David Mayne said:
>Jo, I appreciate your openness and courage in sharing this with us,
>perhaps you can help others out of similar paradigns. Can you generally
>describe by what means that you realized and overcame the fears and
>lack of acceptance described, what event(s) that transpired to get
>you over the hurdle ?

Jo sez:
Jah, I do want to assist others who are having challenges with dietary
issues and in this area I'd be more than willing to post to this list.

As far as what prompted my growth in handling various hangups in my life,
let me say that it involved Your Humble Narrator, then a poorly
self-realized individual, adhering to a fear-based existence until the pain
of it was no longer bearable. I knew I couldn't continue the facade of
showing the world who I was not.

Anyhow, through this soap opera I won't drag list members.

But if I had to summarize the most crucial leg of the process, it was to
accept and FEEL the answers to these questions:

1) Who am I?
2) What am I?
3) What is my value?

For that task, I invested in myself to study with a counselor who helped me
become far more cognizant of my spirituality and its relationship to the
many aspects of my physical life (including the dietary issue).

The elements on which I focused were:

shame (removing it)
self-value
self-love
self-trust
self-esteem
deservability
confidence
patience
loyalty to self

I know the above list makes me sound like a neurotic nincompoop but I'd
have to say that I was basically the unhappy technocrat / Yuppie Macintosh
hack, angry, frustrated and insecure about where my life was heading. With
this dissonant orchestra, it's no surprise that I took it out on food and
relationships that seemed always to be strained.

For me, there's no comparison between what I endured during the first ten
years of hygienic life and the acceptance I've given myself since the start
of this year. The food issue has largely settled because of that. Not that
it's always rosy. But I no longer beat myself over the head, ya know?

I'm going to sign off here because going any further risks boring list
members who aren't into the airy side of things (the Scientists). My two
$0.02? Well, we all agree on the need to balance the mental, emotional and
physical aspects of health. I just finally realized that spirituality has
an integral place in my life and the benefits have been accepted with
gratitude.

Oh yeah, Jeff, did you have fun at the RAF potluck? The lychees are
starting to arrive in bunches  here in Calgary. Woohoo!

Cheers,
Jo