I adore Martha Beck. She’s smart, and I’ve never read anything she’s written where I didn’t feel a connection, right off the bat! I first read her articles in a “personal coaching” column in Real Simple, now I see her articles and books everywhere, on all sorts of topics.
My serendipity cap firmly on my head, I stumbled recently upon one of Beck’s articles concerning what she’s discovered about weight loss from her clients. Thought provoking as always, she shares a theory about “Dominator, Wild Child, and Watcher” - hope I’ll get this explanation correct - Watcher observes the other two - the two sides of the typical “dieter’s mind.”
The Dominator within - who wants so badly to be successful at this weight loss thing that she scolds and berates, when poor choices are made, and
The Wild Child - who, though scared, lonely, confused and frightened, has little inclination of listening to the Dominator. Who knew? And right on target!
The Watcher, though, is the key, she’s where I want to travel. Despite the fact the Dominator and Wild Child are not very good at limiting what we eat, the Watcher is benevolent; caring deeply for them, she extends love and acceptance to both sides of the dieter’s psyche.
So this is my goal. Understanding thisconcept, accepting the Watcher’s role as my own. The Watcher’s viewpoint is empowering. Power without judging, tearing down, being sad and scared. A calm viewpoint, observational, stopping when I’ve had enough, before I’m stuffed, seems wonderful, logical and do-able.
This is in aid of a lead-in to my experience this morning.
At midmorning, after returning from a weekly meeting (of the type no one should ever have to attend at all, let alone weekly), I cruised through the company lunchroom. On the table was a plastic cake platter with a few leftover pieces of cake and two of those yellow, marshmallow Peeps. I snagged one Peep and went on my way.
Later on, as I zapped a dish of leftovers for my lunch, I spied, in the trash, the cake platter and cover, with - wonders of wonders, one intact Peep among the crumbs and smears of frosting. So picture this, the microwave hums away, a few coworkers mill around, waiting for their turn at the microwave, chatting… and I’m scheming about how to GET THAT PEEP.
I rehearsed several scenarios until I realised what I was thinking. I laughed and came back to my office and opened this page. I won’t get that Peep. Maybe I’ll think about this and smile and stay away from Peeps all Spring. I feel like cheering, for me. Certainly the Peep became unimportant, at least THAT Peep, when I just saw myself and loved myself regardless.
This is a new new thing.
Posted on February 17th, 2009 by jaxie
Filed under: Victories, weight loss
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