Marie Kondo is trending now with her KonMari organization method and Netflix show. Her method focuses mostly on figuring out what you will keep or toss. The main questions include “is this immediately useful” and “does it spark joy?”
These questions have led to many memes and jokes, including one woman tweeting that Marie’s questions resulted in her husband and toddler being put out on the curb. Human relationships are more complex than organizing clothing of course.
But what if we apply her questions to matters of food and body?
Most of us tend to over focus on usefulness and under focus on joy. This is how we end up equating “healthy” with “yukky.” And that ultimately undermines our efforts.
If food or exercise activities are a chore rather than a joy, it’s human nature to put them off. Which leads to an unused gym membership and giving up on your plans for making dinner.
Think of how a toddler experiences food and body. It’s time for us to reclaim that joy.
Ask yourself, do your food choices spark joy? Do your exercise activities spark joy? Where’s the joy in your planning and executing? How can you bring more pleasure and ease into these activities, if not full blown joy?
What foods that are useful to your body also spark joy? For me that includes blueberries, lemon, and anything with peanut taste. How can you get more of these tastes in your life?
What foods are useful primarily because they spark joy and are immensely pleasurable? Reclaim some of those too. This year I’m vowing to branch out from chocolate and make more bread pudding. Is there a taste you’ve been missing?
What ways of moving your body brought you joy as a child? Are there ways to re-claim those activities? Last year I found that an e-bike gave me enough of an assist with hills that bicycling became joyful again. What way of moving joyfully can you reclaim?
Let me know what ways you find to spark joy again in food, eating, and body.
Sincerely,
Lisa
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This week I’m preparing to start graduate school in positive psychology and reading a book from the preparatory materials Positivity – The Top-Notch Research Reveals the Upward Spiral That Will Change Your Life by Barbara Fredrickson, Ph.D. It’s easy to digest and points to real world applications of positivity that can make a difference in your life (and ultimately in your eating if you tend toward using food to cope).
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We’ve got much more coming, so stay tuned!
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