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Hi Ira,

As I wrote that post, so many people came to my mind.  You and Melissa were two of those people.

Right back at you too!!

Warmly, Cathy

I love my friendships. I enjoy friendships with people in my life that are my friends, co-workers, leaders, members and my clients. Friendships are such an important component of our lives. Healthy friendships are such a gift in our lives.

I'm feeling very grateful today for the give and take of friendships. I have a few very close inner circle of friends that add more than I can ever say to my life. A couple of them have been the lifelines that contestants use in the "Millionaire" game show. When contestants are stuck, they call their lifeline for assistance. With these special friends, I do the same thing. When I'm stuck, frustrated, need to vent, and just have a sounding board that I can trust, they are my lifelines.

I have a friend that is also a post-op that I met from leading my support group. She understands and "gets me" and loves me anyway.

This weekend, a neighbor is going through a difficult time in her life. She has kids that are around my sons' ages. I took care of her boys this weekend - four boys! Even through the chaos, noise, being a referee, chef, etc., it made me so happy to be able to help and support my neighbor.

Friendships are a gift that are a circle of giving/taking and are one of the lifelines in our lives.

Believe In Yourself,
Cathy, CLC
Certified Life Coach, Weight Loss Surgery Coach
Certified Back On Track Facilitator

"Being happy is the cornerstone of all that you are!
Nothing is more important than that you feel good!
And you have absolute and utter control about that
because you can choose the thought that makes you worry or the thought that makes you happy; the things that thrill you, or the things that worry you. You have the choice in every moment."
-- Abraham Hicks

I was coaching a client and she is in a situation that is quite troubling for a temporary period of time. She said something that really struck me. She told me that for now, she is making the choice to do a certain thing. In making a choice, she is taking control. It isn't the choice she ultimately wants to make, however, for the interim, it is the choice she has selected for the here and now.

We all have the power of choice. We choose who we keep as people in our lives, our friends, our surgery procedure and ultimate our habits and lifestyle in exercise and food choices.

For a long time, I felt victimized by my morbid obesity. I was at the mercy of situations that caused me to eat. Therefore, I felt like a victim and ate like a victim. Now, I am not a victim and I choose not to eat like a victim any longer.

The power of choice is amazing. Take responsibility and own your choices every day. You are in control when you own your choices.

Believe In Yourself,
Cathy, CLC
Certified Life Coach, Weight Loss Surgery Coach
Certified Back On Track Facilitator

I love this website and want to share it with you. Create a nurturing part of your day by lighting a candle for yourself or a loved one. It is part of my daily routine.

http://www.gratefulness.org/candles/enter.cfm?l=eng

Cathy, CLC
Certified Life Coach, Weight Loss Surgery Coach
Certified Back On Track Facilitator

Whether we are considering weight loss surgery, pre-op or post-op, we tend to think of our issues with food as negative and wish they'd never started in our lives.

What about this.....At some point in your life, usually as a child, we turned to food for a reason. It served a purpose in our lives. Food helped us in some reason to cope or survive a situation that we didn't have the skills or cognitive ability to deal with ourselves.

For me, food definitely served a purpose. As difficult as it is to admit here with whomever is reading this, to some degree I was the black sheep of my family. I've always been more insightful and had a need to know and understand my cir****tances and also myself. I had a toxic family environment and for a child that has a need to understand, blowing the appearance of the perfect family doesn't work. On the outside, the appearance was that everything was just perfect. Inside the family, it was far from it. When the two didn't quite gel, I asked questions to understand. Not only wasn't is appreciated as to my curiousity and desire to understand, it was rejected as was I.

It was as though I was a square peg that was pounded to fit into a smaller circle. It didn't work at all and the pounding on me to fit into that small circle of my family caused me to turn to food. I turned to food to turn off my confusion, rejection, need for love and acceptance for who I was-different from them. I also turned to food to squelch who I really was in an attempt to fit in and be like they were. At the time, squelching who I was and surviving my toxic surroundings, worked for me. It helpd me get through.

As an adult, I never ditched that mode of using food to live my life. Hey, it worked for me earlier in my life, I knew nothing else. As we all know, problem is that turning to food like I did to survive as a child no longer worked and was truly no longer necessary. The problem was made worse because it resulted in becoming morbidly obese. Food no longer worked the way it used to as a little girl and was not necessary. I was free and living on my own as an adult but I still was squelched by the hold food had on my life.

After having surgery and working with my own coach, I've come to realize all of this. I've developed other ways to cope with life and my emotions rather than squelch myself with food. I've also come to appreciate and understand the purpose food has played in my life as a little girl and also that I no longer need food as it doesn't serve the purpose it did. I've created my own way and in the process truly learned to love and appreciate those qualities that were hated and rejected as a child.

I think we were very brilliant to turn to food when our surroundings were unbearable to us so we could cope and live. Now, we are still equally brilliant and see that we no longer need to use food and that it no longer serves a purpose for us now as adults.

Change your relationship with food from your past and you will change your life now and your future.

Believe In Yourself,
Cathy, CLC
Certified Life Coach, Weight Loss Surgery Coach
Certified Back On Track Facilitator