A friend of mine, who spends half the year on the other side of the world, is back in town.? I saw her the other day, when I was doing readings at The City Flea in OTR.? I was busy, and she waved as she and her husband walked past.? I had not seen her since last October.
And I was appalled and heartbroken at the same time.? She has a severe eating disorder, and looked worse than I have ever seen her.?? She is both anorexic and bulimic, I think.? And can also be an exercise-aholic, doing 75+ miles per day on her bicycle.
But from that quick glimpse, she looks like a victim at a concentration camp.? Like a skeleton with skin.? Hair no longer shiny, face lined.? Far older than her early 40’s actual age.
I have raised the issue with her several times.? The first time, she screamed out loud in a restaurant and didn’t speak to me for a year.? Now, she puts on a fairly good show of eating, and then lets me leave the restaurant first, saying she has to stop in the ladies room. She’s said there are digestion and constipation problems, yet doesn’t really connect them to the pure lack of food she allows into her system.
She’s a Reiki Master, a foodie, a smart cultural commentator.? And she’s got her Self walled up in her belief system bulwarks, rationalizing everything.
Too much thinking, not enough trusting our bodies – one of the main problems we face in our culture.