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We tend to think of our uncomfortable experiences in life – unwanted cravings, depression, anxiety, etc. – as problems. What if instead they are love letters from the innate wisdom and well-being that is within all of us? What if they are trying to get out attention and point us back toward that innate wholeness?
[Programming note: There will be no episodes of Unbroken next week (July 24 and 27) while I take a quick summer break. Back to twice-weekly episodes again starting on Monday, July 31, 2023.]
You can listen above, on your favorite podcast app, or watch on YouTube. Notes, links, resources and a full transcript are below.
Show Notes
- What is the real source of depression?
- How are our food cravings and the drive to overeat wise?
- What should we do when we experience unwanted feelings like this?
Resources mentioned in this episode
- Video interview with Dr. Bill Pettit
- Freedom From Overeating online course (use coupon code PODCAST at checkout to save 20%)
Transcript of this episode
Hello Explorers and welcome to Q&A Episode number 23 of Unbroken. I’m your host, Alexandra Amor.
Today I’ve called the episode Love Letters from Wisdom. I got that phrase from the lovely Dr. Bill Pettit. I was listening to an interview with him the other day while I was puttering around in the kitchen. He used that phrase about basically the things that happen within us – our feelings and our emotions and our thing experiences that we have – things like depression, and I’ll get into that more in a minute and talk about what I saw in that.
I can’t even remember actually what Dr. Pettit was talking about specifically, it might have been depression. In the moment when he uses that phrase ‘love letters from wisdom’. And when I had stopped listening to the interview, I wrote the phrase down and I realized that so much of what we experience in life is love letters from wisdom. And here’s why I say that.
I often talk about on this show – and in the course that I’ve designed about letting go of an unwanted over eating habit that you’ll find it freedomfromovereating.com – I often talk about how our cravings, cravings for a substance and what ends up becoming an unwanted habit, how those things are those feelings, that craving, that drive to overeat is not a problem.
This is one of the reasons why I say that.
What Dr. Pettit is talking about when he’s talking about love letters from wisdom, he’s referencing the idea that our design, our human design is perfect.
And it’s not working against us. When we have these experiences, like a craving or like an anger or an upset at a spouse or a friend, or a feeling of anxiety or something like depression, I’ve been experiencing some depression for the last couple of weeks. And one of the things that really helped me was to remember that there is wisdom in all of these things that we experience.
They are reminders that point us back toward our true nature toward our innate well-being and the peace that is that we are made of. So when we experience something – I’ll use the depression that I’ve been feeling the last couple of weeks as an as an example. I really chose to look at that as I was experiencing it and it wasn’t fun. I didn’t enjoy it. It wasn’t a good time. Certainly it was just not a lot of fun for me.
But at the same time, I knew that there had to be wisdom in that experience. And what that wisdom was pointing me toward was this idea that we are always entirely whole. The way that I tend to look at something like depression is that it’s almost letting me know that there is an insight to come about something in my life that I hadn’t seen up to that point. At least, that’s one of the experiences that I’ve had of depression.
The other one I’ve had is the one I’ve probably talked about on this show. The burnt out hairdryer metaphor that Michael Neill uses. When our minds are going so fast that we become without realizing it quite burnt out. Depression is a is a gift that’s getting us to slow down. And it’s letting us know that we’re overheated. That’s the metaphorical use of the example of the hairdryer. When you’re using a hairdryer, and it gets too hot, it’ll just shut off.
So when I’ve been experiencing this depression, for the last couple of weeks, I really tried to remind myself that that that depression was made of wisdom, and that it wasn’t something that I needed to fight against. And I think this is really the the key about that, what.
The key elements that I wanted to address today, when we have these love letters from wisdom, and we innocently push against them, fight against them, what we end up doing is denying ourselves the experience of learning or growing or seeing something in a new light.
For example, when it comes to cravings for food, when we simply try to wrestle those into submission, without seeing them for the wise messages that they are, then we miss the lesson that we are whole, and well. That lesson can eventually seep out, pervade our entire lives, all elements of our life. And I think it’s such a shame in our culture, that we’re generally unaware of, the way that our divine design works in this way that Sydney Banks pointed toward.
It is a shame, because there is when we lean into the things that are happening when we notice them, and respect them, and turn toward them, and sit with them in a very present kind of way. Sort of a mindful way. That’s when they can teach us and show us a greater understanding of our innate well-being and the, the profound piece that is our true nature.
Like I said a few minutes ago, when we fight against them, when we push them away and try to control them in the case of depression, I could have spent that last couple of weeks, beating myself up about being depressed or feeling like there was something wrong with me, that needed to be addressed.
Instead when we when we view these things as love letters from wisdom, as Dr. Pettit says, that’s when they have so much information for us. I’ll be the first to say it’s easy to forget to do that. It’s easy to fall into a place of fighting against these uncomfortable feelings or things that we’re not enjoying the experience of. And then it’s enough when we just if we periodically remember Oh, right. This isn’t this feeling that I’m having. It isn’t a punishment from the universe or something.
It does not mean that there’s anything broken about me. It’s actually my perfect design at work. And I love that.
I just want to sum up to by referring to this quote, I think it’s from Albert Einstein, who said,
There are two ways to look at life: one is though everything is a miracle, and the other as though nothing is miracle.
I feel like now my approach to life is like that quote, it’s just slightly different one:
“One way to look at life as though is as though these feelings that we have these things that we worry about that we feel are broken about ourselves are actually wisdom. And the other is to imagine that they’re not.”
What if the cravings that you might be having or the drive to overeat, what if that is actually wisdom? What if it’s not a problem, but it’s wisdom speaking to you from the greatest part of yourself?
So I’ll leave you there with that question. And I look forward to talking to you again on the 31st of July 2023.
Until then, please take care. And I will see you then. Bye.
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