can to be a loving
presence in their lives. From brushing my hair to putting on a nice r obe; fr om making
breakfast for my childr en to giving encouragement to my spouse; fr om
opening up a window or door to br eathe in the beauty of the new
morning, I celebrate and add to the good that is all ar ound me. When ther e is quiet, I take the opportunity to r ead scriptur e or
inspirational literatur e, to pray and meditate, to r eflect and contemplate
on all that is loving and divine. I consciously surr ender my day to God. When ther e is time, I do something loving for my body such as light
weights, yoga, or a short walk. I do this as a blessing on my body,
gratefully serving it as it so serves me. Even if I don’ t exer cise for a
prolonged period, I do some kind of movement. Daily I do this … helping
sustain my heart and lungs and other vital or gans, allowing my skin to
receive the nourishment of the sun, str etching my muscles to make andkeep them str ong … I am taking car e of my body in or der to pr epare
myself for joy and for better service to the world. Note how dif ferent such programming is from what fear would pour into
your mind. The thinking of Divine Mind is 180 degrees away from the
thinking of the world, and it is your choice—as well as your responsibility
to yourself—to cultivate the thinking that will lift you above your wounded
self. If fear rules your thinking—if your intentions are not loving but rather
some form of, Oh darn, another day just like the last one. … They can get
their own br eakfast. … I don’ t care what he does. … I don’ t care how I look. … I just want to eat something. … I don’ t owe anything to anyone. … I don’ t
want to take time to pray. … I don’ t want to take the time to walk. … I hate
my life. … What point is ther e to any of this. … Ther e is nothing to be
happy about —then do not expect your physical appetites to do anything
other than reflect the fear that is in your mind. And for you, fear has taken a
specific form: the compulsion to eat inappropriately. It might seem at times that you have no control over your ur ge to eat—
and for all practical purposes, many times you do not. But you always  have
free will regarding what you think, and as you begin to think  differently, in
time you will begin to eat differently. Your compulsion will dissolve in the
presence of the divine. 2. Br eakfast
I feed my body this morning with loving nourishment. I do not harm it
with unhealthy food and drink; rather, I fuel it with healthy food or drink
that I know will make my cells mor e vital. With the food I eat, I help my body have gr eater ener gy and health, as
well as be mor e aligned with the spirit within me. My body is a holy
temple; I joyfully feed it with food that supports my divine purpose in the
world. 3. Morning ActivitiesMy morning is spent doing things that contribute goodness and light to
my family, my community, and my world. I use my body as an instrument
of peace, as I seek to shar e peace with others. My body serves me in
doing good and living joyfully. At every moment, I br eathe in the perfection of the universe and
breathe out any toxicity in my mind or body. My body supports me by
showing up as a positive for ce for everyone I encounter. My body is a
temple in which my spirit r esides, supporting me in extending love to all I
see. At work, I pray only to be an instrument of peace. I pray for all those
with whom I work or will encounter. I pray for their happiness and well-
being. I for give quickly and try not to judge others. I surr ender my job to Spirit and ask that with my work, I serve the
greater good. I feel the cells of my body awaken as I think these things; I
feel my body ener gized as I apply it to love’ s purposes in the world. While I do chor es, I ask that Spirit make even mundane activities a
thing of goodness. As I do my family’ s laundry, I think with love about the
cherished ones whose clothes I am about to clean, and feel gratitude for
the clothes I own. As I go to the stor e, I give thanks that I can affor d to
buy the essentials I need. As I pick up something for a family member or
do a chor e for someone else, I surr ender any r esentment I feel and ask to
be filled with a lighter attitude. I know my body is r esponding to every thought I think, and I choose to
think with love. This way, my body is made healed and whole. 4. Lunch
As I stop to eat lunch, I thank my body for the way it has served me so
far today, and commit anew to its sustenance and nourishment. I use
lunch as an opportunity to nourish not only my body but also my soul. I
stay away fr om frantic envir onments, and cultivate peace as I eat. I pur chase or bring fr om home healthy food. I am awar e that unhealthy
food choices abound in the world ar ound me. I do not judge those
choices, but neither do I participate in this cultural weakness by eating
unhealthy food, even if it is most easily available to me. I make thischoice in or der to do right by my body and my mind. I r ealize that my
body is a holy temple and deserves only nutritious, r estorative food. I silently say grace befor e my meal, thanking all the people who
contributed to the manufactur e and pr eparation of the food I eat,
thanking the earth for giving it to me, and thanking God for the fact that I
have food at all. 5. Afternoon Activities
I choose to give my body r est, that it might have a chance to r echar ge. I take r esponsibility for carving into my day even a short period of time
during which my body and soul can r ealign with Spirit, casting off the
stress of a world that is moving too fast. I allow my body some sort of
afternoon movement as a way to r einvigorate itself. Even a walk ar ound
the block is good for my body and pr ograms it in a healthy way. I continue to give it positive affirmations of love and encouragement as
I move thr ough the r est of the day, thanking God for the miracle of my
body and dedicating it continuously to the purposes of love. Befor e dinner, I take time to r est, pray, meditate, do yoga, take a bath,
light candles and/or incense in my r oom, and otherwise give my body and
soul the chance to de-str ess after the busyness of the day. I value r est and r ecognize its importance. I know that I alone am
responsible for cultivating a lifestyle that supports my health, my good,
and my ser enity. I know my body may r eact with compulsive behavior if I
fail to pr oactively cr eate a peaceful envir onment. I surr ound my body
with peace so that it will be at peace. 6. Dinner
As I pr epare for dinner, I dedicate this important time to goodness and
love. I pr epare myself inwar dly to be a vessel of love’ s goodness. The
goodness of my family gather ed ar ound a dinner table. The goodness of
my partner coming home to a loving envir onment after a str essful day. The importance of my childr en knowing that someone is waiting to
nourish them and listen to them at dinnertime. During dinner, I consciously r eject the frantic stimuli of the world. I
turn off the television and computers and insist that my childr en do so as
well. I pr epare a beautiful table, per haps with candles or fr esh flowers. I
say grace befor e the meal and include my family. I take r esponsibility for
a healthy envir onment while I eat, for I know that such an envir onment
supports healthy habits. In the food I pr epare, the way I dr ess, the way I behave, and the way I
interact with others, I pray to be a positive influence on those I love. I
feed healthy food, healthy wor ds, and healthy ener gy to others and
myself. I see the food I eat as a way to give thanks and service to the
body I have been miraculously given, and to feed those I love with
gratitude and devotion. 7. Evening Hours
I am grateful for having eaten lightly enough to have ener gy for a
productive evening. I use my time to deepen my r elationships, tend to the
emotional needs of my family, expand my mind, incr ease my participation
in the world ar ound me, and delve into the mysteries of life that emer ge
more clearly in the nighttime hours. If my envir onment supports it, I take
the opportunity to walk, hopefully able to see the stars in the nighttime
sky. A cup of herbal tea is my evening companion, supporting me in
pacifying my physical system as I head towar d sleep. I allow my body
and soul to r eveal their needs to me, as I use these hours to conclude my
day in a positive way. I attend to the needs of those ar ound me, honoring
my role as par ent, mate, and friend. I enjoy my life as it is. I honor its demands, and honor my desir es. I
take the time to br eathe in the r ealization of how fortunate I am, and
commit to living ever mor e fully with each passing day. I give thanks for
having lived this day, and I give blessings to all the world. It might seem at first that such a positive description is simply fiction. And if you have been living the life of an active addict, then that might be
true. But as you write a dif ferent description of your life, you create a lineof possibility that did not exist before. Do not underestimate the power of
your mind to reprogram your experience. Enlightened lines of thought counter dysfunctional habits. Even one
moment of insight—looking around the food court at lunchtime and
realizing with blazing clarity that its main of ferings are bad for you and that
you can choose differ ently;  looking at others and realizing that the healing
of your dysfunctional habits is intimately tied up with the love you extend
—leads to another insight and then another, leading at last to your escape
from food hell. It is not enough to simply read what I wrote in the last few pages. In
order to receive the benefit of this lesson, write down a description of your
own day. Begin by writing about your present life—simply describing what
is—and then reading it. Allow yourself to see the gap between the fear that
is, and the love that could be. Recognize how often your thought-forms are
weak, fear based, and almost sure to produce dysfunction. Now write a new statement of intention, a manifesto of love for all the
things you will do during your day, and allow yourself to gently lean into it. There is nothing new for you to do so much as something new for you to
imagine. Y our spiritually re-envisioning your life will begin to transform it. This new attitudinal architecture is not meant to tyrannize you, but to lead
you to freedom. A new way of eating, one that fundamentally and permanently transforms
you, can only be created within the context of a new way of being. Y our
desire to eat dif ferently is a sacred calling to take your entire life to a deeper
level. If you don’ t feel it yet, that’ s okay. But do still write it down, for that
is the first step. And, of course, return your journal to the altar when you are
done. Reflection and Prayer
Sitting quietly with your eyes closed, see your day ahead. W ith every
action you know you will be taking, actively see how you would probably
behave given past patterns. Now ask Divine Mind to reveal to you the
possibilities for a more enlightened you. See things you do; now see more loving things you could  do, or how you
could do what you do more lovingly. See yourself speaking harshly or
negatively, if that is what you tend to do; now see yourself speaking gently
and kindly. See yourself eating poorly or hurriedly, excessively or
secretively; now see yourself eating with appropriateness and self-care. As you allow Spirit to show you a new way of living, you will naturally
see within your mind’ s eye a new way of eating. Y ou will imagine what it
looks like and feels like to feed your body lovingly, to allow food to be part
of a lar ger matrix of love in your life. By imagining it, holding the vision,
and allowing the vision to come alive within you, you will gradually
experience it coming to pass. Dear God,  
Please show me how to live in love. May a new kind of eating  
come naturally fr om a new way of being. I devote not only my appetites  
but every part of me to Y ou. Wher e fear has blocked me,  
may love now fr ee me. Please teach me, God,  
how to live my life  
in the light of love,  
that my fear shall be no mor e.
The author emphasizes the importance of self-love and self-acceptance, stating that it is crucial to learn to love and honor oneself in order to break free from self-destructive patterns and behaviors.
What is the author's perspective on the importance of self-care and self-love?
The author argues that a person's body does not necessarily attract love, but rather their spirit and love itself do.
What is the author's stance on the idea that a person's body is what attracts love?
The author suggests that food can be a way to cope with emotional pain, but it is not a sustainable solution. They recommend journaling and meditation as a way to process emotions and connect with one's true self.
What is the author's view on the role of food in spiritual growth and self-love?
The "initiation ceremony" is a ritual that helps individuals break free from self-destructive patterns and behaviors by forgiving themselves and reconnecting with their true selves.
What is the purpose of the "initiation ceremony" mentioned in the text?
The author argues that a person's body is not a reflection of their mind, but rather a reflection of their thoughts and feelings. They emphasize the importance of loving and honoring one's body as a temple of the soul.
What is the author's perspective on the idea that a person's body is a reflection of their mind?