Beating Ana by Shannon Cutts

Tis the Season for Renewal

This month's Good News for Eating Disorders Recovery message seems especially timely as spring approaches. I just saw my first red robin - the robin is my favorite bird (other than the cockatiel, of course).

I hope you enjoy the message! :-)

You, Too, Can Renew

Each month I answer recovery questions and share insights in a newsletter I call Good News for Eating Disorders Recovery.

The newsletter is just one of the many ways that we can connect together to share the challenges and victories of our complementary recovery journeys. I get so many questions from readers, and I also get to share my favorite movies, books, and "aha moments" that I have discovered in the preceding month.

I thought I would share this month's message with you here as well, because it is spring, and everywhere we see nature renewing itself....and one of the most amazing examples of that is right here in my hometown of Houston, Texas!

You, Too, Can Renew

No, this month's title is not a Dr. Suess riddle (although I flatter myself that the late, great Doctor would be proud.)

There is a wonderful park not too far from my house. We Houstonians are very grateful for it, because there isn't too much green space left for us in a city of more than 6 million folks.

Last summer, after 2 months of over-100 degree temperatures and no rainfall, most of the stately, ancient trees at our beautiful park died.

This spring, the park crews have spent the better part of each week digging up dead tree after dead tree, turning the formerly beautiful green park into a sea of mud and dust.

And yet when I went to the park to go jogging this past week, I saw something so remarkable!

Just a few short weeks after the big ancient trees were pulled up by their roots, new tiny trees are already making their way skyward.

Life is so resilient.

If these courageous treelets can do it, you can do it too. I can do it. WE can do it.

We can renew.

You, too, can renew.

With great respect and love,

xo
Shannon

To read the full edition, click HERE

It is simply imperative for us to admit that we are much less afraid of death than we are of never really learning how to live.

It is simply imperative for us to admit that we are much less afraid of death than we are of never really learning how to live. (-Quote from Beating Ana, "Part Three: Ed at the Movies")

 

An eating disorder is not just a disease for which we are biologically predisposed.

An eating disorder, if left unchecked, can also become a habit.

In other words, Ed is habit-forming.

And, just like any bad relationship, it can be easy to focus on the little we do have rather than the much we don't have.

This is my wish for you—to have courage, to let support in wherever it may be found, and to use it to overcome

This is my wish for you—to have courage, to let support in wherever it may be found, and to use it to overcome. (-Quote from Beating Ana, Chapter "My Story") 

 

This is my wish for each of you, yes.

But what is YOUR wish for you?

More important than what your parents want for you, what your significant other wants for you, what your treatment team wants for you, what your best friend wants for you, is what you want for you.

What you want - what you truly, deeply and fully want - will drive what you let in.

8 Keys to Recovery from an Eating Disorder with Carolyn Costin

One of the great mothers of eating disorders recovery, Carolyn Costin, is generously donating her time to present a free teleconference event for MentorCONNECT, the eating disorders mentoring nonprofit community I run. I wanted to just issue an invitation to all of you here as well to attend this wonderful free event!

Carolyn survived her own battle with an eating disorder to become one of the first survivors to speak out publicly about her story. Eventually, she opened a treatment center to share her vision of what eating disorder recovery treatment could be like. This year, she and co-author Gwen Shubert Grabb released 8 Keys to Recovery from an Eating Disorder, and Carolyn will be sharing from her new book for our teleconference.

Be sure to rsvp to reserve your space at http://carolyncostin.eventbrite.com/ - hope to see you on March 14th!

On either side of the cycle, everybody wins

Ultimately, when properly approached, with each aspect of a mentoring relationship experienced at its appropriate time, the mentoring relationship shows itself to be a beautiful cycle of giving and receiving, receiving and giving—on either side of the cycle, everybody wins! (-Quote from Beating Ana, "The Mentor Model")

 

How does it feel inside when you offer to help someone else and they turn you down?

How does it feel inside when someone else offers to help you, and you turn them down?

When it comes to participating in the giving-receiving cycle, if we shut down the flow from either side, it is pretty much a guarantee that the shut-down is going to feel like crap.

This is because we are programmed to receive - and equally naturally programmed to give.