She came home late from work, very hungry, and had a delicious bowl of pasta with olives, tomatoes and spinach.
Yum!
She ate it quickly because she was hungry and it tasted so good.
And normally, she said, she would have gone straight back for another bowl.
But this time, something different happened.
She paused.
And she asked herself whether she was actually still hungry.
She wondered how she would feel after another helping.
And she realised that she was already full.
So she didn't have the second bowl.
She wrote,
"I don’t think I have ever not had the second portion. It’s such a small thing but it felt huge."
I LOVE that.
And not because she ate less pasta!
That's not the point at all.
The wonderful thing is that she stopped and listened to herself.
She gave herself a moment to find out what she actually wanted and needed, instead of simply doing what she'd always done.
And then she trusted her answer.
Imagine!
A little moment of self-love, right there in her pasta bowl.
And it's not just about food.
Every time you pause and listen to yourself, you're practising something that can
change your whole life.
You're learning that your feelings and needs are worth paying attention to.
That you get to have a say in what happens to you.
That you can trust yourself to make choices that care for you.
So today, notice one little moment when you're about to do something automatically.
It doesn't even have to involve food.
Just pause and ask yourself what you'd actually like.
And see what happens.
You don't have to change your mind or do anything differently.
Just give yourself the lovely experience of being listened to.
And if you'd like to explore this a little more...
I've created a Five-Day Learning to Eat with Kindness journey to help you begin practising this kind of self-loving awareness.
And if you enjoy it, there's a whole lovely community waiting for you in The Portal of Permission, where we practise bringing this kind of self-love into all the different parts of our lives.
Click HERE to find out about the Eating with Kindness 5-Day Journey.
This month in The Portal of Permission we are using food and eating as a way to become present in our moments.
I hope you join us.
Because your experience of your life matters.
If I loved myself, where would I pause and listen to myself today?
