I have often envied more conscious people (my yoga instructors, mediation gurus, enlightened souls, empaths) in their ability to so naturally be aware of so many things all at once and to walk through their lives with so much calm.  I always thought how great it would be to be so dedicated, but then I would remind myself how much I prefer to be a Bodhisattva rather than a Buddha.  Spread the word of enlightenment rather than trying to attain it.  I am not interested in being so disconnected from the person I am today (or yesterday) but I am interested in becoming a better version. Thus my theme with any behavior change, either my own or those of my clients, is becoming more aware.  It is the foundation of any betterment. Despite not wanting the higher skills of those I mentioned above — we are so much better when we develop an awareness to help keep us moving forward to our ultimate selves.  Awareness is the ability to perceive, to feel, or to be conscious of events, objects, thoughts, emotions, or sensory patterns.  More broadly, it is the state or quality of being aware of something. Granted, before this sugar/alcohol detox began we were much aware of our want to partake or aware of the need to partake.  But, even after just one week — what else are you aware of?  Are you aware of your previous consumption patterns and what led you to wanting to detox in the first place?  Are you aware of the other elements of your life that were/are connected to your patterns?  Are you aware of how your body feels?  Are you aware of others around you? Are you aware of how your mind feels? Your stress levels?  Your mood?  Your ego? Your self-esteem? Your everything?

Like I’ve mentioned in previous posts — a detox from sugar/alcohol is the surface.  You abstain for the simple reason in that you want to change a bad habit, or you want to lose weight, or you want to stop feeling hungover on a work day 🙂  Whatever your reasoning for abstinence doesn’t it always come back to, “I want to feel better.”  Becoming more aware of how you’re feeling will help to propel you to changing behaviors that last a lifetime.  This helps you to strengthen the willpower muscle that in turn helps you become a better version of yourself.

Look in the mirror — do you see anything different?  Ask your partner — have you noticed any changes? It is very easy to overlook all of the underlying positives that come about when abstaining from anything — or detoxing from anything.  We tend to measure our success on the surface: Have I succeeded or failed at not eating sugar (and/or drinking alcohol)?  What else has happened? I encourage you to go deeper.

Your intuition is strong.  There is a reason you decided to come on this journey.  Thus whatever it is you’re abstaining from was clearly not adding benefit to your ultimate self or else you wouldn’t be participating.  We don’t wake up on Jan. 1 and think, “I need to detox from walking my dogs” or “I really need to curb my laughter habit” or “I really need to stay up super late more often.”

We know what benefits us and we know what doesn’t.  What benefits are you seeing?

Me?  I’m sleeping like a rock, my gut bloat is dissipating, and I do not have cravings and just eat when I know I should eat.

Auto-pilot awesomeness.