Your vision will become clear only when you look into your heart. Who looks outside, dreams. Who looks inside, awakens.

- Carl Jung

How many times have you lost weight only to gain it all back again months later? Losing weight is an endless battle for many of us. We try desperately to tap into willpower and be as disciplined as possible to stick to the latest diet, only to find that we can only deprive ourselves of the foods we love for so long. Eventually, we revert back to our old habits and lose the battle once more. The frustration of dieting sometimes leads individuals to throw in the towel and give up the battle for good.

The focus of most diets is to consume fewer calories and expend more energy by engaging in more physical activity. These are both excellent strategies, however there is a missing key ingredient. It is possibly one of the biggest challenges, but is essential to successful long-term weight loss. That is turning inward to focus on what brings you joy.

It is a well-known fact that many of us turn to food even when we are not hungry. Food is often used as a void-filler during times when we are bored, tired, lonely, happy, sad, angry, etc. The key is to find ways to fill the voids without using food as a stand-in.

First, you need to explore the things in life that nourish your soul. Define the nonfood activities in your life that bring you happiness and truly make you feel good inside. Do you like to be outdoors and connect with nature? Do you enjoy volunteering? How about picking up your dusty tennis racket and playing again? Would that make you happy?

Once you have thought of several fulfilling activities, ask yourself a few questions. Are you engaging in these activities on a regular basis? If not, why is that? Do you deprive yourself of engaging in them because you don't make time for them, or is something holding you back from giving yourself the gift of joy? If the latter is true, more exploring is needed.

Next, write a list of the activities that feed your soul and post them on your refrigerator. When you feel the need to turn to food as a void-filler, choose one item on the list and do it. You may find that as you begin to focus more on meeting the needs of your soul, you will rely less on food to fill you up.

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