Leaves are Falling

Happy Saturday and Happy May Day! May is one of my favorite months of the year because all of the spring flowers and flowering trees are in full bloom and the trees have a wonderful, lacy look as they leaf out. After a long, cold, gray Michigan winter, May is awash with color and life - I absolutely love it!

One of the things that's interesting to see this time of year are a few scattered leaves on the ground. Every fall, some trees seem almost relieved to release their leaves and are barren early, while others hang on to their leaves until late fall and then dump them in one fell swoop.

And then there are the other trees, those few stubborn ones who tenaciously hang on to many of their dead leaves all the way through the winter. They hang on to their leaves through bitter wind, snow, and even ice. The dead leaves seem to be destined to stay forever. But then spring comes and those long-dead leaves finally drop. What happens in the spring? The emergence of new leaves force the tree to finally release its hold on those long dead and worthless leaves.

Kind of like habits, like, say . . . compulsive eating and emotional eating. Many of us have held on to these worthless habits for way too long. Until recently, nothing was able to shake these food habits loose - embarrassment, shame, disgust, even compromised health, nothing displaced those old habits UNTIL new habits began to emerge.

New habits that we are learning day by day are slowly but surely forcing the release of old habits. We are learning that it IS possible to deal with stress, celebrate events, have a busy schedule, be bored, be tired, be happy, eat out, or even cook a big meal for my family and STILL stay on plan. We are learning that our emotions and impulses do NOT have to drive our eating choices. By carefully planning, by learning to anticipate potential pitfalls, we are sprouting new, healthy habits, and they are replacing old and harmful ones.

Those new, healthy habits replace our old habits one day and one choice at a time. One this lovely May Day, the choice is yours. Choose wisely :-)