Understanding Your Inner Eaters for Balanced Eating

Have you ever felt like there's a battle going on inside you when it comes to food? One moment you're craving comfort, the next you're determined to stick to strict rules. You're not alone. Many of us experience internal conflicts that significantly influence our eating behaviors. The key to a healthier relationship with food lies in understanding and integrating the different "inner eaters" within us. This recognition can be a truly transformative step towards achieving a balanced and mindful approach to nourishing your body.

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Both testing methods (urine and saliva) have pros and cons.

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Outcomes Are Neutral: We Assign Meaning to Them

Life is a series of choices, and the weight we place on “right” or “wrong” outcomes often paralyzes us.

What if, instead of worrying about whether a decision is correct, we made it right through our commitment and perspective?

This shift—from seeking external validation to creating internal alignment—liberates us from the endless cycle of doubt and regret. Life is a series of decisions, each carrying the weight of imagined consequences.

Yet, at their core, outcomes are neutral—neither inherently good nor bad. It is we who assign them meaning, weaving stories of success, failure, regret, or triumph. This act of interpretation shapes our stress, joy, and self-worth, often trapping us in cycles of overthinking and fear.

If we define presence as a strict, absolute state (like a light switch: either "on" or "off"), then the phrase "to be more present" is logically inconsistent.

If presence is binary—either fully realized or entirely absent—there can be no middle ground, no "more" or "less." This perspective aligns with certain philosophical and spiritual frameworks (e.g., Advaita Vedanta, Zen Buddhism) where presence, enlightenment, or "awakening" is seen as an indivisible, non-dual state of being.

Let’s clarify this because a profound tension between language and absolute states is worth unpacking to see why the phrase persists despite its apparent contradiction.

In the Indian traditions and texts the term ‘yoga’ indicates the practice of meditational techniques.

• One can meditate on different types of yoga. Meditation is a part of Yoga.

• What most people consider yoga is actually ‘asana’.

Translated by Coleman Barks

This being human is a guest house.
Every morning a new arrival.

A joy, a depression, a meanness,
some momentary awareness comes
as an unexpected visitor.

Welcome and entertain them all!
Even if they’re a crowd of sorrows,
who violently sweep your house
empty of its furniture,
still, treat each guest honorably.
He may be clearing you out
for some new delight.

The dark thought, the shame, the malice,
meet them at the door laughing,
and invite them in.

Be grateful for whoever comes,
because each has been sent
as a guide from beyond.

Many people approach meditation and yoga for physical and mental well-being, or even worldly success.

Ancient wisdom traditions suggest that the mind, and specifically the ego, plays a central role in both our suffering and liberation and for many of us, identified with the ego’ this can be a challenging concept to grasp, especially when focused on external goals.

• “The mind alone is the cause of bondage and liberation." ~Yoga Vasistha

• “The mind is merely thoughts. Of all the thoughts, the 'I' thought is the root thought”. “The 'I' thought is the ego. The ego is the 'I am the body idea’”. ~ Ramana Maharshi

• “I am not the mind, nor the senses, nor the body; I am not the doer, nor the enjoyer, nor the sufferer; I am the ever-free Self” ~ Ashtavakra

The human mind, in its restless pursuit of knowledge, often mistakes intellectual understanding for genuine inner growth.

This tendency is akin to a "thoughtless man" who, while intellectually engaged, remains unaware of his deeper self. The crux of the issue lies in the failure to internalize and embody principles, to bridge the gap between intellectual awareness and lived experience.

In fact, when we are convinced we are operating from an aware ego, we are likely not. We are most probably identified with a spiritual self, a rational mind, or a control self. All of these have a sense of certainty to them, and they like to masquerade as the aware ego, claiming authority and dictating our experience.

Just as "The Body Keeps the Score," the aware ego process recognizes the body as a source of wisdom and healing. By attuning to our embodied experience, we can begin to unravel the layers of trauma, cultivate self-compassion, and move towards a more integrated and fulfilling life.

The Aware Ego Process can help us understand and improve our relationships.

The Dance of Vulnerability and Power

Relationships are dynamic. They involve a constant interplay of energies, often characterized by a dance between vulnerability and power. We can use the parent-child archetype to illustrate this dynamic:

Identify an Irritating Person:

• Bring to mind an image of someone you find very irritating. This could be someone you know personally, a public figure, or even a character from a movie or book.

• Allow their image to come to you effortlessly.

This article is about nurturing the "aware ego process," a concept in psychotherapy that refers to a state of consciousness where you can observe your different inner "selves / voices / parts" without being identified with any of them. This allows for greater choice and freedom in your actions and reactions.

I spent years battling my inner critic, locked in a constant struggle against that harsh inner voice. It was exhausting, demoralizing, and ultimately, unproductive.

These days instead of fighting the critic, trying to get rid of that voice, I'm learning to understand it, to acknowledge its fears, and to offer it compassion.

This shift in perspective has been transformative. I'm no longer at war with myself, but rather engaged in a process of self-discovery and integration. I'm finally learning to embrace all parts of myself, even the ones that used to scare me, and to create a more harmonious inner landscape.

This process is not always linear. You might move back and forth between stages, but each time you gain a deeper understanding and move closer to the goal.

The "ego" often gets a bad rap. It’s a collection of those dominant patterns we develop growing up that unconsciously run the show, our lives. These are the ‘voices’ that tell us who we are, what we should be doing, and how we should be feeling.

They're the inner critic that judges our every move, the people-pleaser who craves external validation, or the driven achiever who constantly pushes for more. These primary selves, while sometimes helpful, can also keep us stuck in repetitive cycles, limiting our potential for growth and genuine self-expression.