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Three Emotional Tools for Managing Lack, Guilt, and Fear
Emotional management
It is easy, during Christmas, to get overwhelmed by the Christmas spirit, and the big eaters.
For many, what they feel when it is Christmas is bittersweet; These dates are not always as beautiful as the images we see in advertisements and movies reflect. Many times, we have during these dates deeply uncomfortable feelings, such as the feeling of lack, overwhelm or even the fear of gaining weight.
«The feeling of lack, overwhelm and fear are an explosive mixture that makes us feel that we are not good enough, and this leads to strange behaviors with food», Says Ali Ochandiano, an expert in emotional nutrition. But that does not mean that there is “no hope.” The professional assures that “there is another way to face Christmas.” Therefore, leave with us three tools to manage lack, overwhelm and fear, and we can have the best Christmas possible.
How to manage deficiency
“What we focus on becomes our reality. If you are constantly thinking about what you don’t have, you’re constantly going to feel like you don’t have enough “, says the professional. Therefore, he urges us to focus on the ones we do haveIn the achievements we have made, in what our bodies do for us, what our friends and family like about us… “In this sense, starting a gratitude journal is a great practice. Write down in your notebook or on your mobile three reasons why you are grateful every morning when you wake up », he recommends and ensures that this exercise, if we include it in our daily lives,« will allow us to focus on what we do have. , instead of what we lack ».
How to manage stress
When we are overwhelmed, we get stuck. “Our mind is going around and around everything we have to do, and this does not allow us to focus, so we do nothing,” says the expert. Therefore, it raises a breathing exercise that can help calm us and focus on the present in 60 seconds.
The first thing we must do is close our eyes. After, inhale for four seconds, and exhale for eight. You have to repeat this exercise three times and, Ali Ochandiano recommends telling us any of the following statements:
– I’m exactly where I’m supposed to be.
– I choose to see love over fear.
– Even though I feel overwhelmed, I know this will pass.
«Find your own affirmation that resonates with you and that feels good to you. Come back to the present moment. Create your own peace, ”he recommends.
How to manage fear (of food)
“Fear, especially of food, is normal at this time of year. It is everywhere, and we are constantly bombarded with messages to unleash gluttony and overeating, “says the nutritionist. Talk about a very common mistake that can be committed these days: the eating less in the days leading up to the big feasts, and then arriving so hungry that it devours everything. “When this happens, it is easy for guilt and shame to come, and thus we enter a very bad vicious circle,” he says and explains that we have an option with which to begin to solve this: to choose love over fear. Choose to honor your hunger and your satiety. Choose to love your body. Choose a healthy option for your body “, he asks and explains that we must” eat and dine normally according to how hungry you feel “to, in this way, tune our body to the feeling of hunger and be able to eat what we really need.
Another recommendation from the nutritionist, to to be able to control what we are going to eat it is, before we start to eat, “establish our intentions.” «Take a minute before you start eating (no one has to know you are doing this) to set the intention in your mind to eat consciously, enjoying and honoring your hunger and satiety, in order to enjoy the food and free yourself from guilt, “he ends.