Welcome! And thank you for being here. I’ll be posting about chapter 3 tomorrow, but you can catch up — easy to do! — by looking through the blog posts for the past two weeks.
Peace,
Mary

Oh, Stephanie. I’m so sorry for the loss of your father. What a difficult time. Be kind to yourself. I’m all too familiar with the feelings of self-loathing. I’m not sure where that comes from in my past, but it’s there and it won’t budge. Just when I think I’m getting beyond it, something sends me crashing back down and I’m saying awful things about myself. Like I said in the first chapter of Cravings, I can remember hating myself since I was just a little girl, and I guess part of me is still that little girl — whenever I get hurt or afraid or upset. That’s my comfort zone for some reason, which is sad. Why is that my comfort zone?

Try to be gentle toward yourself and imagine thinking/saying the things you feel about yourself to someone else you love. You wouldn’t do it. So why are we willing to do it to ourselves? I continue to explore that question and poke around the possible answers. If I could achieve one “goal” this year, that would be it: finally understanding what that’s about and how to stop it in its tracks when I feel it starting. I think I’m becoming more aware of it, almost like I’m an outside observer when those feelings start welling up and I know, somewhere deep down, that I need to stop it, change directions, but this is the path that’s most familiar to me, so it’s hard to go somewhere new.

We’ll try to break the pattern together! Thank you for sharing and being here.
Peace,
Mary

Hi Mary,

Thanks for sharing. I, too, can feel the difference in my body and my life when I am doing yoga and meditation, and yet so often I choose to skip. What won’t I do what I know is good for me?!? That’s what I hope to discover during this journey through my own book. Thanks for being here!

Mary

Ann,
Thank you so much for being here and for sharing your story! I share your difficulty in sticking with Bible reading/programs — even though I often write Scripture reflections. I just keep coming back to it. I think my pointer is this: Always be willing to be a beginner, and don’t be too hard on yourself. I think we can expect so much from ourselves at times that it makes us throw our hands up and give up. Hang in there!

Hi Paula,

Thanks for being here. 🙂

I’m hoping some of the radio shows will post archived copies I can share. Today’s will probably be archived, and I did a very brief Catholic TV interview today. If they make them available, I’ll post them. Also, another Catholic writer and tribe member — Allison Gingras — has generously offered to allow me to share her podcasts on Thursdays starting next week, so I’ll be able to put them on the blog as well.

Hang in there on this rainy January day. It’s a tough one! I think I’d be dipping into some pretty strong sadness right about now if not for the support and inspiration I’m finding here in this tribe. As I said when I started this, I was really doing it for me. I knew I couldn’t do it alone this time. So thank you to every who’s here sharing their struggles and stories!

Mary

🙂 Thanks for sharing over on Twitter as well!