It’s the same way with food cravings. When a craving sets in we often go on autopilot. One minute we were fine, and the next we’re looking through the pantry or we’re staring at the vending machine looking for something to snack on. If we could only get control of over the cravings then we could have some success and lose the weight or achieve the level of health that we want in our lives. How do we get control of the food, beverage, or tobacco cravings that drive us crazy and get in the way of our success? How do we gain control over the unhealthy addictions that are slowly but surely leading us down the path to sickness and early death?
The answer to craving control is mind control. We have to be in control of our mind; specifically, we have to be in control of the thoughts that arise in our minds in order to control the cravings. Where do the cravings start? Do they start in our stomach? No, the cravings start in the mind. Hunger might feel like it starts in the stomach, but even though the stomach feels hungry what is really happening is the brain is feeling hungry, the mind is thinking hungry thoughts. So, to control the cravings we must control our minds. But controlling the mind is about as easy as taming a wild grizzly bear.
Thoughts come and go on their own; we don’t even know where they come from. One thought leads to another and then another and the next thing we know we’re just a passenger on the runaway train of thought. It begins with a feeling, the stomach feels a certain way and then a thought arises in the mind, “stop what you are doing, and look in the pantry”, or “walk down to the break room and buy something from vending machine”. For most people there is no awareness, they don’t even register the thought, it comes, and they move, and when it happens, they are nothing more than a robot being remote controlled by their mind.