Everything Is “Normal”

It’s common for us to feel like our disliked food behaviors are abnormal. How could we not? We look around and see everyone else eating “normally” while judging our own excesses and strange habits. With this judgement comes mental chatter and at times we might hate ourselves for “being” this way.

Here is the newsflash. There is no normal. And more importantly – many, many, many people have difficult thoughts around food no matter how they present on the outside. The woman in a size 6 next to you at the grocery store might have spent an hour debating over baked or fried chips. The guy behind you might be eating half of his groceries in the car on the way home.

So don’t worry about them – think about your own experience and don’t worry about the endless mental chatter about food. Just watch your behavior. You are normal. If you’d like to change behaviors that don’t serve you then you are free to do so. But let’s not get confused and think that in order to be normal, the endless annoying thoughts must stop. They may never stop. But here’s the catch. We have the ability to de-stress (a bit) so that we can clear just enough mental space necessary to not have all of those thoughts guide our actions.

So this month our mantra is “I am normal”.

Then we see if we can make some space in our normal mind with practice so that choice comes easily.

Loka Samasta Sukino Bavantu,

(May all beings be happy and free)

Brandt