True Voice

Dark Ancient Space

Dark Ancient Space

There is a quiet wisdom found in the space between generations,

A wisdom tethered to an ancient story,

hundreds of generations of story.

We hear it on the wind's whisper

as it tickles and twitches at our ears

and tugs our tangled hair

until we wake up from our dream,

ready and alert.

Our attention is captured by the dark ancient space between generations,

The space that informs who we are becoming,

that names our place of honor on the earth.

This poem just came back to me from my colleague, Jude Gladstone Cade. I apparently wrote it in 2002 for a workshop we offered in Del Mar, CA. What a lovely thread of reconnection!

Losing Weight--The Not-So-Obvious Secret

I've been losing weight all my life. Or thinking about how to almost every waking minute. Sound familiar?

In November 2009 I hit bottom with having my weight run my life. A friend showed up in my office to chat about other things. By the end of our conversation, we'd made a pact that we would lose at least 30 pounds by spring. Actually, we're going for 40 so we land right in the middle of the normal BMI range.

It's the first week of March and I've lost 25 pounds. I'm slipping into jeans in a size I haven't worn for 40 years.

At some point I woke up to the fact that I have lived my entire adult life in the company of the 66% of adults in America who are overweight. Even I was shocked.

Then in January my husband had a heart attack. When the doctor told him he need to lose (a lot of) weight, she turned to me and said, "And you do, too."  I've never appreciated direct boldness in another woman like I did that day.

So, I don't have a slick list of "How-To's" to hand off to you. You already know that drill. What I do have is one small insight that has changed my life.

My mother drilled it into me from early on that when you have a baby, you'll gain weight and never be able to lost it again. The sad thing is that I believed her.

Somewhere between the conversation with my friend, our weekly meetings to help each other stay on track, my husband's heart attack, the daily trips to the gym and today--I've dropped the old belief. I just looked at it right in the eye and knew it wasn't true any more. It wasn't worth giving my energy to.

Now I'm beginning to claim my body as it was meant to be--healthy, flexible, strong and normal. What a relief to know my body has been in me all along and she's ready to come out and play!

Which of your beliefs no longer serve you?