Not the “I’d sure like chocolate AND vanilla” kind of desire.  Instead, it’s your heart’s desire.  The desire that shows up when life takes you by the hand and leads you toward your destiny.

“Sounds easy enough, doesn’t it? Birds do it, bees do it, even educated fleas do it… Any sentient being knows when it wants to eat, mate, run, sleep, or fight – any sentient being, that is, except most members of the human race. We are the only beasts in creation who systematically eradicate the knowledge of our own desire.”                – Martha Beck, The Joy Diet

So get comfortable in your moment of doing Nothing (menu item #1) and open yourself up to being truthful (menu item #2).  Then search around for a pebble of desire.  Once you find one, sit with it and visualize what it would be like to meet it.  Try and feel if it’s on the path to your destiny.

To illustrate, let’s explore the number one spoken desire of my clients: 

“I want to lose weight.”

In a state of complete compassion and truth, and without judgment, visualize yourself and your life at your ideal weight.  What is it about being lighter that you would enjoy?  Would your doctor be pleased?  Are you finally happy in your own skin?  If the time consuming obsession over food and your body ended, how would you spend that time differently?

While inquisitively sitting in your vision, you might begin to see pieces of your true destiny.  You might also see some pieces that are less authentic, possibly false, but part of the story. 

The below chart is from The Joy Diet (modified slightly for this example).  Continue to hold the “I want to lose weight” desire in your mind and see which column best describes your vision now and down the road.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with wanting to lose weight to impress friends that you haven’t seen in twenty years at a class reunion.  The point is… if that’s the ONLY reason why losing weight is on your wish list, it will result in deprivation dieting, obsessing over food, inevitable overindulgence and the despair that whole downward spiral seems to bring.  

The spoken desire of “I want to lose weight” acted out as if it’s the only answer to your happiness almost always ends up with false desire after-effects. 

Here’s the good news:
There’s a bit of magic when it comes to following your true desire and losing weight.

Action upon your TRUE heart’s desires comes coupled with a desire to relax into your own body’s rhythm and to treat yourself with ultimate self care and love.  This will lead to a sense of fulfillment in your life.   It eliminates the need get full-fillment from food. 

That’s the place we call “thinner peace.”

What true desire will bring you to this place?
Next week we’ll get creative (menu item #4) about getting there.

In Martha Beck’s The Joy Diet, absorbing a new truth about yourself is the second item on the menu.  The idea is to compassionately check in with your life.  Is there anything that you’re hiding from yourself or others that is keeping you from experiencing full time joy?

Truth digging is most effective on the heels of doing your daily 10 to 15 minutes of Nothing.  On Friday, I went through Martha’s six suggested questions with a touch of a temper and a side of Excedrin.

“What am I feeling?”

Like a giant pain in the neck.  Literally.   I’m also fidgety and unfocused.

“What hurts?”

I told you… my neck!  It’s a crick on the left side, coupled with a headache.

“What is the painful story I’m telling?”

If I were focused, I’d be able to tell a story.  There’s just pain.  No story. I haven’t had a crick in my neck like this since leaving my old j.o.b. back in January.  Now I remember how I used to feel on Monday mornings. 

Fascinating.

I had agreed to step back into that life for a few hours that day to help them with a project. 

While I was not spinning painful stories in my conscious mind, my body kicked in to tell me the truth.  I’ve looked back occasionally wondering what would have been different if I had stayed.  Now I know.  I really didn’t want to go back there.  I felt like I was about to waste a day of my life walking the wrong path. 

“Can I be sure my painful story is true?”

No.  No experience is a waste. 

 “Is my painful story working?”

No. If I think it will be a waste, it will be a waste.  What a waste that would be!  And my neck hurts.

“Can I think of another story that might work better?”

First observation:  I do not feel compelled to eat my way through this like I would have a year ago.  I love this coaching stuff.  It, like, works.

Second observation:  I left that job when I came to a fork in the road where the corporate world path and the one toward my destiny split.  I made the right choice.  My neck just told me so. 

As I drove away from that office building Friday afternoon, my headache died away and the tension in my neck eased.  Amazing what a good dose of Nothing and a teaspoon of Truth will do to turn a subconsciously wasted day into one of gratitude and thanksgiving. 

I’ve been practicing this (almost) every day and never seem to run out of food for thought.  As a result, I have new friends, a new career, have lost weight and have emptied at a ton of clutter from my mind and home.  In other words… the truth will set you free and, quite possibly, turn your life upside down.

Next week we’ll add Desire to the mix.  I mean, if you’re going to turn your life upside down, it should certainly be for something you desire!  Right!?

Until then, I’d love to hear about ways you uncover your truth.