The Satiating Quality of Accepting our Imperfectness

I have had a perfectionist part of me for as long as I can remember. My mother even told me as a kid I would line up the magnets on the fridge. What can I say, I have appreciated organization and order from a young age.

So it has been a practice to identify when my perfectionist is present and explore new ways I want to respond to her. The practice of identifying our human imperfectness can be incredibly satisfying and satiating as we release expectations, stress, and pressure on ourselves to show up in a particular way that may not actually feel authentic, honest, or true. Feeling in alignment with what resonates with us, how we want to react, and what feels nourishing to our soul can shift and change our relationship with food.

When we feel out of alignment, we may reach for food more to feel the sweetness out of life we are looking to feel. When we feel out of alignment, our hunger and excitement for the pleasure of food can decrease as it feels incongruent with how we are feeling day to day. When we allow ourselves to be messy, chaotic, and imperfect there can be less judgment, shame, and guilt about who we are where food is used less to provide us with the emotions we are looking to feel of being loved, appreciated, and cherished. You get to embrace and accept you no matter what. You deserve your own respect.

Now when my perfectionist part of me shows up here is how I respond to her:

"Thank you so much for showing up and revealing to me just how much I care. I know you wished we had shown up differently or had some kind of control at this moment. You did the best you could and I promise you that was good enough. What could we learn from this experience together? If we experienced this situation again, how would we want to show up differently that would feel more grounding? I'm here for you and we will get through this together."

You'll see here that first I acknowledge what is present. When we embrace and accept whatever is arising for us emotionally, our sensations can decrease with intensity as we release fighting what is. I remind her that she is good enough no matter what because you really truly are lovable no matter what is occurring. You get to detach a behavior or a reaction you had from who you are as a person. You as a beautifully imperfect person can be appreciated for who you are including when you perhaps respond or react in, what some part of you believes, imperfect ways. I then got curious about what this moment is here to teach me. As we practice acceptance of ourselves, this does not mean that we are becoming complacent. We are still evolving and changing human beings. We can utilize any moment where our perfectionist part of us shows up as opportunities to slow down and get curious about what this moment is here to teach us and where we are being called to grow.

This can be an incredibly powerful practice to engage in to feel a deeper connection with you. The more we deepen into relationship with our imperfect selves we will be emotionally satiating our body with our own presence where food is less likely to come in to try to satiate an emotional hunger which it can never fully satisfy. Be gentle with yourself as you practice showing up for you in new ways and I'm here for you on that journey.