Like many of us, weight and everything that comes with it have been an issue for me for quite some time now. And after many different attempts, where I lost weight but then couldn’t sustain the program, and then gained back all the weight and more, I finally realized that I was tired of doing it this way. If it were going to work, it would have by now. I’m ready for a new way to do this, even though I have absolutely no idea what that new way will look like, or when I might possibly discover it.

So I was talking about all of this with my coach, and she said, “The only way weight loss works is if you do it in a way that is kind and loving to yourself.”

I said, “Well, I hear the words you are saying , but I don’t know anyone who’s ever done that. So when you speak of these things, I feel the same way I do when someone claims to have discovered Big Foot in the North Georgia mountains. I mean, do you actually know anyone who’s ever done that?”

“I do,” she reassured me.

“Well, you’ve never lied to me before, so I guess I’ll take your word for it.”

“No, I’ve never lied to you. And I promise, this is not a Weight Loss Urban Legend.”

Since January 1st of this year, Marianne Williamson has appeared on Oprah and Friends radio each afternoon at 3 pm to teach A Course In Miracles. I first went through the Course about 5 years ago, and I thought it would be a really neat experience to go through it again under the guidance of Marianne Williamson, whose work I really admire.

I’ve been doing the daily exercises, as well as practicing applying the principles to my everyday life. Yesterday was a hard day, because I was dealing with a lot of health challenges-AGAIN-and it was making my arthritis flare up-AGAIN.

So I prayed, “Dear God, please help me. I need a miracle.” Then I got really quiet and listened.

I felt guidance and support come in, and I could tell that it was God because it was loving, kind, and gently amused with me.

“Dude,” it said, “take some pain medicine.”

Oh…right.

The word of the Lord.

Thanks be to God.

Every week my friend and fab-o-rama coach, Lynne pulls a Tarot card or a rune for the week, to give us readers something to think about or to explain why certain issues might be “up” for us. This week’s was quite a doozie but I knew exactly what it was talking about, because it pretty much sums up what this past year has been like for me. You can read the entire text at her blog; I’ve excerpted the parts that were particularly applicable to my experience here.

“The role of Nauthiz is to identify our shadow, our dark or repressed side, places where growth has been stunted, resulting in weaknesses that are often projected onto others.”

“This is a time to pay off old debts, to restore, if not harmony, at least balance.”

“When something within you is disowned, that which is disowned wreaks havoc. A cleansing is required here; in undertaking it, you will fund a will and strengthen character.”

“Thus you are required to undergo the dark side of your passage and bring it into the light.”

Yup, that pretty much sums it up quite nicely. But as you know, if you’ve ever gone racketing around in your own unconscious for an extended period of time, there’s a b-i-g difference between reading these words on a page and actually undergoing the process. A difference which I think can best be expressed by the phrase HOLY. F&%@!!

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