How to learn from not-so great life experiences

She hit a nerve. Just a casual conversation tonight and it turned sensitive… for me anyway. Turns out she had anorexia as a teen too. ​

One of my roommates had the same thing I did. And the funny thing is, I could almost sense it when I first met her… is that weird? I found that she irritated me in some way that I couldn’t explain. Now that is nothing to do with her. She is a lovely person. I was just seeing a part of myself in her that I don’t like. I was fine for a while, then all of a sudden I got really sad. Really emotional. I snuck off into my room, cried, had a shower, got on my yoga mat and cried again (my mat is a magic thing that supports me through everything- yoga is life changing- but that is for another day). Why am I so emotional around this? I believe it is because it is still so relevant in my life. I am working so hard (and doing a good job I believe!) with self-love and self-acceptance. I am actually really proud of myself. I am slowly rewiring my subconscious mind to be neutral and love myself

I believe the power of our subconscious mind is something very important and should not be underestimated. I listen to a sleep hypnosis every night and have done for about a year or so… Most of this time it was a weight loss or binge eating hypnosis and possibly it worked, but I still had some underlying issue that would still lead me to bad eating habits and constant anxiety and unhappiness. So lately I have been listening to different ones. Hypnosis’ for releasing subconscious negativity, and becoming your ideal self etc. And to be honest, I feel better listening to those ones. I find that it is hitting the root cause of the eating struggles as opposed to masking them or intensifying them. Think about it… if you say you “need to lose weight” does that raise anxiety for you and make you feel compelled to eat more now as you feel like you are going into a famine? The brain and the body are much more intelligent then we think. It perceives this a stressor. The body (as great and beautiful as it is) cannot distinguish between the fear of losing body fat and getting chased by a lion. The body perceives them both as dangerous situations and leads our cortisol levels to increase and for us to eat more in the long run. It’s almost like the more you try to lose weight or change your body, the more your body fights you… and this is why we see diets not working in the long run… after all, we can’t outsmart our own body.

By being in a more relaxed, comfortable state and remaining neutral in every situation magic can enter. When open to receive without judgement, we are presented with the situations that are best for us at the time we need. We can let the universe serve up what it believes we need to grow and learn as a person.

See, I believe that every situation we are in (whether we like it or not) has something to teach us. I believe that each challenge in life is an opportunity for us to grow. Think about it… what is something in your past or present that was/is really challenging for you? Was it friends, relationships, was it not getting into the school or job you so desperately wanted, was it a car crash or a tragedy? Think about it… and think about what you have learnt from this challenge. If you find yourself in the same situation over and over again it could be due to you not dealing with this obstacle. Therefore it keeps presenting itself in many different forms until you learn from it and grow. I like to think of these challenges as “Universal Assignments”, as inspiring spirit junkie Gabby Bernstein would call them. They are simply challenges put to us by the universe to help us grow.

Now the challenge I have been dished up in life was this eating disorder. It presents itself in many different forms and returns in my life over and over. What were the chances of being roommates with someone of the same past? I don’t believe in coincidences as much… I believe it was put to me by the universe to help me grow. (this may sound goofy if you haven’t heard of this before- it’s for another day) I haven’t fully dealt with the situation so it returns over and over until I grow from it and overcome it.

So what challenges have you found repeated in your life? What has the universe decided to challenge you with? What have you learnt?

I hope you can see that no matter how difficult a situation may be that it is only there to help build you up, not tear you down.

Love, light and joy,

Alex xxx

PS. You won't believe what I just saw at the top of my email feed… a MindBodyGreen post on “3 Reasons Mindfulness is a Powerful Tool against Eating disorders”— as I mentioned, coincidence? Surely not… I am being provided everything I need from this source (let's call it the universe) for me to grow… I hope you can recognise this for yourself too.

Heres the link to that article xxx

#eatingdisorder #selflove #thoughts #universe