Your Thoughts Don’t Create Compulsive Eating.
Your thoughts don’t create compulsive eating. Your desire to deny and suppress emotions does. Don’t worry about your thoughts; they are a product of your emotions.
I used to be so worried about my thoughts. If they were "negative", wouldn't that create compulsive eating?
Back when I was in my new-age spirituality phase, I was concerned about what thoughts I was thinking. I believed, as many people do, that "negative" thoughts were the issue, the thing that needed to change.
I would try to redirect my thoughts away from negativity and into positivity.
I was afraid that if I had angry thoughts, it would create more anger. I worried that if I had fearful thoughts, that would create more fear.
I believed negativity attracted more negativity. And I believed that if I stayed in the negative space too long, that I would inevitably overeat. I had been told by the various "experts" and books and supposed spiritual teachers that to heal overeating, I just needed to focus on the positive, redirect my thoughts to gratitude, to see negative emotions and thoughts as a story to make sure I didn't believe.
Looking back, I was always worried about my thoughts.
I tried these types of approaches for a good six years. Guess what? My overeating didn't change with them. Maybe at times I'd think there was a small improvement but it never stuck. Change was never permanent.
It wasn't until I discovered resources that taught that actually, thoughts are a product of emotions, and that our emotions are the name of the game, that things started to change.
I also started contemplating the idea that allowing painful and uncomfortable emotions did not attract more of the same, in fact feeling them helped to heal them.
In healing overeating, don't worry about your thoughts. They're just an indicator of what your emotions are. Instead, focus on what emotions are in you. Not what emotions you think should be in you, but what emotions really are in you. Don't judge them, but rather allow them healthy expression in a way that won't harm yourself or others. Feeling painful emotions won't increase your compulsive eating, it will decrease it.
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