Cosmic Bubble Bath

Sometimes I get my best ideas in the bathtub. That’s where the idea for this post came from. The other night, I was relaxing in the bubbles and catching some steam with a little book called “Inner Wisdom” by the wonderful Louise Hay. It’s a little book of affirmations, and I was browsing through it when I came across this passage:

“I have been many identities, each one a perfect expression for that particular lifetime. I am content to be who and what I am this time. I do not yearn to be like someone else, for that is not the expression I chose this time. Next time I will be different. I am perfect as I am, right now.”

That little passage struck me as incredibly profound, and really started me thinking. I’m not sure if I “believe” in reincarnation -- which is pretty funny, because my belief in it hardly matters if it is, indeed, a fact – although millions of people around the world take it as a given. But I am open-minded. I certainly don’t disbelieve it, and I’m not sure what your beliefs are.

Let’s say -- just for fun, and for the sake of argument -- that reincarnation is an undisputable fact. We have all been here hundreds -- perhaps even thousands -- of times. The purpose of reincarnation is to experience life from many different perspectives, to learn truths from those lives, and to perfect ourselves in order to earn progress into “Paradise”, or the next dimension. Overseeing all this is a gentle, all-knowing force that is monitoring all of our activities. Whether you call this force God, or the universe, or any other name, the label hardly matters. The idea is that there is perfect order, perfect timing, and a perfect explanation for every single thing that happens on this earth.

Try thinking about this from the perspective of being overweight. Let’s examine what Louise wrote in her book: “I am content to be who and what I am this time. I do not yearn to be like someone else …”

What if – just what if – your purpose is to be here on earth as an overweight person this time? What if it makes perfect sense, and you “need” to be overweight in order to fulfill your purpose, or learn your lessons, this time? It opens up a whole new perspective, and a bunch of very interesting questions.

Find a quiet place, close your eyes, and relax. Ask yourself these questions.

Why do you think you “chose” to be overweight in this lifetime? What have you learned from it? What impact has it had on your life? How has being overweight contributed to making you the person you are? If you could pinpoint any lessons you have learned directly as a result of being overweight, what would they be?

Perhaps it taught you about how cruel and dismissive people can be, and perhaps you needed to learn how to forgive them. Maybe being overweight graced you with a heightened sensitivity, and made you more compassionate towards the suffering of others. Or perhaps your experiences with fat prejudice gifted you with a sense of righteous anger, and spurred you on to become an activist, or a champion of people who feel less able to speak up for themselves.

The possibilities and questions are really endless. Have you ever wondered why it seems “impossible” for you to lose weight? Have you ever wondered why you have been on diet after diet, only to end up exactly the same? Could the reason for your continual “failure” to change your body be due to a conscious choice you made – somewhere, someplace -- to be overweight … right here, right now?

I don’t know … but thinking about it in this way sure takes the “stress” away from being overweight, and even makes you look at it in an almost reverential way.

Sure makes you think, doesn’t it?