I’ve felt strangely calm around food today. I didn’t even have, need – or crucially think about – my healthy mid-afternoon snack.

I realise I have been focusing on the problem (ie the food) not the solution, so…

I spent the day musing about mantras/prayers/gratitude sayings as it seems to be a bit like getting sober – no one ever regrets putting the work in to get to that becoming a natural and calming addition to their day. I recalled Mary Karr in the superb book ‘Lit’ where she has tried everything to get sober – apart from praying which had been suggested by her sponsor and she had poo-pooed. Then one night, in a moment of desperation, she gets on her knees and prays… and it works…. so she does it again and again and again until it becomes part of her daily routine and by the end of the book she’s a born again Catholic!

I’m not special. I’m not different. Therefore i have printed off a secular version of the serenity prayer to recite on waking every morning to remind me of the fundamentals and i found a poem-y kind of prayer that I liked for the close of the day:

The day is done
it cannot be changed,
my actions and my thoughts
reflected my own spirit on this day,
of some, I am proud, of some, I am not.
When I wake .  .  . there will be new chances
to think and act with wisdom and compassion
there will be new temptations to be petty, small or selfish.
May I choose wisely and well from waking to day’s end.

Right now this feels quite fake and phoney, but I haven’t tried it and i trust all those who say it works for them and who are not remotely religious, so here I go. Watch this space 😉