One Size Does Not Fit All

It should be obvious that 'one size fits all' doesn’t work.  Most clothing cannot shrink or stretch to accommodate all, or even most.  But how often do we notice where we are asked to fit in, to try to pretzel ourselves into the way it’s always been done. In my demographic, education started with the idea that all students had to “sit down and be quiet”. 
 
Consider the rigid, invisible structures we create for ourselves.  For so many reasons, we start on “self-improvement’ for body, mind and life.  Around 8th grade, Seventeen magazine entered my life, and it targeted all the insecurities that most 8th graders had and still have.  For me, it started with my very curly hair that wasn’t featured in any pictures in any magazine and that tug of war reigned for decades, only to be surpassed by the war I engaged in with my body and food. So much “self-improvement” leads to so much self-destruction.  Even though we know that one size doesn’t fit all, so many of us buy into the idea that some expert has a system or a diet or a workout plan designed to make us smarter, thinner or fitter.  Self-improvement comes from a sense that we’re less than everyone else, there is something wrong with me; maybe THIS program, diet, book, will fix it, fix me. 

We lose sight of our “expert” within.  We aren’t always encouraged to trust our body, our feelings, or our own experiences. True growth, in mind, body and soul comes from acceptance and love.  Acceptance of what is, in this moment.  And love is the only thing that will allow change.  Client’s say: “If I love myself now, nothing will ever change!” thinking that the self-loathing is the motivation. But self-hatred doesn’t create change, it just generates more of the same. Life Coach training taught me that I can choose to shift my attention to what I want, instead of focusing on what I don’t want, what is wrong.  We can all choose to focus on something more interesting.  This takes practice.  It IS a practice, one you can choose over and over. And instead of beating yourself up when the old thoughts come calling, remind yourself, gently, that you are going to focus on the positive, on uplifting your thoughts (and thus, your health, your life, your entire expression and experience).  It’s practice, not a perfect. Beating yourself up for drifting into the old habitual thoughts is more of the same old negativity.  Hold yourself and this practice lightly, with compassion for the you that you are becoming.
 
As for the idea that you will do everything you really want to do once you have the body, the money, the job, the whatever; instead “start with the end in mind” (a saying of Marc David, my teacher at the Institute for the Psychology of Eating).  Identify those things now.  It could be taking a class, travel, going to a concert, participating in a community play. Start small, and pick one, and very importantly, put a 'by when' date on it.  If it’s someday, it’s just a wish.  Give yourself a reasonable amount of time to prepare, but be specific.  “I will go hiking at the county park with my friend Clare, by July 30, 2020.” Setting goals is also a practice: focusing on what moves you forward.  Practices don’t make perfect, practices bring you closer to the expert on you: YOU.

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