Posts Tagged ‘seattle hypnosis’

You may have heard rumblings lately, not from your own stomach, but from the media, comparing today’s financial freeze to the Great Depression.

If you are old enough to read this, you have some image in your mind of what that might mean. I think of my own Mom being sent to the neighborhood grocery store as a little girl because she would not be denied credit, where others in her family might have been.

My friend's mom told of the Italian women cleverly gathering dandelion greens underneath their skirts, so as to not be seen.

I know that my great-grandfather, a well respected merchant, lost his store in the depression.

The word depression conjures up fear. Recession doesn't bring up joyful thoughts either.

We do not know what is going to happen and all the peanut butter in the world is not going to take away the fear of the unknown. The fear is only as real as you make it, because really, fear is the playground for the imagination.

There is a strong connection between distress and sticking something into our mouths.

Imagine a baby screaming: in the top three things of what to do, sticking something into the mouth is on the list. I am sure you have witnessed the desperate ensuing sucks that may, or may not have to do with hunger.

Of course, as adults, we know better. Yes, we do, and when we act against our better judgment, the guilt is enormously heavy. The connection between food and fear is not something we talk about too much. It creeps into my office.

Last week I heard these words from a young mom healing her own relationship with food, "I notice my Mom feeding my baby in a kind of frenzy. He hasn't finished what is in his mouth and more is coming. He can't talk. You can see it in his eyes that he can't keep up."

I noticed it in myself when I was a college kid responsible for a friend's farm. Something had gone wrong and I found myself putting a cookie in my mouth as I headed out the door to see what could be done.

I once had a client with severe test anxiety, who during a test break downed a whole pitcher of beer.In the Middle Ages, beer was valued for its nutrition.

Was he thirsty?   Was I hungry?    Does the little baby have much choice?

Many of us have complex relationships with food and eating that often have nothing to do with being hungry or being sated.

Of course, if you are putting food into your mouth faster than a model changes, you would like to be gently hit in the side of the head with a soft two-by-four, so you will never do it again.

With a little time and dedication, you can change your mind and your behavior.   Find out more..

Somehow US Magazine showed up in our mailbox this summer.  If you are not familiar with US, think of Parade magazine and go down ten notches.

At first I was appalled. Each week they feature famous women caught wearing the same dress and then they are judged on who looks best. This is the magazine to read if you want to know everything about nothing. And we all read it!

It was every bit as bonding as The Little Engine That Could.

I want to capture the moment at the table as the young ones were doing battle with the voter's pamphlet. I announce that Brooke Shield's husband was instrumental in the Paris Hilton FunnyorDie retort to John McCain's commercial. She memorized her lines and they only had to do four takes.

"How do you know that, MOM?"

"US!"

Now picture the college girls watching Sex and the City on DVD.  The college boyfriend comes into the room a little too quickly and asks, "Is this the one where Sarah Jessica Parker wears gladiator sandals?"

"How do you know that, JOOORDAN?"

"US!" (addressed to A.K.A Lisa Crunick)

Now it is time for Crime and Punishment. Actually Boomsday was my favorite read this summer. A young woman's anger blogs her generation into outrage over how much the Baby Boomers are costing them in taxes. She gets hooked up with a want-to-be-president, whose platform becomes giving boomers incentives for euthanization to balance the budget.

Watch for this to become a movie. I laughed so hard, my "kids" gave me the eye on the ferry. Oh, what fun it is to be the one acting out.

And while we are on favorites, my favorite hike of the summer was a ten miler in Level 1 wilderness with family members, on the occasion of a fiftieth wedding anniversary.

 One of my favorite moments was hearing the ten-year-old boy cousins call my eighteen-year-old "old!"

I hope your summer has a favorite book, kiss, and lots of laughter.

And while I do not want to be known for this kind of information, if you are inclined to have some chocolate ice cream, I am suggesting you go to Full Tilt in White Center, and have a scoop of Mexican chocolate in a biodegradable bowl.

They make their own ice cream every Sunday.