Embracing Change The beginning of any new relationship starts by exploring the very idea of change.
For example,
What will a change in food habits mean?
Will it mean that you will never again overeat on Thanksgiving?
Never have another food craving?
Never restrict food?
Never eat another meal too quickly?
That might be nice,
But is it realistic?
Another part of understanding change is to question your beliefs about how change happens.
Will it happen suddenly?
How long will it take?
How you think about the process of change will have a lot to do with your success in changing your relationship to food.
So right now,
Let's spend a few moments exploring two very different approaches to change.
You can think of the first approach as a mechanical or replacement view of change.
From this perspective,
We change things by eliminating whatever is mechanically broken or undesirable and replacing it with something new.
You know about this approach if your car ever broke down and you replaced the broken parts or bought a car with a warranty.
Some medical treatments also successfully follow this model by replacing body joints and even hearts.
The replacement approach is a familiar one and it does work in some cases.
But the problem with it is that it can lead to black or white thinking.
So we start to believe that there's the good part of ourselves and the bad or defective part.
Anything less than a 100 percent fix or cure is considered to be still damaged,
Defective,
And unworthy.
But can we truly have a warranty on our food choices and desires?
The good news is that there's a second perspective on change that is called the acceptance and commitment model.
This approach doesn't paint things in black and white terms as being either all fixed or all broken.
Instead it stresses the importance of acceptance,
Commitment,
And skill,
Words you'll hear throughout this program.
This change approach is more forgiving because it allows space for making wrong turns.
It says you don't have to be perfect in your quest for healthful eating habits.
In fact,
It encourages you to accept the fact that stress and emotional storms in your life may increase your tendency to fall back on old eating habits and patterns.
But remember,
This is only a tendency,
Not something permanent written in stone.
The idea is that if you make a commitment to learn mindfulness skills,
Then these skills will help you weather those emotional storms and give you greater success in making change.
This more gentle perspective states that change doesn't happen all at once,
But in baby steps that you can take in this moment.
For example,
I've had some workshop participants who told me they couldn't practice mindful breathing for five minutes a day.
So when I asked if they could practice for 30 seconds a day,
They agreed.
To me,
Any effort you make is still change,
Still a success.
Keep this new acceptance and commitment model of change in mind as you learn how to practice mindfulness and mindful eating skills.
