I have a client who was really focused on losing the weight on her belly. One problem, she doesn’t really have a belly. I realized that she was displacing her shame about her past by focusing on the “thickness” of her belly. I said, “I bet you’ve always focused on your stomach, even when you were at your thinest.” Once I told her my realization, you could see a light bulb go off in her head. She said, “You’re absolutely right! I’ve never been happy with my stomach.” I told her the way to get past the shame was to let people know her story. She is the compassionate, non-judgemental person because of what she went through. Once she starts being able to share and embrace her past as part of who she is, she will no longer obsess about her belly.
