For Today: March 21st

For Today: March 21^st

Is it so small a thing

To have enjoyed the sun

To have lived light in the spring

To have loved, to have thought,

To have done?

Matthew Arnold

Is a day important only if it is filled with big deeds and heroics? I used to think so. Today, I consider a day well spent if I have enjoyed something I once took for granted. How wonderful to feel good, physically and emotionally; to notice things I never saw before. Were there always flowers by the side of the road here?

Today I feel exhilarated when I see a self-defeating habit go. I sense a new strength in myself when I risk closeness, when I give up prescription thinking for my own thoughts.

All these wonders, and more, make it a perfect day today----a day without the escape of compulsive overeating, a day to live as naturally as can be.

For Today: There is time in my day to stop and take notice of what is around me: the air, a fragrance, a sound. For one minute I can forget what I have to do and let myself feel the moment with all the intensity of my being.

Our society tells us how we should feel & what we should feel. Our society dictates what is considered 

 ‘important.’ If a mother doesn’t work outside the home, then she isn’t The Perfect Woman.

Society tells us it’s ok to eat fast food & to order out every night; that we  shouldn’t have to cook after a long day. 

If I watch TV, I am told that I need take anti-depressants, that it will make me happy to eat Kentucky Fried Chicken,  that if my leg moves a bit I have Restless Leg Syndrome.  I’m told my children need McDonald’s & Hot Wheels in order to live a full life. That I must drive a Lexus, live in the suburbs & have 2.2 children. I’m also told my marriage will most likely end in divorce & I should hire a lawyer to get half of everything I’m entitled to.

What a crock. How easy IS it to get my priorities screwed up? Somewhere along the way, I lost sight of what WAS important in favor of what I was TOLD was important.  When I focus on material wealth , I lose sight of spiritual wealth.

When I fall prey to society’s convoluted teaching methods is when I also fall prey to my disease of compulsive overeating.

For today, I pray to appreciate the small things in life; to be able to savor the moment & not get lost in the mad dash for money, things & status.

For today, I strive to ignore the media claim that eating is the acceptable national pastime. For today, I know I have better things to do than to amuse or entertain myself with food.