Remember the character of the greedy Once-ler in Dr. Seuss’s classic, The Lorax?

 The Once-ler had cut down all the Truffula trees in his rush to make a product that he believed everyone must have, resulting in pretty complete damage to the environment.

When there was objection, he said, “Well, I have my rights, sir, and I’m telling you I intend to go on doing just what I do! And, for your information, you Lorax, I’m figgering on biggering and BIGGERING and BIGGERING and BIGGERING…”

His counterpart is the Lorax, who “speaks for the trees, for the trees have no tongues,” and who famously said, Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It’s not.

In the end, it is a hopeful story about growing the health of the world… but only if you care a lot.

I have been thinking of the Lorax as I work with Alec, who is a professor of business and economics, and an expert on steady state economics.  Steady state economics is a holistic approach to thinking about how we live on the earth, why we accumulate capital, and how we share resources. This theory says that caring a lot about generating a living ecological flow of resources is the only answer to climate change, and ensuring the ongoingness of life itself.

One of the topics that Alec is interested exploring in his personal work is weight loss. He has some cool economics-based ideas about weight loss that the Lorax would love.

In our session his fascinating comparisons and creative economic and spiritual term-yoking really caught my imagination, and I encouraged him to go deeper with this.  As we talked, I began to take some notes, adding my own insights, and asking some leading questions. We ended up creating the beginnings of a powerful series of tapping set up statements that we, or he on his own, can expand upon later, in the intuitive flow of tapping sessions.  He gave himself a whole new way to think about weight loss that I think you will enjoy too.

Structurally, doing a session this way is an invitation to create an imaginative bridge from a known area of expertise, into an area where deeper insight would be useful, even a revelation.  So now, instead of just working with weight loss yet again, ho hum, Alec can be finding dynamic new insights that have real generative personal interest for him.

Engaging with this kind of curiosity and imagination is what makes internal change actually happen.

After our session I organized my notes into a more systematic flow of concepts to tap on.  So far these are just cryptic but thought-provoking ideas, that could develop into  a more complete tapping system for the economics of weight loss. It is a wonderful start to spark your own creativity.  What would you add?

SOME EFT TAPPING SET UP STATEMENTS FOR AN ECONOMIC THEORY OF BODY FAT AND SAVINGS

 

Gaining weight is like amassing a large savings account

A feeling of need creates a state of apparent urgency, an emptiness that must be filled

I develop a pattern of needing to accumulate

But, stocking up (only saving) blocks the flow

I am only accumulating

I am not contributing

I am not releasing/dispersing what I don’t need.

I am not spreading the resources around

I want to use my resources more wisely

I want my bank account (the resources of my body and energy) to be useful toward the good of the world

Fear of the future leads to hoarding and stocking up

I unconsciously feel I need a large savings account of fat that can serve me/ save me /keep me safe

What I really want is to be in the process of creating and account full of health  that generates goodness and service in the world

This is the deep purpose of my body

This is why I am here

I want to expand my internal gladness and the capital of goodness

But…I feel empty

I feel not good enough

I feel unheard, un-noticed

I feel unappreciated

I eat sugars and carbs as a substitute for internal gladness

I eat sugar and carbs to reward myself

I eat sugar and carbs

Eating gives me a feeling of reward

A feeling of deserving

Wanting more

I am defiant, I will not be controlled!

I will not be told what to do or not do!

(Stubborn Once-ler defiance:  “Well, I have my rights, sir, and I’m telling you I intend to go on doing just what I do!”)

You can’t make me…!

Even though all that is true, what I really want is to feel sweeter about myself 

I eat too much carbs and sugar

I deserve this sugar because_________

I deserve these carbs because_____________

I am rewarding myself for_________________

I have hoarded fat in fear of the future

I have accumulated fat in my belly

I have been holding fat since my late 30’s

Like the balls of string that housewives in the Depression used to collect

Like people who hide dollars in the walls in the basement

Like people who say I need to have a big reserve, because…“You never know…”

I terrorize myself, to get myself to behave in a certain way

I say frightening or derogatory things to myself, to get myself to behave in a certain way

I think I don’t trust myself

Who taught me to not trust myself?

I accumulate stress in my belly

I accumulate fear in my belly

I accumulate fat in my belly

I get tight in my belly when I think about money

My fear of not having enough money

My fear of not being enough

I eat when when I feel criticized

I need sweetness or carbs when I feel judged

There is a sense of emptiness to be filled

I eat to fill my emptiness

I fill myself up with sugar and carbs

Now I want to feel my reserves of internal gladness

Now I want to invest in the capital of goodness

My body is a portal for goodness to flow through into the world

I am here as an investment for the future

The world is investing in itself through me

The future is holding itself in trust for me

This is why I am here

I can blossom from inside instead of hoarding more and more

What do I want to be full of?

 

Just writing all this out sparked my own intuition to make new associations!

Following the thoughts of steady state economics and applying them to weight loss:

If we can experience a feeling inside of “enoughness,” of internal gladness (I love that phrase!), we are much less likely to fall victim to everything that tells us to be unsatisfied with ourselves.

When we allow our own internal goodness to flow we feel less empty.

Goodness flows into us, through us, and from us

We are able to share our energy to support and build our body/mind/spirit system.  That is what generates more life in the earth.

And then we don’t want more cookies all the time.  More is not always better. 

When people learn how to feel a sense of “enough-ness,” then there will be no need for all that aggressive advertising that makes us feel dissatisfied and not enough.  Hmm…powerful thought.

Herman Daly on steady state economics: “The system attempts to remake people to fit its own presuppositions. If people’s wants are not naturally insatiable, we must make them so, in order to keep the system going.”

From For the Common Good: Redirecting the economy toward community, the environment, and a sustainable future

Our bodies are actually natural models of abundance and wealth, a generative, steady state flow of wise economy, and an infinitely creative use of quality resources.  They inherently know how to maintain a healthy account of reserves, and how to participate in the world without fear-based hoarding.

Tapping with wisdom into a steady state body economy could help us to find that weaving exchange of harmonies.  We can change from the “stuckness of lack” to a “flow of abundance.”

Remember the Lorax:  Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It’s not.  

So, care a lot!  Start with yourself.  You are the world.

Yay for the capital of goodness and internal gladness!

 

“Alec” in this article is Alec Tsoucatos.  He said it was OK to use his name, because he hopes to further this conversation.  If you would like to contact him, I will forward your emails along.

If you are new to EFT tapping (Emotional Freedom Techniques), ask me for more information, and check out this free tapping manual.

Image from Dreamstime.com