Changing Your Focus

I've been working with a lovely young woman, named Judy, on her cravings. She was telling me that she was really feeling upset the other morning and had a huge craving for a big salt bagel with cream cheese. She even got into the right hand turn lane so that she could pull into Dunkin Donuts.....but she stopped herself!

How did she do it? Judy has been practicing self-hypnosis daily by running mental movies of herself in control of her life and her eating habits. She's been practicing looking beyond the desire for certain foods to the real needs within herself that are screaming to be fulfilled. At the top of the list is her need to honor and care for herself by letting little upsets pass, all the while respecting her body.

As she crawled along waiting to turn into the fast food restaurant, instead of making mental pictures of how good that bagel would taste, she used her time wisely and went through some of the exercises she had learned from my book, in her head, and realized that a bagel would not fix whatever she was upset with and would only make her feel worse in the long run. What relief she felt to be in control of that situation!

You can do the same! The next time you're in a situation where you find yourself reaching for foods that you know are harmful to you, don't dwell of the taste of these foods, rather imagine their effect on your mind, body and emotions. Instead of the moment's pleasure you may receive, focus on the hours of guilt, shame as well as the physical pain (lack of health) these foods are likely to inflict on you. By shifting your focus, your desires change. There's no willpower involved at all . . . because you'll now feel differently--you'll no longer want the items that cause you harm.

Like Judy, you too can prefer to eat the foods that sustain your health as you become aware of and shift your inner world. The first step is to notice what you are focused on, and change that focus to reflect what you truly desire--health, happiness and freedom from food addiction.
EasyWillpower.com