he obese understand the suffering that obesity causes. If you've seen the movie "Shallow Hal" you've seen an attempt to let thin people walk in a fat woman's shoes. Those movies, though, never quite hit the full mark because there isn't a way to describe everything every obese person suffers.
Emotionally, the suffering is enormously painful: fear, doubt, insecurity, less-than, not-good-enough - I believe I can stop here, because if you are fat, you know all the rest that go on that list and why beat a dead horse.
I get so angry when I watch those manipulative so-called, weight-loss commercials on the television. They prey on our bad feelings. Those bad feelings of ours are the very thing that make fat an industry. They are the very things that you might consider correcting so that you no longer are tempted to pour more money down what I think is a bottomless pit without real solution for your problem.
Have you noticed that the commercial for the pill that used to cost $150 and is now only $75 has no testimonials saying it works? Have you wondered why? I have fruitlessly spent a lot of money on pills and clubs and spas and books and those supermarket magazines that promise THE CURE-ALL every issue. Surely you are able to see their marketing pattern behind the headlines?
You can spiritually heal your inner self so that you are not tempted to waste your money. If you will candidly do a mental inventory and write down a list of the bad-feeling emotions from which you suffer, you have a starting place to begin to be able to funnel your money into more enjoyable things for yourself.
If you can then look at each item on the list and think your way through from the line item to it's exact opposite, you will set yourself free. Let's look at an example so you can see what I mean.
My own list contained a lot of fears by many different names and one huge doubt - the doubt that I was good enough. We'll use that one for our example. What is the opposite of the doubt that I was good enough? Being good enough, right? I asked myself what the steps between the two might be and then I asked myself lots of questions. I wrote down all my answers.
* Do I have to become good or is there some part of me that is already good?
* What are the already parts of me that are good? * How long is that list?
* If I'm not good, is it possible to become good?
* Is there anything I could do to become good?
* Am I willing to do whatever it takes?
* Would I be willing to give up the things that comfort me?
* Can I live with giving them up and feeling uncomfortable?
* What would be the payoff for feeling uncomfortable temporarily?
* How do I know it would be temporary?
* What if it's forever? Argggghhhhh!
* Why do I have this doubt?
* Am I blaming it on someone else or did I grow it myself?
* If I blame it on someone else, who accepted their ideas?
* Since I created this, do I have the guts to snuff it out, this creation of mine?
* Is there a list inside me of all I know I AM already good with?
* Can I recognize when I'm doubting myself and then can I stop doing it?
For me, the savior has always been Asking Questions. When I set out to correct my thinking, I always use questions because they lead me to a higher understanding, which saves me from my previous errors. I have learned that the only thing I had to do to find peace, acceptance and love was to change the previous ideas I had held as true because it was those ideas that made me uncomfortable.
Please either use these questions or make up your own, but by all means, answer them. This is what spiritual healing work is about. When you immerse yourself in this work, your fat won't be so uncomfortable, you'll like you better, and you'll save the money you might have spent on fixes that have no permanent healing power as this does. Who knows? As you heal your feelings, the obesity might go away on it's own and your emotions will change. I've seen this happen. It's happened to me.
Pat Matson is the Wise Weight Woman who uses spiritual principles to help women overcome their struggles with body image. If you'd like more tips to help you achieve self-acceptance, get her free report, You Are Good and Perfect Right Now and I Can Prove It! at http://www.theworldofwithin.com
