Shedding the Weight: Mind, Body and Spirit – Day 5 – Getting Out of the Hunger Dilemma

Today’s meditation addresses the dilemma when any hunger or need doesn’t get satisfied, our bodies keep asking for more. The hungrier you are, the hungrier you stay, no matter how much food you eat.

It is the habits we form that unbalance our body from being nourished. There are simple steps we can take to bring natural balance to our body with self-care and self-awareness.

Getting Out of the Hunger Dilemma

Today’s Centering Thought is: I am the source of my own inner healing.
Today’s Mantra: So Hum (I am.)

Center yourself to begin a quite solitude of mind and spirit with the thought “I am the source of my own inner healing.” Then begin to meditate by repeating the mantra: So Hum. This mantra is an affirmation that identifies individual awareness with universal existence. With each meditation feel your mind body and spirit open just a little more. Each time your mind wanders come back by repeating this mantra and hold the meaning behind it – I am. Simply meditate for 20 minutes.

Today’s Journal Activities:

Today we learned that sleep is vital to our body’s ability to communicate its needs correctly. In considering how you can better support your natural biorhythms, write down three things you could do to improve your sleep. Now, write down how you can more directly address that lack.
Apart from daily meditation, write down one thing you can fit into your schedule to relieve everyday stress. It could be as simple as taking a 5-minute walk.
List five things you can do to make your daily routine more regular, looking at diet, sleep, and physical activity.
Reflect further on your experience today.

Mentally, we are hungry for nourishing experiences. The emotional hunger is reflected in your physical hunger and your body becomes confused and can’t differentiate. If you are emotionally nourished, the physical cravings stop. However, you can’t change what you aren’t aware of. This means that you must connect your hunger to a real need that can actually be satisfied. That is how we end the hunger dilemma.

We must rely on self-care and see through the confusion our bodies fall into. For example, the hormones that control hunger and cessation become unbalanced due to lack of sleep – causing you to think you are hungry when you are tired. It is a soothing mechanism, but not a solution. Self-care is the first step to breaking the hunger dilemma. First, you must get back to a natural sleep rhythm and get regular sleep. Secondly, chronic stress must be reduced, and last but not least, you must find a daily routines as closely as possible. These steps are about allowing your body to restore its own natural balance.

Then you must address the perpetuating hunger cycle. This means always being in the present and mindful of the thought patterns that trigger the eating habits. Become aware of the thoughts and what you are really hungry for. Self-awareness has power to break unconscious habits and move from hunger to bounty. When you apply self-care to your real needs, life becomes much lighter.

“When you are in a fix, often the fix is in you.” — Ashok Kallarakkal