For the first time in way too long, Mom and I attended church at Center for Spiritual Living Beaumont. Reverend Neil gave a talk about the creative process and how to change our lives. He walked us through the steps on how we got where we are now and how to get to where we want to be. While that sounds like it would be a very difficult, complicated and a long journey; it doesn’t have to be.

The steps we all took to get where we are right now are the following:

Belief > Feelings, Emotions and Attitudes > Thoughts and Self Talk > Choices > Outcomes and Circumstances

Basically, we have a certain belief about something which causes us to feel certain ways about that topic; which in turn makes us talk to ourselves in a certain manner; which then leads to the choices we make in real life; which finally lands us into the circumstances we see ourselves in this moment.

So, if you are looking to change your life, all you have to do is change your belief. It all starts from a belief! However, that still might sound hard to do. But, it is not! Start with daily affirmations. Make sure they are in the present tense as your mind doesn’t know any different. The more you say these affirmations, the more you will actually believe them and eventually your belief will change. That still sounds like it takes a lot of time, but in order for this to work you have to feel the feeling you are wanting to cultivate. So, feel what you want to be feeling while you are saying your affirmations. You will immediately begin to accept it and feel better.

During the service, the first thing that came to mind that I want to change in my life is my weight and physique. After some discussion with my Mom after the service, we came to to conclusion that whenever I am unhappy I use food to cope. Two big events in my life resulted in me gaining a significant amount of weight. The underlying cause of those two events was being unhappy. One was an unhappy relationship. The other was an unhappy work life. I was able to extricate myself from the unhappy relationship, work on myself and lose the weight pretty fast. However, the weight gain from the unhappy work life has been more difficult to lose. While, I am still making progress, I know that it is much different from the last time this happened for me. This does not mean it is a bad thing, because I might have lost the weight the first time but here I am having gained it back.

This time around, I am learning more about what is in my foods. I am way more discerning with what I eat. I am using an app called Yuka which is a very easy way to see what additives ar tin the food I am eating, as long as it has a barcode anyways. Then, I can make a well informed decision about what I am eating and if it is “worth” it to me or not. For example, when I first started using Yuka, Hot Cheetos were one of my favorite things to get myself as a treat. However, they are full of bad additives. Now, a few months into being more mindful of my foods, I am opting for better choices. I don’t even crave Hot Cheetos anymore.

I am also listening to what my body is trying to tell me. When I used to get stomach aches after eating something that didn’t agree with me, I just dealt with it and moved on. I would continue to eat that food regardless of the consequences. Now, I actually listen and try to treat myself better now. I am way more analytical and understanding of my body. I pay attention to what makes me feel good and what doesn’t sit well with me. Who would have thought that many people just do this naturally. I just wasn’t one of them until now. I’m not perfect, and I probable never will be. I will be 100 times better than I was in the past though.

Now, back to changing beliefs. These are some of the affirmations that I will be saying every day to change my belief about my weight and physique. These affirmations will change my belief therefore changing my feelings about it, therefore changing my self talk, therefore changing my choices, therefore changing my circumstances.

I am perfect now.

My body does amazing things.

I am so strong.

I love how I look.

I am a healthy, happy being.

I know everything I need to know in this moment.

I am capable of anything I want to do.

My body, mind and soul are happy.

Many of us have assigned foods as “good” or “bad.” That is not beneficial if you continue to consume what you have labeled as “bad.” A food is just a food. There are different levels of nutritional value, but your body will do what it needs to in order to best care for your body. While I said earlier that Hot Cheetos are not good because of the additives, that does not mean that consuming them will make you overweight. The body is an incredible vessel that knows exactly how to handle whatever it consumes.

I know that whatever I consume will be exactly what my body needs. My body will efficiently break down the food and use it in the most beneficial ways. My body will recognize that I am happy with what I chose to consume and therefore will positively react to it. My mindset changing will change the way my body responds to food and will begin to look better than I ever could have imagined.

This is my own personal example, but this could be utilized for any topic. I am so grateful that I was there at church for this talk. Reverend Neil had expressed that this talk was for him, we were just there to hear him tell himself. I shared with him later that this is just what I needed too! I am very lucky to have such a wise spiritual family.

-Cassidy

October 2024