Verse 2 - A Paradox of One

I didn't intend to come to Verse 2 so soon, but it is hand-in-hand with what I wrote about yesterday. It speaks to the paradoxical nature of life, and how it is important to accept both sides to have the one. I wrote about the paradox yesterday, but how this verse speaks to me with regard to returning to health is what is said in the last two lines: "Work is done, then forgotten. Therefore it lasts forever."

Under heaven all can see beauty as beauty only because there is ugliness.
All can know good as good only because there is evil.
Therefore having and not having arise together.
Difficult and easy complement each other.
Long and short contrast each other:
High and low rest upon each other;
Voice and sound harmonize each other;
Front and back follow one another.

Therefore the sage goes about doing nothing, teaching no-talking.
The ten thousand things rise and fall without cease,
Creating, yet not.
Working, yet not taking credit.
Work is done, then forgotten.
Therefore it lasts forever.

I recently read Gineen Roth's new book, "Women, Food and God." She talked about the phenomenon of "bolting." In my younger days of dieting and following food programs, I would love all that was involved with the structure: Counting the method du jour (Points, calories, exchanges), weighing, measuring, planning, reading labels, etc. But as I moved into the afternoon and evening of my life, my tendency after doing this for - at most - maybe two meals out of one day, was to BOLT. For the longest time I thought it was my failing. Then I got on my soapbox about it being the diet-du-jour's failing. I have come to realize that it really is neither's fault. Fault being the operative word. It just is what it is, was what it was. It is no longer for me. That doesn't make it right or wrong.

I realized that I am at a time in my life where I need a more natural approach. An approach that trusts MY nature, not the rules of a diet. I am mature. I am intelligent. I have source energy in me. I can TRUST. Again, without judgment, it is neither good nor bad. It just is what it is. And for me, personally, I have reached a time in my life when this is what is good for me. I read a lot of message boards and blogs, and I am saddened at the struggle so many people face with their efforts to lose weight. Again, not at all judging that I am doing it the right way and they are doing it the wrong way, but rather I feel that they are still in the morning of their lives when they could be comfortably moving on and trusting themselves to move on to the evening of their lives. The conversations are about "Oh my god, I've lost a pound and now I've lost two Points." "Oh my god, how am I going to weigh and measure and count calories the rest of my life?" "Oh my god, I'll never get back to my wedding-day weight." And on and on... Why cannot the conversations be, "This is easy." "I've been living from the end and it works!" "I just quiet myself and I know when to stop eating." "I listen to my body and I know what to eat." "All I did was put on my big-girl panties and trust myself to know what to do."

"Work is done, then forgotten." Instead of counting and weighing and measuring and WORKING so hard, why not just let it be, and forget it. Trust yourself that there is no need to remember how many ounces of lean protein you had at breakfast in order to determine how many to have at lunch. Just allow your body to know what to do. "Therefore it lasts forever." And this is the crux of what attracts me so much to living from the end, imagining, and clean eating. I feel that it is something that I can live with forever. My body will know when it needs more food or less. My body will know when it needs more protein or less. My body will know when it needs more fat or carbohydrates, or less. My body will know. My body will trust. I will trust.

I am trying to read my posts as an outsider to myself. Please know, from the bottom of my heart, I am absolutely not judging anyone who still is holding on to a "diet mentality." My only purpose here is to share with you what works for me and why this is so. Maybe some of you, who have been afraid to move from counting Points or calories to Core, Clean Eating or South Beach, will see a little bit of yourselves in my postings and you will have the courage to test the waters with trusting your own nature.

Samida

p.s. leaving on vacation tomorrow - will be back next week!