It is good to have an end to journey towards; but it is the journey that matters in the end.
Ursula K. Le Guin
picsource: http://www.flickr.com/photos/tonyj1961/4890307512/in/photostream/
Recovery Quote Of The Week: February 20, 2012
It is good to have an end to journey towards; but it is the journey that matters in the end.
Ursula K. Le Guin
2
commentsInspirational Recovery Quotes: Fear
Fear: False Evidence Appearing Real.
Unknown
The only thing we have to fear is fear itself--nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance.
FDR
Fear sometimes stops you from doing stupid things. But it can also stop you from doing creative or exciting or experimental things. It can cloud your judgment of others, and lead to all kinds of evil. The control and understanding of our personal fears is one of the most important undertakings in our life.
Helen Mirren
Fear is a darkroom where negatives develop.
Usman B. Asif
There are very few monsters who warrant the fear we have of them.
Andre Gide
Many of us crucify ourselves between two thieves - regret for the past and fear of the future.
Fulton Oursler
Fear has a large shadow, but he himself is small.
Ruth Gendler
Inaction breeds doubt and fear. Action breeds confidence and courage. If you want to conquer fear, do not sit home and think about it. Go out and get busy.
Dale Carnegie
Fear is static that prevents me from hearing myself.
Samuel Butler
Each time we face our fear, we gain strength, courage, and confidence in the doing.
Theodore Roosevelt
Fear cannot take what you do not give it.
Christopher Coan
There are four ways you can handle fear. You can go over it, under it, or around it. But if you are ever to put fear behind you, you must walk straight through it. Once you put fear behind you, leave it there.
Donna A. Favors
There is a time to take counsel of your fears, and there is a time to never listen to any fear.
George S. Patton
Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, and fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small doesn't serve the world. There's nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We are born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us, it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.
Marianne Williamson
Fear is only as deep as the mind allows.
Japanese Proverb
To fear is one thing. To let fear grab you by the tail and swing you around is another.
Katherine Paterson
Many of our fears are tissue-paper-thin, and a single courageous step would carry us clear through them.
Brendan Francis
The thing you fear most has no power. Your fear of it is what has the power. Facing the truth really will set you free.
Oprah Winfrey
Fear is the highest fence.
Dudley Nichols
The whole secret of existence is to have no fear. Never fear what will become of you, depend on no one. Only the moment you reject all help are you freed.
Buddha
You block your dream when you allow your fear to grow bigger than your faith.
Mary Manin Morrissey
Ultimately we know deeply that the other side of every fear is freedom.
Marilyn Ferguson
Fearlessness requires attention and receptivity--it takes focus to stand in the still eye of a tornado and not be swept away by it.
Susan Piver
If you are distressed by anything external, the pain is not due to the thing itself, but to your estimate of it; and this you have the power to revoke at any moment.
Marcus Aurelius
Don't let the fear of the time it will take to accomplish something stand in the way of your doing it. The time will pass anyway; we might just as well put that passing time to the best possible use.
Earl Nightingale
The enemy is fear. We think it is hate; but, it is fear.
Gandhi
Fear is a habit; so is self-pity, defeat, anxiety, despair, hopelessness and resignation. You can eliminate all of these negative habits with two simple resolves: I can!! and I will!
Unknown
Obstacles are like wild animals. They are cowards but they will bluff you if they can. If they see you are afraid of them... they are liable to spring upon you; but if you look them squarely in the eye, they will slink out of sight.
Orison Swett Marden
The key to change... is to let go of fear.
Rosanne Cash
Fear can't hurt you any more than a dream.
William Golding
Courage is fear holding on a minute longer.
George S. Patton
You can't stop being afraid just by pretending everything that scares you isn't there.
Michael Marshall
Fears are educated into us, and can, if we wish, be educated out.
Karl Augustus Menninger
The greatest mistake we make is living in constant fear that we will make one.
John C. Maxwell
Fear of failure must never be a reason not to try something.
Frederick Smith
"Fearless" is living in spite of those things that scare you to death.
Taylor Swift
Fear is the cheapest room in the house. I would like to see you living in better conditions.
Hāfez
Thinking will not overcome fear but action will.
W. Clement Stone
Courage is fear that has said its prayers.
Dorothy Bernard
Nothing in life is to be feared, it is only to be understood. Now is the time to understand more, so that we may fear less.
Marie Curie
When a resolute young fellow steps up to the great bully, the world, and takes him boldly by the beard, he is often surprised to find it comes off in his hand, and that it was only tied on to scare away the timid adventurers.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You must do the thing which you think you cannot do.
Eleanor Roosevelt
Expose yourself to your deepest fear; after that, fear has no power, and the fear of freedom shrinks and vanishes. You are free.
Jim Morrison
Do not fear mistakes. You will know failure. Continue to reach out.
Benjamin Franklin
It is better by noble boldness to run the risk of being subject to half the evils we anticipate than to remain in cowardly listlessness for fear of what might happen.
Herodotus
I believe that every single event in life happens in an opportunity to choose love over fear.
Oprah Winfrey
The big lesson in life, baby, is never be scared of anyone or anything.
Frank Sinatra
Fear is the tax that conscience pays to guilt.
George Sewell
Fear is the main source of superstition, and one of the main sources of cruelty. To conquer fear is the beginning of wisdom.
Bertrand Russell
Fear can keep us up all night long, but faith makes one fine pillow.
Unknown
Have no fear of moving into the unknown. Simply step out fearlessly knowing that I am with you, therefore no harm can befall you; all is very, very well. Do this in complete faith and confidence.
Pope John Paul II
The key to success is to focus our conscious mind on things we desire not things we fear.
Brian Tracy
Action conquers fear.
Nivio Zarlenga
I am not afraid of tomorrow, for I have seen yesterday and I love today.
William Allen White
Fear makes the wolf bigger than he is.
German Proverb
Do the thing we fear, and death of fear is certain.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
For me it's important to be in balance. To not let fear get in the way of things, to not worry so much about protecting yourself all the time.
John Frusciante
I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain.
Frank Herbert
We must build dikes of courage to hold back the flood of fear.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
What are fears but voices airy?
Whispering harm where harm is not.
And deluding the unwary
Till the fatal bolt is shot!
Wordsworth
You can discover what your enemy fears most by observing the means he uses to frighten you.
Eric Hoffer
Courage is not the lack of fear but the ability to face it.
Lt. John B. Putnam Jr.
I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear.
Nelson Mandela
Fear of something is at the root of hate for others, and hate within will eventually destroy the hater.
George Washington Carver
Fear is a tyrant and a despot, more terrible than the rack, more potent than the snake.
Edgar Wallace
Even the fear of death is nothing compared to the fear of not having lived authentically and fully.
Frances Moore Lappe
Anything I've ever done that ultimately was worthwhile... initially scared me to death.
Betty Bender
In order to succeed, your desire for success should be greater than your fear of failure.
Bill Cosby
The cave you fear to enter holds the treasure you seek.
Joseph Cambell
Fear defeats more people than any other one thing in the world.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
What we fear comes to pass more speedily than what we hope.
Publilius Syrus
Excessive fear is always powerless.
Aeschylus
Things done well and with a care, exempt themselves from fear.
William Shakespeare
Let us never negotiate out of fear. But let us never fear to negotiate.
John F. Kennedy
I more fear what is within me than what comes from without.
Martin Luther
Fear has its use but cowardice has none.
Gandhi
He who is not everyday conquering some fear has not learned the secret of life.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
If we let things terrify us, life will not be worth living.
Seneca
Never be afraid to try something new. Remember, amateurs built the ark… professionals built the Titanic.
Unknown
To be a star, you must shine your own light, follow your own path, and don't worry about the darkness, for that is when the stars shine brightest.
Napoleon Hill
See sidebar menu for more Inspirational Recovery Quotes and RecoveryQuotes of the Week
picsource:http://www.flickr.com/photos/56695083@N00/4254697416/
This Week's R.I.S.E: 10 Ways To Love Yourself Better This Valentine's Day
It's true, loving yourself more does improve your life. How well can things go if you're worst enemy is yourself? How good can you feel if you're always concentrating on perceived flaws, past mistakes, and shortcomings?
This week's R.I.S.E. (recovery inspiration strength exercise) is to love yourself better. When we truly love ourselves the world responds to our positivity... and so do we.
10 Ways To Love Yourself Better
1. Put down the mirror. Without taking your appearance into consideration, make a list of all the wonderful things that make you special.
2. Dump the negativity. We all have flaws. There is no such thing as a perfect human being. Stop negative self-talk in it's tracks and replace those thoughts with positive, loving statements. Say them aloud. Say them with meaning.
3. Help someone in need. Lend a shoulder, and ear, a hug of support, volunteer at a soup kitchen, visit with the elderly... do something that makes the life of another happier, easier, and more enjoyable. Helping others, helps ourselves.
4. Smile. The act of smiling actually makes you feel better. There's a chemical reaction that occurs when we smile which makes us feel happy, lowers our blood pressure, lowers our stress levels, and adds years to our life. Smiling at a stranger affects their day, too, so be generous and give some smiles away.
5. Be grateful. No matter what is going on in your life there is always something to be grateful for. Start giving thanks before your feet even hit the floor in the morning. Being grateful in the midst of difficult times shifts our focus and allows us to get some perspective.
6. Take a time out. Our days can get hectic. Take the time to slow down, pause, take a few deep breaths, and re-balance yourself. A few moments can make a big difference in how you feel.
7. Mix it up. Do something out of the ordinary, something different from the usual scheduled routine of your day. Leave for work early and take a different route. Walk to an appointment instead of driving or taking the bus. Meet up with a friend for lunch, a movie, or simply for coffee and catching up.
8. Change your environment. Add elements that will treat your senses and lift your spirits. Scented candles, a great painting or photograph, play your favorite music, add a jar with a collection of things that you've collected while walking on the beach... the choices are endless.
9. Get out. Don't isolate. Interact with others in person.
10. Laugh. Watch a funny movie, get together with funny friends, tell a few corny jokes. In a pinch, fake it. Even fake laughing will make you feel better. Like smiling, laughing causes a chemical reaction that benefits us in many ways.
If we really love ourselves, everything in our life works.
Louise L. Hay
Happy Valentine's Day!
©Weighing The Facts
See sidebar menu for more R.I.S.E.
SED: Selective Eating Disorder Revisited
Selective Eating Disorder may also be known as SED, picky eating, fussy eating, food phobia, selective eating, or perseverative feeding disorder.
SED is not listed as an official eating disorder in the DSM
SED is common in young people with autistic spectrum disorders, this is likely caused by Sensory Integration Dysfunction. It is also found with other special needs adolescents. It is commonly accompanied with severe refusal behaviors when non-preferred foods are presented. SED can be caused by an extra sensitive taste sensation caused by more Fungiform papilla than average, this is the most common cause of SED. It is also found in people with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. People with the Autoimmune disorder Coeliac Disease are often picky eaters.
Wikipedia
Selective Eating Disorder affects both children and adults.
The cause of SED is unknown.
Contributing factors may include:
- early negative food association
- negative food experiences (such as; choking, acid reflux, gastrointestinal troubles)
- problem behaviors
- negative behaviors learned at the dinner table
- ASD
- Anxiety Disorder
- OCD (mild form)
One theory suggest that those with SED are 'super tasters,' who taste food more intensely than others.
It is unknown how many adults suffer from SED as most who suffer from this disorder go to great lengths to hide it. You can help by filling out this survey at Duke.
Typically, though food choices vary per person, foods deemed acceptable by many with SED are usually bland, refined foods, high in carbohydrates and, for some, on the salty side. Many with selective eating disorder deem foods such as french fries, cheese pizza, pasta, and often chicken fingers as acceptable.
Symptoms may include:
- an aversion to certain foods
- an aversion to certain food aromas
- an aversion to certain food textures fear of certain foods
- unwillingness to try new foods narrow range of foods deemed acceptable
- restriction is usually to 10 foods or less
- distress when presented with foods deemed unacceptable
- some restrict to allowing only certain food brands
- nausea/vomiting due to odor or texture of certain foods
Most with SED will show no outward physical signs and may appear healthy upon a physical exam.
Health Effects and Concerns include:
- loss of essential nutrients (due to limited food choices)
- malnutrition
- heart problems
- teeth health (if acceptable foods are high in sugar)
- gastrointestinal problems due to lack of fiber
- proper growth in children
- high blood pressure due to diet
- bone health
- obesity
Treatment for SED:
Treatment helps individuals both acquire and practice needed skills or to modify problematic behaviors. An essential aspect of treatment is educating individuals about their bodies: how their sensitivities make sense given their biological inheritance, learning histories, and natural tendencies. In addition, skills can be taught to help manage fears of certain necessary foods. Practice sessions are typically recommended, during which time new foods are tried in the therapy room, restaurants, or other common environments.
DukeHealth.Org
*The intention of The American Psychiatric Association is to make a final decision as to whether Selective Eating Disorders will be included in the next edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-V), 2013
Support Resources for Selective Eating Adults:
Picky Eating Adults
Empowered Parents
Fussy-Eaters
Picky Eating Adult Support Videos
See also: Selective Eating Disorder: SED
See sidebar menu for more Eating Disorders information and resources.
sources:http://www.livescience.com/10301-adult-picky-eaters-recognized-disorder.html http://www.emaxhealth.com/1506/picky-eating-common-autistic-children-may-be-nutritional-risk.html http://www.livestrong.com/article/496331-selective-eating-disorders-in-children/ http://uktv.co.uk/really/item/aid/614285 http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1293356/Fussy-eaters-classed-having-eating-disorder.html
picsource:http://www.flickr.com/photos/21560098@N06/4420104834/in/photostream/
Recovery Quote Of The Week: February 9, 2012
Eating Disorders Recovery: A Request For Help
In response to several emails and comments concerning recovery, I'd like to invite you to share your recovery experience here, on Weighing The Facts, so that others who are struggling can benefit.
There's so much to be gained from reading/hearing what others have been through and how they manage to survive the struggle, emotions, set backs, doubts, and fears that are so much a part of the journey. No matter what your story, there is a common connection and that connection is powerful and healing. You can make a difference, inspire others, and help reinforce the fact that recovery is indeed possible.
If you would like to help please send me an email at mrsmenopausal@yahoo.com. I plan on compiling all entries into one post.
Please submit only original work and include if you would like to remain anonymous, be credited by a pen name, or your real name.
I'm setting a deadline of February 20th so the post can be a part of Eating Disorders Awareness Month 2012.
I hope you'll participate.
Thank you,
MrsM
picsource:http://www.flickr.com/photos/vinaydeep/2742035426/in/photostream/
Eating Disorders News and Views: February 7, 2012
Integrative Medicine to Treat Eating Disorders
By Carolyn Coker Ross, MD
psychcentral.com
Integrative medicine can be defined as “a healing-oriented discipline that takes into account the whole person — body, mind and spirit — including all aspects of lifestyle. It emphasizes the therapeutic relationship and makes use of both conventional and alternative therapies.”
Complementary and alternative therapies used in integrative medicine can include acupuncture, chiropractic, herbal medicine, dietary supplements and others that give the clinician a wide array of treatments for difficult conditions. This is particularly true in the integrative medicine approach to eating disorders.
Read Integrated Medicine in full
Council ‘Pleased’ at Action Against Bullying Teacher
hestar.co.uk
A COUNCIL has said it is ‘pleased’ action was taken in a case of a teacher found to have bullied a bulimic colleague who later died at school.
Moira Ogilvie, former acting deputy headteacher at Rotherham’s High Greave Junior School, was found guilty of unacceptable professional conduct and sanctioned by the General Teaching Council this week.
The committee found she had ‘bullied, intimidated, undermined and victimised’ Britt Pilton, who collapsed and died at the school, aged 29, in February 2009.
Her inquest ruled her stress and bulimia had been worsened by issues at work.
Read Bullying Teacher in full
Vancouver Media Maven Ralks About Her Eating Disorder
vancourier.com
Rachel McHollister has suffered from anorexia since she was 14 years old. Now an owner of a boutique public relations firm, she first started restricting what she ate. As she got older, she binged and purged. She’s been fighting the disease for 13 years and continues to wage war against it on a daily basis.
McHollister recently participated in a UBC panel discussion on body image and related issues such as self-esteem, social pressure, and media messages that can contribute to eating disorders to raise awareness of the issue.
Read Media Maven in full
La Scala Fires Ballerina Over Frank Talk of Anorexia
latimes.com
An act of whistle blowing has landed a ballerina at La Scala in Milan, Italy, in big trouble. The famed company has reportedly told her to hand in her pink tutu in exchange for a pink slip.
Mariafrancesca Garritano, who has danced with the company for about 17 years, has been fired following an interview with a British weekly in which she said that one in five dancers at La Scala Theatre Ballet suffers from anorexia. The interview, which ran in Britain's Observer, contains an unflattering account of how the company pressures its dancers to lose weight.
Read La Scala Fire Ballerina in full
Children Under 10 in Northern Ireland Treated for Eating Disorders
bbc.co.uk
A number of children under 10 have been treated in hospitals in Northern Ireland for eating disorders.
The Department of Health has not published the exact number, but up to 12 children were hospitalised in the three years between 2007 and 2010. Nearly 80 teenagers have received hospital treatment for conditions such as anorexia in the past five years.
It is understood up to £4m is spent each year on adults and teenagers who travel to England for treatment.
Ann McCann from the Eating Disorders Association said the organisation had dealt with a girl as young as eight, who had been bullied for being a "little bit overweight".
She said the numbers of children affected are growing - the vast majority are girls, but one in ten are boys.
Read Children Under 10 in full
Openness About Eating Disorders Overdue
therepublic.com
Although we don’t exactly shout it from the rooftop, my family never has hidden the experience of our middle daughter’s struggle with anorexia nervosa, the eating disorder that leads some people — and especially smart and pretty young women — to starve themselves.
Very often, the conversation produces a flash of understanding.
There was the baseball executive. The City Council member back in Wisconsin. The fellow parishioner. The neighbor. The casual professional acquaintance.
All had firsthand experiences with eating disorders.
Surprised? You shouldn’t be.After all, the theme of National Eating Disorders Awareness Week, to be held Feb. 26 to March 3, is “Everybody Knows Somebody.”
Read Openness in full
The Realities of Living With Eating Disorders
With support and therapy, sufferers can still live a fulfilling, normal life
Sally Chaster / timescolonist.com
am in my early 50s, and I have struggled with a severe and debilitating eating disorder since I was six.
I suffer from anorexia, but there are many other serious, debilitating eating disorders, including bulimia, binge eating and others.
People with these disorder may be underweight, normal weight, overweight or obese, and may die at any size from any of the disorders. They can be young or old, male or female, any colour, nationality or religion.
How can people help? The answer to that is "nothing" and "everything."
Eating disorders are mental illnesses which often result in medical problems. There is increasing evidence of a genetic predisposition to eating disorders, and the trigger for activating a disorder may be any number of things.
Read The Realities in full
Crystal Renn Reveals The Truth About Her Recent Weight Loss
huffingtonpost.com
With her background in plus-size modeling, Crystal Renn always finds herself on the hot seat about her weight. Is she gaining? Losing? What size is she? It's all a bit ridic, if you ask us.
But Renn herself has been vocal about her struggles with anorexia -- she once confessed to surviving on Diet Coke and sugar-free Jello -- and in a new interview with "Entertainment Tonight," she rebuts rumors that she's recently slipped back into unhealthy eating habits.
The model defended her weight loss back in February 2011, saying:
Read Crystal Renn in full
EveryBODY’s Beautiful Shines the Light on Eating Disorders
kingstonthisweek.com
When you look in the mirror what do you see? Do you see someone confident staring back, who looks great, flaws and all? Or do you see someone who never quite looks good enough?
In today’s world, where society is inundated with images of what is deemed to be perfection, many people are often plagued with feelings of doubt when it comes to their own body and body image. And sometimes those doubts can lead to more serious issues, including eating disorders.“These are issues that directly or indirectly affects everybody,” says Pam Fountas, founder and host of EveryBODY’s Beautiful, a fundraising event Friday, Feb. 10, in support of local eating disorder clinics.
“I’d argue that 99.9 per cent of the population knows what it’s like to not feel comfortable in their own skin at one point or another in their lives.
Read Shines in full
Possibilities: Inspirational Recovery Quotes
Audry Hepburn
Think about your future possibilities and the fact that your potential is virtually unlimited. You can do what you want to do and go where you want to go. You can be the person you want to be. You can set large and small goals and make plans and move step-by-step, progressively toward their realization. There are no obstacles to what you can accomplish except the obstacles that you create in your mind.
Brian Tracy
I dwell in possibility…
Emily Dickinson
Whether you believe you can or not, you're right.
Henry Ford
Faith makes things possible, not easy.
Unknown
Our aspirations are our possibilities.
Samuel Johnson
You and I are essentially infinite choice-makers. In every moment of our existence, we are in that field of all possibilities where we have access to an infinity of choices.
Deepak Chopra
What is now proved was once only imagined.
William Blake
Go as far as you can see; when you get there you'll be able to see farther.
Thomas Carlyle
The future is simply infinite possibility waiting to happen. What it waits on is human imagination to crystallize its possibility.
Leland Kaiser
Start by doing what's necessary; then do what's possible; and suddenly you are doing the impossible.
St. Francis of Assisi
There is no planet, sun, or star could hold you, if you but knew what you are.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
The possibilities are numerous once we decide to act and not react.
Gloria Anzaldua
The Wright brother flew right through the smoke screen of impossibility.
Charles F. Kettering
In our efforts to be human, God does not leave us to fend for ourselves… In community - communion - we are reminded that everything is possible.
Dolores R. Leckey
Each day means a new twenty-four hours. Each day means everything's possible again.
Marie Lu
Believing in fate produces fate. Believing in freedom will create infinite possibilities.
Ayn Rand
Sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast.
Lewis Carroll
In this moment, there is plenty of time. In this moment, you are precisely as you should be. In this moment, there is infinite possibility.
Victoria Moran
Impossible situations can become possible miracles.
Robert H. Schuller
When everything is lost, anything is possible.
Robert Inman
Alleged ‘impossibilities’ are opportunities for our capacities to be stretched.
Charles R. Swindoll
It’s kind of fun to do the impossible!
Walt Disney
I am neither an optimist nor pessimist, but a possibilist.
Max Lerner
Every man is an impossibility until he is born.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Begin to free yourself at once by doing all that is possible with the means you have, and as you proceed in this spirit the way will open for you to do more.
Robert Collier
The difficult we do immediately; the impossible takes a little longer.
Air Force motto
Nothing is impossible to a willing heart.
John Keywood
If I were to wish for anything, I should not wish for wealth and power, but for the passionate sense of the potential, for the eye which, ever young and ardent, sees the possible. Pleasure disappoints, possibility never. And what wine is so sparkling, what so fragrant, what so intoxicating, as possibility!
Soren Kierkegaard
It's the possibility that keeps me going, not the guarantee.
Nicholas Sparks/The Notebook
A thought, even a possibility, can shatter and transform us.
Friedrich Nietzsche
If everyone woke up tomorrow morning and said, "It's possible; whatever it is, it's possible," and spent a whole day having an "it's possible" day, then we would be going down the kind of road I'm interested in--because I do believe it is possible.
John Bird
So often we dwell on the things that seem impossible rather than on the things that are possible. So often we are depressed by what remains to be done and forget to be thankful for all that has been done.
Marian Wright Edelman
Without leaps of imagination, or dreaming, we lose the excitement of possibilities. Dreaming, after all, is a form of planning.
Gloria Steinem
Your range of available choices -- right now -- is limitless.
Frederick Frieseke
I realized that if what we call human nature can be changed, then, absolutely anything is possible. And from that moment, my life changed.
Shirley Maclaine
You do not need to know precisely what is happening, or exactly where it is all going. What you need is to recognize the possibilities and challenges offered by the present moment, and to embrace them with courage, faith and hope.
Thomas Merton
All things are possible until they are proved impossible. Even the impossible may only be so, as of now.
Pearl S. Buck
The impossible is often the untried..
Jim Goodwin
I am always doing that which I cannot do, in order that I may learn how to do it.
Pablo Picasso
Let your imagination release your imprisoned possibilities.
Robert H. Schuller
Become a possibilitarian. No matter how dark things seem to be or actually are, raise your sights and see possibilities - always see them, for they're always there.
Norman Vincent Peale
Limitations live only in our minds. But if we use our imaginations, our possibilities become limitless.
Jamie Paolinetti
It is our duty as men and women to proceed as though the limits of our abilities do not exist.
Pierre Teilhard De Chardin
If you only look at what is, you might never attain what could be.
Unknown
Man would not have attained the possible unless time and again he had reached out of the impossible.
Max Weber
My mother gave me a bumblebee pin when I started work. She said: "Aerodynamically, bees shouldn't be able to fly. But they do. Remember that."
Jill E. Barad
We all have possibilities we don't know about. We can do things we don't even dream we can do.
Dale Carnegie
Rebellion against your handicaps gets you nowhere. Self-pity gets you nowhere. One must have the adventurous daring to accept oneself as a bundle of possibilities and undertake the most interesting game in the world--making the most of one's best.
Harry Emerson Fosdick
A seed hidden in the heart of an apple is an orchard invisible.
Kahlil Gibran
Our thoughts and imagination are the only real limits to our possibilities.
Orison Swett
Most people are not really free; they are confined by the niche in the world that they carve out for themselves. They limit themselves to fewer possibilities by the narrowness of their vision.
V.S. Naipaul
You must do the thing you think you cannot do.
Eleanor Roosevelt
It is very dangerous to go into eternity with possibilities which one has oneself prevented from becoming realities. A possibility is a hint from God. One must follow it.
Soren Kierkegaard
The only way of finding the limits of the possible is by going beyond them into the impossible.
Arthur C. Clarke
Stop thinking in terms of limitations and start thinking in terms of possibilities.
Terry Josephson
The purpose of life for man is growth, just as the purpose of life for trees and plants is growth. Trees and plants grow automatically and along fixed lines; man can grow as he will. Trees and plants can only develop certain possibilities and characteristics; man can develop any power which is or has been shown by any person anywhere. Nothing that is possible in spirit is impossible in flesh and blood. Nothing that man can think is impossible. Nothing that man can imagine is impossible of realization.
Wallace D. Wattles
I'm in my prime. There's no goal too far, no mountain too high.
Wilma Rudolph
Every one's got it in him, if he'll only make up his mind and stick at it. None of us is born with a stop-valve on his powers or with a set limit to his capacities, There's no limit possible to the expansion of each one of us.
Charles Schwab
What great things would you attempt if you knew you could not fail.
Robert H Schuller
You never know what you can do until you try.
Unknown
No matter what the level of your ability, you have more potential than you can ever develop in a lifetime.
James T. Mccay
*See sidebar menu for more Inspirational Recovery Quotes and Quotes of the Week
Recovery Quote Of The Week: January 26, 2012
If you search the world for happiness, you may find it in the end, for the world is round and will lead you back to your door.
Robert Brault
picsource:http://www.flickr.com/photos/snugglepup/4544140905/in/photostream/
Raising Eating Disorders Awareness In Memory of Sarah Fasano
Eve Simonetti is on a mission to raise awareness for eating disorders in memory of her friend, Sarah Fasano.
Eve says, "Over the past 8 years i have been suffering from an eating disorder that has nearly killed me and taken my life. Not many people realize just how powerful this disorder is. I have been to over a dozen treatment facilities and have met hundreds of girls/women who are fighting for their life with this as well but we have very limited resources. Recently i have lost a friend from my most recent treatment center, The Renfrew Center. My roommate Sarah Fasano. Not just for her but for all of my friends silently suffering, i would like to raise awareness of this vicious disease and just how many women it affects. Sarah was very passionate about NEDA and recovery, so i would like to pay a tribute to her and the other soldiers we have lost along the way in the battle against the body."
Statistics show:
- 70 million individuals are affected by eating disorders worldwide, with 24 million being American.
- 10 to 15 percent are male.
- 90 percent of women with eating disorders are between the ages of 12 and 25.
- Currently approximately 11 percent of high school students have been diagnosed with an eating disorder.
- 15 percent of young women in the US who are not diagnosed with an eating disorder exhibit substantially disordered eating behavior and attitude.
Eve added, "Sarah was active and passionate about NEDA and I really cant think of anything else that would serve as more of a testimony than this."
All donations raised in honor of Sarah Fasano will go to NEDA (National Eating Disorders Association). Please consider making a donation and help Eve raise awareness about eating disorders.
Donations can be made here.
Sarah Fasano Music on YouTube
See more Eating Disorders Statistics
picsource:http://www.myspace.com/sarahfasano/photos/52849510
This Week's R.I.S.E. :What Would You Say To A Friend?
This week's R.I.S.E. (Recovery Inspiration Strength Exercise) is What would you say to a friend?
Have you ever noticed that when someone you care about is hurting that you're able to give support, comfort, and advice from a place of love that seems reserved just for them? Do you ever hear what you're saying and think, "why can I say this to someone else and not to myself?"
For many of us, we see other people's problems and solutions much clearer than we see our own. Sometimes the solution seems so obvious and uncomplicated. Even complicated solutions still seem doable. Why is that? The reasons range from complicated to down right simple.
We're just too close to the problem.
Everything seems harder to accomplish when it's personal. It gets bogged down in the muck of our personal "stuff."
We're dealing with things like:
- Our past experiences/history
- How we feel about ourselves
- Fear of change
- Fear of failure
- Feeling undeserving
So this week take a problem you're dealing with and pretend you're advising, comforting, and supporting a friend. Writing it down in letter form will help you reach your true "friend" voice (Dear insert your name here ). Don't read it when you're done writing it. Put it away for a day... or three. When you have a few moments to be all alone, grab yourself a cup of warm tea, settle into a comfy spot, and read it, slowly. Then read it again, out loud.
Now, follow your own advice.
You are deserving, and worthy of it.
©Weighing The Facts
picsource:http://www.flickr.com/photos/mel_rowling/6122321048/in/photostream/
Recovery Quote Of The Week: January 14, 2011
There are no shortcuts to any place worth going.
Helen Keller
See sidebar menu for more Recovery Quotes of the Week and Inspirational Recovery Quotes
Eating Disorders News and Views: January 10, 2012
Binge Eating Disorder May Be Added to DSM-5
The DSM-5 Feeding and Eating Disorders Work Group is proposing a number of diagnostic changes. Here’s an overview.
Criteria for “binge eating disorder,” the fruit of an explosion of research on the subject since publication of DSM-IV, are being proposed for inclusion in DSM-5. The addition of the disorder, defined as recurrent eating of “an amount of food that is definitely larger than most people would eat in a similar period of time under similar circumstances,” is among the major changes proposed for the chapter on feeding and eating disorders. Virtually identical criteria for binge eating disorder were listed in the appendix to the chapter in DSM-IV but it was not included as an official diagnosis.
Read Binge Eating Disorder DSM-5 in full.
Women with Anorexia May Have Categorical Learning Deficiencies
Recent research has focused on examining the cognitive abilities of people with eating issues and in particular, of women with anorexia nervosa (AN). “These studies are important for a better understanding of AN given the possibility that cognitive deficits may (a) contribute to the development and persistence of AN, (b) result from neurological changes associated with the disease, or (c) influence the choice of treatment approaches,” said Megan E. Shott of the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Colorado. More recent studies have discovered that although individuals with AN may have deficits in cognitive functioning, many of them also have very high IQs.
Read Categorical Learning Disabilities in full.
When Eating Healthy Turns Obsessive
In a vegan café in New York City, Nisha Moodley pushes a glass crusted with the remnants of a berry-açai-almond milk smoothie across the table and begins listing the foods she excised from her diet six years ago.
"Factory-farmed meats; hormone-laden dairy; conventional non-organic fruits and vegetables; anything hydrogenated; anything microwaved," the slender 32-year-old health coach says. "I would not eat irradiated food; charred or blackened foods; artificial coloring, flavoring, or sweetener; MSG; white rice; sugar; table salt; or anything canned.
Back then, a typical breakfast for Moodley consisted of buckwheat mixed with seaweed, raw cacao powder, flax oil, and flax seeds. Lunch was usually homemade brown rice with lentils, fresh vegetables, and kale, followed by a mid-afternoon snack of homemade flax-seed-and-buckwheat crackers. And for dinner, a salad with garbanzo beans, avocado, carrots, beets, and mushrooms.
Moodley initially adopted this diet to address recurring bad digestion. But her commitment to healthy eating -- something to be commended, ordinarily -- turned into an obsession that took over her life. "I was terrified of food that didn't fit within my idea of what was healthy," Moodley says. "I was terrified of cancer, of dying."
Read Healthy Turns Obsessive in full
Is Binge Eating a Mental Disorder?
According to the latest draft of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders ( DSM) in the American Psychiatric Association (APA), binge eating is a mental disorder.
Health professionals refer to this document to conclude whether an individual is suffering from a mental disorder or not. In the manual, binge eating shares place with grave medical conditions such as substance-related disorders, sleep disorders and anxiety disorders. But does this mean that if you chug cheese burgers, you are suffering from a clinical eating disorder? Let's find out...
Binge eating depicts a lack of control over one's eating habits, a feeling where one has no control over how much or how many times one is eating.
The top characteristics which distinguish binge eating from normal eating are:
- Eating food much more quickly than normal.
- Eating food until feeling awkwardly full.
- Consuming large amounts of food when not feeling hungry.
- Consuming food in a separate room, or in isolation so as not to feel embarrassed by the quantity or style of eating.
- A binge eater tends to feel very appalled with oneself. A deep feeling of depression or guilt lingers on after the completion of an eating spree.
Here are a few tried and tested ways to avoid binge eating:
- Distract yourself from the food and indulge in an activity you love. Rush for a warm water bath when you think food is overpowering you. Go for a nice chocolate pedicure session or may be light some nice scented candles in your room and play some light music rather than eating.
- In other times, you might find this a tad bit boring, but sip small amounts of water whenever you feel you are in the mood to indulge.
Read Binge Eating/Mental Disorder in full
Emirati Woman Recounts How She Chose Life Over Anorexia
Sitting in the lounge of a Dubai hotel, Samira Murshid Al Romaithi could be any other 28-year-old woman. Clear-skinned and bright-eyed, she smiles as she greets me, exposing a set of pearly white teeth and a long mane of dark hair that falls over a pretty, sensitive face.
Confident without being overbearing, articulate and charming, this is a woman who holds a senior position with the Government in Abu Dhabi; who is the vice president of the UAE Jiu-Jitsu committee and a blue-belt competitor; who is about to launch her own business selling health food snacks; and who not only has a BA and a master's but also is halfway through another master's, in diplomacy and international relations. Her zest for life is obvious.
It's almost impossible to imagine she once suffered from anorexia.
Anorexia - a word that conjures up images of skeletal-like young women and that many presume is vanity in the extreme, an attempt to achieve the perfect body gone terribly wrong and an example of just how askew our priorities have become in the complicated modern world.
But there is, of course, more to this insidious disease that (along with other eating disorders such as bulimia) is still a taboo subject in many parts of the world and especially so in the UAE.
Read Emirati Woman in full
People With Eating Disorders Still suffering on Sidelines
BY THE time she was finally admitted to hospital, Noelle Graham's heart was on the point of giving out. Years of extreme dieting, purging and vomiting had ravaged the very substance of her body, leaving her blood so low in potassium it could no longer sustain a regular pulse.
That four-month admission, in 2009, was the culmination of nearly a decade of disordered eating that began when Ms Graham was only 12 - starting benignly enough as a decision to become a vegan and escalating through compulsive exercise, deliberate vomiting and long periods of starvation.
Still battling not to relapse, Ms Graham sees a psychiatrist and has had to return many times to hospital, where she said doctors typically, ''stick me on a drip and rehydrate me, then send me home''.
Read People With Eating Disorders in full
New Approach to Diagnosing Anorexia Nervosa
January 9, 2012
A new approach for diagnosing patients with anorexia nervosa has been developed at the University of Sydney. The approach could have a significant impact on the treatment and recovery of sufferers, as well as reducing the strain on public health.
As reported in the Sydney Morning Herald, Professor Stephen Touyz, of the University of Sydney's Centre for Eating and Dieting Disorders, advocates a move to diagnosing anorexia nervosa in stages of severity, similar to the method used for diagnosing cancer.
"At the moment, you can only diagnose anorexia nervosa if you have the illness quite severely already," says Professor Touyz.
"By the time you have anorexia nervosa, and people can see that you've got it, you're an extremely ill person. This is an illness where 20 percent of people who are diagnosed could potentially die."
Professor Touyz's proposed system of stages would introduce the diagnosis of stage one anorexia nervosa for patients who clearly already suffer from the illness but do not yet meet its official diagnostic criteria.
Read New Approach in full
15 Quotes For Recovery In This Brand New Year
Celebrate what you want to see more of.
Tom Peters
A new year is unfolding ... like a blossom with petals curled tightly concealing the beauty within.
Anonymous
For last year's words belong to last year's language and next year's words await another voice.
T.S. Eliot
We will open the book. Its pages are blank. We are going to put words on them ourselves. The book is called Opportunity and its first chapter is New Year's Day.
Edith Lovejoy Pierce
We spend January (1) walking through our lives, room by room, drawing up a list of work to be done, cracks to be patched. Maybe this year, to balance the list, we ought to walk through the rooms of our lives, not looking for flaws but for potential.""
Ellen Goodman
Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow.
Einstein
Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.
Mark Twain
Year's end is neither an end nor a beginning but a going on, with all the wisdom that experience can instill in us.
Hal Borland
Why shed tears on failures long forgotten when hope looms on the horizon?
Charles Casha
In the New Year, may your right hand always be stretched out in friendship, but never in want.
Irish saying
Cheers to a new year and another chance for us to get it right.
Oprah Winfrey
The old year has gone. Let the dead past bury its own dead. The New Year has taken possession of the clock of time. All hail the duties and possibilities of the coming twelve months!
Edward Payson Powell
I don’t really have a New Year’s resolution to go on a diet or anything like that. I am who I am, and I don’t want to be somebody else.
Karolina Kurkova
One resolution I have made, and try always to keep, is this: To rise above the little things.
John Burroughs
If it didn’t Bring you Joy,
Just Leave it Behind.
Let’s Ring in the New Year
With Good Things in Mind.
Let Every Bad Memory Go
That Brought Heartache and Pain.
And let’s Turn a New Leaf
With the Smell of New Rain.
Let’s Forget Past Mistakes
Making Amends for This Year.
Sending You These Greetings
To Bring you Hope and Cheer
Happy New Year!
Unknown
See also 10 Self-Nurturing New Year's Resolutions
See sidebar for more Recovery Quotes
Recovery Quote Of The Week: January 6, 2011
Sharon Salzberg
See sidebar menu for more Recovery Quotes Of The Week and Inspirational Recovery Quotes
picsource:http://www.flickr.com/photos/emry/3022879417/in/photostream/
This Week's R.I.S.E. : Kisses In Your Pocket
This week's R.I.S.E. (Recovery Inspiration Strength Exercise) is Kisses In Your Pocket.
Years ago, when my now grown son was little, I gave him something to help buffer the insecurity he was feeling at the thought of the unknown ... being away from me for part of the day while he attended preschool. Each day I put on some lipstick and covered a piece of paper with kisses for him to keep in his pocket. Each time he felt he needed it, he could pull out that little slip of paper and take a kiss of encouragement. It was enough to see him through those days he felt unsure or anxious.
Years earlier my husband was in a horrible accident. Surviving it was a miracle. The road ahead was uncertain. One night, while I was spending the night in the hospital solarium, I met a patient who couldn't sleep. We got to talking. He told me his story, and I told him my husband's. He took a necklace from around his neck, removed the old, worn medal of St. Michael and asked me to give it to my husband. He told me how it had seen him through so much and he wanted him to have it. My husband kept that medal with him at all times, switching it his wallet when he was released. It reminded him to stay strong, to hang in there, he could do this.
Sometimes, all we need is a little something that says to us "you can do this, you're going to be okay, this moment of struggle is going to pass."
So this week put some kisses in your pocket. Choose something easily carried with you. Break it out whenever it's needed and draw strength from what it symbolizes. You CAN do this!
See sidebar menu for more Weekly R.I.S.E.
©Weighing The Facts
Eating Disorders Recovery: In Recovery ...
click image to enlarge
In recovery I'm learning to love myself again. I'm discovering that I can trust myself and take care of myself. I'm finding out that what I really need is to nurture my body and my spirit. Believing in myself and working my recovery is the most important step in achieving the life I desire for myself, the life that I am worthy of... the life I deserve.
Recovery!
The New Year: Eating Disorders Poll
What emotions are you feeling with the arrival of the New Year?
Please take a moment to participate in the poll in the sidebar.
Thank you.
MrsM
This poll is now closed.
You can find the results here: Previous Poll Results
Happy New Year's Eve!
Happy New Year's Eve!
Another fresh new year is here... another year to live! To banish worry, doubt, and fear, to love and laugh and give! This bright new year is given me to live each day with zest ... to daily grow and try to be my highest and my best! I have the opportunity once more to right some wrongs, to pray for peace, to plant a tree, and sing more joyful songs.
William Arthur Ward
Recovery Quote Of The Week: December 31, 2011
Dolly Parton
See sidebar menu for more Recovery Quotes of the Week, and Inspirational Recovery Quotes
10 Self-Nurturing New Year's Resolutions
I'm not a fan of New Year's resolutions. More often than not, we set up lofty goals that are near impossible to stick to or are just unhealthy for us. When we don't manage to accomplish them we then feel guilty, frustrated, and defeated. If you're considering making resolutions for the new year why not make them something that nurtures your being and changes how you feel about yourself?
10 Self-Nurturing New Year's Resolutions
I resolve to:
- love myself more (flaws and all)
- be more grateful for my body and what it allows me to do every day
- make more healthy choices for both my mind and my body
- respect myself and others more
- surround myself with more positive and supportive people
- stop comparing myself to others and instead celebrate my unique individuality more
- replace negative self-talk with more positive, loving statements
- let go of past shame, regrets, and fear and live in the present more
- speak up, reach out, and ask for more help when I need it
- laugh more, love more, and enjoy the life I have been blessed with
Notice the word, "more," slipped in there? "More" is important for two reasons.
- you may already be doing these things and so now are resolving to build on them.
- "more" allows forward movement without the preconceived notion of failure when you don't accomplish something fully.
Remember, it's not about perfecting anything. It's about learning to nurture yourself. It takes time and practice.
Make this year the year that you choose to take care of you. Make yourself a priority.
Happy New Year!
MrsM
©Weighing The Facts
picsource: http://www.flickr.com/photos/aschultz/3700307982/
This Week's R.I.S.E. : Don't Hang Around Waiting For Perfection
This week's R.I.S.E. (Recovery Inspiration Strength Exercise) is Don't Hang Around Waiting For Perfection.
Are you waiting for perfection before you participate? Have there been events, gatherings, classes you'd like to take, a career move you'd like to make, or anything else that you've put on hold because you're waiting for the perfect time, perfect weight, perfect outfit, perfect conditions?
The problem with perfection is that it's practically unattainable and, in my opinion, boring (said with a long, drawn out, sing songy type inflection). When I think back on some of my favorite memories, it's the imperfections that made them so extraordinary, so memorable. The imperfect friends and family, and the imperfect situations led to unexpected turns of events that left me belly laughing with glee, or happily surprised by an outcome I couldn't have even imagined. Even when I wasn't thrilled by the end results, I came away from it with a life lesson that I wouldn't have learned otherwise and that I was (if not immediately, at least down the road) grateful to learn.
Putting your life on hold because you don't feel thin enough, good enough, pretty enough, worthy enough (and the list goes on and on) is one of the biggest life cheats there is.
The hard, cold fact is that we only have right now, this very moment, for certain. Everything else is a gamble and a gift. Keep hanging around waiting for perfection and you could find you've missed a huge hunk of life.
We hold ourselves back by worrying what others will think of us when, in reality, they're really not giving us much thought. Not in the sense that we worry they are. Have you ever noticed that the people who go out and meet life head on don't seem the least bit concerned with how you feel about it? They're not worried that you don't approve, or don't think they look the right way, or think they're good enough to do whatever it is they're choosing to do. They're too busy living their lives.
This is no dress rehearsal (paraphrasing Rose Tremain) so stop waiting and start participating.
For this week do something you've been wanting to do. Attend or host a gathering of friends you've been eager to see, go somewhere new, do something... just don't hang around waiting for perfection.
Jump in without weight, appearance, or any other self-limiting thoughts holding you back. Let go of the self-negativity and worry. Take your-self with you. The real you. The one that matters. Enjoy! Laugh! Live it fully! And if it doesn't turn out the way you had hoped, go with the flow and make the best of it.
There's a whole lot of living to be done out there and it's waiting for your wonderfully imperfect self!
* See sidebar menu for more Weekly R.I.S.E.
©Weighing The Facts
picsource:http://www.flickr.com/photos/tangaroo/1280739738/
Today I Smile: Eating Disorders Poetry
wind blowing
peacefully
music playing
beautifully
this content feeling …
make it last, eternally
slow breaths in and out
any feeling of uneasiness
has flown away with the breeze
going far away
and I’ll do anything to make it stay that way
there have been times when I didn’t care to stay
but with THIS day …
I can’t see it any other way
Finally
It’s been a while
Finally
I can feel the smile
No worries, no anxiety
The sun beating down on me
Mirrors the light
That has just been turned on inside myself
Positively affecting my emotional health
Happy people passing by
Smiles on their faces, helping to erase all the “whys”
Its.time.
To let go
Its.time.
To finally say .. no
No
To the emotions that force themselves upon me
Because today, I am happy … as happy as can be.
by: Life Is Sweet
picsource:http://www.flickr.com/photos/lanuiop/4499445972/in/photostream/
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