Women - Food & Fear

11/01/2011 13:25:00

Women - Food & Feminine wisdom

The first step to addressing disorded eating is to understand why we started to eat in the first place, and why we continue to do so.

All of us have a ‘story’ of wounding, and are constantly faced with life situations that trigger us to use food as a coping tool, but I believe that there is also a bigger underling trigger involved.

Have you ever wondered why women seem to be the ones who struggle most with their weight, more so than men.

Statics indicate that 95% of people with eating disorders are women.

Have you even considered why this is?

Have you ever felt that you were “different” or that you didn’t fit in? May be your family, school, work or society in general has sent you messages, that you’re not like everyone else.

We are women who have been born into a patriarchal society, where our world is set up and ruled by masculine ways and energy, and the feminine ways and energy have been considered to be “less important’ of ‘inferior’ to masculine ways. There are many positive ways of being within our patriarchal society, but there can be a richer, fuller way of being. When both the masculine & the feminine are given an equal voice, then balance comes into play.

Most women in western society have become disconnected from their feminine wisdom, we have wanted to be loved and accepted by those around us, and so have adapted ourselves to our societies masculine way of being.

Not belonging or fitting in are unbearable emotions for most of us.

Many of us have denied our intuition, our feminine wisdom & inner guidance system. We are taught from a young age to be uncomfortable about who we really are. We have to hide our sixth sense, our intuition, not only from others, but also from ourselves.

“The epidemic of disordered eating among women is clearly a consequence of the imbalance between the feminine and the masculine within our society and within us. Many women are experiencing the despair and alienation that comes not only from the suppression of the feminine in the world we live in, but also from the rejection of their own feminine nature.” {Anita Johnston, Eating in the light of the moon, p.13}

When we stop listening to our inner guidance system, and instead followed the rules of others, we cut ourselves off from one of our greatest feminine gifts.

When our hearts desires were suppressed and replaced with mental lists of ‘should's & shouldent’s an integral part of us started to starve.

This hunger can never be filled with food, no matter how much we try to fill ourselves up.

This can be a sensitive question to ponder, I ask that you sit with it, and see what comes up for you.

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Women - Food & Fear