How are you dong?

If you're staying home because of the Covid-19 crisis, you're probably getting a little bored of being so isolated. I know I am.

For many of us, being in quarantine is a perfect recipe for overeating. I'm sure many people are putting on extra weight during this time. If this is you, please extend compassion to yourself, as we're not dealing with normal circumstances.

Many of us have had our routines disrupted and feel a little lost and unanchored. It's important to develop some sort of self-care routine for yourself during this time as it helps you to stay healthy and grounded.

Isolation is often a trigger for overeating. We may become depressed, anxious and despairing and overeat to soothe these painful feelings. But the more weight we gain, the more we despair; and then we’re driven to eat, stuck in a vicious cycle. Desperate, we may try to diet, with our critical shaming internal voice prodding us to lose weight quickly and perfectly; and when we fail at that, well, what’s the use? We go right back to overeating … and the cycle goes on!

The antidote to isolation is connection. The first connection we need to make is to ourselves. Overeating disconnects us from our thoughts and feelings. Many of us choose to numb ourselves out during a crisis but it's counterproductive. 

We need to establish a connection to ourselves by paying close attention to our thoughts and feelings. You can practice checking in with yourself during the day to notice what you're feeling and thinking. I recommend keeping a journal during this time. It creates a safe space to release and process feelings. 

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It's also important to make a connection with our deeper wisdom - our intuition, or to the God of our understanding, or a Power greater than ourselves. This provides the strength, nourishment and grounding that will propel us forward. We can do this through meditation, yoga, prayer, being in nature, art, gardening, or some other meditative type activity.

https://www.secretsofaweightlossmaster.com 

• Formula for happiness: out of self = out of mind = happiness! 
  ―Catherine L. Taylor 

• When you're surrounded by all these people, it can be lonelier than when you are by yourself. You can be in a huge crowd, but if you don't feel like you can trust anyone or talk to anybody, you feel like you're really alone. 
  ―Fiona Apple 

• So many people are shut up tight inside themselves like boxes, yet they would open up, unfolding quite wonderfully, if only you were interested in them. 
  ―Sylvia Plath

• In order to have friends, you must first be one. 
  ―Elbert Hubbard

• Loneliness is the poverty of self; solitude is richness of self. 
  ―May Sarton

• We must become so alone, so utterly alone, that we withdraw into our innermost self. It is a way of bitter suffering. But then our solitude is overcome, we are no longer alone, for we find that our innermost self is the spirit, that it is God, the indivisible. And suddenly we find ourselves in the midst of the world, yet undisturbed by its multiplicity, for our innermost soul we know ourselves to be one with all being. 
  ―Herman Hesse