LOSING WEIGHT

by a Lily*

I was once, not very long ago, many many pounds heavier. Such that now, people I meet keep asking me how I lost the weight! In truth, the answer is – I don't really know! As Scott Peck has said, everything is overdetermined! I could give many different answers (and they'd all be truthful):

1. When I got confined in the hospital last year with high blood pressure and had that awful feeling of head aching, body so unwell - that scared me into shaping up - exercising more often, eating better. (I guess a great desire was also born for wellness)

2. I got acupuncture treatments around that time - and then it seemed I just wasn't getting hungry - so maybe it was that

3. I got a Lily activation and attended core light healing

4. I got sick for a time later on (maybe detox?) and lost even more weight

But the closest to the truth would probably be that once, I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror - and seemed to see myself clearly for the first time. I had always thought of myself as "plump," and had always superimposed that idea on whatever I saw - but now I seemed to see clearly - was it even a vision - was this really me...yes, this was the same body I had seen for a long time - but now I seemed to see its beauty instead of its ugliness... (I was drawn to the slim legs and narrow frame and never even saw the flabby arms and tummy which seemed to be the only things I ever saw before) - in truth my body was lovely! I saw that I wasn't necessarily fat... it seemed I was more of an ecto-mesomorph...in that moment I marveled - stared - and turned - appreciated my body - loved my body. In my head I seemed to shift categories. "This is who I really am - I am really an ecto-mesomorph! I’m not 'plump' after all!” (The stress was on the marvel I was seeing, this new reality.)

(Around those times, I was also struck by pictures of Valerie Plame, and the wife of McCain - pictures of older women who were slim and carried themselves so easily - so it was possible! getting old didn't necessarily mean getting fat!)

Then for no reason at all, it seemed I didn't get hungry. I’d have two meals in a day and be fine (I was just sitting in the office much of the time anyway). I didn't crave for sweets. My nightly desserts just never seemed to happen anymore. My chocolate stash even began to get stale - I just wasn't interested!

Often dieting is forceful, willing oneself not to eat, forcing oneself to do without that luscious chocolate cake. This wasn't like that. My body didn't crave, I couldn't even make myself eat those chocolates! I just had no interest and they didn't even seem delicious anymore!

My body just seemed to naturally do it by itself! All the actions needed to lose weight, I mean. Honestly, I wasn't even doing a lot of physical exercise. Just a brief walk around the campus now and then, to enjoy the gracious trees and savor the changing colors of dusk.

After a few months I noticed I could fit into smaller clothes. So I primped, and loved myself even more! I dared to buy, and wear, flattering clothes; started using beauty products (which I never did before - hadn't even been moisturizing my face!) - and my body just continued to improve! (All this wasn’t too easy on the pocket though - new clothes, new products, etc. :)

My point is...from my experience - and I’ve tried countless diets and exercise before - maybe going about it from the outside - the forceful diets and exercise - is less effective than going about it from the inside - from loving the body, loving the self - and then letting the body just naturally lose the weight (if that is what you want).

Abraham, through Hicks, once said that if you are happy, and if physically what makes you happy is a slim body, and eating ice cream also makes feel you happy, then you will be someone who eats a lot of ice cream and is still slim - and happy.

Does that make sense?

I still don't know too clearly what process I underwent. I know I like the results, and hope that it will be last (it’s been about a year now). I also know I am loving myself more, learning from Abraham’s teachings about connecting to source and the primacy of one's own joy. This has led me to the Lily and Beyond, and on and on. The journey is expanding. And to my delight, I am slimming :)

PS. What has energized me again and again through these times is the remembrance of someone I met in the Lily Cloud. She beamed such affection and love for me – as if she was a dear old friend – who knew me very well and liked me very, very much. But I didn’t know or recognize her. Yet I have carried that love she has for me down from the Lily Cloud and through my days. And that feeling of being Beloved has just transformed me. There, that’s one more to add to my overdetermined reasons for losing weight! :)

*a Lily activation – see lilyandbeyond.org for details