One of the guidelines I try to follow consistently is to eat dessert only when it’s “special.” But in spite of my good intentions, I remember a time last year when I did NOT do this.
My husband and I were out of town, and I was feeling rather anxious about a bunch of things.
At an afternoon tea break, I ordered a piece of carrot cake which is one of my favorite desserts. The setting and the cake were NOT special, but I ate a bunch anyway because I was hoping it would make me feel better! Silly me!
One of my blog readers once sent a note about a chat with an ice cream bar. Here’s what she said.
I’m trying to sift out Linda’s advice and notice things that speak to me. This sentence of Linda’s jumped out:
“I need to take care of my feelings without asking cookies to do it for me.”
What an interesting way of looking at this situation. Imagine a dialogue:
Me: Hi ice cream bar. I’m going to eat you now and hope that you’ll make me feel better.
Ice cream bar: Go right ahead — doesn’t mean a thing to me, one way or another.
Me: You mean. . .you don’t CARE about my feelings or about making me feel better?
Ice cream bar: Nope. You can stuff your face if you want — it means nothing to me. You aren’t my responsibility, for goodness sake.
Me: Oh, poor, poor me! So who is going to make me feel better then?
Ice cream bar: I guess you’ll have to figure that out. As I see it, that’s your problem, not mine!
Well, I guess that’s my answer and whether I like it or not, I have to work on taking care of myself without that ice cream bar. (From Marjorie P.)