Love and Fear

I’m feeling a bit contemplative tonight. I hope you don’t mind. Next week I’ll have a sweet treat for you!

I would have written last night (I try to post every Monday night), but the Future of Nutrition Conference started yesterday, and there are not enough hours in the day to listen to everything! Seriously, you need to check it out. Videos are free, but are only up for 24 hours. I’ve been listening to a lot of people: Mark Hyman, Kathie Swift, Sayer Ji, Sara Gottfried, Gundi Gunnarsson, Jonathan Bailor, David Perlmutter…the list goes on. And I’m so enthralled by these minds that know SO MUCH about their field of study, and yet can make it relevant and meaningful to the listener.

I really wanted to write this week about my experience with The 21 Day Sugar Detox, but that will have to wait, because I feel like I’m on the verge of having some kind of revelation of some sort regarding all the lectures I’ve listened to, and I need to let my thoughts simmer, like a good pot of chili.

Gudni Gunnarsson spoke today about the difference between nourishment and feeding is love and fear. My summary: When we love ourselves – truly love ourselves: for who we are as a human being; for where we are in life, even if it’s not where we want to be; for how we physically look – we will then nourish our bodies with wonderful food due to that love. If we beat ourselves up about how we are now, if we keep thinking about how much better our future selves will be “when I lose weight” or “when I get a job” or “when I get married,” and if we don’t forgive ourselves for things in our past, we’ll only feed into the fear of never being good enough, and that food is then often low-quality. We must have compassion for ourselves in order to fully nourish ourselves with good food. The mind-body-food connection is incredibly powerful.

This idea is resonating so strongly in me right now, and I’m struggling to find the words to explain why.

I’m currently in a place in my life where I often think about my future self and “how much better life will be” when I have a full time job. And I’m realizing now that when I get to focused on that, I lose what I thought what motivation to eat well. But what if it’s not lack of motivation, but lack of love and compassion for myself?

I love parts of me. I love my thirst for knowledge. I love the strength in my body. I love the interests that make me happy and fulfill me. But do I truly love the entire being that is me?

What would happen if I completely love myself right now, as I am and where I am in life? What would happen if I was more kind and compassionate to myself? What would happen if I let the fear go?

I could move mountains.

With that much positive energy, how could I not?