Sweet Bodies ~ In Section 2: The Force of Familiar.

When you recognize familiar patterns of thinking and acting, you can change your thoughts and feelings about your body.

“Everything is also affected by the force of Familiar.”

Familiar may be a new concept for you. Personally, it gives me a bit of a brain cramp. To understand how it works, we must first remember that familiar is a force, much like gravity.

Everything in the world is affected by gravity. Everything is also affected by the force of Familiar.

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When things are familiar, you repeat them. Why not? They are familiar. The problem is that if you do something and you realize that that ‘thing’ wasn’t helpful, it is hard to change because doing it is so familiar.  Specifically, it is familiar to focus on food, weight, and your body if you have been dieting for a long time. Suppose you have hated your body, thighs, stomach, hair, feet, toes, or hands. Hating on them is now familiar. If you have repeatedly felt “othered” or that you “don’t belong” because of your body size, shape, or weight, this sucky feeling is familiar. 

Is it familiar to be dealing with crappy thoughts and feelings? Familiar is a force that is pulling you (and everyone else on the planet) to keep repeating the same behaviors over and over again. This likely means if you’re ‘sick’ of dieting. You're sick of the force of the familiar. You're sick of doing the same thing over and over again. You’re sick of trying, of thinking, ‘this time,’ it will be different.  Yet, it is hard to break free of diet culture simply because of the force of familiarity. In your head, you know, “Diets don’t work.”  But the force of familiar turns off all the warnings, all the alarms, and alerts. Your brain thinks, “Trying to lose weight is so familiar. It can’t be wrong.”