You’re Not What You Eat; You’re What You Believe About What You Eat (WD)

Dear Jake,

Your beliefs reflect the current relative state of health that your body is in, just as much as your diet and exercise regimen do. If you desire a gloriously healthy body but behave in unwholesome ways, you’re obviously going to be out of balance. But even more telling are the kinds of thoughts and beliefs that you have about your health. Obviously, just like everyone else, you want to have perfect health. So let’s put this idealistic wish at the top rung of an imaginary ten-step ladder. There, at the apex of your desires regarding your health, is this longing for a body that’s healthy and feels great. Now, visualize this ten-rung ladder with these two questions in mind. At what rung of the ladder are your behaviors in relation to your tenth-rung desire? At what rung of the ladder are your beliefs about your behaviors in relation to your tenth-rung desire? To create a balance where you can honestly say that your body is enjoying its optimal level of health and that you’re grateful to live in such a glorious House of God means making some new decisions around the two questions I’ve posed. It may be surprising to read that I’m not suggesting a radical change in diet or advocating that you embark on an exercise program designed for a body builder or a marathon runner (although these are distinct possibilities). No, I’m suggesting a radical realignment in the energy of the beliefs you give to the tenth-rung desire. If you’re overweight, out of shape, and suffering unnecessarily from physical maladies that are related to your lifestyle, this radical idea may require a lot of determination to overcome your disbelief. Isn’t it strange to think that your diet or lack of exercise aren’t completely responsible for the state of your health? Maybe it has to do with what you believe. Your tenth-rung desire to enjoy living in a healthy body will manifest when you sufficiently desire it. And this is precisely how you can correct the imbalance that has one end weighted down to the ground by behaviors and beliefs that are diametrically opposed to what you desire. Acting on Your New Passionate Belief in Something That Doesn’t Exist . . . Yet! As your beliefs go, so goes your behavior. When you’re able to see yourself as a Divine creation who emanated from a Source of pure unconditional love, with a total absence of shame or self-repudiation, your body has no choice but to enjoy the trip. Whatever you decide to eat, if your thoughts are: It’s my intention that this food be converted to energy that will make my body feel vigorous and strong, your body will begin to respond in kind. Once you remove the old beliefs that fostered feeling anxious, guilty, worried, and even fearful, your brain begins producing chemicals that return you to a balance of feeling good and creating a healthy body. Yes, I’m saying that by reprogramming your thinking to align with your desire to be and feel healthy, you can and will alter the unhealthy behaviors that produced ill health and being out of balance. This is a function of law. Here’s how William James, the father of modern psychology, put it: There is a law in psychology that if you form a picture in your mind of what you would like to be, and you keep and you hold that picture there long enough, you will soon become exactly as you have been thinking. Such is the awesome power of our thoughts. But I’m also saying something that goes beyond this idea of your body acting automatically in response to your reprogrammed thinking. As you begin to balance stereotypical expectations for your body that are out of harmony with your desire to be healthy and feel great, you’ll notice another automatic reaction: Your behaviors will begin to spontaneously seek to balance with your expressed desires. It may happen gradually, but there it is—you see yourself not living in fear or overly focused on your appearance. This wonderful awareness of self-acceptance combines with a strong desire to treat your body with respect. Your eating habits shift without making a conscious decision to change anything. You stop counting calories and simply enjoy what you’re eating, knowing that you can trust the inherent spiritual wisdom that’s programmed into your DNA, your connection to the Source that created the baby you once were. You’ve found a better way to balance and enjoy your life by trusting your thoughts to attract the health you desire. You’re able to relax and enjoy this journey. By consciously having Spirit weigh in through the energy of your thoughts, you’ve tipped the balance in favor of your desires. Your ego, which identifies with your body, has been relegated to a less dominant role. Spirit has no excess fat, indigestion, hunger pangs, or overeating habits, and this is where you’re now choosing to make your stand. You’re choosing thoughts that are in harmony with your originating Spirit, and in so doing there’s no room for being unhealthy. Because you’re more at peace in your thoughts, believing that whatever you do can be converted to a healthy reaction, you take on the same automatic new response in your approach to exercise and physical well-being. Your newly balanced internal-picturing procedure affirms William James’s assertion. I am a Divinely healthy and fit human being. Think it! Say it! Believe it! Even if you’ve harbored a previous image of being overweight and out of shape, say it anyway. You’re starting the process of passionately believing in something that still doesn’t exist. By affirming it and making it your inner reality, you’ll activate a new automatic response that resonates with your stated desire. The next thing you know you’ll be going for a walk. Then perhaps you’ll participate in something that has definitely not been part of the balance in your life up till now—maybe a jog, a yoga class, or a health-club membership. This will all happen without trying, because you must act upon your beliefs. The imbalance between your desire for a healthy body that feels great and persistently unhealthy habits is not remedied by simply changing those habits. You must have a firm determination to learn the art of passionately believing in something that doesn’t yet exist, and refuse to allow that picture to be distorted by you or anyone else. Truly, you are not what you eat or how much you exercise, but rather what you believe about the you that you’re presently birthing in your thoughts. Keep reminding yourself: I get what I think about, whether I want it or not.