Watching the cravings

[nancy]

So I heard that phrase again, this time in relation to food from someone who had a bad eating disorder in the past.

Seems like Buddhist philosophy has crept into a lot of areas of counselling.

The advice about having a good relationship with food involves a number of things including the following:

Master the power of watching instead of reacting
Learn to watch your cravings instead of reacting to them and eating foods you know won't make you feel good.

This advice is also offered in alcohol problems.

So far, I have seen a few people on this site who say they can do this, one is Irishlady.

I am really fascinated by this.

A true westerner, I love to read about the philosophy but what about the practice? the actual meditation? the watching? the slow stuff?

how many of you can do this?

cheers to all of you!

[Determinator]

Watching the cravings

Nancy that is a wonderful challenge and one we should take seriously. I am a deep contemplator/thinker/philosopher/part-time depressant and love to steer my mind in odd ways...especially lately. The MWO hypno has also helped me to investigate my mind more acutely in recent months. The part of the hypno where you visualize "another you" is helpful for me to see things from another perspective. Lets keep this going, this is interesting ...thanks Nancy!

[cassy]

Watching the cravings

like so many on this site i love to read psychology books and learn "what makes people tick"
Reading the motivate dmind by Raj Persaud at the moment...how to get what you want from lfe is the essence of the book.


Off to try it out now!!

Cassy

[MonaCat]

Watching the cravings

Master the power of watching instead of reacting
Learn to watch your cravings instead of reacting to them and eating foods you know won't make you feel good.
Nancy,
Very useful advise.
I really like these statements.
I will make it my mantra.
Thanks for that!
Monakitty

[nancy]

Watching the cravings

funny image

Hi all

Just hope there was no misunderstanding. I haven't mastered this!!!
I just find it an interesting concept. Clearly some people can do it or else the advice would not be around..

and Determinator

Glad you are interested in this as you trip down the es-key-lator or have you mastered the walking down bit yet? (just kidding!)

I am sure that if I didn't get so darned bored with the hypno CDs that I would be farther along with watching the cravings. and maybe i could learn to imagine a thinner self in the hammock by the beach as i sit above on a cloud.

[satori]

Watching the cravings

Hey Nancy - you didn't think you could post on a subject like this without me did you?

As a long time Zen meditator I have only just begun to be able to be "mindful" for any appreciable time at all outside of meditation - it takes years of hard work (well it does for me!)

It is reasonably easy to become mindful while sitting in meditation - but while you are meditating, there are usually no other distractions, and the whole point of the meditation for me is to sit mindfully.

It is much more difficult when not meditating!

However, it is posible (not easy!) if the subject you wish to become mindful of is "high priority"

I am now finding it slightly easier to recognise alcohol cravings and to be able to observe them mindfully, and let them pass without getting caught up in them simply because it has become of very high importance to me to be able to do so - ie lots of things in life are not critical - it is not of much importance if one is aware / mindful of the colour of every car that passes by for example - although it would be fantastic to have that ability.

It IS important that amongst the miriad experiences / distractions in life, I DO recognise an alcohol craving / alcohol relate thought - because I know from bitter experience where that could lead.

So I have been working for the last few months on being mindful of any situation / feeling / thought where alcohol (or its variants) appears.

I try to use the word / thought "alcohol" appearing in my consciousness as a big red flag to focus my awareness, shut out the surrounding mental clutter and focusing the big bright spotlight on the problem as it were.

Simply having done this for a few months (since I started here) I find that I AM becoming more mindful of the cravings / thoughts around alcohol MORE of the time. I am therefore more likely to be able to avoid acting "unconsciously" on the cravings.
This does NOT mean I have the ability to do this 24/7 time - as my recent lapse into drinking clearly illustrates! but it is getting easier.

Note that the process of missing a craving and acting on it immediately stops you being able to be mindful because you have been drinking. That can lead to the downward spiral again.

So this does pose an interesting thought.
If I can become in some small way successful in being mindful of one aspect of my daily life, could I expand this mindfulness to other areas by deciding to "focus" on say "any interaction with my kids" (or whatever I choose), and then very slowly adding in other specific areas of my experience as I become better at it.

Perhaps my difficulty in maintaining mindfulness in all aspects of daily life, all the time is because I have been "generalising" - just trying to become generally "mindful" - without any means of bringing my attention to specifics.

Rambling a bit (as I do) but something I will explore.


Take care


Satori
xxx

[wwbarb]

Watching the cravings

Nobody ever got liver disease from wanting to drink. Just like nobody ever got fat from wanting a dozen cookies - you have to actually eat them. Cravings pass if you give them a chance and use your resources..

[MonaCat]

Watching the cravings

Thanks you all for such inspiring thoughts. I am really liking this thread.