The pancreas processes sugar. You could say that it is our “sweet shop”. I can’t remember a time when eating a delicious cookie or piece of cake made me sad. Oftentimes, its intent was to cheer me up or as a celebration for something wonderful. I am guilty of using food as a temporary source of happiness. It sure didn’t bring me joy though because joy is everlasting and never leaves us. Happiness is a temporary spike in dopamine that oftentimes leaves us feeling worse afterward than we were before. Especially if you ate the whole cake piece by piece throughout the day until you were amazed that you ate the whole cake! It really didn’t seem like that much until I realized what I had done.
Filling up on what we do not need to find joy will cause us harm. Louise Hay associates the pancreas with one’s perception of how much joy is in our life. Is your life joyful? Do you laugh, smile, joke around, and feel loved more often than not? How truly joyful are you? Not at all, a little, some, a lot, or overwhelmed with joy?
When your joy is low, oftentimes your stress level is high and the demands on your pancreas to process the cortisol being excreted is great. Thus, your pancreas, the sweet shop of your body, is going to suffer from overworking. So it’s not just the excess sugar we put into our body, but also the excess sadness or stress that we retain in our body that affects the demands on the pancreas. Here is a really great article that explains the effects of sugar on our adrenals. https://metabolichealing.com/control-the-stress-response/
Sugar is the physical agent, but the desire to eat that sugar is due to the emotional component causing our body to require more sugar to try and boost our happy mood. Are you seeing this ugly cycle? It must be broken and the only way I know how to break it is by feeding your spirit, not your flesh.
Galatians 5:22-23 states “But the fruit of the spirit is love, JOY, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.” Galatians 5:25 says “Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the spirit.” God is saying, turn toward him. Turn toward the Holy Spirit that dwells inside of you to bring you more Joy than you could ever get from fleshly objects whether that be food, property, money, objects, or fame! None of those will ever match the love and joy God will bring to you and the peace that he will instill in you and all around you.
When you are stressed and want that piece of chocolate, open the word. Devour as much of it as you want and I guarantee you will not leave hungry or thrusting for anything. The more I read the Word, the more I know that I am not alone in my struggles. I see the struggles that people in the Bible endured and know that God saw them through their agony. He heard their cries and he rescued them. I HAVE NOTHING TO FEAR! When you have nothing to fear, you have no stress because God has taken away all those burdens leaving me with love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. I can laugh. I can be kind. I can be joyful and love life despite what may be going on around me.
So laugh more! Laughter is the best form of medicine with no side effects. When you can laugh freely, loudly, and from the depths of your being, it is a truly joyous experience. My dad had a laugh like that and it was contagious! Laughter isn’t a temporary high from a fleeting new toy or accomplishment, it’s authentic joy. Let the Spirit move you. Embrace all that God has to offer. Amazing grace. How Sweet the sound.
1 Timothy 4:4 – For everything God created is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, because it is consecrated by the word of God and prayer.
(You may want to read all of 1 Timothy 4 because it is just beautiful.)
Voyage to HEAL Weekly Task
Stretch: To decrease our stress, let’s return to my favorite dural tube stretch. This is fantastic at quieting the central nervous system. Breathe deeply while you are in this stretch which will elicit an increase in nitrogen that also calms the nervous system.
Exercise: Exercise always feels so very good and is a great way to use up sugars in our body and release natural feel-good endorphins. So, turn on that core and give me 10 jumping jacks, trips up and down the stairs, push-ups, V-ups, or minutes on the treadmill or bike. You make the decision as to what you can do, but get that heart pumping!
Habitual Change: I found that only eating sitting at a table, from last week’s habitual change, was very hard! I really eat on the go a lot! So, I modified it so that I could only eat while standing or sitting still. I cannot be eating and doing something else. Give that a try and let me know how it goes.
Perspective enlightenment: God let my joy come from you.
Journaling option: How joyful am I? Holy Spirit, what will fill me with your everlasting joy?
This week’s blog post coincides with week 3: Back stretches/ I Let Go. You can purchase this week in the store on the webpage. You can also purchase the Inner Peace Meditation CD or start your full online Voyage to HEAL. Click here to visit the store. Most importantly, start being kind to yourself always. As God gives you grace, so should you give it to yourself. Stop fighting yourself. Instead, love yourself.
Godspeed on your Voyage to HEAL
Love,
Jocelyn