wildgoose wrote:Tian-De, as a former smoker, I understand your comparing the feelings from cravings to the feelings from quitting smoking. Fortunately, you know that you can get through them, because you’ve done it before, albeit in a different context.
Thanks, this is helpful to hear. Before going through this, I never realized that I was actually addicted to food. I quit smoking shortly after I started practicing Falun Dafa meditation. Though I had tried quitting a dozen times before, it was the first time I was able to follow through. I believed in my heart that I couldn't reach enlightenment if I had strong addictions and was filling my body with toxic junk. I need to be able to treat junk food like an addiction to be abandoned. Like you said, it's been done before!
wildgoose wrote: The bad thing about the feelings is that they can seem overwhelming (especially these days, when so much else is seeming overwhelming). The good news is, the feelings are temporary. They don’t last. Surf through them, distract your way around them, get past them till the next one surfaces, repeat. They will diminish, in both frequency and intensity, as long as you don’t feed them.
Yup, yup. I went through some intense periods of severe depression when I was much younger, and it totally feels like a complete relapse into that state. But, what's funny about it is that when I look in the mirror, I don't see a sad person at all, but rather a happy, healthy person. It's like that addiction is a spirit that's dying, and it is trying to put its feelings off onto me so that I will sustain it again. Internally it's quite intense, but there really isn't a problem
wildgoose wrote: Don’t feel bad about crying over spilt chocolate almond milk. I once cried over a Subway sandwich. About a month after I started MWL, the Gander brought home a foot-long veggie sub. He asked me to slice it in half and re-wrap it for him. Simple — I’d done that dozens of times before. But when the smell of that bread hit me, I wanted that sandwich so badly that I cried — both from the craving and the sadness that I couldn’t have that sandwich ever again. I don’t think that would happen now, but at the time it was pretty depressing.
I know exactly what you mean. It's like it isn't real hunger, but rather the thought or feeling of it. I can totally relate.
Question, did you have any good whole starch foods that really pulled you through the hard times? Something you could eat everyday and make you feel whole.
wildgoose wrote: Stay the course! We're all here with you.
Goose
Thank. It makes a big different. I've been looking into this for two years now, but after finding this community I this is the first time I've felt like it was doable.