I was with a friend recently who said that she weighs and measures every bite she puts into her mouth. "I am frightened that if I start eating, I'll never stop." she said.

I told her I understood, and that I too was frightened of food once, but mostly, I was frightened of myself. I realized then (and again) that although we don't realize it, we are making choices daily about what we trust and what we fear. And that there is a clear, defined path from fear to trust. Most of us stay in the middle region between fear and trust. We trust ourselves sometimes, then we get scared and we cycle back to the way we have always lived, which is followed by our resolve to do it differently. But, and I know this from direct experience, it really is possible to move from fear to trust, from shame to power, from deprivation to joy.