[00:00:00] Independence Day is a celebration of freedom. But what if this year you made it personal?

[00:00:07] What if you used this holiday not just to celebrate our country’s independence, but to begin declaring your own independence from the weight struggle?

[00:00:17] In today’s episode, we’re gonna explore how to name what has been ruling you, how to invite your inner coach to lead, and how to create a vision of freedom that pulls you forward.

[00:00:30] And we’ll finish with a fabulous meditation to help you put that all together into your own personal revolution.

[00:00:40] So come on in.

[00:00:49] Did you know that our struggle with weight doesn’t start with the food on your plate or get fixed in the gym?

[00:00:55] 80% of our weight struggle is mental.

[00:01:00] That’s right.

[00:01:01] The key to unlocking long-term weight release and management begins in your mind.

[00:01:07] Hi there. I’m Rita Black.

[00:01:08] I’m a clinical hypnotherapist, weight loss expert, best-selling author, and the creator of the Shift Weight Mastery Process.

[00:01:16] And not only have I helped thousands of people over the past 20 years achieve long-term weight mastery, I am also a former weight struggler, carb addict, and binge eater.

[00:01:29] And after two decades of failed diets and fad weight loss programs, I lost 40 pounds with the help of hypnosis.

[00:01:36] Not only did I release all that weight, I have kept it off for 25 years.

[00:01:42] Enter the Thin Thinking podcast, where you too will learn how to remove the mental roadblocks that keep you struggling.

[00:01:50] I’ll give you the thin thinking tools, skills, and insights to help you develop the mindset you need, not only to achieve your ideal weight, but to stay there long term and live your best life.

[00:02:03] Sound good? Let’s get started.

[00:02:07] Hello, hello, well.

[00:02:08] Hello and happy, happy, happy Independence to you people from the United States.

[00:02:15] And to everybody else, come on in and celebrate your own independence .

[00:02:21] Everybody is welcome here.

[00:02:24] Just find yourself a good spot ’cause today we are gonna have a little 4th of July fun right here on the podcast.

[00:02:32] Sit in the front seat.

[00:02:33] Get a good view for the fireworks that we are gonna be creating inside of ourselves.

[00:02:40] And you might, you just might hear in the background some fireworks that are going off as I record this ’cause for those of you who do not know me,

[00:02:51] I live right in the middle of Los Angeles and I get lots of you can always hear lots of sounds outside my house.

[00:03:00] Sirens, fire trucks. I love it, the sounds of the city.

[00:03:06] And yes, lots and lots of fireworks.

[00:03:09] We have a lot of people around here who think of themselves as somewhat professional fireworks people,

[00:03:14] so we get to hear a lot of things on the 4th of July and all around the 4th of July.

[00:03:20] So my daughter and I went away for a mother-daughter sort of little weekend down to San Diego, and we went thrifting.

[00:03:31] I don’t know if you like thrifting as much as I do, but I really .

[00:03:35] My daughter and I are equally as cheap and we love a good bargain.

[00:03:39] So we love to go thrifting, especially in really fancy neighborhoods.

[00:03:43] So we went to this very fancy neighborhood well it’s on the beach, called Solana Beach.

[00:03:49] Very beautiful, very upscale place, and we found a thrift store there and we went to town getting stuff ’cause I was going to a birthday party and I wanted just to check out some fun things like fun hats and sunglasses.

[00:04:04] So there was this woman there, and I only say this ’cause it’s a 4th of July thing.

[00:04:10] And she was so funny.

[00:04:11] She was just very bold and gregarious, and she was like, “I want all the red, white, and blue things that you have ’cause I’ve got six 4th of July parties to go to.”

[00:04:21] And so she… I, I thought it was really smart. She was getting this striped red and white shirt, and then these blue spangled pants, and she was going to town.

[00:04:32] So if you’re wearing some stretchy blue spangled pants, come on in.

[00:04:37] You are welcome, and all the better if they are from your local Goodwill or neighborhood thrift store.

[00:04:46] I just had to crack up.

[00:04:47] We got some amazing things.

[00:04:49] I got some cool sunglasses, ’cause sunglasses can be really expensive, and we got.

[00:04:54] We were just so excited.

[00:04:55] We got $3 sunglasses that were like 1950s sunglasses.

[00:04:59] It was really fun. Okay, enough of that.

[00:05:02] Okay, so we’re heading into the 4th of July, and this year, if you are listening in 2026, it’s the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.

[00:05:14] And I started to think about my own declaration of independence, not from England, obviously, but from dieting.

[00:05:22] And I am also celebrating something very personal this year.

[00:05:26] I am celebrating 31 years of maintaining my ideal weight after struggling for decades with the same 40 pounds up and down the scale.

[00:05:37] 31 years.

[00:05:40] I’m my maintenance is getting into the middle ages, you guys.

[00:05:45] It’s starting to get wrinkles and worrying about their skin.

[00:05:50] And I can still remember what it felt like before that.

[00:05:54] Before I, I released the weight and have kept it off.

[00:05:58] And losing weight, gaining it back, I mean, it’s something you never, ever, ever forget that pain.

[00:06:04] Getting excited about a new plan, and then rebelling against the plan, and promising myself, “This time, I really, really mean it.”

[00:06:12] And then waking up a few days or weeks later feeling like, “How am I here again?”

[00:06:21] So, when I think about the Declaration of Independence, I think about the moment 31 years ago when something in me, or well, actually more than 31 years ago, ’cause I’ve been maintaining my ideal weight for.. So 31 plus nine months, okay.

[00:06:37] But when something in me finally said, “I cannot keep living like this.”

[00:06:47] And I didn’t have all the language that I have now.

[00:06:49] I did not have the Shift Weight Mastery process mapped out.

[00:06:52] I did not have all the tools I teach today, but I knew I could not keep handing my power over to another diet,

[00:07:01] and I couldn’t keep waking up every morning bitterly disappointed in myself, and I could not keep letting food, the scale, shame, and the promise of Monday keep running my life.

[00:07:18] And because I have been in this 4th of July mood, I have also been watching a couple of documentaries.

[00:07:25] One of them was about George Washington, and the other was about Thomas Jefferson, two very interesting people.

[00:07:35] And I mean that.

[00:07:37] It was fascinating.

[00:07:38] But I’m gonna primarily focus on George Washington for the moment ’cause he was our first president.

[00:07:45] And you know, before I watched the documentary, I knew about three, about three things about George Washington, right?

[00:07:51] I knew he was our first president.

[00:07:54] I knew he chopped down a cherry tree.

[00:07:56] I think he had wooden teeth.

[00:07:59] I mean, that may or may not be accurate.

[00:08:02] But what I loved learning was how complicated it, it all was around the Revolution the time of the Revolution and the Declaration of Independence.

[00:08:15] I had this little school kid version in my head where we signed the Declaration of Independence,

[00:08:21] Betsy Ross made a flag, George Washington got in a boat, and then boom, America. That was it.

[00:08:29] We got started.

[00:08:30] And we’re like, “Okay, we got that Constitution, we’re rolling it out, and we’re, we’re just got it all together now.”

[00:08:37] But that is not how it happened.

[00:08:39] It was messy, it was long, people were divided.

[00:08:43] Some people wanted freedom, and some people really wanted to stay loyal to Britain and King George.

[00:08:49] And some people probably wanted everyone just to stop making a fuss and just have dinner and get on with it, and bury their heads in the sand.

[00:08:59] So I thought, “Wow, gosh, that’s so layered and interesting.”

[00:09:05] And because that’s what I feel when you’re trying to break free from the weight struggle.

[00:09:08] Even when an old system is hurting you, it can still feel familiar.

[00:09:15] Dieting was miserable for me, but it was familiar. Overeating was so painful, but in a strange way, it was comfortable.

[00:09:25] And starting over on Monday was exhausting, as you know, but at least I knew the script.

[00:09:32] And when you’ve been living inside a struggle for a long time, stepping into freedom doesn’t always feel like trumpets and confetti.

[00:09:40] Sometimes it feels raw and exposed and vulnerable.

[00:09:47] And sometimes it feels like, “Okay, if I am not dieting, then what the hell am I doing really?”

[00:09:55] So today, I just wanna walk you through three steps for declaring your independence from the weight struggle, and we’re gonna name what has been ruling you.

[00:10:04] We’re gonna talk about who gets to lead, and then we’re gonna create a vision of the weight master you are becoming, and then we’ll finish with a meditation to send you into the Fourth of July holiday, or July if you’re not from the United States,

[00:10:20] which is totally fine with more freedom more self-leadership, and maybe a little more belief that this next chapter of your life can actually be different.

[00:10:32] And just for those of you who have not enrolled in the Shift Weight Mastery process, our 30-day hypnosis weight mastery process, which is foundational, it’s not just hypnosis, it’s meditation, it’s coaching, it’s a fully fledged program.

[00:10:47] There is a link in the show notes, and there is a Fourth of July special going on that will make you want to throw confetti in the air.

[00:10:57] So go check it out.

[00:10:59] Now, if you are somewhere safe and able, get a pen and paper to do some writing, and if you’re not, that’s fine too.

[00:11:05] You’re just gonna make notes in your head, ’cause I’m gonna have you do some thinking.

[00:11:10] So just as our forefathers sat down and created a document that named what they would no longer live under, today you are gonna begin creating a little declaration of your own.

[00:11:22] So take a nice deep breath in, straighten your imaginary revolutionary hat, and let’s begin as we connect with ourselves.

[00:11:32] So let’s just start, number one, naming the tyranny.

[00:11:39] So the first thing that had to happen before our country could become independent was that the colonists had to name what was not working.

[00:11:48] Now, they had lived under.

[00:11:50] And please, history buffs, forgive me, but this is gonna be very summarized.

[00:11:57] But you know, our friends the colonists had lived under British rule for a very long time.

[00:12:02] And if you go all the way back to Jamestown in 1607, by the time the declaration was adopted in 1776, some of those colonies had been under English or British rule for 169 years.

[00:12:15] So this was not a quick little breakup.

[00:12:18] This was a long-term relationship, a long, complicated, we-have-got-a-lot-of-history-together relationship.

[00:12:26] And for a while, that was just the way things were.

[00:12:29] The colonists paid taxes, Britain made the decisions, the king was the king, and this was the system that they lived inside.

[00:12:37] But over time, people started to notice that this arrangement was not feeling so great anymore.

[00:12:43] They were paying taxes without having a real voice in the decisions.

[00:12:47] British soldiers were being kept among them, hovering over them, lurking about.

[00:12:52] Their trade and their self-government were being controlled.

[00:12:56] And I imagine that at first, some of that frustration was probably just background noise, like, “Hmm, that doesn’t really seem fair,”

[00:13:05] or, “I don’t love that they keep making decisions about our lives from across the ocean. I mean, they aren’t even here to make decisions,”

[00:13:12] or, “Why exactly are we sending all this money to people who do not seem terribly concerned with us or our opinions?”

[00:13:22] And then eventually, it got clear enough that they could name it.

[00:13:27] They could write it down.

[00:13:29] They could say, “This is what we are no longer willing to live under.” And that, my friend, is where every revolution begins.

[00:13:38] It begins when you stop saying, “Well, maybe it’s not that bad,” and it begins when you stop making yourself the problem.

[00:13:47] It begins when you tell the truth about the system that you have been living inside.

[00:13:52] And this is exactly what had to happen for me with the weight struggle.

[00:13:57] For years, I thought I was the problem.

[00:14:01] I thought I needed more willpower, more discipline, more control, more motivation, and more rules.

[00:14:08] I thought if I could just find the right diet, the right plan, the right Monday, the right version of myself, then maybe I could finally, finally get it together.

[00:14:17] But the weight struggle is tricky because it can be painful and familiar at the same time.

[00:14:25] You can hate the cycle and still know exactly how to live inside of it.

[00:14:31] You know how to wake up and be mad at yourself for what you ate the night before.

[00:14:35] You know how to stand on the scale and let that number decide whether you’re allowed to feel hopeful today or feel like it’s a disaster.

[00:14:44] You know how to promise yourself you will be good.

[00:14:46] You know how to think about food all day long, wondering what you can eat and when you can eat next, and whether this will make you fat, and whether you’ve already blown it, and whether you should just start again on Monday.

[00:14:55] It’s miserable, but it’s known, and that was the strange comfort of it for me.

[00:15:05] Dieting gave me something to grab onto.

[00:15:08] Even if it did not work long-term, it felt like a plan.

[00:15:12] It felt like hope.

[00:15:13] It felt like, okay, I know what to do now.

[00:15:17] So when I finally said, “I am never going to diet again,” I did not instantly feel like some brave revolutionary woman standing on a hill with a flag.

[00:15:29] I felt naked, I felt vulnerable, and I felt like, oh my God, now what?

[00:15:37] Because I had dieted for decades.

[00:15:39] Dieting had been my strategy, my hope, and the thing I ran back to every time I fell out of control.

[00:15:45] In a way, dieting was my main hobby.

[00:15:48] But underneath that fear, something had finally become very clear. This was just not about weight.

[00:15:55] It wasn’t just about 40 pounds.

[00:15:58] This was about how much of my life the weight struggle was stealing from me.

[00:16:03] It was running my mind, it was affecting my mood, it was affecting how I felt in my body.

[00:16:09] It was affecting how present I was with my husband and my friends, affecting my confidence, my work, my dreams, and even my ability to ask, “What do I really wanna do with my life?”

[00:16:21] Because I wouldn’t dare dream that because I was living inside of the struggle.

[00:16:27] And I wouldn’t dare ask, “What can I do with my life?”

[00:16:32] I couldn’t fully be present because a part of me was always busy managing the struggle.

[00:16:37] And I remember that feeling so clearly, waking up angry at myself, thinking about my weight all day long, beating myself and wondering why I couldn’t pull it together.

[00:16:46] And then one day, one day, I saw it all differently, and I thought, “Oh, wait a minute. Wait, wait, wait a minute.

[00:16:55] This is not about the food. This isn’t about the number on the scale.

[00:17:01] This whole struggle cycle is controlling me.

[00:17:06] It is controlling my relationship with myself, how much of my own life I get to enjoy, and I’m not willing to live under that anymore.”

[00:17:18] That was my declaration of independence.

[00:17:22] And not because I had it all figured out, because .

[00:17:25] Not because I suddenly had perfect confidence, but because I finally named the tyranny.

[00:17:33] I stopped saying, “I just need another diet- Or another plan or another thing outside of me.

[00:17:41] And I started saying, “I need a new relationship with myself.”

[00:17:48] And that is what we do in Shift.

[00:17:50] We begin to step into a new world.

[00:17:53] I sometimes think of it as becoming an apprentice of weight mastery.

[00:17:57] You do not have to know it all. You do not have to be perfect.

[00:18:00] You’re learning a new way to think, to lead yourself, a new way to relate to food and your body, your emotions, and your own promises.

[00:18:11] But the first doorway into that world is telling the truth about the old one, because you cannot declare independence from something you keep minimizing.

[00:18:22] You cannot break free from something you keep pretending is not that bad, and you cannot create a new life whilst letting the old struggle just run the show in the background.

[00:18:35] So we begin by naming it, not because we want to wallow in the pain, but because what stays unnamed keeps running the show.

[00:18:47] And what becomes visible can finally begin to change.

[00:18:51] So here’s what I invite you to do.

[00:18:54] Sometime today or right now if you have that pen and paper, maybe you have a quill write your own personal grievance list.

[00:19:05] And don’t make it fancy or perfect or sound like something you would put on a refrigerator magnet.

[00:19:10] Tell the truth.

[00:19:12] You might begin with, “I am no longer to be willing to…” Mm, sorry, I’m gonna say that again.

[00:19:19] My mouth, that was a tongue twister.

[00:19:21] Okay. I am no longer willing to be ruled by, and then just let yourself write.

[00:19:28] Just write that across the top of the page.

[00:19:29] I am no longer willing to be ruled by.

[00:19:33] And maybe you are no longer willing to be ruled by the scale willing to be ruled by food noise, willing to plan your life around whether your clothes fit or spend another vacation worried about pictures or no longer willing to keep losing the same 20 pounds and gaining back 25.

[00:19:52] Maybe you’re no longer willing to eat in secret and then punish yourself with promises.

[00:19:58] And maybe you’re no longer willing to let that inner critic pretend that beating you up is really good for you,

[00:20:06] or maybe you’re no longer willing to keep starting over and being hopeful and then deep down you know it’s the same old cycle wearing just a new spangly outfit bought in a thrift store.

[00:20:21] This isn’t complaining.

[00:20:22] It isn’t self-pity.

[00:20:23] This is getting conscious, and this is you sitting down with yourself saying, “Let me tell the truth about what the struggle has cost me.”

[00:20:33] Because before you can move into the new world, you have to recognize the old world you are leaving, really, and leave it and shut the door.

[00:20:43] And that was my story.

[00:20:44] I didn’t need another diet.

[00:20:46] I needed a revolution in the way I related to myself.

[00:20:50] And maybe, just maybe today, this is where your revolution begins too.

[00:20:56] So take a moment, if you dare, and write down all of your grievances, what you’re no longer gonna be ruled by.

[00:21:07] All right? Good work.

[00:21:09] Now, two, declaring self-leadership.

[00:21:15] So once those crazy colonists named what they were no longer willing to live under, the next step was not just complaining about it.

[00:21:24] They had to declare something.

[00:21:26] They had to say, “This is who we are now.

[00:21:30] This is what we believe in.

[00:21:32] This is the direction we are going.”

[00:21:34] And that is such a powerful piece of the Declaration of Independence.

[00:21:39] It’s not just a list of complaints about King George.

[00:21:43] It was also a statement of our identity.

[00:21:47] So in June of 1776, the Continental Congress appointed a group of five men to prepare that declaration.

[00:21:56] Old Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman, and Robert Livingston.

[00:22:04] And Jefferson did most of the writing.

[00:22:08] And I learned more about Jefferson by watching his documentary, but we won’t talk about him right now.

[00:22:12] But then the documentary, Tommy J did most of the writing of that Declaration of Independence.

[00:22:18] We can tip our hat to him.

[00:22:20] And then the document was edited and debated by Congress before it was adopted on July 4th.

[00:22:26] So even this powerful declaration was not written in one perfect burst of inspiration.

[00:22:33] It was drafted, it was revised, it was argued over, it was shaped, and I love that because isn’t that how change really happens?

[00:22:45] We want the cinematic moment.

[00:22:47] We want the music to swell. We want to say, “I declare freedom,” and then suddenly we are different.

[00:22:53] We are perfect.

[00:22:54] But most of the time, a freedom is way more awkward than that.

[00:22:59] It’s messy, and it needs revision and debate, and you need to come back to yourself again and again.

[00:23:06] And after the declaration was signed, our country didn’t magically know how to be a country.

[00:23:13] That part fascinated me in the documentary.

[00:23:16] I mean, they had declared independence, but then they had to learn how to govern themselves.

[00:23:22] And in the beginning, it was clunky.

[00:23:26] The first national framework, the Articles of Confederation, created very loose alliance of states, but the young country struggled with money, taxes, trade, enforcement.

[00:23:38] It wasn’t like, “Congratulations, you’re free and fully functional.”

[00:23:42] George Washington was really concerned that it was all gonna fall apart.

[00:23:49] And they, every day, they had to kind of wake up and say, “Okay, we have to learn how to do this.”

[00:23:55] They had to stay committed, and they had to figure it out, and it didn’t look good all the time.

[00:24:01] In fact, it looked really messy.

[00:24:04] So this is where, for me, this all connects so beautifully with weight mastery, because declaring independence from dieting is one thing,

[00:24:11] but learning how to lead yourself without dieting is totally another.

[00:24:15] And that is the part nobody really talks about enough.

[00:24:20] When I began my own journey, my inner coach was not this big, booming voice inside of me saying, “Hey, Rita, I have the entire map.

[00:24:29] Follow me.

[00:24:31] I know exactly where we’re going.” That would’ve been cool.

[00:24:34] But in the beginning, I really struggled, and my inner coach was a very soft voice.

[00:24:44] She was there for me, but she was this little voice inside my head that I said that would say, “I think there’s another way.

[00:24:53] You’re not broken, and maybe we can learn from this instead of turning it into another reason to hate ourselves.”

[00:25:02] And honestly, that voice had to compete with two very loud, established characters in my head, my inner critic and inner rebel.

[00:25:12] And I know many of you know exactly what I’m talking about.

[00:25:15] The inner critic is that harsh, self-abusive voice that says, “Really? Again? What the hell is wrong with you? You should be ashamed of yourself. Look at you.”

[00:25:27] And then there’s that wonderful inner rebel that comes flying in like, “Fine, forget it.

[00:25:32] We already blew it.

[00:25:33] We might as well just eat the whole thing and start over Monday.”

[00:25:37] And when you have struggled with weight for a long time, those two voices can become such a habit.

[00:25:43] The critic attacks, the rebel hits the eject button, and before you know it, you’re back inside the same old cycle.

[00:25:52] But the inner coach is different, does not shame you.

[00:25:57] Your inner coach doesn’t let you off the hook either.

[00:26:01] This is the part of you that can tell the truth and stay on your side at the same time.

[00:26:06] So here’s what I want you to know.

[00:26:09] You already have that voice.

[00:26:11] Some of you, I know, are my students.

[00:26:13] You know your inner coach very well, and you are good friends, and I’m delighted.

[00:26:20] I’m delighted.

[00:26:20] The more people who are tuned into their inner weight mastery coach, the better.

[00:26:25] But some of you may not be in touch with that part of yourself yet.

[00:26:30] But you do have that voice.

[00:26:32] You may not have practice listening to it around food or weight yet, but you know this voice from other areas of your life.

[00:26:40] This is the voice that got you through hard things in life, and the voice that kept showing up when life didn’t go as planned, and this is also the voice of your resilience and grit, your tenacity and common sense.

[00:26:55] It is the part of you that has handled jobs, relationships, family, loss, responsibility, disappointment, emergencies, and all the complicated business of being a human.

[00:27:09] So the question is not, do I have an inner coach? You do.

[00:27:14] The question is, can I begin practicing that voice in the area of weight mastery?

[00:27:20] And in the beginning, it does take practice.

[00:27:23] Because if you’re used to either beating yourself up or blowing everything up, self-leadership can feel very unfamiliar.

[00:27:31] For me, becoming an apprentice of weight mastery meant I was winging it at first.

[00:27:36] I did not have a diet and I did not have a list of perfect rules.

[00:27:40] I said no, no, no to that.

[00:27:43] I was learning what foods worked best for me.

[00:27:46] I was learning what kind of exercise worked best for me.

[00:27:49] I was curious. I was searching.

[00:27:53] I was learning to live without turning every imperfect moment into a reason to start over, because I promised myself I would never start over again.

[00:28:04] So please hear me, I was far from perfect.

[00:28:07] I had many forays into binge eating and fell into old patterns, and I had moments where I thought, “Oh, no, this is just feels like so much the same thing again.”

[00:28:20] But there was one huge important difference is was, like I said, I never, ever started over,

[00:28:27] and I did not say, “Well, I blew it, so I now need to go find a new diet.”

[00:28:31] I didn’t go looking for another set of rules or anything outside of me to rescue me.

[00:28:38] I made myself learn, and that was hard, because learning meant I had to sit with my feelings that I used to run away from.

[00:28:47] I had to sit with disappointment without making it mean I was a failure. I had to sit with frustration without using it as an excuse to quit,

[00:28:57] and I had to sit with not knowing the answers and confusion without trying to reach for a diet or anything outside of me to give me a certainty.

[00:29:08] That was the beginning of my self-leadership.

[00:29:12] It was messy, but I’m proud of it.

[00:29:16] It was not glamorous. It was not perfect, but it was powerful.

[00:29:23] It was my inner coach saying, “You’re okay. We’re gonna be okay. We’re gonna get through this moment.

[00:29:27] We’re gonna get through this day. We’re gonna get through just to the next meal.

[00:29:31] You are a good person.

[00:29:33] This choice does not make you bad.

[00:29:36] This pattern does not mean you’re broken.

[00:29:38] You are learning. You can move on from this.”

[00:29:42] And over time, that voice got stronger.

[00:29:45] Now, after more than 30 years, I have a very intimate and powerful relationship with my inner coach, but it didn’t begin that way.

[00:29:53] It grew because I kept coming back to it.

[00:29:57] I kept going. So here is my invitation to you.

[00:30:03] Begin practicing the voice inside you that can be both strong and kind, honest and loving, clear and compassionate.

[00:30:13] So the second step is about declaring who gets to lead now.

[00:30:20] Not diet rules, not the critic or the rebel, but your inner coach.

[00:30:27] And your declaration might be as simple as this, “From this day forward, I’m willing to be led by the part of me that believes I can learn, that believes in me and my ability to be successful one day at a time.”

[00:30:45] Or, “From this day forward, I will not use mistakes as proof that I’m broken.”

[00:30:52] Or, “From this day forward, I am no longer starting over. I am learning forward.”

[00:30:59] And that is the beginning of self-leadership.

[00:31:02] And just like our young country that had to learn how to govern itself, you are learning how to lead yourself, and it’s gonna feel awkward and vulnerable, and you’re gonna make it up as you go.

[00:31:15] That doesn’t mean you’re doing it wrong.

[00:31:17] It may just mean that you’re finally doing something new for you.

[00:31:25] All right, my friends.

[00:31:28] Now, number three Creating your freedom vision.

[00:31:34] So the third piece is vision, my favorite.

[00:31:39] Because once you name what you’re no longer willing to live under, and once you begin practicing self-leadership, the next question is, “Okay, where am I going?”

[00:31:49] And I think about our wonderful forefathers here, too.

[00:31:53] They were not just running away from Britain, they were moving forward toward something.

[00:31:59] They had a vision of a new country, a new way of governing, and a new kind of freedom.

[00:32:04] Now, did they know exactly how it was all gonna work? Not even close.

[00:32:10] They declared independence in 1776, but they still had a war to fight, they had to figure out how to function as a country,

[00:32:17] make mistakes, and eventually create the Constitution because the first version of government was not strong enough.

[00:32:24] And honestly, I love that, because freedom almost never comes with a perfect instruction manual.

[00:32:32] It usually is more like, “Okay, we know we can’t live like the old way anymore, and now we have to learn how to live the new way.”

[00:32:39] But what pulled them forward was a vision.

[00:32:45] And I think that is so important for us in weight mastery, because so many times when we start a diet, we’re being pushed by pain.

[00:32:54] We feel uncomfortable in our bodies, chaotic around food, out of control.

[00:32:58] We feel ashamed, frustrated, and a diet can honestly feel like such relief at first because it gives us structure.

[00:33:05] It tells us what to do. It organizes us.

[00:33:09] And for a little while, that feels good.

[00:33:11] The problem is, for many of us, it keeps us in the same old circle.

[00:33:16] Pain pushes us into a diet, the diet gives us temporary control, and then life happens.

[00:33:22] We get tired or rebellious or overwhelmed, and then suddenly we’re right back where we started.

[00:33:29] So when I declared my freedom from dieting, I needed something stronger than pain to keep me moving forward.

[00:33:36] I needed a vision, and I had one.

[00:33:40] It was not just a vision of being thin.

[00:33:42] It was not another number on the scale.

[00:33:46] Of course, I wanted to feel good in my clothes.

[00:33:48] I’m not gonna pretend that that didn’t matter.

[00:33:51] But the deeper vision was about the woman I wanted to become.

[00:33:57] I could see this version of me who felt free in her mind.

[00:34:02] She fed herself well, not because she had to, but because she wanted to take care of herself.

[00:34:08] She moved her body because she felt good, and it felt good to be strong.

[00:34:15] And she lived in the real world, not the chicken and broccoli in a plastic container world.

[00:34:21] She ate real food and was able to maintain her ideal weight without restricting herself.

[00:34:30] She was able to manage restaurants, holidays, vacations, birthdays, stressful days, Tuesdays, random snacks, all of it.

[00:34:39] And she could sustain her ideal weight because she had become someone who knew how to lead herself.

[00:34:45] Did I know exactly how to get to her?

[00:34:48] Oh, heck no. I was absolutely making it up as I went along, as I have said.

[00:34:55] But I started just to get to know her, and I started asking, how does she think?

[00:35:04] How does she care for herself?

[00:35:07] How does she wake up in the morning?

[00:35:09] What is she doing when she wakes up in the morning?

[00:35:12] What systems does she have in place? What are her standards?

[00:35:16] What does she say no to easily? What does she do when life gets hard?

[00:35:23] I got really curious about her, and little by little, that vision became part of my inner coach.

[00:35:29] It was almost like this future version of me reached back and said, “Come this way. Come on.”

[00:35:37] She did not demand perfection from me.

[00:35:39] She just kept pulling me forward.

[00:35:42] And that’s why I love the saying, “Pain pushes until the vision pulls,” because pain did get my attention.

[00:35:52] Pain helped me say, “I cannot keep doing this.”

[00:35:56] But vision gave me somewhere to go, and that vision became especially important in maintenance.

[00:36:05] It took me nine months to release my weight, but maintenance is real life.

[00:36:11] It is children and marriage and menopause and losing my parents and stressful seasons and beautiful seasons and regular old Tuesday and boredom and life.

[00:36:26] And how are you gonna care for yourself within all of that?

[00:36:31] And through all of that, the thing that mattered to me the most was not the weight.

[00:36:37] It was my freedom, my mental freedom, the freedom of not waking up every day at war with myself,

[00:36:46] freedom of not having food take up all the space in my mind, freedom of not needing to start over, freedom of knowing I could trust myself.

[00:36:58] And I hear this from people in the Shift community all the time.

[00:37:01] Yes, they love the weight release.

[00:37:03] Yes, they love feeling better in their clothes and their bodies. Of course they do.

[00:37:07] But what they treasure the most is the freedom, that quiet inside, that peace, that feeling of I’m not trapped in that old cycle anymore.

[00:37:19] So before we move into meditation, I want you to begin playing with this vision for yourself, not in a high-pressure way or a perfect way, but just with curiosity, like I did.

[00:37:30] Just get curious. Who is this person you’re becoming?

[00:37:35] What kind of freedom does she protect?

[00:37:39] What does she no longer negotiate away?

[00:37:43] What are her standards? How does she speak to herself when life gets hard?

[00:37:50] What does our inner coach know that you’re ready to begin believing?

[00:37:55] Because this is not just about getting into a number.

[00:37:59] This is about becoming someone who can live free.

[00:38:03] Free in your body, your mind, and around food.

[00:38:06] Free to be fully present in your own life, to be the best version of yourself.

[00:38:14] So now as we head into this 4th of July holiday, let’s bring it all together.

[00:38:19] We have named the old tyranny, we have invited the inner coach to lead, and now we’re gonna let a vision of freedom come alive inside of us,

[00:38:29] not as pressure or perfection, but as possibility.

[00:38:33] So let’s move into the meditation.

[00:38:36] Now, if you’re not in a place where you can relax and close your eyes, well, then maybe just put this on pause and come back at some other time.

[00:38:46] I don’t want you driving or operating machinery.

[00:38:52] Please be safe and comfortable.

[00:38:56] And go ahead and settle in.

[00:39:00] Maybe you wanna sit down, close your eyes, or lay reclined somewhere, and just take a nice deep breath in and close your eyes, and just let it out.

[00:39:14] And just let yourself arrive here, not perfectly, not with any pressure to have some big experience.

[00:39:25] Just here, breathing resting for a moment in the quiet decision to begin again in a different way.

[00:39:39] And as your body settles, imagine yourself standing in a wide open place, a place that feels simple and quiet.

[00:39:53] There is space around you.

[00:39:57] There is a path ahead of you.

[00:40:02] And behind you is the old world of the weight struggle.

[00:40:08] You don’t need to turn around and study it.

[00:40:11] You already know that world.

[00:40:14] You know the emotional climate of it.

[00:40:17] You know the heaviness of it.

[00:40:21] You know how it feels to wake up already disappointed, to make promises from pain, to look for certainty under another plan or something outside of you,

[00:40:35] and then to feel the old cycle pull you back again.

[00:40:40] So just let yourself recognize without judgment that this has been a world that you have known.

[00:40:49] A world that may have offered the comfort of familiarity even while it cost you peace.

[00:40:57] And as you stand here, you become aware of something you may have been carrying from that old world.

[00:41:06] And let your mind give it a shape.

[00:41:10] It might appear as luggage, a bundle, a box, a stone, a written document, or simply a weight in your hands.

[00:41:23] Whatever form it takes is the right form.

[00:41:27] It represents the old struggle, not just the weight, the struggle, the mental noise, the self-blame, the starting over,

[00:41:40] the way food and the scale and shame may have taken up more room than they ever deserved.

[00:41:47] And for a moment, just feel the truth of having carried it.

[00:41:54] No drama, no self-attack, just truth.

[00:42:01] This has been heavy.

[00:42:04] So now in this quiet open space, you notice a strong container waiting nearby,

[00:42:12] something steady and capable of holding what you no longer need to hold in the same way.

[00:42:21] And in your own time, imagine placing that symbol of the old struggle into the container.

[00:42:30] Let it leave your hands and allow the container to receive it.

[00:42:38] You are not erasing your past.

[00:42:41] You are not pretending the struggle never happened.

[00:42:44] You are simply allowing the old struggle to become something you can look at instead of something that lives inside you and runs the show

[00:42:59] And as you step back, you might say quietly inside, “I see what I have been carrying.

[00:43:09] I understand it has been part of my story and I am no longer letting it lead me.

[00:43:19] And let there be a little silence, a little space Because sometimes releasing an old way is tender.

[00:43:31] Even when the old way hurt, it was familiar.

[00:43:36] And unfamiliar freedom can feel strange at first.

[00:43:41] So there is no need to rush. Just breathe

[00:43:49] And now, turn your attention toward the path ahead.

[00:43:55] The path is not a diet. It is not a punishment plan.

[00:44:01] It is not a demand that you become perfect.

[00:44:05] It is the path of weight mastery.

[00:44:09] And you step onto this path not as someone who already knows everything, but as an apprentice, and let that word settle in.

[00:44:21] Apprentice. There is humility in it, there is possibility in it, and curiosity.

[00:44:32] An apprentice is allowed to learn, to practice.

[00:44:37] An apprentice is allowed to have moments of uncertainty and still be on the path. This is not about proving that you can be perfect.

[00:44:49] And you can stand at the beginning of this path, and you begin to sense the presence of your inner coach,

[00:44:58] not as a fantasy or a stranger, as part of you that has been here all along.

[00:45:07] The part that has helped you through hard things before.

[00:45:11] The part that knows how to keep going the part that can tell the truth without turning against you.

[00:45:22] The part that believes learning is still possible.

[00:45:25] At first, this presence may feel quiet, and that is okay.

[00:45:32] Many powerful relationships begin quietly.

[00:45:36] And if the inner critic has been loud for a long time or the inner rebel has been quick to take over, this steadier voice may need a little room to be heard.

[00:45:46] So give it room now.

[00:45:50] Let the inner coach stand beside you.

[00:45:53] Not above you, not ahead of you or dragging you forward, but beside you.

[00:46:01] A companion in self-leadership, a voice that does not shame you and does not abandon you.

[00:46:10] A voice that says, in its own way, “We can learn from this. We can stay connected. We don’t have to start over. We can move forward from here.”

[00:46:25] And let that become a feeling more than a sentence.

[00:46:30] The feeling of being on your own side, not needing to punish yourself into change. A feeling of being led by something steadier than panic or worry.

[00:46:45] And now with the old burden behind you and your inner coach beside you, take one step onto the path.

[00:46:52] Just one. Let it be quiet and real.

[00:46:57] A step into apprenticeship, into self-leadership, and into the possibility that you can become someone who lives differently.

[00:47:11] As you walk, the path begins to reveal a vision ahead. A future self.

[00:47:20] A self with more freedom, more trust, and more peace.

[00:47:27] A self who has learned how to keep going instead of giving up.

[00:47:32] A self who can live in the real world and still remain connected within.

[00:47:39] And let this vision become less about appearance and more about being present.

[00:47:46] Notice the way this future self carries themselves.

[00:47:50] There is a realness to it, something that comes from keeping promises to yourself, and learning through your mistakes, and no longer using shame as fuel.

[00:48:02] This future self is not waiting for you at the end of a perfect journey.

[00:48:06] This future self is already connected to you now.

[00:48:11] Like a light on the path, like a direction, and a quiet pull.

[00:48:18] And you may begin to understand the saying, pain pushes until the vision pulls.

[00:48:26] Pain may have brought you here. It may have helped you tell the truth.

[00:48:31] It may have helped you say, I cannot keep living inside the old cycle.

[00:48:36] But now, the vision begins to do something different.

[00:48:40] It does not push. It calls you.

[00:48:44] It reminds you that there is a life beyond the constant struggle.

[00:48:51] A life where food does not have to occupy much of your mind.

[00:48:55] A life where you know how to stay connected to yourself, to take care of yourself with foods that honor you, and movement that gives you joy.

[00:49:06] And as you stand on this path, allow the apprentice, the inner coach, and this future self to come into relationship.

[00:49:15] The apprentice is the part willing to learn.

[00:49:19] The inner coach is the part willing to lead.

[00:49:22] The future self is the vision pulling you forward. And all of them belong to you.

[00:49:30] All of them are you.

[00:49:32] Take a breath and let that truth settle.

[00:49:37] You are not waiting for some entirely different person to arrive and save you.

[00:49:43] You are beginning to gather the parts of yourself that can lead, learn, and become.

[00:49:50] And perhaps one phrase rises from inside.

[00:49:55] Let it be simple, and let it be yours.

[00:49:58] It might be, I am learning one step at a time.

[00:50:04] I am showing up for myself and leading day by day.

[00:50:09] Whatever phrase comes, let it settle into your breath.

[00:50:14] Let it become something you can carry with you after this meditation is over.

[00:50:20] And now imagine the container behind you holding the old struggle at a distance.

[00:50:27] It is no longer in your hands, no longer pressed against your chest, no longer blocking the path.

[00:50:35] It is a part of the story, but it is not the leader of the story.

[00:50:40] You are on the path forward toward freedom, toward the next honest step, and you do not need to know the whole way.

[00:50:51] You are no longer walking as someone who has got to get it perfect or give up.

[00:50:56] You are walking as an apprentice of weight mastery, learning forward, listening inward, and letting your vision pull.

[00:51:09] Now take a slow breath in, let it out, and begin to feel your body here again, the support beneath you, the space around you, the air touching your skin.

[00:51:24] And as you come back, bring with you the quiet understanding that freedom does not have to begin with a perfect plan.

[00:51:32] It can begin with one honest step, one moment of listening differently, one choice to stay connected to yourself.

[00:51:43] And when you’re ready, gently open your eyes, coming back with a little more space and knowing deep within you, you can keep becoming someone who knows how to live free.

[00:52:02] Welcome back

[00:52:07] Well, happy, happy freedom.

[00:52:09] Happy Independence Day, one and all.

[00:52:13] I hope our session served you today.

[00:52:16] I hope your family and friends, and those around you and especially you, stay safe and healthy this coming holiday weekend, especially if you’re traveling.

[00:52:28] And and if you are interested, like I said, you can visit our show notes.

[00:52:33] We are offering an amazing Independence Day special of the 30-day hypnosis-based Shift Weight Mastery process, so just check it out.

[00:52:44] And I will look forward to seeing you next week.

[00:52:48] Remember that the key, and probably the only key, of unlocking the door of the weight struggle is inside you.

[00:52:56] So keep listening and find it.

[00:52:59] I will be here with you next week.

[00:53:04] If you wanna dive deeper into the mindset of long-term weight release head on over to www.shiftweightmastery.com.

[00:53:14] That’s www.shiftweightmastery.com where you’ll find numerous tools and resources to help you unlock your mind for permanent weight release, tips, strategies, and more.

[00:53:28] And be sure to check the show notes to learn more about my book, From Fat to Thin Thinking, Unlock Your Mind for Permanent Weight Loss.