The Power of Curiosity

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• Repetitive Thoughts and Eating Habits
• How an Eating Habit Coach Helps

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Full Episode Transcript:

The Power of Curiosity

Hi there, welcome to the podcast. Today I want to talk to you about the power of curiosity. I’m pretty sure that you haven’t listened to a podcast episode on this before, especially as it relates to eating habits and weight loss. But it really is a key component in being able to follow through on actions that you want to follow through on or not doing certain actions or behaviors, so that you can change your eating habits and lose weight if weight loss is one of your goals.

Before I dive into the power of curiosity though, if you have been on diets, and feel like you have had some success, but haven’t been able to maintain that success, then you must get the weight loss habits free class and workbook. It’s an on-demand video class and the workbook is printable. That means watch it at any time, you can watch it multiple times and you can do the workbook either while you are watching the class or afterwards.

Why I created this class for you is because I wanted to teach you the most important weight loss habits that you can create in a very doable, simple way. These weight loss habits help you lose weight in a natural, non-restrictive, non-extreme way and keep the weight off. I give you tips to make it easy to do the actions, so that they don’t feel overwhelming and then you can gradually build onto them as you go, and it gets easier.

The class really helps you to create some small wins to get the ball rolling and make it much easier to continue with those actions until you get the results you want. So, get the free class and printable workbook with the link on the episode page on my website or in the episode description in the podcast app that you are listening on. Get the free class + workbook here: https://kate-johnston-coaching.myflodesk.com/free-course

Alright, so what is curiosity? Curiosity is just asking a question to try to find out more. Now you can be curious about other people or other things, but I am talking about being curious about yourself. Being curious about the thoughts that are in your head. Being curious about how you are feeling. Being curious about your actions or your inactions.

With thoughts, we can have these thoughts going around in our head and never actually question them. We tend to believe them. We tend to think that thoughts are the truth, that they’re facts. They’re not. The thoughts that you have are oftentimes there because of some sort of input at some part of your life.

You maybe had an experience and then your brain formed a thought about that experience or about the feeling that you had in your body when you had that experience. Thoughts can get strengthened over time with other experiences that may have been similar.

You can have certain thoughts in your head because of what other people told you or what you observed other people doing when you were younger. And then sometimes those thoughts just get reinforced over time because of other situations.

And then sometimes your thoughts are just because you’re human and the most important role for humans as a species from the beginning of time was survival. So sometimes our thoughts are from that human survival instinct, even if not necessarily applicable today. So sometimes, we see something as a danger just because it feels uncomfortable and then we seek out food to eliminate the discomfort.

That’s just because the brain sometimes associates an uncomfortable feeling with danger. That is due to those more primitive days when our ancestors got that creepy uncomfortable feeling in the woods at night, when maybe there was a predator nearby.

So, there are thoughts that you have that are there because of all different reasons. The takeaway from that though is that just because they’re there doesn’t mean that they’re true. And they do not necessarily serve you going forward. Maybe those thoughts served you at the time that you formed the thought, but they no longer serve you. Meaning it is no longer helpful for you going forward to be thinking that thought.

But you can’t just pluck out a thought from your head and make it go away that easily, right? So that is where the power of curiosity comes in. When you notice a thought that you are having that doesn’t make you feel very good, get curious. What I mean by this is just ask yourself if it’s possible that the thought is not the truth. Remember how I said that your thoughts are not the truth? Here is where you can really show your brain that your thoughts aren’t the truth.

So, if you find yourself thinking, “I’ll never be able to stop overeating sugar,” get curious and ask yourself if it’s possible that you would be able to stop eating sugar. If there’s just a little bit of a possibility, which there is, then you’re essentially debunking that thought “I’ll never be able to stop overeating sugar.”

You’re showing your brain that it’s not the truth. It’s just a thought. And you’re also showing your brain that you can change that thought. Because if you do believe that there is just a little bit of a possibility, then you can then shift the thought to “It’s possible I can stop overeating sugar.” Doesn’t that thought feel a lot better to you?

A thought like that gives you at least a feeling of maybe hope or even in some cases a feeling of determination. Some people like to feel challenged and if there’s a possibility, even if they feel like it might be really difficult, that can make them feel determined.

For those thoughts that come up that you don’t necessarily want to keep, because they don’t feel great, just get curious. Ask yourself if it’s possible that that thought is not true or ask yourself if it’s possible that the opposite of that thought could be true. Same thing really. Just poking holes at these thoughts by getting curious makes you feel a lot better. And when you feel better, you’re going to be more likely to do the actions you need to take to change particular eating habit or lose weight et cetera.

And when you are curious about your thoughts come up rather than being critical of your thoughts, you’re having self-compassion. Our brains naturally just like to be critical and judgmental of our own thoughts. Which then just layers the negative emotions on top of each other.

So, if you’re having a thought that doesn’t make you feel very good, and then you have a negative thought about that thought, that might lead you to feel guilt or shame. You’re layering one negative emotion on top of another negative emotion.

It’s like a double whammy of negative emotions. So, if you’re feeling that crummy, it’s going to be a lot harder to do the actions you need to do to reach your goals. You’re going to want to help yourself out by learning to have some self-compassion and be less critical of your own thoughts. Less judgmental of your own thoughts. And instead get curious.

You can ask yourself why might you have that thought. Maybe something in your past. Maybe your brain thinks that it’s trying to protect you from something. But you can only figure this out, by being curious in a loving way, not a critical way.

Those are some examples of the power of curiosity for your thoughts. You can also have curiosity for your feelings or emotions. Feelings or emotions are just physical sensations in your body that are produced by a thought. Every emotion is created in your body by one thought that you had in your head.

Therefore, if you’re feeling an emotion, get curious and ask what you might be thinking that created that feeling in your body. If you’re not exactly sure, just start writing in a notebook or a journal some of the thoughts in your head. You can then look at that paragraph or that page that you wrote and find the thought that you believe is the one most responsible for the feeling in your body.

This is especially helpful for emotional eaters. Finding those emotions that you feel most commonly leads you to emotionally eat and getting curious about those emotions. The power of curiosity with emotions will help you feel more empowered, because you’ll be able to find the source for the emotion. Just that alone can make you feel a lot better.

And just thoughts, with emotions, when you’re feeling an emotion, it’s really important not to judge yourself for feeling that emotion. Not to be hard on yourself for feeling that emotion.

Instead, be curious as to why you may be feeling that emotion. That’s a form of self-compassion. Just being compassionate for the fact that you’re a human being and you’re going to feel emotions, and that means all of the emotions. That’s why we have these responses in our body to our thoughts.

 It’s important to feel emotions, because emotions drive us to take action or inaction. A lot of this can help us create the results that we want. Some of it cannot be helpful. But really finding out the root of it with being curious about thoughts and feelings behind your actions is key.

Speaking of actions, you can also be curious about your actions. Or be curious about your inactions. So, if you find yourself not doing something that you know will help you to get the result you want, be curious about why you might not be doing the thing. It could be something that you can easily problem solve for. It could be that a thought is making you feel a certain way and then that feeling is causing the inaction. But you can only figure this out if you’re curious.

So instead of judging your actions or your inactions in a negative way if you don’t like those particular actions or inactions, instead get curious. You’ll feel a lot better towards yourself just by getting curious, but you’ll also find answers. And once you find answers, then you can start making adjustments and addressing those answers, those underlying issues.

The power of curiosity really comes into play with coaching. My role as an Eating Habit and Weight Loss Coach is not just to give you strategies and guide you through those, but also to find these underlying thoughts and feelings, and get curious.

From there, there’s lots of different things that we can do with those underlying thoughts and feelings and that’s really where the power of coaching comes into play. I also can ask you questions that you may not think to ask yourself.

Part of the benefit of having a coach is that I help bring awareness to your thoughts and feelings and help you to create new, intentional thoughts and feelings in a natural way that will better serve you. Meaning, they’ll help you with the actions or inactions to break habits that you don’t want to have anymore, form the habits you do want, and to get the results that you want.

I forget who I heard this from, I did not come up with it myself, but oftentimes, when you’re doing things on your own, it’s like trying to read a label on the outside of a jar when you’re on the inside of a jar. So, imagine that you’re a little tiny person and you’re inside of a glass jar. And the answers to all of your issues are on a label on the outside of the jar. You might be able to see a little bit and sort of read backwards, but it can be difficult.

A coach is like the person on the outside of the jar who can read that label and help you get out of that jar so that you can see that label as well and much more easily do the things that will get you the results that you want.

But anyone can be curious and ask themselves if a thought that they’re having that’s not making them feel very good, is 100% true or if it’s possible that it’s not true. And I guarantee, when you honestly think about it, every thought that you have about yourself or anything that’s negative, you’ll see that it’s possible that it’s not true. And you’ll feel better just with that.

So, start seeing the possibility of new beliefs and new results. You can’t have a new result without a better belief. Meaning a better thought that causes a better feeling in your body and then that better feeling in your body causes better actions that will get you the results that you want.

One of the benefits of having a free consultation with me is that we can find some of these underlying issues behind certain eating habits. Once you’re more aware of these underlying issues, you’ll find that there’s hope and there’s possibility. You’ll see that there’s nothing wrong with you for not having the results yet.

Sometimes it is circumstances that make it more challenging, and that’s something that I can help you with, but it also is the way you think about those circumstances as well, which I can help you with as well. A lot of times, it is your thoughts about yourself or about food or other things that your brain has just been feeding you, probably for years. We need to break those thought habits. Other times it’s feelings in your body that are maybe leading to emotional eating. And there’s solutions to that as well.

Just having a free consultation with me will give you awareness of what it is exactly that is hindering you from getting the results you wanted on your own, or with prior diets, because I can tell you that diets don’t address the thoughts and feelings component of it. And then once we know the underlying reasons, it’s easier to determine the solutions.

So, you will leave the consult feeling like you know more about why you haven’t been able to break a certain eating habit or form newer healthier eating habits that actually last or lose weight and keep it off. You’ll know the solutions that will finally help you and you’ll feel much more hopeful, more confident.

From there you can see if you want to continue doing what you’re doing and continue getting the same results you’re getting, or if you’d like to get my help with coaching and work toward your goals to gather, and address those underlying issues together.

So, if you’re curious about the underlying issues for your eating habits and weight loss struggles, and the real solutions, then book a free 60 minute consultation with me. You can do that on my website https://katemjohnston.com/consult. If you’re listening to this episode right from the episode page on my website, you’ll see the button where you can book a free consult.

Alright, thanks for listening, take care and I’ll talk with you next week.