next 8 weeks. Read it regularly until it’s a part of who you are.
The Power of Release - The Goodbye Letter
Ideals, our spirits have been hungry. We have been hungry for acceptance, for love, for respect, for happiness, for forgiveness, and for a sense of worthiness and honor. We have looked for these things in our jobs, our spouses, our children, our parents, our bank accounts and our mirrors, but we still found ourselves starving…for what they could not give us.
We are lovable and we are loved. That is the truth that can nourish and refresh us whenever we remember it. With this knowing, we can courageously confront the lie of not enough - that thief that has stolen our joy and kept us from living our best and sweetest lives.
We haven’t just been duped about sugar over the years, but also about our innate worth. If someone told you that you were a genius, would you believe them? Most of us would say, “No.” Yet how many of us believe the opposite when someone labels us that way?
The fact is that you are a genius. One of the definitions of genius is “a natural ability.” Admit it. You have special gifts that no one else on earth has. Your unique life journey, intuition and connection to your Higher Power have given you insights, wisdom and power that you have never fully acknowledged.
Like Simba in The Lion King and Elsa in Frozen, we have been running away from acknowledging our wisdom and our courage, yet these very gifts have been with us all along.
It’s time to use that courage to come home to ourselves - to acknowledge that we have allowed our body and spirits to be abused by sugar, and that sugar has isolated us and made us feel unlovable. Today the abuse ends as we say goodbye to our extra weight and our old habits.
Sugar Was My Abusive Partner
Chelsea, a wife, Mom, speech therapist and 8 to Your IdealWeight Coach saw abuse as a pattern in her life. One she’d never seen in herself…
As I went through the 8 to Your IdealWeight program, I realized how much sugar reminded me of an abusive partner.
Growing up I had a friend who always seemed to pick the worst guys. They were losers who would treat her awful 90 percent of the time; and the other 10 percent when they were half-way decent, it was just to get what they wanted.
Once the abuse started, mentally and physically, I would beg her to stop seeing them. Unfortunately, all I could do was be there for her when she would need comfort after a rough patch. I would tell her over and over how she didn’t deserve this, but she always went back because somehow the addictive actions and words of those men were able to get into her head more than I was. It wasn’t easy to watch, but I always hoped one day she would get angry enough to stop the cycle.
I can see now that sugar has been an abusive boyfriend to my mind and body. The headaches, body aches, and extra weight were evidence of a sick love affair with sugar - much like bruises from a violent relationship. It treated me badly, and I kept going back because, for a minuscule amount of time, it felt good. The other 95 percent of the time I allowed it to do horrible things. My mind and body have cried out with signals like pain or illness begging me to protect them.
Nowadays I am befriending myself and loving my body. I am learning I deserve so much better and will be so much better off without sugar addicting my body and tainting my amazing mind. I am kicking out my abusive partner.
I have finally broken the cycle of sugar’s abuse. The journey this program has taken me on is one for which I am, and will be, eternally grateful.
- Chelsea Phipps,
8 to Your IdealWeight Coach
Facing Ourselves
Your life is about to change. If you have a smartphone or camera, take a “before” selfie of your full body with your clothes on. (In the mirror may work the best.) It will feel good to look back at your “before” pictures down the road. If you feel uncomfortable keeping it, you can always delete it or throw it away.
A Goodbye Letter to Your
Extra Weight
There is nothing as powerful as our own words, and it’s time to put yours on paper in the form of a goodbye letter.
If you don’t have a journal, get some writing paper and a pen. Find a quiet place to sit with a writing surface where you won’t be disturbed. If you can, prepare yourself for this writing time by listening to an inspirational song like, “Brave” by Sara Bareilles, “Fight Song” by Rachel Platten, or the gently powerful “Try” by Colbie Caillat.
First decide what or who you will write to. You may write it to your extra weight, acknowledging the purpose it served, and saying a respectful farewell, or you may write it to a particular food that you turned to for comfort in the past.
It may feel uncomfortable at first. Let it. It’s perfectly normal to feel anger, sadness, fear, regret or anything else. Just allow your feelings to flow through you as you write. To feel is to heal.
When you’re finished with the letter, you can share it with your partner, coach or small group, and then burn it, or burn it immediately. Either way, letting go will help you start this journey with a clear resolve and a heart that’s free.
Here is an example of the power of release from an Ideal who eventually released 50+ pounds and reclaimed her freedom:
Dear Extra Weight,
You have been surrounding me and covering me with your soft, jello-like form. On sad days and lonely nights you were all I had, and at the time it seemed like you were my only solace. As I lived with your comforting ways you grew and grew and GREW. Your growth alarmed me and I chose to handle it by not looking in the mirror, telling myself at my age it didn’t matter because I had no one in my life to impress anyway. I tried to shrink you and make you go away, but you hung on for dear life and continued to grow. I saw that I had made a huge mistake inviting you in.
You kept me from going out. I was embarrassed to see old friends, knowing they would wonder why I let you join me. I was embarrassed to meet new friends knowing they would not be able to see the true me as you surrounded me so completely that my true identity was hidden. You made me cry…a lot.
Then by a (blessed) chance I met a stranger who told me of a plan that just might send you out the door. That’s why I’m giving you a swift kick! Out of my life Extra Weight! I’m releasing you! This is a one-way ticket, no returns! In the next 8 weeks I am going to see your sorry behind disappear for good! I will see you melt away like Frosty the Snowman did on that sunny day. Good riddance and O Happy Day!
- Hanni H.
Now it’s time to let your heart speak its truth.
The Butterfly Meditation
Once you have completed and burned your letter, honor the sacred moment of transformation with a deep breath, and if it feels good, spend a few minutes in a cleansing meditation such as this one:
Close your eyes and see yourself stepping into a cocoon
