Oprah is a grand person, a big person in many ways. Her generosity is enormous. She has taught us. She has shared her experiences, tragic and jubilant. She has her feet on the ground and her head in the clouds where she gathers new ideas to bring to us all. We can thank her for expanding our knowledge and consciousness in matters of the spirit. We can thank her for shedding light on the importance of educating ourselves through reading. We can thank her for bringing family and personal issues that affect many of us to the forefront. That’s her specialty – shedding light.
We can also thank her for trying to find solutions that many people seek in their battles with the bulge through her own struggles to win that war. But in this effort of hers, I feel, she misses the point.
Our society goes around and around in circles trying to come up with the perfect model of thinness or fatness. We want our celebrities to be thin, thin, thin, but then attack them for being too thin. Our super market racks are filled with articles on how to reach this elusive state.
We want our schools and social organizations to be tolerant of fat kids and adults. All sorts of reasons are given to expand our acceptance of those of us who are not perfectly proportioned, even that “fat is beautiful.”
By statistics, yes, our society has gotten fatter – carbohydrates are in, nutrition is out and the results leave people battling the bulge with no real weapons.
But Oprah, who is now making one more big push to unload her extra pounds, needs a new tact. With all her marathon running, exercising, skimpy calorie food plans she misses the real point and the simplicity of a method to solve all this. I will describe here the perfect diet for Oprah and perhaps, you.
To begin with, if you are Oprah or someone like Oprah you need to get a few things straight – mostly what you are.
If we were blind or shut our eyes and turned Oprah on the TV, Oprah would be the same today as she was five years ago or even fifteen years ago. She would be the gracious hostess, speaking with real people, telling real stories and trying to solve everyday problems. Oprah would do her thing by bringing experts in to talk about these issues and help folks find solutions.
So Oprah is steady. Her intent is always good and her means to do good is enormous. But if we open our eyes over these many years we would see that her form has changed and changed dramatically. Sometimes her form has been toned, sleek and svelte, sometimes bubbling over with extra pounds.
Again, if we shut our eyes she would be the same from when she began her program to today, except perhaps wiser.
What’s the difference? What matters here?
Oprah, the true Oprah, has no form. Her spirit is grand whether we see her or not. But Oprah like all people is housed in a body to make her mobile on this earth. And her body with all its feelings and needs has the consciousness of a dog. It is like an automobile, but a live one. Again, its consciousness is of a four-legged best friend. And if you have a dog you would want to treat your dog and feed your dog the best you could. You wouldn’t over feed it or under feed it. You would give it what is good for it and not necessarily things it would like, which it might eat all day long if left to its own devices.
On top of that, you would make sure your dog got out for some exercise every day. Because you are giving your dog exactly what it needs and no more, your dog would remain in fine shape.
Now if Oprah looks in the mirror and sees what she sees and identifies with it, she’s in trouble. Because one day that image might be bigger than the day before or less beautiful than the day before, and she might become discouraged, saddened or depressed. That takes her emotions on a downward turn, as could anything in her life. Once that happens, many people, which might include Oprah, may begin feeding their dog to try to make it feel better.
This is silly, of course due to the fact that emotions, from joy to depression, belong to another body that Oprah has, as do all of us, the emotional body. The interesting thing is that the emotional body has nothing to do with the sensations of the physical body. We just think they do. Things like good tasting sensations are not connected to the emotional feelings unless we connect them.
All this is to say, when one’s physical body, that dog-like body, is out of shape, ill proportioned, etc., we must not react as many people do by trying to reach good feelings through pleasant sensations, i.e. food.
A person must take control of the leash and tell the dog how wonderful it is and that it will only get good and useful things to eat in the future, not too much and not too little.
Once Oprah understands this, and I’m sure she will, the next thing she must realize is what she is, since she is not this dog-body.
She is divine and nothing but divine. She is love and goodness in one package. From her head to her toes, that’s what she is, as is everyone else. But many don’t know it, or believe it. If they did, they might act differently.
But let’s assume that Oprah, like you, know this or accept this as fact. Then it becomes very easy to do the right thing. You do this by simply saying to yourself or to the Higher Power that you acknowledge in your life, that you will to do good. Decisions are then easy to make. There is no hesitation, no hemming or hawing about whether to do this or that, eat this or that. You have willed to do GOOD! Do it. Feed your dog what is good for him or her.
The other thing Oprah may need to know and you too is that we walk around in the past. What we see with our eyes are the results of choices we’ve made in the past. For instance, if you consume a quart of ice cream or a pound of chocolate cake, you won’t look any bigger right then, but a day or two later the scales will reveal your indiscretions.
So it is important to avoid reacting to past bad choices with another. Again, this is mixing up feelings with sensations, feeling badly about the way your body looks and then trying to lift your spirits with a sweet sensation like chocolate.
Do what is good!
Now back to the physical body and the dog you must use here on earth. It is a miraculous being made up of a zillion little beings, cells, all working together for good. Life always works for good. The life in every cell works in that direction. Just cut a finger and see how quickly the cells go to work to mend the cut, seal the opening and fix the injury. Then too see how diligently the stomach works to break down food that has been swallowed in haste, without being masticated properly.
This body has systems that should leave us in awe. It has nourishing systems and waste disposal systems and energy conversion systems. It has all this for the whole of its being as well as for each cell individually. And it functions harmoniously in all its efforts.
Do the right thing!
Now what to feed this wonderful being? Oprah, like many of us, has tried an infinite number of diet formulas. But I’m sure deep within herself she knows exactly what foods her body runs on best.
Food is energy for the physical body, but it can be nourishment for the emotional body too. When you use your intelligence to recognize what food is made of, where it comes from, how much sunlight is stored in it and that the whole universe, in a way, participated in bringing it to you, a sense of gratitude is added to a meal. By thoroughly chewing food, the energies within it are released. The love that the sun, earth, water and air have put into it becomes available.
We can appreciate the colors, shapes and variety of our foods. We can appreciate the textures and flavors. All enrich our experience while we do what needs to be done, feed our dog.
There are sweet foods for stimulation, like apples, oranges, bananas, grapes, grapefruit, strawberries, blue berries, raspberries, and all the melons. Then there are the green foods for cleansing, like beans, zucchini, chards and spinach, broccoli and asparagus, artichokes, lettuces and cauliflower. The variety in the grain family never ends, nor does the list of cheeses and dairy products. Beyond that, there are fish, foul and meats. Each food carries with it specific nutrients needed for perfect health, including a shiny coat. Let not the tongue be the master of what is good for your body. Do what is healthy.
Back again to Oprah on TV, with our eyes open or shut, she is marvelous and a gift to us all. May she remember that her voice is needed and that the instrument of her voice is her body, and that her body is her dog and her dog should be treated well, but not spoiled. And, very simply, she must remember that she does this because she is good.
Then we will see Oprah with her perfect form, as you will see yours when you do the same.
Woof! And Bon Appetite!
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