One new perception, one fresh thought, one act of surrender, one change of heart, one leap of faith, can change your life forever. – Robert Holden
Comfort eating is my crutch!!
Whenever something doesn’t quite go to plan, or I have cross words with a loved one or I deal with a difficult situation with a client, I find myself heading to my beloved friend for comfort………the fridge!!.
There are many personal reasons why this habit has formed. Some of them are too close to the bone to share here. I have done much soul searching over the years trying to find the solution to this problem.
This yo-yo of weight that goes up or down depending on my emotional health has not been serving my overall health. Recently, the surgeon who repaired my well-worn knee said to me that the best thing you can do for your knees is to be as skinny as you can be.
So, I needed to face this bad habit of emotional eating once and for all!!!!
As it turns out, my soul searching on why I emotionally overeat and my label of “I’m a comfort eater” have been feeding my minds construction of this bad habit. I’ve built the Grand Canyon of neural pathways in my brain that tells my mind that it is ok for me to be an emotional eater.
I discovered this revelation when I was training for my brain-based coaching certificate from the Neuroleadership Institute last year.
Remember last week I talked about mind-maps. Unknowingly, I had created a technicolour, 3-D and very detailed mind-map that determined my choices around food when I was upset or out of sorts with the world.
At my executive coach training, I learnt that my thinking and my label was just feeding the mind-map and helping my perception of my food world continue over and over again. My food Grand Canyon had been well and truly built in my mind.
Of course, awareness of what you are doing is important. You cannot change something if you are not aware that you are doing it. As you will see from my recent learning and experience, the essential step is not to dwell on the behaviour that isn’t serving you.
My course taught me that it is almost impossible to de-construct a mind-map as entrenched as mine.
Instead, what I needed to do is change my thinking, create a whole new habit and layer it over the top of the old habit.
It is far easier for my mind to leave my food Grand Canyon where it is, cut a small new path in the side of the wall of the canyon and allow the water of my new habit do its work over time.
So, I now have a new label. I am a healthy eater. I’ve stopped soul-searching for a reason for my bad habit and I focus instead on being a healthy eater every day.
I have to confess. I fall into the Grand Canyon every now and then. That’s the nature of well-built mind-maps that have served us well in the past.
When this happens, I just dust myself off, speak kindly and encouraging to myself and concentrate on my new habit process. I see myself enjoying building a whole new exciting and amazing Grand Canyon in my mind.
I tell myself – I am a healthy eater!!!!! I can sort of say that comfort eating was my crutch!! I certainly know that I am already feeling physically healthier which gives me more energy to do all that I want to do in life.
Also, I’m not constantly beating myself up mentally and emotionally because I could not conquer my old Grand Canyon of habit. This has reduced my emotional stress so that I can more easily face my other life challenges.
The other learning from my executive coach training is the value of executive coaching especially with a coach that is trained in facilitating conversations that improve thinking for positive change for the coachee.
If you have a Grand Canyon that you have created in your mind and you want to conquer it, then I am available for hire as your brain-based executive coach. I will help you discover through positive thinking whole new pathways of solution-focused actions for you. I know, from my experience, that this will improve your life.
Next week, I will discuss how improved thinking is the key for effective leadership.
