Community Guidelines for The Bright Line Eating Community
We come together in this community for one reason—to support one another as we navigate our Bright Transformations. The overarching value in this community is LOVE.
Our Community Guidelines begin with five rules. Please keep them firmly in mind as you post in our community:
- BLE does not accept any type of hate speech or bullying, including any statements or actions that are disrespectful to people based on their age, race, ethnicity, sex, gender identity, sexuality, religion, lack of religion, ability, nationality, political affiliation, background, size, economic status, or ideology. All people are welcome here. Practice love, compassion, acceptance, and support in your comments to others, period. And where you and others differ, be kind and keep your eyes on your own plate.
- No live links. Ever. Not in posts. Not in the comments. Ever. (BLE staff may share links to official recordings and content.)
- There is no soliciting or selling in the community. Please see our terms and conditions for details.
- No mention of non-BLE foods (say instead “NMF” for “Not My Food") or non-BLE drinks (say instead “NMD” for “Not My Drink”).
- No Photos of NMF or NMD. Images of BLE-compliant foods are allowed only in the "Recipes" circle.
Connection
We very much value dialogue and engagement. One of the best ways to learn and heal is to connect with another human being, to feel seen and known.
Ultimately, this online community will be what we make of it. We strongly encourage you to offer support to others by commenting on their posts. Each time you visit the group, take time to read and reply to at least a few posts from your peers who are asking for input and support. Then, when you need support, you'll get a lot of input.
If You are Finding Things Challenging
You may find that living the Bright Life is challenging, especially at first. If you have questions, this is a great place to ask and receive support. If you find yourself struggling with your Bright Lines, this is a great place to write about it and get loving support.
Tone Matters
Keep in mind that tone matters. There is a difference between posting "I'm not sure I can do this today—I need some support to keep going" and "I don't think I want to keep doing this—does anyone else feel like quitting? This program is too strict." If you need help finding the positive, come here and share authentically and we'll help you find the pathway through.
How We Show Up Makes a Difference in Creating a Culture of Support
In our community, people from very different backgrounds and perspectives come together for mutual support. It takes all of us to maintain and perpetuate our climate of healing and change.
To create a culture of support, we first learn how to give support. We practice empathy in our responses and avoid giving unsolicited advice. Instead, the best way to give support is to let the person you're responding to know you've heard them and are there for them.
We have more detailed guidance on this. Please watch the “How to Provide Loving Support” vlog.Â
As you read, write, and like posts and comments, be generous in your interpretation, assume positive intentions, and come from your most compassionate self. If you find yourself feeling reactive, pause, step away, become curious, and consider waiting to respond. If you’re coming from a part of you that is feeling fearful or judgmental, you will likely trigger that in some responders. If however, you are coming from your Highest Self, sharing something honestly, even those who disagree with you will feel your heart.
Please be aware of the language you use in your posts and how your words may affect other members in this community. E.g., we don't use the word “tribe” when referring to BLE communities. If you’d like to hear Susan’s thoughts about this, watch the vlog, “An Update on Inclusivity, Sisu, Tribe, and Swearing.”
Spirituality
A word about spirituality: Anyone can do Bright Line Eating and succeed, whether they have a spiritual or religious practice or not. In this community, it's important to keep in mind that faith and religion are very important to some people, and not having faith or religion is equally important to others. What we do here is love, accept, and encourage everyone, no matter their background or beliefs.
If faith is a part of your journey, you can incorporate that into your posts if it’s done in a way that's respectful of people from other belief systems. For example, writing, "I'm leaning into my faith to stay Bright," is acceptable. Quoting verses from your sacred book or posting images from your religion is not. Please use general language when describing your practice (i.e., if someone would know what your particular religion is by reading your post, you’ve probably gotten too specific for this group. Feel free to share the exact nature of your faith and practice with your buddies and Mastermind Group members, once you’ve gotten to know them well). And if you're agnostic or atheist, please take equal care to make sure that your posts on this subject are accepting and loving.
Partisan Politics
There are many places to debate political topics–this isn’t one of them. Think long and hard about why you are posting in the BLE community. If you’re posting here, make sure your post is relevant to your BLE journey. It’s easier to create a culture of support around issues we all share. Here, that’s our food, actions, and support.
However, we are a global community with members of widely varied affiliations, ideologies, and political beliefs. Given the divisive nature of partisan politics, we ask that you keep all overtly political words or references out of your posts. This means don’t mention specific bills, measures, politicians, elections, administrations, rallies, etc. Even if the rest of your post is free of political divisiveness, we will ask you to amend your post to remove those references. We will also remove posts that are politically incendiary. Meaning, their motive in some way is to make a political point, e.g., “this is where I stand, are you with me or against me?” This is not the place for that.
(If the post is antagonistic against the BLE team or company, etc., this is not the place for that, either. Send your thoughts and concerns into Customer Support. We look at these messages carefully and often use Bright Lifers’ feedback to craft our policies and programs. Your voice matters.)
If something affects your life, and your motive is to get support and share your heart with us, then share what you feel comfortable sharing. For example:
- ❌No: “In recent months I find I’m struggling with how to get my Bright food. I've found it more uncomfortable to go to the grocery store by myself and have to be hyper-vigilant and aware because the current administration is stirring up so much racism that Black women like me are being targeted right now. My lines aren’t Bright because I’m so stressed about it. I keep ordering food in, and that’s not good for my program.”
- ✅Yes: “In recent months I find I’m struggling with how to get my Bright food. I've found it more uncomfortable to go to the grocery store by myself and have to be hyper-vigilant and aware because Black women like me are being targeted right now. My lines aren’t Bright because I’m so stressed about it. I keep ordering food in, and that’s not good for my program.”
- ❌No: “While at the grocery store, I received a hurtful comment that sent me into crippling fear because of past bullying around my sexuality. I continued to navigate that store to get groceries because my Bright Line identity was all that mattered in that moment. You may not be queer and may not get it, but that’s fine, just scroll on. This community is precious to me. I’m claiming my space.”
- ✅Yes: “While at the grocery store, I received a hurtful comment that sent me into crippling fear because of past bullying because I'm queer. I continued to navigate that store to get groceries because my Bright Line identity was all that mattered in that moment. I turned here to share that experience and I was overwhelmed by the love and support. It helped heal that part of me that was so fearful, and recognize how precious this community is.”
- ❌No: “These past few years, ever since COVID, I find it very hard to be a teacher. I don’t have any friends among the teachers and administrators at my school anymore. It is what it is. If I weren’t so close to retirement, I’d find a new career. But I’m inclined to keep going, even though this environment feels very hostile to my Christian faith and political beliefs.”
- ✅Yes: “I’m still not eating lunch in the teacher’s lounge. I eat alone. These past few years my general beliefs and perspectives were revealed to be at odds with those of the vast majority of the teachers and administrators in our school. It is what it is. But lunch is lonely for me. If I weren’t so close to retirement, I’d find a new career. But I’m inclined to keep going, even though this environment feels very hostile to my faith and general life outlook. Anyway, I’m Bright, but sad today. I’m glad I can at least be with you all on my lunch break.”
As you can see, it usually doesn’t take much to edit an unacceptable post into one that meets the Community Guidelines. Tone, language, and intent are the key factors. Avoid making demands, speaking for other people, scolding the community or the BLE team, and using overtly political language. Bring your post back to your BLE journey. And if you have feedback for the BLE team just send it into Customer Support.
When you’re reading posts, keep in mind that people have different perspectives. If they’re not being hateful or antagonistic or incendiary, if they’re just sharing their perspective about their life, let them have their perspective and scroll on.
When you are posting, it’s safest to use “I” statements, keep the focus on yourself and your own life, and tie your post into why you’re here. There are lots of ways to say what you need to say in a general way without running afoul of our Community Guidelines. Here are some tips: All feelings are on the table; if you’re feeling excited, happy, angry, overwhelmed, enraged, scared, despondent, or any other thing you might be feeling, articulate the feelings and that’s fair game. If it’s a professional issue, you can always say that “something is coming down at work.” If you’re super triggered, you can always say you’re “going through some trauma,” and so on.
Note that a large community forum is not, never has been, and never will be, a safe place to process trauma. That is work for therapy, for best friends, and for some small groups (especially those that are moderated by trauma-informed professionals). But if you stick around and invest in relationships within the BLE community, you will likely meet people with whom you can share the exact nature of any and every struggle in your life. With buddies, or in Mastermind Groups where you really know everyone’s heart and mind, any and all subjects may come up and it will be way easier to make sure you’re being respectful and maintaining the relationship at a high level. Large group forums have big limitations in that regard. It’s just the nature of the beast.
Protein: BLE does not take a stand on what protein anyone eats. Vegans and omnivores coexist in our community in peace. Again, if it’s not your preferred practice or language or food choice, scroll on.
Susceptibility Score: Similarly, we recognize that people have different susceptibility scores (SS). While the majority of people in our community are high on the SS, some are moderate and others are low. It may actually be an empowered choice for someone to work their program in a way that is very different from how others may work theirs. If someone shares a plan or a food commitment that is not similar to yours, please be curious rather than judgmental and scroll on.
Respect: Use the names and pronouns each individual goes by. And always, always, always be generally kind and respectful. Tone matters so much. In the comments, anything with the tone of “you don’t get it,” “clearly you don’t see,” “let me explain it to you” or “how about I tell you again since you clearly didn’t hear me the first time” is not in alignment with our Community Guideline of respect. If the tone is sanctimonious, dismissive, accusatory, demeaning, snarky, etc. the post or comment will be removed. Debates and nastiness do not belong in our community.
How We Moderate Our Posts:
We moderate our community pretty intensively. Violations of our Community Guidelines will be addressed swiftly. Comments, photos, and/or live links may be deleted, commenting may be shut off on a post, we may remove a thread of comments that makes this space unsafe for members, and if we deem it necessary, we may even ask someone to leave BLE. We will take each situation on a case-by-case basis, prioritizing always the safety and well-being of the BLE community.
That said, we don’t and can’t catch it all. We take the “let them be and scroll on” directive as seriously as the “be loving” directive. We may not moderate a post that you believe needs moderation. You can always flag a post that you feel is in violation of the Guidelines and that will ensure that the BLE team will at least see it.
There is a lot in our Guidelines around intent and tone, which are open to interpretation. At the end of the day, we factor in several things, including what kind of responses a post has generated. If a post is generating nastiness and vitriol in the community we will be inclined to take it down.
There are times when a post that doesn’t violate the Guidelines triggers such a hot button response that the comments devolve into nastiness and the whole post may have to come down. If that happens we are so sorry. It’s also possible that we may remove all comments that are outside of the Community Guidelines and then pause commenting to preserve the sharing of the person who posted.
If we remove your post or comment, we will often give you feedback about why. We invite you to revise it and repost it, taking out a word or a sentence to make it non-inflammatory. We know it’s nearly impossible not to take such a thing personally, but we ask you to really try. It’s not personal. We want your voice heard here, so please consider tweaking what you said and re-posting it.
Overall, our Community Guidelines are crafted and recrafted (through hours and hours of discussion and debate) to prioritize our common aim of supporting one another on the Bright Journey. We hope you will find this to be a haven where you can come to share your heart and mind as you experience your Bright Transformation. We’re so glad you’re here!
For additional community guidelines and information on how to access more support, click on “Topics” at the top of this page and then “Community Guidelines.”
Much love and care,
Your BLE Team
