{"id":206,"date":"2016-02-11T08:25:08","date_gmt":"2016-02-11T13:25:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/essenceoftheone\/?p=206"},"modified":"2016-02-11T12:12:37","modified_gmt":"2016-02-11T17:12:37","slug":"healing-your-relationship-with-food-your-body-god","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/essenceoftheone\/2016\/02\/healing-your-relationship-with-food-your-body-god\/","title":{"rendered":"Healing Your Relationship with Food, Your Body & God"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"Love-Hate
\nFrom the moment the umbilical cord is cut, we begin seeking sustenance from outside ourselves. From that day forward, our human selves begin weaving a web between subsistence in the unconditional love of Source and dependence on the material world and loved ones for our basic survival.<\/p>\n

The natural instinct is to suckle the breast, which feeds us and holds us close to the mother\u2019s heart, close to the energies of love, compassion and security that we knew before our spirits were born into physical human form.<\/p>\n

Already we have the association of nourishment with love and safety.<\/p>\n

In the infant stage, cries are met with food or a pacifier to soothe and comfort. Later, special foods become a reward or a treat.<\/p>\n

For most of us, it is inevitable \u2013 we are soon introduced to the refined sugar and flour products which have the same effects on the body as drugs. We are introduced to carefully engineered hyper-palatable foods in addictive combinations that light up the brain\u2019s pleasure center just like cocaine and heroin.<\/p>\n

Advertisements show us how happy we can be if we consume manufactured substances that come in pretty packages. We come to consume foods for pleasure without regard for the state or needs of the physical body.<\/p>\n

Hectic schedules of the busy world become a determining factor in what, where and how we eat. Cultural expectations and family traditions shape habits that override the body\u2019s innate wisdom and natural instinct.<\/p>\n

As our bodies grow and we become more independent, we are taught to rely on the mind and what we had learned rather than our own instincts or innate wisdom or feelings. We lose connection with the natural rhythms of the universe, and we are unable to trust in the cycles and flow of nature.<\/p>\n

We learn to deny the inner knowings, shove down emotions, close the heart and march in step with the masses.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s no wonder there is so much sickness in our world.<\/p>\n

Needs for physical nourishment get really confused with fears of survival, emotional discomforts, addictions, learned habits and lack of trust.<\/p>\n

And it\u2019s all perfect.<\/p>\n

When we journey so far from the love and wisdom of the deep inner heart, something\u2019s gotta give. Physical, mental and emotional illness, the discomforts and disharmonies of relationships, struggles to make the car payment and the mortgage, and the overweight tired drained body \u2013 all set the stage for us to wake up and question what we\u2019ve learned and seek to return to what we\u2019ve known inside all along.<\/p>\n

We now have the beautiful opportunity to examine how we relate to our own bodies, our emotions, our surroundings, our loved ones and coworkers and strangers we meet on the street. All of these relationships inform us of how we relate to our deep inner knowing of unconditional love and security.<\/p>\n

And the nature of all of these relationships is reflected in our relationship with food.<\/p>\n

Your relationship with food and your body, including your body\u2019s ability to digest, are direct reflections of your relationship with your deepest knowing of yourself and your inner truths.<\/p>\n

The uncomfortable issues that you\u2019ve experienced in your life become doorways that guide you on your journey back to the inner knowing that you long ago shoved down into your belly and covered over with chocolate sauce in order to survive in the world.<\/p>\n

The journey leads you to heal and to become whole again. The key to making your way back to your deepest inner truths is to open your heart, to feel, to trust and to love.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not an easy journey. Life provides years of messages and experiences that cause you to put up protective barriers and develop intricate defense mechanisms and coping strategies. Many of these include a reliance on food to keep the emotions in place behind the barriers, to distract you from discomforts and to fill the voids of loneliness and boredom and lack of fulfillment.<\/p>\n

The good news is that you do not need to dig up your past garbage in order to heal your present condition. Here are 5 keys to healing your relationships with food, your body and spirit:<\/p>\n