Cravings and Hunger.

I definitely got carried away on this, oh well: Craving, desires, and wanting are expressions of ignoring of what is. When life is approached in this manner there is no reverence, respect or concern for the real, the true or the lasting. Craving is like pulling a screen down over the true and limitless bounty of life in order to project upon it one’s limited judgments, ignorance, and a story of one’s own making. This ongoing process involves a great deal of wishing, hoping, fantasizing, and worrying. Wanting complicates life further by not discerning that the assorted desires all too often in conflict with each other, which makes satisfaction utterly impossible. One example of a conflict is wanting to experience smooth digestion, while also wanting to possess the “freedom” to eat and drink whatever one wishes, in any amount, at any time, and in any combination. Pharmaceutical companies take advantage by promoting in their many ads these conflicting desires and a sense of entitlement, spending billions of dollars to make more billions in profit. But are these drugs really the best we can do at resolving these conflicts? In most cases, one remains unaware these conflicts exist. As a rule, the ordinary person identifies himself far too seriously with his wanting--wanting to do, to have, to be. This is an addiction. It is the age old struggle to get and retain what one has come to imagine will magically bring about “peace and happiness” to themselves or to others. It does the opposite though by ignoring and taking for granted the magnificent bounty of blessings and fulfilling challenges that life is ever presenting. Thus, for all truly practical purposes, wanting and craving can and should be traded in at long last for expansive, critical, and creative attitudes. These attitudes include appreciation, choosing from what is in accord with one’s truest values, unburdening one’s self from long held illusions, and being receptive to the lessons life is prepared to offer in abundance. Whether it is leap of faith or a leap of reasonableness, leaping off the cycle of wanting it, getting it, reveling in the temporary satisfaction, and then taking it for granted by refocussing your attention on the line up of your wants, “needs,” cravings, and “if-onlys,” that leap may well be a worthy experiment.

Normally I depend on my 5 senses and internal stimuli to tell me what I am hungry for. But how do I validate those messages to make sure they are telling me the right thing to feed?

Amen