All posts tagged: Women Food and Forgiveness

Women, Food, and Forgiveness Part 5: How Do We Live Forgiveness?

Published by dmcblog

By Marcella Friel // Editor’s Note: This post is the fifth in a five-part series on Women, Food, and Forgiveness by mindful eating and body image coach Marcella Friel. Her 5-day retreat, Women, Food, and Forgiveness, opens April 19, 2017. Click here to learn more and register. “Self-love is the only weight loss aid that really works in the long run.” ~ Jenny Craig “I’ve gained 10 pounds in the last two weeks. I’m so disappointed in myself. I should be over this by now.” These were the words of my client Linda in yesterday’s session. They were nothing new. “Linda,” I suggested, “I wonder if your true addiction is not to the food but to the disappointment? Might you be using your food behaviors to maintain your story of being disappointed in yourself?” Linda fell silent but was open to my suggestion. I asked her to close her eyes, place a hand on her heart, take a few deep breaths, and tell me all the things she genuinely loved and appreciated about herself. She …

Women, Food, and Forgiveness Part 4: What Happens When We Forgive?

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By Marcella Friel // Editor’s Note: This post is the fourth in a five-part series on Women, Food, and Forgiveness by mindful eating coach Marcella Friel. Her 5-day retreat, Women, Food, and Forgiveness, opens April 19, 2017. Click here to learn more and register. “She thought she would die of shame. Instead, it was the shame that died.” ~D. H. Lawrence, Lady Chatterly’s Lover I just hung up the phone from a powerfully transformative coaching session with my client Cindy, a vibrant, super-smart woman who’s felt betrayed by her body her entire life. As a girl, Cindy loved to dance, play softball, and float paper boats in rain puddles. Gradually, her whole being shut down, and Cindy has since suffered mysterious illnesses, random accidents, and 50 pounds of excess weight. Cindy wants more than anything to recapture her youthful vitality, cultivate genuine self-love, and embrace her body wholeheartedly. At age 7, for reasons not clear to her, Cindy’s father sent her to her room without supper. Cindy lay in the dark, crying and hungry, wishing …

Women, Food, and Forgiveness Part 3: How Do We Forgive?

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By Marcella Friel // Editor’s Note: This post is the third in a five-part series on Women, Food, and Forgiveness by mindful eating and body image coach Marcella Friel. Her 5-day retreat, Women, Food, and Forgiveness, opens April 19, 2017. Marcella’s online course, “Mindful Eating: Joining Heaven and Earth at the Meal Table,” opens January 15. Contact Shambhala Online to learn more and register.   “Forgiveness is not always easy. At times, it feels more painful than the wound we suffered. And yet, there is no peace without forgiveness.” — Marianne Williamson My client Tammy was making terrific progress with her food but was still seized with anxiety whenever she had lunch with her girlfriends. While the ladies blithely ordered their fare, Tammy obsessed over the menu, pitting what she wanted against what she “should” have. When we looked into the roots of this struggle, Tammy saw herself as a teenage mom, watching her girlfriends having fun while she was swamped with a low-functioning husband and two young daughters. At her high-school graduation, young Tammy glumly …

Sara Avant Stover: Springtime Detox & Renewal Advice for Women

Women, Food, and Forgiveness Part 2: Why Is It So Hard to Forgive?

Published by dmcblog

By Marcella Friel //// Editor’s Note: This post is the second in a five-part series on Women, Food, and Forgiveness by mindful eating and body image coach Marcella Friel. Her 5-day retreat, Women, Food, and Forgiveness, opens April 19, 2017.   “The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong.” — Mahatma Gandhi In the last years of my mother’s life, I was her financial power of attorney, working conscientiously to ensure that her modest financial affairs were in order before she passed on. So imagine my bafflement at receiving $600 cable TV bills month after month—and then my rage upon discovering that my brother was watching pay-per-view pornography at my mother’s house during her visits to the hospital. I wanted to kill him. I confronted him; he refused to pay. I threatened to report him for elder abuse; my siblings said no, we’re family, we’ll take care of it—then did nothing. I tried all the tools in my spiritual arsenal to quell my boiling anger—tonglen, lojong slogans, metta practice—but there wasn’t …

Women, Food, and Forgiveness Part 1: What is Forgiveness?

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By Marcella Friel // Editor’s Note: This post is the first in a five-part series on Women, Food, and Forgiveness by mindful eating and body image coach Marcella Friel. Her retreat Women, Food, and Forgiveness opens April 19, 2017.   “It’s only when we alter our eating habits out of love and respect for ourselves that lasting change has any real chance to take root in our lives.” — Katherine Woodward Thomas What It Takes to Heal When I was a natural foods culinary instructor, one of my favorite classes to teach was called “Therapeutic Menu Planning” ~ how to prepare health-supportive menu plans for those who were suffering from cancer, diabetes, obesity, and other chronic health hindrances. I always began the class by asking students first to consider what it actually means to heal. Is healing a disease the same as curing it? Can someone be cured of a disease but not healed? Can someone be healed and not cured? If so, what’s the difference between healing and curing? As we batted around our ideas, words …