The Joy Diet ~ Truth

The second week of reading The Joy Diet by Martha Beck is complete. I so enjoyed this chapter on Truth. I tell you, this has been a wonderfully fulfilling week for me personally.

I was dragged, kicking and screaming, to the practice of doing nothing each day. After 2 weeks it's becoming a part of my daily ritual of self-care. Previous to reading the Joy Diet I had committed to a self-care plan, something which I read every day and doing nothing is now an inseparable part of that plan. If you have not yet established a self-care plan, I strongly urge you to do so. It makes a difference. I know. Make a plan, write it down, and as much as possible, commit to it!

The second item on the menu of the joy diet is Truth. There are 3 Truth steps and the primer question for Truth is ~

"Why am I avoiding stillness?" That is an excellent question. The first week of nothing I was aware of my attempts at avoiding stillness, as if it were a waste of my time or it wasn't a serious consideration in my day. I was resisting stillness and at the point I recognized this, stillness became my friend. It was so powerful, I tell you. Martha writes ~ "The thing about denial is that any form of truth directed at it dissolves it, the way a solvent dissolves grease. If you're afraid to know that you know and feel what you feel, simply acknowledging your fear begins to erode your denial." It is naming the dragon. Pure and simple. Once it has a name, it can no longer be ignored. It becomes smaller. Less threatening. I become less afraid.

Taking this one step further, awareness is an essential part of this process. Truth step 2 ~What do I feel? What hurts? What is the painful story I am telling? And further.....Can I be sure my painful story is true?

That kicked me in the gut. Can I be sure my painful story is true??? A few weeks ago I was having an edifying conversation with my friend Carole. We were talking about high school phys ed class and I told her that it had a been a nightmare for me. It brought to the forefront my insecurities about my size, weight, stamina, physical abilities, etc. It began in early childhood with the game "Red Rover". Remember that game? There are two teams and each team forms a long line with the team members side-by-side holding hands in a chain, facing the opposing team. A chosen member of each team begins by saying "Red Rover Red Rover send Becky right over, and then I would run across the distance and try to break the chain at what I thought would be the weakest link. I could never ever break the chain, and I was always the first person chosen to run. When the opposing team got their chance to send someone over, the person running always chose to break the chain at me. And our chain always broke at my hand-hold. I was the weakest link. Or, so I thought. While talking with Carole, I suddenly realized that I was not necessarily the weak link, and that there was a 50% chance that it was my team-mate who let go. A-HA. Maybe, just maybe, my team-mate was the weakest link. I'm not saying it wasn't me, but I can no longer say with certainty that it was either, yet that was my old, inaccurate story.

What a load off my shoulders. All those years, dozens of years, going around during my life, thinking with certainty that I had always been the weak link. That had been my truth all those years. It wasn't my truth. My truth is that I inaccurately believed it. It was my painful story and my painful story turned out not to be true.

Next question ~ Is my painful story working? By "is my story working", Martha means is my story helping me to feel peaceful, balanced, and able to face life's difficulties by growing and changing? A resounding ABSOLUTELY NOT. My painful story was inhibiting me from embracing things which I may have enjoyed. I avoided physical activities. I avoided any form of competition, believing that I would fail because of my wrongful belief garnered from a single childhood experience. I lived in guilt, shame, embarrassment all those years. For nothing.

Next question ~ Can I think of another story that might work better? Oh you bet I can. My team-mate on either side of me might have let go their grip which may have caused us to lose the game. I tried my best to maintain a strong grip and sometimes it worked, and at times it didn't. End of story.

Truth step 3 ~ Offer compassion to your inner lying scumbag. Yeah, my inner lying scumbag can act up occasionally and I need to keep it in line but I need to love it too. This is the best part ~ "Of the options open to me, which one brings the most love into the world?"

That is my favorite question. I love that question. There are parts of me that seem to deserve love less than other parts of me, but that's an illusion. All of me needs love. A life coach once told me "Becky, only you get to be you, and isn't that special?" Yes. It is special. Very special. I was enlightened and through that, I know I can make my world and perhaps even the world of others a better place.

From the Joy Diet ~ "Victor Frankl, a survivor of the Nazi death camps, said, "There are two ways to go to the gas chamber: free or not free." It is the truth that offers us this freedom, the freedom to test what we are taught, to accept what we feel in our hearts, to believe what we know in our bones, and to love ourselves - including the worst aspects of ourselves - until we see through enough of our illusions to discover who we were really meant to be. At that point, we will have dismantled the biggest lie, the most profound denial of all: the denial of our own inestimable power and value......Once you've awakened to this light you will gradually , almost involuntarily, begin to act more like yourself - not out of a desire to attack anyone else's truth, but simply because you cannot un-see what you have seen. Without your having to force it or try or even hope, the truth will set you free."

Yes.

To join in the group reading of The Joy Diet, please visit The Next Chapter at Jamie Ridler Studios.

It is never too late to join in the journey!

In addition, I have completed my vision card which represents Truth for me. It is a culmination of influences, a-ha moments, and gratitude after reading the first 2 chapters.

Being unburdened by painful stories which don't prove to ultimately be my Truth represents weightlessness to me. I had that in mind during the search for images for a visual representation in the making of my card. I also wanted to learn the Chinese character for truth. It wasn't until after the vision card was finished that I became aware of how similar the forms are to each other. I feel a wonderful satisfaction and peace with how this has evolved and am so enjoying this journey through this not-only nutritional, but substantial meal. Hey, have some fun with this exploration!!!

Have a beautiful day