"We have garage door syndrome where we open it in the morning to pull out and then later on pull in and close it, closing ourselves off from the neighborhood."
This is Suzanne Vara talking about Las Vegas communities. But...you know how other people's words get me thinking. We can all see how Garage Door Syndrome plays out in our neighborhoods (at least if you live in the suburbs -- did I mention I can my first experience EVER of talking to a neighbor in the middle of the street just 3 months ago???)
But what about inside your own head? How many times do you start to think, feel and connect with your interior landscape (via eating more sensibly, starting to exericise, meditation, etc) only to have life happen and you close the garage door sealing yourself off from your feeling and sensations. Sure, it seems easier to deal with life if we are not "distracted" by what and how we are feeling -- but what are the long-term costs of this isolation from ourselves?
At a minimum, we overeat because we are unwilling to register the sensation of physical hunger being satisfied. We eat to distract us from our stress of the day (think about all that food being used as a barricade in front of our garage doors to prevent our real feelings from breaking through).
Maybe it is time for you to open the garage door and step into the world you have been so activily trying to avoid. You may be suprised at how well you like what you find.
Kristi
ReplyDeleteLove the reference back to ourselves and within ourselves. So many times we close the door on something new as it is harder to do and revert back to the overeating. Eating healthy is a lifestyle as there are so many ways to cut corners and remain distracted.
Opening the door is a step but keeping it open no matter what is the hardest part.
Thank you for the mention but internalizing this makes a whole lot more sense.
Suzanne -- I am glad you found my post and thanks for the comment! I am continually amazed (and probably shouldn't be) at how eating behaviors are the smaller slice representation of how we view the larger world. Food is almost always NOT the problem -- Just like garage doors wouldn't be any kind of a social issue if we shut them and came out onto the stoop (or walked to the mailbox instead of driving up to it) to create the opportunity to interact with out neighbors. Thanks for sharing your thoughts here!!
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