Get Out of the Norm

Today I would like to discuss body image in America, especially for women. I have struggled with weight since 11th grade. I always saw myself as fat. My parents telling me I was, even when I wasn’t, sure didn’t help any! I got fat for a purpose. It protected me. After several food disorders, I stuck with plain old bingeing. Binging has been my friend on and off for many years.

After gaining a lot of weight, I decided I needed to lose it. The problem was this time I couldn’t go on a diet. This makes sense because I had been on several only to get heavy again! I started to pray to be healed of my food disorder. Since we know that The Course says all sin is separation, over eating would technically fall under sin. Over the past three years through excercise, I have changed my shape slowly. Even slower has been the change in my eating habits and binging. But, it is changing! Not because of diets but because of the healing of my mind.

Today in America, women are bombarded daily with ridicolous images of ourselves. We are either shown as cartoon characters, look like boys with no curves or hips, have lips that are soo big we can’t move them, or boobs that look and feel like bowling balls. Women, what are we doing? We have given away our power and must take it back.

What happend to normal size, normal curves? We are either anorexic or obese. We keep hearing the word diet but diets don’t work. America getting fatter proves this. As usual, we are not having a conversation in this country about what is really going on. We are being told it is now a medical condition. Not to worry, drugs are on the way!

Lets look at this problem as The Course would. The Course would tell us we are missing something and have chosen the illusion of body image to fill it. We must find our places of separation and ask for healing.

Anyone who is having a problem with body image, here are some pointers: say no to all diets, diet books, scales, and weight charts. Learn how to eat for your body and mind, excercise daily and spend time in prayer. Ask God where you are lost and He will help you find the way. If we are over or under weight, using food or lack there of to fill a void, or obsessing about looks we can be sure we are in an illusion. We are in the throws of the ego. Call out to The Holy Spirit and let him in. It is just another illusion that needs to be healed. All we need to do but ask and His answer will follow.

Blessings, Lenny

“All power is of God. What is not of Him has no power to do anything.”

Blessings, Lenny

According to The Course, all sin is separation. Really, this means all ego thoughts are a thin veil between us and our Truth. The Course explains that we left Heaven. God did not boot us out. We felt guilty for this betrayal so we set up a system to hide the guilt. In this system, we have made God vengful and we must guard from His attack. Really, nothing could be further from the truth. God is right where we left him and we are right there with him. We have just hidden ourselves behind this veil, the illusion, which can be removed when we are ready.

All experiences of lack, sickness, hate, the list goes on, are signs of where we are still separated. Once we begin to challenge these ideas we have created, we can begin to release them. The Course says one all but needs say, this sickness offers me nothing and it will vanish. To say this and mean it changes everything as we have known it. We have been in a world where we are victims to circumstance but to say leave me and to see it go in an instant tells us a different story. It shows us we create our environment and that turns our world upside down. In reality, it is now right side up. We need to take baby steps to get out of whatever thought system we are in. Jesus is here ready to walk the path and is not expecting us to go any faster then we can. Time is for us, not God. There is no time in God’s mind only in ours. As we move toward freedom, we will become more timeless. Remember, where you are right now has served a purpose for you. Be thankful for it. If you want the circumstance to change, just ask the Holy Spirit. The Course says we need to do nothing else. Here we put our faith into play.

Blessings, Lenny

Love is Eternal. All other forces outside of love are finite. When we realize that there is more power in not saying anything when feeling attacked, we will start to understand the Spirit verses ego.