Shine with Mary Obana
Shine with Mary Obana
A Weight Loss Journey and An Awakening—An Interview with Cristina Curreri
011—Have you ever wondered why you can't get rid of that extra weight? Understanding the "why behind the weight" can make all the difference.
Meet Cristina Curreri. Cristina explains how she used food for comfort and escape and shares how her awakening has led to a new understanding about herself, that has allowed the weight on her heart and soul to be lifted at last.
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Follow Cristina's journey as she works to lose 50 pounds by her 50th birthday and shares tips, challenges and triumphs by joining her Facebook group:
"Lifting the Weight with Cristina"
If you'd like to check out Mary's book, "Shine: A Simple Guide to Finding Your Light and Letting It Shine on the World," you can find it on Amazon:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/1734685700
To learn more about or schedule a private reading with Mary, visit:
https://www.maryobana.com/private-reading
To contact Mary directly, email her at:
mary@maryobana.com
If you have a question for Mary or a suggestion for an episode topic? Visit:
www.maryobana.com/podcast
If you want to learn more about Mary, visit her website at:
https://www.maryobana.com
To learn more about Mary's work with The Food Whisperers, please visit:
thefoodwhisperers.com
To learn more about Mary Obana, visit her website:
maryobana.com
To learn more about having Mary connect you directly to your own spiritual guidance, visit:
maryobana.com/private-reading
For more information about Mary's book "Shine: A Simple Guide to Finding Your Light and Letting It Shine on the World", visit:
maryobana.com/amazon
I'm Mary Obana. I help people get unstuck. We are all meant to have full joy, pure love, complete fulfillment and peace. You know what else? Each of us has a light, a unique gift that we are to find and share with the world. It's why we're here. It's who we're meant to be. But, sometimes we can get stuck. Join me as I work with spirit to help people from all walks of life, receive the messages they need to hear, so they can understand what's standing in the way of all the joy, fulfillment, love and peace they are meant to have, so they can get on with a life they're meant to live. So they can shine. Real people, real stories, starting now.
Cristina Curreri :It was as if reading the book Shine brought me to the door, and then having my reading with you, where I met my guide, the door flew open. And through that door, my journey really began.
Mary Obana :Hello there and welcome. I'm so glad you are joining me today, because this episode is about something we can all relate to, carrying extra weight. This is the story of a woman who discovers what the weight is and why it is, and how looking within and allowing for the first time, is changing her life. Welcome, Cristina Curreri. Hi Cristina.
Cristina Curreri :Hi, Mary.
Mary Obana :How are you today?
Cristina Curreri :I am great. I'm great. I'm glad to be here with you.
Mary Obana :Oh, I'm so glad that you're here. I'm really excited to have you on today. I think that your story is one that I think will resonate so strongly with so many of our listeners and I'm really, really delighted that you're able to share your yourself with everyone. I really appreciate it.
Cristina Curreri :I'm so happy to do it.
Mary Obana :So Cristina Why don't you share a little bit about yourself.
Cristina Curreri :Sure. So, I am an almost 50 year old divorced mom of two wonderful teenage girls that keep me really busy. I'm a first generation daughter of a Neapolitan mom born in Naples, Italy, and Sicilian father. So my parents like to joke that I was 200% Italian! And honestly you know food has always been a very big part of our lives. I remember as a young girl making gnochi with my grandparents in Staten Island, you know, sitting on the kitchen floor and trying to reach my hands up to the, to the kitchen counter watching them cook and smelling all the wonderful food foods coming out of the kitchen. It was really just a wonderful memory that I have and food has always been the centerpiece of our gatherings and our table. You know what we eat together is has brought me a lot of joy. You know, today I work in the yoga industry, I spent many years in the fitness industry in general and customer service and hospitality, something that I really enjoy is, you know, bringing everyone to the table and making them feel good and food has always been a big part of that.
Mary Obana :Gotcha, gotcha. And so tell me too because I think that you know your relationship with food and this whole journey that you've been on has really been very much intertwined with a spiritual unfolding as well tell us a little bit about how this has all come about.
Cristina Curreri :Yeah, no doubt. So, um, you know, as I just mentioned food was always a big part of my life in a very positive way. Growing up and you know really even through college and into my 20s, I started practicing yoga in college, so I was always sort of very curious about spirituality and what we're all here for and early on, I felt like I knew. You know in my 20s I was very career driven, even through college, I thought I was going to be the next Jane Pauley I wanted to be on you know I wanted to, to be on the news and writing stories and I really expressed myself through, through writing. At one point even moving to California and finding an opportunity that I thought was going to be my lifelong career. When I lived in Boston, I had written a screenplay for a television comedy based on a boutique on Newbury Street. Fashionably Late was the name of the show and I brought it with me to LA and I was gonna pitch it and that was gonna be my career. Or so I thought.
Mary Obana :And then what happened.
Cristina Curreri :Well, what happened. That's where it all kind of begins I guess this, this really deep dive into my spiritual journey. So, um, yeah I came back from LA, just to sort of pack my last few things up. So while I was home and in the process of packing things up and saying goodbye to my friends I went to see some friends in Connecticut, where I went to high school and ran into my high school sweetheart. I told him I was leaving for LA, and he thought that was great but tried to convince me to stay but I still, I still left and I still went back out. But once I got there I felt like, you know, maybe this isn't the path that I'm supposed to take, you know, my other dream is to be a wife and a mom, and so I felt like, you know, I needed to give this a try. So very quickly I gathered my things and instead of making the California move permanent I made a permanent move to Connecticut and it all happened so so quickly. I was there in September and then by December we were engaged and started to plan the wedding, all while I was trying to find a job and trying to figure out where I was going to work and what I was gonna do because now I needed to have a different career, right. So, I was very fortunate, I got a great job. So it's like a dining club they called it our city club where people would meet and have meetings and that sort of thing. So, I would come in and basically had a chef at my disposal. You know, if I got in early enough they would make breakfast for us. We could have anything we wanted for lunch - if we wanted to have a big stuffed lobster for lunch we could do that. And then, you know, it was a very social group as well so we would end up gathering in the evenings as well so that's sort of where things started with the, I want to call it an addiction to food. That's where I started using food for different reason. When I was a child food meant, let's all get together and be a family. This was very different. This was an escape. I see it was an escape. Yeah, it was definitely an escape.
Mary Obana :So you had doubts.
Cristina Curreri :I had doubts, I definitely had doubts. I think what I had more of though Mary, was fear. Fear of letting people down, and not, you know, not honoring the commitment that I had agreed to.
Mary Obana :So you basically had doubts in your mind about your relationship with your fiance, but because of your commitment in general, you were not going to turn away from it.
Cristina Curreri :Yeah, it wasn't it wasn't an option. At that time, you know, I felt like I you know I had a lot of pride, coupled with that fear, and I just was like okay we're gonna we're gonna figure out a way to make this work.
Mary Obana :But deep down inside you question whether this was the right thing to do.
Cristina Curreri :Indeed. Yeah, I just, you know, it wasn't that "you know when you know" feeling so many people say that they have, you know, I, I know that I loved him and I wanted it to work but there were there were just those doubts, you know, it just felt like I was on the train the train was on the track, it had left the station, and we were going someplace where we were going, was this wedding on Labor Day weekend.
Mary Obana :So that's really where, and why the escape with food because you're escaping from the reality and knowing that this was not the right thing, right? So, you fast forward and then what happens?
Cristina Curreri :So, over the years, you know, we, I just saw myself transitioning. You know I would gain weight and then I lose weight and then I gained weight and I would lose weight and I tried so many different things and then we had fertility issues I would have trouble getting pregnant so that was, that was a challenge as well, because some of my weight gain came from that as well. But it was really just eating to make me feel good that you know that that led me down this path. And the times where I felt like I was successful with my weight loss, I was always doing it for some other reason, like when my brother got married I wanted to lose weight or when you know when I, when I had a high school reunion I wanted to lose weight, it's always for someone else. Yeah, not for me.
Mary Obana :Yeah. And were you successful in that?
Cristina Curreri :Yeah, I mean I rode that roller coaster for years. For years you know trying, trying everything and I was up I was down I was up I was down and it was just, you know, I, having worked in the fitness industry for so many years. I knew what the right things to do were and I knew what the right things to eat were but it just it wasn't, you know, nothing ever really stuck. And again I attribute that to the fact that ir was always for some other exterior reason right and not something within.
Mary Obana :Right. Hmm, interesting. And then so and spiritually how does this coincide with your journey? So you had this kind of battle going on. It sounds like with escaping and using food to comfort you. And then I know you've always been a very active kind of spiritual seeker. So tell me how that kind of intertwined and how that how that also paralleled, all of this or did it trigger because something happened and then you kind of started to get into that spiritual journey? Help me understand that.
Cristina Curreri :Yeah, I think it was when it was when I realized that my marriage is probably going to end that I dialed up the, you know, the seeking and the gathering of information, I need to figure out what my life is going to be like, and how I'm going to do this. If this marriage ends. Yeah, I just knew that I was extremely unhappy that we were great parents, but not great in a relationship, complete opposites, and I just didn't see it working for a lifetime sadly, anymore. I needed, I needed guidance then, I really really needed the guidance then so I would read books and I would talk to friends and I did some talk therapy and I would just try to meditate. Also, in order to just keep my head above water right and make sense of it all, not drowned in the sadness that I had found myself in.
Mary Obana :So then, Okay, so then you basically emerged into then this kind of new phase of your life. Is that what happened after your divorce was finalized?
Cristina Curreri :Once the divorce was finalized which is going on almost seven years now though it just sometimes feels really fresh. But it's been a while, you know I I knew that I needed to figure out a way to show my girls that this was the right decision. And that was the hardest part for me Mary you know I struggled for years with whether or not the right decision was to show my girls that your happiness is more important than anything or, you know, should you honor a commitment. And it was it was a tough decision but you know I needed to have someone something there, to make me feel better about what I was about to do. I knew that this was going to be heartbreaking for them. But I, I just sought out any, any anyone or anything that could make me feel like I was making the right decision and spirituality was was absolutely a huge, huge part of that I wanted to honor me and try to reinvent me and figure out what what the new me was gonna look like, but it was really important for me to protect the girls and make sure that they felt all the love in the world, you know. You know, I wanted to kind of go overboard and I did go overboard just with things that we would do together and we would take trips to New York and go to the theater and it just became this goal of mine to make their happiness.The most important thing. Since I somewhat selfishly chose to make my happiness important to me. So it was tough it was a really really challenging inner struggle that I had for so many years, so that you know the divorce was finalized, and I had made this decision that I was going to stay single until I turned 50 and then once the girls were thinking about college or maybe off to college I would think about meeting someone, and that's of course, when, when you least expect it right. I met an amazing guy, and we've been together now for over five years and it's it's been really wonderful. He's sort of the one that helped me see that I could do anything. So it helps. Yeah, and it really did. He's been a huge support for me, for my family, for the girls, and that's what led me to start to shift gears a bit, and put myself first. He's always saying, you know, I want you to do things that make you feel good I want you to take care of yourself I want to help you do that in the most loving way. He's a great cook and he's always cooking for me these amazing foods that are so healthy and so it's a very different relationship with him, and also it shifted my relationship with food. Through my relationship with him. My vision of myself has really changed, and I'm really grateful for that.
Mary Obana :That's amazing. So, then what happened this year because this year there's been a lot.
Cristina Curreri :Yeah, so this was a massive year of transition for me. I just starting a new job I had my feet wet really enjoying it so excited to be in the yoga business because it did combine a couple of my wonderful passions that I have, but let me let me just rewind just a tiny bit. Back in February. I was really, really honored and excited that you shared an advance copy of Shine with me.
Mary Obana :I did. You're one of the few people that read it early. It was just the Peter section right?
Cristina Curreri :Just the Peter section. So I just remember thinking, Wow, there is another way. There's another way! And this is just the beginning of helping me find it so I was excited to, you know, read that advanced copy I remember rereading it and then recording me reading it so I can listen to it on my walk. And I know you've got the audio version coming out soon which is so great. So, yeah, I mean, I just tried to devour it - to choose a food analogy I devoured Shine.
Mary Obana :What was it that you took away from it?
Cristina Curreri :I felt like what he was saying, made sense to me and felt familiar. It felt like I was talking to a great uncle who was saying, Listen, you're gonna find ways to find yourself. To really find me! And then I got the Complete Book, and it really just all started to come together for me at that point. Reread obviously the Peter section and it was the Afterword that hit me really emotionally, Mary. It was really the the words that Peter talks about... I'm just flipping to the page here where he says, "Our purpose for this earthly experience is to remember. Remember the love within each of you. You see, God has placed love in many forms in one that love is expressed through musical talents, and another that love is expressed in athletic ability and another is a deep empathy for those in need. That just hit me, you know I said that's what I was doing and I need to remember who I was in my 20s before all of this happened, and figure out where to go from here.
Mary Obana :Yeah, yeah, because that specialness within you is always... you come here with that right, so it is always in front of you but the remembering and the recognizing and that and the appreciating what that is, is part of the whole reason we're here.
Cristina Curreri :Exactly, exactly. So, I read the book, and as COVID started. I had some downtime. I know I shared with you over the years that writing was something that was really important to me it was something that I loved to do. So I said I'm going to take advantage of this I'm going to write something, I don't know what that something is but I'm going to write something. So, I started writing, and I didn't know where it was going to go. And then I had my reading with you. And it all started to make sense at that point. It was as if reading the book Shine brought me to the door, and then having my reading with you, where I met my guide, that the door flew open. And through that door my journey really began.
Mary Obana :And tell me what it is that you took away from the reading and connecting to your guide. What was it about that reading that so resonated with you, that really kind of clicked?
Cristina Curreri :Yeah, so I just listened to it again recently and the recurring themes kept coming up over and over again. In the initial part of the reading it was these walls that I had up and this fear that I had and this responsibility to others that I, that is so embedded in me. But what my guide said, is it okay if I share his name?
Mary Obana :Sure, of course! It's your guide!
Cristina Curreri :Yes! It's my guide! Jesse that came to us during that reading, you know, told me that I must focus within, and if I don't focus within, I will be without. That's where it clicked it was almost as if the light switch went off and said okay, I've got to go within. He shared that there's a lightness within me, that's waiting for me, and there's no irony that that's what my writing was really about was all the weight that has been, not only on my body, but really, on my mind, my heart, and my soul. Over the past, nearly 20 years now, is what I was writing about, you know, that's really where, where this all came from, you know, I felt like I was for so many years just in this in this maze that I couldn't get out of, contained in this box that I just couldn't escape from. And I was so focused on the walls, and not on how to get out! I wasn't focused on me, you know. So that really changed everything for me, that door flew open! You know I have described it to friends, where it felt like the door opened and I was on the yellow brick road and I found that I not only had the knowledge, but I had the heart, and I had the courage to do this and get to where I needed to go. And that's kind of where I am today.
Mary Obana :We always have everything we need to do the work we are to do right? To be who we're supposed to be, and all of that resides within us already, and it's just about allowing it right? Allowing it to unfold. And it sounds like that's a lot of what's happening with you. It's this thing within you that is now pouring out.
Cristina Curreri :Yeah definitely, definitely. You know and it's no coincidence that, you know, I started practicing TM in February as well. In fact I was trained on the 29th of February, and you know that just helps me go within even more. I needed that tool. I needed your reading, I needed the book, in order to get to where I am today and I need Jesse every single day. You know, I've always looked for guidance, and have had different readings done and I've pulled cards for myself and and try to find guidance in different ways and listen for what I needed to hear. But being more of a visual person. Sometimes it comes to me, you know in different ways. Where I'll see the number 22 or that'll tell me that I'm on the right path, or there will be times where I call out for Jesse and you know I'm struggling with this thing. And I'll turn on the radio and Jessie's Girl will be on. It's just so funny you know. And it comes to me very differently. He's not giving me messages like Peter's giving you messages. I am asking for guidance that I'm on the right track, and he's showing it to me in other ways, which is just so so amazing.
Mary Obana :It is so beautiful and there are a couple of things to that. One, is that you are noticing because I always say that our guides are always trying to communicate with us but you can be looking for the message in a form. You may be listening for words, and there are all these visual signs that are coming to you that you're not noticing, you know? So the fact that you're tuned into that is so beautiful because now you're connected to that guidance right in a really special, special way. I remember also for you to be introduced to your guide also created something. I think that was important for you knowing that your guide's name is Jesse. I remember you saying that was important.
Cristina Curreri :For sure you know because I would, I would sit there and meditate and try to go within but it's reassuring to know who you're looking for and who is guiding you. I love that I know who he is now.
Mary Obana :That's great. That's so great, I love that. Okay, so then this revelation right? This door flies open...
Cristina Curreri :Yes! The door flies open!
Mary Obana :Yes and this understanding now that this weight that you've been battling is one of weight on your heart and your soul. And so with that, with that understanding, tell me what then has unfolded for you.
Cristina Curreri :Yeah, so again just in the spirit of, you know, trying to gather information and and learn more. I have done everything in my power to just now allow and things are just kind of falling into my lap. And it started around my birthday this year in June, where I, I always pick a card for myself on my birthday. And this year, I picked Ganesha which is the God of new beginnings and remover of obstacles.
Mary Obana :Take down those walls!
Cristina Curreri :Yes! Take down those walls. So on that day I decided I'm going to go on this journey, I'm going to make a commitment to it. I'm going to share it with the world, which is a very vulnerable place to be, but I'm proud of the work that I've done so far, even in these first couple of months, where I'm vowing to lose 50 pounds by the time I turn 50. So in a year, which might sound like a lot of weight to some people and it is but it takes about a pound a week as a healthy way to do it and it would put me right smack dab in my, my healthy weight zone, my weight range. So it's not unrealistic and I really believe I can do it and that now partnered with the book that I'm writing, which is called Lifting the Weight: Heal Your Heart, Soothe Your Soul and Transform Your Body is all part of this. It's this journey that I'm on that I'm sharing with everybody and recognizing in me the weight that I've put on my, my heart and my soul, and hopefully helping others see that, you know, that that's what needs to be lifted from them as well.
Mary Obana :Yeah, yeah. And the idea that... I think it's interesting that before you said that I was always, always tackling my weight because of external motivation. This is now an intrinsic motivation. It's something completely within which is the first time it sounds like you've really done it for you?
Cristina Curreri :Absolutely, absolutely. The first time in my life. There's no doubt, you know, and I, I feel, I feel so supported I feel like I have the guidance that that I never had before. With the support of my girls I've got the support of my boyfriend. It's like everything is just falling into place now and now really is the time.
Mary Obana :When you are on the right path, I think the universe has a way of smoothing that path. It's like greasing the skids. You know when things are running smoothly, things are falling into place, it is I think a big nod. Yep! This is exactly where you should be going. Exactly where you should be going. And knowing that you're not in it alone that you've got support of your family, but you've got spiritual guidance and support as well that they can can help you every step of the way. And I say this I think probably in every episode, this underlying theme of how our life experiences always seem to be connected.
Cristina Curreri :Oh for sure.
Mary Obana :This person we are ultimately to emerge to be. And you think about all that you've been through, and how all those things have positioned you so beautifully to share this journey of yours in a really unapologetic way. I love that both in the writing of this book, but if you could tell people you have this great Facebook group where people are iterally able to walk this journey with you.
Cristina Curreri :Yeah so I've got a Facebook group, it's called Lifting the Weight with Cristina. And, yeah, I'm just sharing the journey with anyone who wants to join me along for the ride. I'm sharing tools that I've picked up, things that I'm using to keep me on track, how I'm feeling on a daily basis.
Mary Obana :Yeah, I think it's great and also the thing I love about your posts is they're very honest you know it's not all roses. You know you say "I'm having a lousy day today" so you're very honest about that so I think that's a beautiful thing. It's very relatable I think and I imagine a lot of people will be able to get great benefit out of it so.
Cristina Curreri :Oh, good. I'm glad yeah I mean this is my purpose and had I not gone through what I've gone through, I wouldn't be here.
Mary Obana :I think it's so great, I love it and I'm so happy that Shine has been able to be a little bit of a part of helping you along the way, one of many things that have helped you along the way. I think, again, the message is all of us are meant to feel good. All of us are meant to have full joy, all of us are meant to have fulfillment and peace. And all of that comes, and is waiting for us, within. It's all there. It just requires an allowing, and I think that's something that we see again and again and again and it's amazing how we can put up these barriers and be focused on these external things that can make it difficult, but as I always say that also makes it so exciting, because if we're putting up those barriers, it means we can take them down and step into all that allowing and that I think is just a beautiful hopeful, encouraging message. Well, Cristina I thank you so much for sharing your story, and for inviting people to walk this journey with you. Cristina has lost 11 pounds in two months so she is right on track. So definitely check her Facebook Group, Llifting the Weight with Christina out and I look forward to having her back to share her progress. So anyways thank you so much for joining this episode of the Shine Podcast. I hope you've learned something from today. And as always, be kind, and SHINE.