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eJournal
A few weeks ago, I had the pleasure of seeing Jenni Schaefer when she was in Houston. If you don't know much about Jenni, she has recovered from an eating disorder and written two books about he process: Life Without ED and goodbye ed, hello me.
If you ever do get a chance to see Jenni in person (her schedule of appearances is on her web site), I highly recommend it. She is entertaining, very approachable, and incredibly inspiring.
In her talk, Jenni presented on what she called the 4 principles of full recovery:
1. Embrace Food. Re-learn, re-experiment in enjoying food. Food is nutrition. Food is pleasure. Food is part of social connection. You are entitled to enjoy it. Always, no matter what.
2. Love your Body. No matter what. No matter what size or shape. All bodies are beautiful. So reject the prejudice we have in America about body size and shape. We're all good!
3. Mindfulness and Spiritual Mindedness. Mindfulness is simply the state of being aware of whatever you are experiencing at this moment. The way clothes feel on your body. The way air feels in your nose and lungs, etc. Spiritual mindedness is about faith. Faith in everything (except your eating disorder!). Especially faith in your own body, mind and spirit to know what you need when you take time to listen (and shut out the eating disorder's chatter).
4. Refuse to Resist Love. Chances are there are people around you who compliment you. Who try to live your spirits. Tell you you are OK, etc. Don't resist these positive forces in your life.
All of the above will send your eating disorder running for the hills!
What do you think?