Yesterday, I was listening to a friend talk about all of the foods she was cutting out of her diet for the new year. She was frustrated because she’d been wanting to lose weight and improve her health for years and could never seem to do it. As she rattled off about the latest diet plan she was trying, I couldn’t help but think that her approach seemed counter-intuitive.
Diets are so focused on what we’re not going to do. They’re restrictive and all about contraction. I think of intuition as a form of expansion. It helps me to determine what step I’m going to take. It helps me to move closer to what feels good. In fact, one of the ways I know my intuition is speaking to me is that the choice makes me feel good – I feel lighter and a little more clear.
I wondered if she would have more success if she placed her focus on what she was going to eat, rather than what she was not going to eat. If she made a plan to eat an extra serving of fruits and vegetables each day, rather than worrying about cutting out sweets and carbs.
I thought about it so much that I decided I would try it. After all, if I’m going to live intuitively, I need to follow through on my own ideas, rather than looking for the best diet plan somebody else came up with. Like most people, I have that handful of pounds I’m trying to lose every year, and I could stand to eat more fruits and veges and drink more water. My weakness is Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, and whenever I go on a health kick, I vow to cut them out of my life. So I decided this year, I will allow myself to eat as many Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups as I want AFTER I’ve fulfilled my daily fruit and vegetable requirement (five servings) and my daily water allotment. Yesterday, I was so focused on meeting those healthy-eating requirements that by the time I’d finished, I left the peanut butter cups alone.
Intuitive Action Item: Think back to a time when you knew someone’s approach would be all wrong for you. Were you right? Did you act on your intuition? Next that it happens, you’ll know what that feels like.
