Laying the tracks

One of my favorite movies is Under the Tuscan Sun.  I love everything about it, but especially the part where Frances bemoans the fact that she’s renovating a house for a life she doesn’t have.  Signor Martini tells her:

Signora, between Austria and Italy, there is a section of the Alps called the Semmering. It is an impossibly steep, very high part of the mountains. They built a train track over these Alps to connect Vienna and Venice. They built these tracks even before there was a train in existence that could make the trip. They built it because they knew some day, the train would come.

So often we tell ourselves that we will love and appreciate ourselves when we are “good enough”.  When we’ve slimmed down, toned our bodies and can run 5K.  Then we’ll be worthy of love and appreciation.  Then we’ll be acceptable.  Then we’ll be healthy.  Then our lives will have meaning and purpose.  Then we’ll tackle the relationships that don’t work, change jobs, find love.  Then we’ll be happy.

We want to see the train before we build an inch of track.

It doesn’t work like that.  We have only today.  Right now.  If you aren’t loving yourself where are now and living the life you want in this moment, chances are you never will, regardless of whether you lose 100 pounds or run a marathon.  Your fat or your health aren’t holding you back.  Your beliefs and fears are.

Health problems, infertility, excess weight, addictions – these are just some of the symptoms of a life out of balance.

Unfortunately, in the last century we have bought into a medical system that is all about treating symptoms and we have forgotten the meaning and importance of healing.  The truth is that if you suppress or treat a symptom instead of the underlying cause, another symptom will pop up, weight will pile back on, or another addiction will develop.

I have come to appreciate that just about everything that can and does go wrong in the human body has a large emotional connection.  That doesn’t mean that nutrition and lifestyle don’t play a role – they are vitally important – but at the center of just about every health issue you will find fear, erroneous beliefs, rage, guilt, low self-esteem, lack of forgiveness, resentment, etc.

Yesterday I posted a video about affirmations and positive self-talk.  People often tell me that affirmations don’t work.  Well, of course they won’t work if you repeat a few positive statements you don’t really believe for an hour a day, but then spend the other 23 hours telling yourself what a failure you are, that you couldn’t possibly change, that you’re stupid, ugly, fat, lazy, weak, unacceptable or that good things never happen to you.  Actually, this proves that they DO work!  Where you are today is a direct result of your thoughts and beliefs of the past.  Where you will be tomorrow is a direct result of what you think and tell yourself today and every day in the future.

I was very intimidated by the idea that I had to create a positive life for myself (this includes freedom from emotional pain and self-defeating patterns, perfect health, the correct weight, fitness, etc.) through my thoughts.  The task just seemed so daunting.  Then it dawned on me that I have all the tools and skills.  I created the life and body I have now!  It was a monumental task, but I did it!  And I can do it again.

Of course, the life I have now was created for a purpose, based on stinking thinking.  A lot of it was subconscious, which is why I’m working so hard to reprogram my subconscious mind.  You can’t just tape over the old messages though, you have to erase them, which means bringing them to light.  I thought it was going to be horrendous, painful and ugly.  Instead it’s been… well, interesting.  The memories that have surfaced (apparently our core beliefs and wounds are acquired by the age of 12) have been fascinating and where I thought I would be horrified, I’ve actually been relieved to realize what – often innocuous – events led to a certain mindset that would create a pattern of behavior in me.  I thought forgiveness would be hard, but not only have I found forgiveness, but I’ve found compassion – for myself and the other players in my life drama.  So often I have seen that “it” wasn’t even about me!

Our efforts to suppress our feelings, memories and emotions through stoicism, cynicism, substances, habits, behaviors, food, etc. actually rob us of so much – health, happiness, freedom and our vital life-force.  Truly, it’s easier to deal with the issues as they come up and move forward in our lives than to keep repeating the old patterns.

So, are you ready to start laying the tracks to your new life today?

PS.  One of the things that I’ve come to appreciate about the high raw, predominantly plant-based lifestyle is that it detoxes both mind and body (remember, the two are not separate).  Somehow this restores life-force to the body, which has great implications for health and vitality.  And the healthier the body, the better it functions, meaning that the body itself will strive toward its own perfect weight and balance.  A healthy body has no need for excess weight!