AmpleAliveness™

AmpleAliveness™ -- what is it?

AmpleAliveness -- ample aliveness -- a phrase I've been using for  a couple of years now, and to which many of my waking (and some sleeping) hours are dedicated. So what does AmpleAliveness mean, anyway?

Ample: abundant; plentiful; enough; large
Aliveness: vibrancy; living-ness as opposed to dead-ness; wide-awake, full-out living
AmpleAliveness™ one word, several concepts:

• Full-out living in a way that embraces the abundance in our world
• People saying YES to life, today, now, here - not tomorrow, not when some number says it's OK
• People in Ample bodies claiming our Aliveness -- exactly as we are, without apology, shame, guilt, or acceptance of any of the negative judgment the world seems determined to heap upon us, simply for our shape and size
• All of the above!

It is my wish, and hope, as this blog and our conversation here evolve, so will our understanding of AmpleAliveness. So what does it mean to you to be Amply Alive? Click on Comment and let me know.

AmpleHugs,
-Anne

How to Feel Better, intro

People are hurting.

Maybe it's the days growing shorter, or the approaching holidays, or the still-painful economy, or the (U.S.) health care reform battle, or all of the above... for fat folks, the fat-bashing noise in our culture is growing increasingly & painfully loud. For these reasons and many more, there just seems to me to be more than the usual amount of suffering going on, both among friends & loved ones, and in the general public. 

There are so many ways of hurting -- physical ailments, emotional anguish, hearts and souls yearning for connection, meaning, peace.

To me, the question to be asked is not "Why all the pain?", because when people are hurting, does it really matter why? No, when you're in pain, isn't what you really want to know, above & beyond all else, "How do I feel better?"

I've been thinking about that a lot lately, to manage my own pain, sure, but also, as a way of exploring how I can best be of service to you, my readers, and to the world. And so, I begin today a series on...

HOW TO FEEL BETTER, no matter what is going on in your world.

You see, much of how you feel inside your body, mind, and spirit, is less about what's going on outside you, and more about your inner thoughts & beliefs about those outer events, and your responses to them. And that's good news...

...because we often have a lot more control over our inner thoughts and beliefs than we do over outer events. We can change our thoughts, our attitudes; we can choose how to be with and respond to outer events. 

So this series of essays will be about four inner approaches we can choose, to help us feel better:

Gratitude. Forgiveness. Compassion. Love.

You may be thinking "Huh?" 

Please, hear me out --I've been spending a lot of time lately with healers/spiritual teachers/wise women/coaches

Jennifer McLean (masterworkshealing.com) and Mary A. Hall (healthandhealingconnections.com).  (if you have any interest in growing spiritually and/or developing your own healing abilities, check these women out. Being with them has been for me like being a dried sponge immersed in nourishing seawater.)

Mary reminded me recently of something I've known and forgotten -- that...

one of the quickest routes to feeling better is GRATITUDE.

So, appropriate for November (in the U.S., it's Thaksgiving month) the first post (or more?) in this series will be about GRATITUDE -- specifically, three steps of appreciation and thankfulness that are certain to have you feeling better.

Stay tuned; that post will follow this one very soon.

In the meantime, what are your thoughts and questions about gratitude? Experiences where appreciation has made a difference? And what do you think thankfulness has to do, if anything, with AmpleAliveness? Click on Comments and let me know, please.

Celebrating & Starting Anew

So how does one start posting to a blog that's been lying dormant for way too many months? One way is to have something to celebrate!

Today, May 6, 2009, there is much to celebrate. I hope you'll join me:

• Today is International No Diet Day, a day to celebrate & honor your body and your spirit, exactly as they are, with no deprivation, negativity, or modification. And, if you're ready, make today the 1st day of a permanent no-weight-loss-dieting lifestyle.


• Timed to honor INDD, today is the official launch day for Fat Poets Speak: Voices of the Fat Poets' Society, of which I am one of the authors. Woo-Hoo! The book is an outcome of a writing workshop at a NAAFA conference, and all royalties are being donated to NAAFA. Buying a copy, for yourself and/or for a woman you love, would be a GREAT way to celebrate INDD!


• As part of the INDD/FPS launch celebration, Jay Solomon of More of Me To Love has posted interviews of each of the five Fat Poets authors.  There is an opportunity to comment after you read them -- another way to celebrate!


• More of Me To Love is giving away a copy of Fat Poets Speak. To enter to win, sign the "I'm So Fab" pledge on the website.


• Our publisher, Peggy Elam of PearlSong Press, has recorded a radio show about Fat Poets Speak, including excerpts from each poet. You can listen to or download the MP3 here.


• Elizabeth Patch, author/illustrator of More To Love, is offering a free mini-poster for INDD.


• Laura McKibben offers a new food-for-thought pyramid as a challenge to the traditional food pyramid. Check it out - it presents a whole new perspective on healthy living. Hint: That tiny space at the tippy-top of the pyramid, the "use sparingly" space -- that's "Nutritional Advice".

There will be much more to celebrate and share with you in the coming weeks and months. AmpleAliveness is an evolving work in progress, as is yours truly Stay tuned, and please let me hear from you.

AmpleHugs,
-Anne

I'm FAT & I VOTE!

The presidential candidates of both parties seem to pick and choose which voting blocks they're going to pander to, or at least try not to offend, and tailor their messages accordingly. Each of these groups of voters is treated as a monolith, made up of identically-thinking and voting citizens.

There's the Hispanic vote, the African-American vote, the Conservative vote, the Hollywood vote, the Jewish vote, the female vote -- on and on. Some of these voting blocks, depending on how unified they are, carry far more impact than would be expected from the number of their members.

With over the half the U.S. population being labeled "overweight" or "obese" (or worse), why is there no FAT VOTE?

• Is it because we are not monolithic at all in our beliefs,  or our needs?
• We may not share many beliefs, but we all need to be treated with respect, compassion, dignity, and fairness; we all need to be recognized as human beings with feeling, dreams, pride, and a damn good reason for being here!
  
• Is it because we have no united voice?
• There are at least two organizations that purport to speak for fat folks: NAAFA and ASDAH. Are they dialoging with the candidates, or educating them, or even - gasp!- endorsing any of them?
  
• Is it because the fat-haters have us so ashamed of who we are, we are afraid to speak up?
• 2008 is my year to "come out of hiding" -- won't you join me?

Why are the politicians so blithely unaware of how many of us -- fat people who will no longer tolerate being put down just for being fat -- there are? How have we failed (so far) to raise their consciousness? And what can we do about it NOW?

AmpleHugs,
-Anne

Hillary or Barak: Who's most fat-friendly (or least fat-hating)?

I am not finding much information online from either Democratic candidate as to where they stand regarding the so-called "Obesity Epidemic".  Anyone have any info or insights?

Related question: Of the two, who do you think is most educable about the futility of and harm being done by the "War on Obesity", and about the positive alternative in Health at Every Size (HAES) ?

If you are (or were) a registered Democrat in a Super-Tuesday state, who will (or would) you vote for next week, and why?

A Day for Gratitude

Today is Blog Action Day -- a day when bloggers around the world are posting their thoughts about preserving our environment, about saving Mother Earth from human destruction. Hardly the greenest "greenie", I wasn't sure what I wanted to write about Blog Action Day, until I read Liz Strauss' post of the day in which she writes:

The question tugs at me do have a hope of healing the planet when we’re so woeful at healing ourselves, our missteps, and our own hurt feelings. What if we healed our personal environment first? What if we brought our whole selves to make a whole Earth?

Gratitude is a fundamental attitude and practice in most every spiritual orientation. Being grateful benefits you, the ones to whom you are thankful, and, by spreading positive energy, the whole world. So, for Blog Action Day, I offer this suggestion: make the world a better place by making today a day to remember your gratitude.

Sometimes, we forget to say thank you. We get too busy, and miss opportunities to speak our gratitude. Sometimes we -- I -- even take people, gifts and blessings for granted.

So, it's good to have days and times when we deliberately stop everything and make a conscious effort to speak our gratitude for all the goodness in our lives. Yesterday was my birthday -- what better way to celebrate another year of life than to publicly say AmpleThanks! to people who have supported, taught, healed, nourished, inspired, and/or loved me in the past year (with advanced apologies to those I've omitted):

• Teachers/Guides/Coaches: Adam Kayce, Cynthia Loy Darst, Jeff Herring, Joanna Rueter, Linda Heron Wind, Mark Silver.
• Healers/Physicians: Ceidlin Beller, Deeanne Bevin, Kathy DiMartino & Mary Anne Green, Kori Tolbert, Mary Coan, May Johnstone, Stephanie Bartlett, Walt Fritz. Without your care, I would not be as well and alive as I am.
• Fat Activists/Size Acceptance Leaders: The entire Board of ASDAH;  Marilyn Wann, Miriam Berg, Paul Campos, Paul Ernsberger, Barbara Bruno, Jon Robison; and all the wise women of the Fat Poets' Society.
• Loving Friends: Auntie Susie, Bev & Larry H., Diana R., Diane H., Dylan E., Janice R., Jody F., Jody L., Jonesie, Karen A., Marcia N., Michele S., Mike E., Paula B., PegE., Ruth B., Sharlene C-L, Terry E., Tracy S.
• My Support Team, who keep me sane: Ann B. And Nancy K.
• To My Beloved Clients: A promise of confidentiality means no names here; know that you each have taught me much, and blessed my life by sharing yours.
• A special thank you for a surprise birthday gift: Steve McGrath of 1 Cool File (a directory of blogs, themes, plug-ins, freeware/shareware, and much more) provided a very generous prize that I won last week in Problogger's anniversary celebration. Thank you, Steve!!  (And thanks to Problogger's Darren Rowse, too!)
• Last but very much not least, my family: Hubby Elliot, and son Dan & DIL Leigh.  Also, mother, mother in-law, siblings, siblings-in-law, and niblings too numerous to name.

Dear reader, who is waiting to hear "thank you" from you?  Don't wait for your birthday -- they, you, and the planet deserve --and need -- your gratitude today.

AmpleThanks & AmpleHugs,
Anne

Photo from Flikr.com by psd.

Fight Fat Discrimination

Fired for being fat?
Taken from your home for being fat?
Denied health care for being fat? 
Barred from transportation or services for being fat?
Told "There's nothing you can do"?

Yup -- this is all happening to fat people, all the time! (If this has happened to you personally, please post a comment and let us know about it.) For a well-done summary of some current examples, please see Peggy Elam's post on this subject.

Even more outrageous -- with few exceptions, such fat discrimination is legal in most U.S. states and localities. Something needs to be done about this! Well, something is: with FLARE! -- the light of empowerment against the hopeless darkness of fat discrimination.

Bloggers have been asked by Problogger to post "with heart" about our favorite charity, in exchange for a chance to win $1,000 for the named cause. I didn't even need to think about this one.

My favorite charity is NAAFA (National Association to Advance Fat Acceptance) and specifically their FLARE! (Fat Legal Advocacy, Rights and Education) fund.

NAAFA is a non-profit human rights organization dedicated to improving the quality of life for fat people. NAAFA has been working since 1969 to eliminate discrimination based on body size and provide fat people with the tools for self-empowerment through public education, advocacy, and member support. NAAFA needs the support of everyone who feels that size discrimination is unfair and unacceptable.

The FLARE! fund is NAAFA's response to the lack of legal support for the rights of fat people. FLARE! consults with victims of weight discrimination, their friends, families, and allies; and assists attorneys looking for resources and information about how to tackle fat discrimination. With few laws prohibiting weight discrimination and few lawyers trained to fight it, the FLARE! Project is currently one of the only places to turn for support and encouragement.

If you are a fat person; if you love a fat person; if you are a person of any size who believes that size discrimination is just plain wrong, I urge you to join me in supporting NAAFA and FLARE, with your membership and your donations! And, please post a comment to share your vocal support.

Fat discrimination is a dark blight in our society -- please help keep the FLARE! flames of hope burning.

Image in the public domain by Sackerman519 on Flickr.

AmpleThanks,
-Anne

"Tap" of the morning - start your day right!

For a flabulous way to start your day on a positive note: Check out this video on YouTube -- Brad Yates shows you how to use EFT to set an upbeat tone to your new day.

Not familiar with EFT (Emotional Freedom Technique)? EFT is self-help technique based on ancient Chinese medicine. Basically, you tap on points on your body which access your energy meridians in a positive way.

Brad is one of several EFT experts with wonderful websites, where you can learn all about EFT and how to use it to help yourself feel good emotionally and physically.

Warning - every single one of these websites promotes using EFT for weight loss. If you can ignore that, you'll find good info, training, resources, and examples -- all about how, when, why to use EFT. (And if you can't ignore it -- stay tuned -- AmpleTappings™: weight-neutral EFT -- is coming soon. A few lucky folks at the NAAFA conference in Chicago last July got a sneak preview at a workshop I gave there.)

I'd love to hear your comments and questions about Brad's "Tap" of the Morning exercise, and EFT in general.

AmpleHugs,
-Anne