Death and Dieting

A few people have told me that A YEAR TO LIVE is too big a project. "Why a year?", "That's too long to commit", "People will drop out", "Try a day or a month" and other such comments have been voiced by concerned friends.

"Why a YEAR?" is a good question. Frankly it's the first thing that came to mind and it just felt right. (That's pretty much how I make all important decisions.) I really didn't give the timing of it much thought until I started to get all of these questions and comments. Why a Year indeed?

Then the other day Stacey Grieve and I were talking. Stacey is the founder of Why Are You Weighting, a program that helps people get to the core of their weight issues, stop dieting and achieve the health and body they desire. Stacey knows this territory intimately. When I met her more than two decades ago she weighed 300 pounds. For years she was a yo-yo dieter, always gaining back the weight she had worked so hard to take off. Then about 6 years ago she began studying the mind and learned how our thoughts trigger our feelings, which determine our actions. She began peeling back the thoughts and feelings that lead her to over eat. Once she realized the true cause of her "hunger" she shed over 150 pounds and has kept it off without dieting. It's wonderful to see her so happy, and sharing what she's learned with others.

I was telling Stacey about the feedback I'd gotten from some people about the timing of this experiment. I asked her, "If you only had a day left to live, how would you spend it?". To my surprise she immediately answered, "I'd eat everything I want". After a quick pause she said,"Actually, I wouldn't want to feel stuffed and gross on my last day, so I'd eat well. It would be more important to me that I feel good." Her first answer was a knee-jerk reaction triggered by decades of being a dieter/binger. When Stacey took just a moment to really think about how she'd want to experience her last day, her real values came through. She'd rather feel good than feel full. Since she no longer diets, she no longer binges. It was just old habits speaking. It just took a moment for her to remember who she's become, and respond from that place, rather than the past.

If Stacey hadn't spent years developing new habits regarding food I think she would have stuck with her first response. A day to live would have been a great excuse to indulged in the guilty pleasures of eating all the items that are off limits when we diet. Because Stacey has committed time and energy to uncovering her triggers and basically "reprogramming" her responses she was able to tap into her deeper desire to feel healthy, just by taking a breath.

I feel that some of us are on a "life diet". We have a starve/binge approach to life. We limit ourselves from living fully now, thinking we'll make up for it one day.

I hope that as we commit to a year to really examine how and why we make the choices we do, we'll become more clear about our own values, we'll get to the core of what drives and motivates us, we'll make healthier, more loving choices that benefit ourselves and those around us.

While I think it would be a great experiment to live a day as if it were my last I don't think it would have the long term effects that a year of living consciously may offer. Our intention in creating Bcelebrated wasn't just to help people prepare for death, but to also inspire people to fully embrace LIFE.

To join us in this experiment that begins January 1, 2010, please email me at: Debra@Bcelebrated.com