In part one of the power of being, we explored the idea of embodying the state of being. Today, I want to discuss the integration of being into your daily life. We will discuss how it can relate to your healing journey with food and ultimately help to reclaim your relationship to Self and connection to others.
Finding Wisdom in Being
Part of the beauty of being, is that moments of wisdom will suddenly arise. For example, the other day I realized the connection between the philosophy of All Foods Fit and the concept of being. If you’re unfamiliar with All Foods Fit, you can learn more in this blog post and the accompanying youtube video.
I bring this up because as we explore the integration of being into daily life, we’ll see how many entry points there are to do so! I will be connecting this to food, but my clients are often shocked when they realize how their relationship with food parallels their relationship in other areas of their life.
So notice for yourself if your relationship with food parallels your relationship with money, shopping, spending money on yourself, dating, screen time, exercise/movement, alcohol, etc.
As you do this, begin to notice the area(s) you can integrate the power of being into your daily life. Start with the most accessible area to foster trust in yourself that you can do this. Because friends, you can do this!!
Limitations in the Labels
We generally describe things with a descriptor or qualifier. This is good. That is bad.
We do this with people, food, ourselves, circumstances, experiences, etc. We narrow it down to a quality or handful of qualities, generally in a dualistic way. By dualistic, I mean we often describe things in their extremes. She is wonderful. He is such a narcissist. They are so flaky and unreliable.
When we do this we limit the person, food, experience, etc. to a very narrow scope. It doesn’t allow for the entirety of that person, food, experience, etc. to be expressed and seen.
One reason for this is that the qualifier that we use is our perception of it. It is how we perceive it to be through our personal lens of the world. Now, how we see the world and ourselves in it, is often curated through our lived experiences, beliefs, conditioning, etc.
The unfortunate side of this is that when these false and limiting belief systems are not examined, many of our experiences will reinforce them. Thus, they get more and more ingrained into our subconscious and harder to address.
All Foods Fit
If perception or lens doesn’t resonate, you can also think of this in terms of your relationship to it. Let’s explore the integration of being into our daily life through our relationship with food.
If you believe a food is bad because everyone has said it is, that becomes your belief and establishes a relationship to it. For many, believing a food is bad leads them to believe that they are bad when they eat it. Cue the shame spiral!
This is why an all foods fit approach can be helpful for some. Implementing the power of being with food, helps to neutralize the power or charge that the food has. This helps to shift your relationship with the food. Over time, it allows the food to simply be. So, it is neither good, nor bad. It just is.
When you allow it to be, it can be expressed in all of the many colors and nuances it is capable of expressing. For example, it is full of vitamin A. It makes me think of my Grandma. It upsets my stomach. Its so quick and easy. I don’t love the texture of it. It brings me a sense of comfort. It scares me.
Notice how it feels describing a food in this way versus labeling it as good or bad. It’s much harder to judge yourself for eating a food when you can see it in all of its many expressions! And again, all of those expressions are a reflection of one’s relationship to it. They can shift as your relationship to it.
All Relationships Fit
This same approach can work with all relationships!
For example, let’s say you are being bullied. It’s very easy to say terrible things about that person and not see him/her/them in another light. What if you discovered that person was being abused at home and abusing others was the only way they knew how to interact with people. They were raised in an abusive home and found relationships that reinforced the belief that abuse is how you express love.
Does this shift your relationship to this person? Do you see them with more nuance and color than before? It doesn’t make it right what they are doing or what they have done. And you are able to see this person in a new light that opens the door to inviting in a sense of compassion. This shifts your vibration out of hate and separation into love and oneness, raising your frequency!
All Aspects of Self Fit
This can be true about ourselves. So often we judge ourselves and have limiting and false beliefs about who we are in this world. We don’t allow space to honor all of the various aspects of Self. For example, honoring with compassion the wounded parts of self that cause us to act out in ways we feel shameful for.
Instead, we label ourselves. I am stupid. I’m unworthy. I am unlovable.
Now, if you strip the qualifier away…it just is.
I am… This is… That is….
If we can remove the judgments and labels about ourselves, the moment, the situation, the person, the experience, the food… it just is.
We can allow it and us to be in the full expression of the innate wholeness without limiting it down to a qualifier, label or judgment.
Acceptance through the Power of Being
It is through this that we can see the wholeness and interconnectedness of ourselves with all that there is. It is through this that we can honor and begin to accept all aspects of self/Self.
When we shine a light on the aspects of self that we hide or feel shame around, our shadow selves, they don’t hold as much power. The shame begins to soften and like the bully, opens the door to allow for compassion to flow in. Eventually, allowing oneself to shift into self love and self acceptance for all parts of self. Keep in mind it might only start with one aspect of self. Trust that the rest will follow in time.
Remember that this integration of being into our daily life is a journey and not a destination. This is because it is ever evolving, just as we are ever evolving.
So allowing ourselves to be, even for a moment, can slowly bring each one of us closer to understanding and remembering who we truly are and our interconnectedness with all that there is.
At the very least, it can hold space to shine a light of compassion and love on the parts of self that we hide from ourselves and the world.
That friends, is the power of being and integrating it into your daily life!
Until next time, stay curious!