Beating Ana by Shannon Cutts

So make “contact” with your own potential to access the essential simplicity of recovery

So make “contact” with your own potential to access the essential simplicity of recovery. Remind yourself that you have all the right answers, you know the right things to do, and you simply must be patient with yourself as you unlearn old, longstanding, damaging habits and replace them with your newly adopted, healthier choices. (-Quote from "Beating Ana", Part Three: Ed at the Movies)

 

You can simplify things.

How can you know this?

Because if you weren't capable of breaking the complex down into small, simple, manageable steps, you would never have learned how to walk, to speak, to make your bed.

Each of these tasks, while terribly complex in their entirety, is made up entirely of small, simple, manageable steps.

Thom Rutledge on the What's, When's, How's and Who's of ED Recovery Support

Jenni Schaefer's former therapist and best-selling Ed butt-kicking author, speaker, and teacher Thom Rutledge is presenting a FREE teleconference workshop for MentorCONNECT on Wed, February 8th. This is such a great opportunity to hear from a master level recovery expert - and Thom is donating his time to do this for us!

So I just wanted to invite you - all you have to do is RSVP to http://thomrutledge.eventbrite.com/ to reserve your spot (and we also podcast these events on iTunes in case you can't stay for the whole event).

Here's the 411 - hope to see you there!

Yes YOU Can

The January issue of Good News for Eating Disorders Recovery is now available, and I wanted to share this month's inspiring message with you here as well! Hope you enjoy it! :-)

Yes, YOU Can

I have so many people in my life that I admire.

Some of them I have met or corresponded with, and others I never will.

I love looking up to others, being inspired by their example, feeling grateful for their lives.

But this can trip me up, when I forget that the reason I can feel admiration for them is because of something in me that resonates with what they have achieved and who they are.

(My mentor, Lynn, reminds me of this all the time, but I still very easily forget!)

So, as we launch into a whole new year together, it seems like a particularly ideal time to remind you as well that yes, YOU can.

You can do that amazing thing that you have been admiring another person for.

You can scale that cliff, mend that fence, even work that miracle.

As you are watching me for inspiration, I am also watching you. We get there together. We will celebrate together.

And I for one can't wait! Happy New Year! :-)

With great respect and love,

xo
Shannon

To read the full edition click HERE

To subscribe to Good News, click HERE

 

You must simply set your mind and heart and spirit to do whatever it takes

 

 

You must simply set your mind and heart and spirit to do whatever it takes to get better and never ever give up. (-Quote from "Beating Ana", "Welcome to Our World")

 

Sometimes we think we can get by with half measures.

And sometimes we think we have to earn a gold star on everything, all at once, and right away.

At either extreme, what we will find is Ed. Patiently waiting.

Ed is VERY patient. This is because he knows what the grand prize is - us - and he is quite willing to do whatever it takes to win our life for himself.

Are we?

You must try

I know it’s hard to do this work, to rally enough to even make the attempt, when you feel worthless, ugly, unlovable, and all those feelings I also used to feel. But you must try. When I first started to heal, my motivation had nothing to do with feeling worthy of it. But I saw there were other people around me, fat people, thin people, rich people, poor people, old people, young people—who lived with much more happiness and joy than I did. So I started to believe it was possible for me to change too and be more like them—happier, more alive. (-Quote from "Beating Ana", Chapter: The Mirror Has Two Faces)

 

What we focus on we see more of. Over time, we may see only that and nothing else.

If we are not happy living life as we are experiencing it, then we may either surround ourselves with other people who are unhappy, or we may decide to invite people who are happy with their lives into our lives to help us make changes.

Here, the goal in inviting a life makeover expert (aka a mentor) into our lives is not to give us more of what we've already got, but to help us experience what we have become cut off from within ourselves.

When you meet you, you will no longer want Ed

As you meet, accept, and respect your own story in progress, your power to change your life and the lives of those who follow hopefully in your footsteps will ignite, light, and transform the path of recovery for us all. (-Quote from "Beating Ana", Chapter 8 Mile)

Ed sure does enjoy your company.

He enjoys it so much that he does his best to make sure you will never have any time to enjoy your own company.

While Ed might not like it when you start to demand more time away from him so you can hang out with yourself, it is necessary if you ever want to increase your power to change your life and get Ed OUT of it.

So you may have to be sneaky at first - stealing little moments away from Ed that he is too stupid or distracted to notice.

Or you may have to turn the tables on Ed, throwing up smokescreens so that he thinks you are spending time together, when really you are just working on your recovery right under Ed's nose.

Curvy Icon Chenese Lewis Shares How to Love Your Body and Yourself

I just wanted to invite you to a free teleconference event with one of the most inspiring women I know - Chenese Lewis. Chenese is perhaps most recognized for her photo shoot in the buff with America's Next Top Model Season 10 Winner Whitney Thompson, and is also the spokesperson for the Binge Eating Disorder Association (BEDA) and the creator of Hollywood NOW's Annual "Love Your Body Day". We can all learn from Chenese's inspiring story of choosing to love her curvy and beautiful body no matter what body type society says is "in".

Please join us!

MentorCONNECT Presents....Chenese Lewis!

Event Title: Learning to Love Your Body - and Yourself!

Event Description: Chenese Lewis has grown up in the "thin is in" culture that surrounds us all - and yet somehow seems to be immune to its messages of low self-esteem, poor body image, and holding back from life due to how you look. She is bold, beautiful, and curvy - and attributes her success in the notoriously image-conscious fields of modeling and acting to her ability to love her body - and herself - no matter what anyone else says.

Tune in and learn how Chenese does it - and how you can follow in her footsteps to embrace your body - and your life - just as you are!

When: Wednesday, January 11, 2012
What time: 8:00 - 9:15 p.m. Central Time
RSVP to: http://mentorconnect.eventbrite.com

More info about Chenese: www.cheneselewis.com

Your voice—your true voice—is always genuinely compassionate and kind.

Your voice—your true voice—is always genuinely compassionate and kind. Your real inner voice always gives you the benefit of the doubt and a chance to learn and grow from areas in your life that are distressing to you. (-Quote from "Beating Ana", Chapter: Donnie Brasco)

As you are working towards your recovery goals, where do you feel your main stumbling blocks are?

In answering this question, are you tempted to look first - and only - outside of yourself for answers?

"Oh, it's Ed. He's holding me up." "It's because my family has lost faith in me." "It is because I haven't found the right treatment center."

But what if the reason - the ONLY reason - is how YOU treat YOU?

What if, just once, you listened to your real inner voice - the kind and compassionate one - instead of to Ed, or to the fake judging voice Ed has been teaching you to address yourself with?

How might your recovery progress change?

xo

Shannon

If you must have a reputation, what better than to be known as an overcomer? No longer a victim, but strong, powerful, wise.

If you must have a reputation, what better than to be known as an overcomer? No longer a victim, but strong, powerful, wise. No longer an object of pity and scorn to yourself and others, but an icon of respect, a conquering hero returning to your hometown in victory. And if you must have friends, what better than to cultivate friends who are just like you—victorious fighters! -Quote from "Beating Ana", Chapter: 8 Mile)

Whatever you tell other people about yourself, they will be believe you.

So will you.

So will Ed.

If you tell others you are a victim, if you tell yourself you are a victim, if you tell Ed you are a victim, you will be believed.

But if you tell others, yourself, and Ed that you are strong, powerful, wise, a fighter, and a HERO, you will be believed.

What reputation will you awaken with today? What reputation will lay down with you tonight in sleep? Who will Ed greet tomorrow - a victim, or an OVERCOMER?

xo

Shannon

It is not complicated. We know what to do.

It is tempting—oh, so tempting—to tell ourselves that we don’t know what to do. It is deceptively complex, we think. It is so confusing—all the reasons, the behaviors, the choices, the fears. It is not complicated. We know what to do. (-Quote from "Beating Ana", Chapter: Contact)

 

We know what to do.

YOU know what to do.

There is a confusing place inside our mind where Ed likes to hang out - the place where he can try to make the word "difficult" equal the word "impossible".

If we are not careful, we will listen and believe him.

Recovery is difficult. That is the part we don't know about - how difficult it will get. We are not sure we have it in us.

But we KNOW it is not impossible. How can we know this? Because we won't know that ANYTHING is impossible until we have actually TRIED IT.

Vanquishing Ed means embracing the tiniest details. IS "difficult" the same as "impossible"? Are you unwilling - or unable?

You know what to do. So what are you GOING to do?