Sophie's Challenges

Jodie wrote: ↑Mon Nov 13, 2023 12:30 am I found myself referring back to this Food Challenge again today. I'm finding that I approach eating now with an intent, like a 'game plan'...what will I eat, how I will eat it, how I will control it even if I'm really hungry, etc., before I start eating. So today I wanted to bring respect and kindness to all of my interactions, and my mind went to this as the template of how to do it...to go in with the intent of 'driving' my interactions the same way. It was like a baseline that I was familiar with that worked the same way. So helpful... It really amazes me how relevant to everyday life learning how to chew is.

Baheej was reading my mind, because I've been thinking about the upcoming holidays too, and how my vibration and health seem to 'tank' when I get around family. I was looking at the possibility of referring to this Food Challenge experience to drive my holiday experience as well, to make a 'game plan' and execute it using all the valuable experiences from the Challenge. Last year you gave me the attitude to go in with, of being quiet and interested, and it helped me enormously. I also found Baheej's post about the birthday party SUPER helpful...he went in looking at the different interactions and getting a 'takeaway' from each, something I don't think I've ever done...so thank you to Baheej for that. His 'holiday challenge' is a cool idea as well. You mentioned in a previous article that being flexible would help a person not sink so low in situations like the holidays, to be able to 'roll with it' and not crash so hard. Maybe we can make a project of sailing through the holidays taking care of ourselves first and foremost and not sinking so low...? At any rate this is something I've been thinking about as well.

Magda wrote: ↑Mon Nov 13, 2023 4:32 pm My attitude is arrogance. Sophie muscletested it for me. I realised that with this attitude I am not able to formulate ‘possibility for others’ in the structure for fulfilment. Being arrogant I don’t care about others, I only want to achieve uniqueness, become a role model. So this step must have been a lie. I didn’t know I was arrogant while formulating it. Okay, I had a hunch that I didn’t examine more deeply. Maybe because I didn’t know what to do with it. A big mistake.
With arrogance it’s not even possible to formulate step one. When I say that my attitude is that I am going to be humble, there must be arrogance beneath. Am I going to be vibrantly healthy? Yeah, the healthiest of all the people. The better one. The one who can do it, not like you, pitiful creatures! I’m being sarcastic now, but it scares me. Having such attitude, such ‘who’ and ‘to what end’ I feed myself with arrogance while chewing my food. Very tasteless.
After realizing this I had a breakdown of commitment. I caught myself on forgetting to chew. I can’t find new direction, any ‘who’, nor ‘to what end’ that could be safe enough to avoid hidden arrogance. Now I am trying to be too smart, another face of arrogance. You see, no escape.
I helped myself by saying ‘Okay, you don’t have to know anything, just do it, chew your food, don't think too much. And I do it because I do it. It’s better like that, than with false steps. It is also helpful that I promised to do it and that I am curious. I don’t have any ladder (but I still have food fortunately ).
I share this because this is the part of the promise, I don’t feel I could receive something (arrogance again?), although I hope (baby gene?). Ugh...

what is happening is that you look at people in your mind, not in reality.

So what you want to practice is being present to the people you meet, and see what they are doing in reality... not your opinion about it.

But you won't be able to do it until you distinguish being present through the Drink your food process..

an if you are not doing it, then start... or you'll never be able to not judge.

did you judge the process? that is why you are not doing it?

Ok, that explanation makes sense. I can see that I am focusing on my opinion on what people are doing, not what they are actually doing. So I will start doing what you suggest, be present to them and look at what they are doing in reality.

I am doing the drink your food process and find it difficult to be present… I chew the food 40+ times most of the time but find myself thinking about things or looking at things around me. I think I am getting a few moments of being present during each meal, but I am not sure, and I might be resisting it. This is something I have been fighting/ resisting for a long time. There’s something I don’t want to acknowledge or discover (about myself it seems).

I think I might be able to using allowing to work towards being present. And I’m considering writing down some of the thoughts/ voices I hear to distinguish the captain of this ship from the noisy crowd.

Jpercy8 wrote: ↑Tue Nov 14, 2023 4:47 pm I haven't been very active on this forum, though I think it is helpful. So I plan to come visit more often and read posts by the other members and also contribute something myself. Thank you Sophie for your help yesterday and for posting our conversation on this forum.

Today I have been noticing many instances where I jump to judging someone or something in my head. This happened so many times! But I did my best to not judge myself about it, and to say to myself, "that is just what that person is doing or being, any meaning is my opinion or something I made up about it". That is the essence of "A is A". That person is over there, I am over here, and what I think about the other person is just what I think, it is just my opinion.

I also practiced being present while chewing water and drinking food. This morning I chewed/ drank some water that I infused with the unconditional love activator, which I had been putting off drinking. There were some pleasant feelings that I experienced from that, and I am curious as to what effects I might notice if I continue drinking the energy-infused water. During lunch, I was politely interrupted by a co-worker who wanted me to email him some files. So I took a break from eating and then updated the files and sent them to him, and didn't have any particular emotions about it. I used to get annoyed or rush, or multitask when this type of thing happened. When I went back to eating and chewing, I focused on being present, tasting the flavors in the food, feeling the pleasant textures of the partially chewed food in my mouth. Several times I caught myself contemplating or thinking about what I was going to do next, why something was the way it was, etc. Then I brought my focus back to the flavors and feeling of the food I was chewing. It occurred to me that these thoughts were communicating to me partially through the "voices" in my head, and typically I entertained these thoughts, listening to them as they took my attention away from whatever I was doing. There even seemed to be a "voice" that makes a sound each time I chew lol ! So far it has been difficult to not listen to the voices. I think noticing them is a beneficial first step. After I am aware of the presence of the "voice" (before or after I have followed it somewhere), then I can bring my attention back to what I was intending to focus on.

Jpercy8 wrote: ↑Fri Nov 17, 2023 2:12 am I had to read your recommendation on what to do several times, as it didn’t stick. I suspect it was in conflict with what I “know”. So I get it now, I am continuing to work on being present while chewing food.

I have noticed some uncomfortable emotions while chewing. I think I may want to be somewhere else and doing something different. And that means I am not being present to the chewing. Perhaps I am doing this practice forcefully instead of gently allowing.