EMBARKING

ON THE JOURNEY
You are about to embark upon a specific
journey, and as with everything else in your
life, you have two choices: you can play it
shallow or you can play it deep.
The overeater has a delusional relationship
with food, imbuing it with power it
doesnt actually possess. Perhaps youve subscribed
to the magical belief that eating affords
you comfort and strength, even when
you are eating food (or an amount of food)
that in fact can only hurt you. The overeater
forms an idolatrous relationship with food in
which powers that belong only to God have
been ascribed to something else.
Begin by simply seeing this.
Spiritual growth is a fascinating process
when you allow it to be. It is an inner journey
from one insight to another, in which helpful
realizations fall into place as you are ready to
receive them. Twisted thoughts become untwisted
once you see them for what they are.
Your journey from blindness to spiritual vision
precedes your journey from dysfunctional
eating to a healthy and wholesome relationship
to food; in fact, it is a necessary prerequisite
for it. As you understand more
deeply the roots of your weakness, you lay
the foundation for the cultivation of new
strengths.
The first realization on your journey to
freedom is that you have come to believe a
lie. Then, through the strength of your belief
in this lie, you have actually made it seem
true for you. The lie is that food that is actually
bad for you has the power to comfort,
nurture, and sustain you. Your task is to correct
the lie.
The line from the end of the Lords Prayer,
For Thine is the kingdom, the power, and
the glory, means Only God has the power
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to comfort, nurture, and sustain me. That

line is not an entreaty but an affirmation,
which when said prayerfully has the power to
penetrate the deepest regions of your subconscious
mind. You are realizing that food
cannot nurture you emotionally, and that
God, and only God, can.
In giving all power to Spirit, you realign

the energies of your subconscious mind; you

thus beckon every aspect of yourselfincluding
your bodyback to Divine right order.
Your body is meant to be a reflection of your
spirit, and both your thoughts and your cells
will respond to a reminder of their Divine
perfection.
The goal of this course is to remind your
body of its perfection by reminding your
mind of its perfection. By resetting one, you
reset the other.
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This course is cumulative. Every day you

will be given a lesson, and while the content
of that lesson is to be focused on for a particular
day, its energy should be allowed to live
continuously within your psyche as the days
unfold. Compulsive eating involves two
things: compulsion and food. You will not
end your compulsive eating by substituting
another compulsive practice. Therefore, this
is not a course to race through, but rather a
process to relax into.
These lessons are not meant to cause you
consternation or feelings of guilt. They can
neither be passed nor failed; you can neither
be passed nor failed. Simply allow yourself to
fall into them as into a gentle place, where
you are equally loved whether you do the lesson
right on any given day or you fall short.
The only way you can fail a lesson is if you
punish yourself for failing. This course is a
journey, and as with any serious journey of
self-discovery, there are days when we
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detour into darkness as we make our way toward

light.
In moments that are difficultperhaps
youll read something inspiring in one of the
lessons and close your eyes for a beautiful
and peaceful time of meditation, but then
find yourself an hour later finishing a whole
bag of potato chips!know that the problem
is not the potato chips, but rather the fear
that has been aroused in the presence of
love.
It has been said that love brings up
everything unlike itself, and sometimes just
when we feel we are moving toward a solution,
the problem jumps up again and grabs
us by the throat. That is natural. It is part of
the process. Do not despair.

In such a situation, simply take a deep

breath, acknowledge yourself for your efforts,
and forgive yourself for the detour.
Know that the patterns of light you are establishing
now will in time cancel out all
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darkness. Know that the greatest successes

are often arrived at two steps forward and
then a step or two back. And know that
skinny people eat too many potato chips
sometimes, too.
These lessons are simple, but their potential
to heal you is profound. The reason the
lessons are gentle is because your overeating
is not. Only the power of love can overcome
the power of hate, and make no mistake
about it: your unhealthy eating is an act of
self-hate. Overeating is a form of violence,
and one of the mechanisms you are now dismantling
is your habit of taking up the sword
against yourself whether the sword be
knife or fork.
Begin with a commitment to be kind to
yourself. Overeating is an emotionally violent
act, and scolding yourself for having
done it is just inflicting further violence. At
some point youll act out those feelings, and
its a pretty good bet youll lean on your
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fallback position of overeating as your favorite

way to express self-hate. Not only that,
but the overeating would then also be a perfect
way to comfort yourself while feeling all
that guilt.
Is the insanity becoming clear enough yet?
And does it not follow that it would take a
miracle to dismantle such a weird and twisted
set of thoughts and emotions? At a certain
point, you come to admit a truth that
you previously resisted: you dont have the
human capacity to fix this problem.
Yet thats not the end. Its only the beginning.
For in realizing that you cant heal
yourself, you begin to consider Who can.
These lessons are not just something you
are going to read; doing this course requires
your active participation. Occasionally youll
be asked to procure an item or two or to do
an activity, and often youll be asked to write
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things down. There are pages at the end of

the book for this purpose, or you may wish to

use a separate journal. Writing will be very

useful to you throughout the course, as it will
help you integrate the lessons more fully.
With that, lets begin our journey.