How To Prevent A Relapse Into Anorexia

You may find yourself having anorexic tendencies again, even after having completed a course of therapy and treatment. While you may not be in any immediate danger, you need to take steps to ensure that you do not have a relapse.

An anorexia eating disorder is a deep-rooted problem of the mind. If you have this condition, you may find it difficult to be happy with yourself and the way you look. This is why you have to undergo therapy to treat an anorexia eating disorder in the first place. Therapy will not treat the causes of anorexia though. Any recovery still depends on yourself, the way you think and improving your self esteem. There are some things that you can do to prevent from ever having a relapse.

The main thing that you need to look into is to think about why you became anorexic in the first place. What were you trying to achieve with the weight loss? Love and acceptance from family members and/or friends? If you think about this in comparison to the things you already have, you will realize that being really thin is insignificant. There are better ways to get the things that you thought you could get from losing weight.

On the other hand, if the media has influenced you, then you should avoid the media. This may mean that you have to give up watching the TV shows such as Project Runway or fashion magazines that depict thin models. Instead, nourish your mind with self improvement books and workshops that emphasize on self healing and building your confidence.

To deal with your anorexia eating disorder and to prevent a relapse, you need to form a meal plan. You do not want to limit the amount of nutrition that you intake though. Instead, you should make sure that your body has a wide variety of foods. This will ensure that you get all of the nutrients you need. As such, you should eat whole grains, fruits and vegetables. They will provide you with the vitamins and minerals that your body requires.

Including a moderate amount of exercise in life will help you to stay in good shape and help with these anorexia symptoms. Of course, you do not want to over-indulge in exercise. Nevertheless, engaging in a thirty to sixty minute workout three to five times a week will keep you in shape.

If none of these cures for anorexia symptoms feel as though they are working then talk to your doctor. Tell him that you are having anorexic thoughts again. If you do not think that the first treatment was beneficial, try a different form of treatment.

You should never give in to your desire to relapse. An anorexia eating disorder can kill you if you allow it to happen once again. You may not realize that your previous symptoms have already caused plenty of damage internally already and you would not want to die from it. This is why you should always take your anorexia eating disorder seriously. Speak to a doctor when symptoms arise. This is a psychological condition and can only be treated whenever you address it properly and early.

Sandra Kim Leong writes and publishes about the health dangers of having an anorexia eating disorder. Read her research and tips here at http://www.eating-disorder-research.com

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Why Do We Have to Practice Being Spiritual?

Have you ever wondered why we those of us on a spiritual path are told to have a "practice"? Imagine if we all joined a spiritual team and got together every day for practice. What would we do? Would we run prayer sprints? Would we stretch our beliefs? Would we scrimmage different religions? Truth be told, practice is just as important to becoming a spiritual person as it is to becoming a great soccer player, swimmer or baseball player.

A spiritual practice is much like an athletic practice except the focus lies on becoming more spiritual more open to spiritual experiences, to connecting with our Higher Self or God, to tapping into the flow of Divine Energy rather than on becoming a better athlete. Just as the physical athlete must stretch and strengthen his muscles, spiritual athletes must stretch and strengthen their ability to quiet their minds, open to their spiritual nature, sense the part of themselves that is connected to the Divine, and experience a unity with All That Is. While some people have a spiritual or mystical experience without trying, the vast majority of people must exert effort daily to get just a little bit closer to feeling even a vague sense of something that might be called "spiritual."

What Does Spiritual Practice Look Like?

So, just like our friends who are in search of the ultimate peak physical experience, we spiritual seekers are forced to practice, practice, practice so we might actually have a peak spiritual experience. What does that practice really look like? For some, it involves daily prayer sessions. For others, it means meditating every day. For others, it might mean doing good deeds for others. And for yet others, it means performing God's commandments, walking in nature, having a conversation with the Divine, journaling, using Tarot cards or a pendulum, or gazing at the ocean. No matter what practice they choose, it almost always involves doing whatever it is they do at least once a day.

Why Is The Repetition So Important?

Why does spiritual practice have to happen so often? The answer comes down to habit formation. When our spiritual practice becomes a habit, we can relax and allow it to be part of who we are and what we do. It becomes part of our life. In addition, when we can do what we do without thinking because it is a habit we allow in something other than our thoughts about what we are doing. What we are doing takes no thought. And when we don't have to think about what we are doing, we open our minds to focus upon something else. We open our experience to something else. We stop doing and start being. And since our being stems from the Divine Being, we begin moving closer to unity with the Divine. We move closer to having a spiritual experience.

Additionally, when we form a habit an action that requires little or no thought to accomplish we can then take what might seem empty, rote action and instill it with meaning. We can think about why we are doing that action what symbolism it has or what significance it holds for us personally and the empty action becomes full of meaning or meaning-full. If we also infuse that action with faith and belief, we fill that action with spirit, and it becomes spirit-full.

What To Do When Practice Feels Like A Struggle

I've struggled with having a spiritual practice. Often I'm too tired to get up early enough or to stay up late enough to spend time meditating and praying. Or I simply don't have the time for journaling, going inward, or going to a religious service.

For those of us too busy for a lengthy spiritual practice, I recommend small spiritual practices. Try 10 minute of prayer or meditation in the morning. Or light a candle and burn some incense when you get up and offer a prayer of gratitude. Just before you begin your work day, light a candle on your desk, quiet your mind, and ask that your work be karma yoga holy work. Or set your wrist watch to sound an alarm once an hour; when it rings, stop for even 30 seconds and clear your mind and allow yourself to be in the moment since God is in the moment.

Make these, or other short simple actions, your spiritual practices. You'll find your day and your life significantly enriched, and the experience will motivate you to find time for longer spiritual practices. Or you, if you like these short practice periods, you can add in more of them: a five minute meditation during your lunch break, a 10 minute journaling time before bed or a blessing before and after meals. In this way, your day will become one spiritual practice after another.

making Your Whole Day a Spiritual Practice

The ultimate goal of a spiritual practice revolves around having your whole day (week, month, year, life) feel like a spiritual practice or, at least, like an extension of your spiritual practice. I believe that is the idea behind the enormous number of mitzvot, or commandments, Jews are asked to remember and to act upon each day. If you try to observe even five or 10 of them each day, you find that your actions are tied into a spiritual practice on an almost constant basis. You praise God for your body working correctly when you awake. You offer gratitude for a multitude of events each morning. You bless the food you eat, acknowledging that it comes form a Higher Source. You raise your hands after washing them and ask that they be used in God's service. As you go to sleep at night, you ask that your transgressions and those of others be forgiven. Mitzvot are actually connectors; each time one commandment is performed, it connects the person to a Higher Source. The action reminds them of God.

If you can't find time every day for spiritual practice, commit to having a practice every week. For Jews and even for non-Jews I recommend taking on the Friday night Sabbath candle lighting as a spiritual practice. Along with this, try giving yourself a sanctuary in time 24 hours that are sacred, a real Sabbath. You can then build on this by developing a daily hour of spiritual practice when you do something you feel represents a spiritual practice.

To a great extent, spiritual practice involves remembering God on a minute-by-minute basis. When we remember our Divine Source we allow ourselves to be aware of that Source. And when we are aware of Divinity, we can experience it. Without a spiritual practice, we go through each day or each week without awareness of God, and the lack of awareness makes it almost impossibly for us to experience anything other than our own physical reality let alone our own spirit or the Spirit of the Universe.

Nina Amir, an acclaimed journalist, motivational speaker and Kabbalistic conscious creation coach, currently is writing Setting a Place for God, A Womans Guide to Creating sacred space and Inviting the Divine to Dwell Within It. She also is the author of a booklet, called Abracadabra! The Kabbalah of conscious creation. For information on Amirs books, teleseminars and classes, visit http://www.purespiritcreations.com or call 408-353-1943.

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