Food is not Love

Many of us, for many different reasons, did not get our emotional needs met as infants and small children. Because of that, "we are stuck in patterns of co-dependency: looking for love and validation outside of ourselves." 

Carol Tuttle discusses this in her book, Remembering Wholeness. There is a chapter called "Ten Lies We Think Are Love". One of the things that I struggle with, is believing that "Food is Love". Here is what Carol says about that:

            "Our bodies require love through appropriate touch. When that need has not been met, we often turn to food to fill us. The root cause of all addictions is the body's need for attention. Food feels good to the body. The body will begin to believe food is love and continually seek it out to get the feeling of sweetness and fullness that the energy of real love gives us when it is open and flowing in our being."

Some of the other false beliefs we may hold are: "Sex is love," "Money is love," "I have to be sick or ill to be loved," "I have to fix people to be loved." That last one is another biggie for me.

            "Many people have a deeper belief that if they are not helping people get better they have no value. If they have no value, they cannot be loveable. The problem with this pattern is that if you need to fix sick and dysfunctional people in order to feel loveable, you will continually attract these people into your life and they will not get well. You need them to be "unfixable" so you can stay "loveable".

Oh Boy has that been an issue for me! I release the false belief that I have to fix people to be loved. I know that I have inherent value and worth and I am attracting healthy people into my life!  ..... *phew* That feels better.

So ... what do we do to heal these patterns? I highly recommend you check out Carol's book. :) I am really just scratching the surface here to introduce the concept to you, Beloved Reader. It's all about healing your beliefs. "Whatever you believe, both subconsciously and consciously is what you are getting in life."

Here are some affirmations for you.

            "I am worthy of real love. I deserve to be loved and admired by a healthy, loving person. I am attracting people that can and want to create healthy, loving relationships with me. I am ending relationships that cannot be healthy. God loves me, and I love myself."

What can you do today to show real, healthy love to yourself?