I have tried many things to get around habitual and emotional eating for no other reason than to ‘fill me up’.

The path of least resistance

One of the suggestions to get off an unhealthy habit is described by Krishnamurti, where he talks about the road of least resistance: If there is no resistance, then there is no defense, or counteraction to ‘proof you wrong’, i.e. no Angel nor Devil on either side of your shoulder. He argues that if you can observe the emotions, needs, desires from a place of compassion, the feelings will go. This works indeed beautifully when you are aware.. Unfortunately, in my case, I am not living in full awareness most of the time (still on it ;)), hence I am losing this ‘battle’ lately more often than not..

And there was Light

One of my latest hypotheses for tackling the problem was to replace the urge to eat with.. filling that gaping black hole with.. white light. It’s a great idea for sure, very constructive, however, again the awareness of being in the here and now is needed.. And again, lately this doesn’t seem to work for me.

The barbarian way

The article below describes why: the addictive traits are governed by our reptilian (i.e. lower) brain and are independent of the nice plans of Love and Light we devise for ourselves with our higher brain.. Which explains why all those beautifully crafted plans end up in the trash when passing by the first chocolate stand..

The author of this article suggests invoking dominance over the reptilian brain, by using repulsive language.. Since all else has failed, I’ll be trying this and report back. I hope ‘Gollum will stop whining at last’..

Cross those fingers, don’t knock on wood..

Experiential notes after testing these hypotheses

While the barbarian way may work in the short term or as an instantaneous ’emergency’ solution, I am starting to think this is not constructive for the long-term. Running away from taking responsibility is not the way out. Instead, we should dig deeper for the cause behind the eating. What are we eating for or running away from?

So it does seem, this is no different from any other addiction.

I start to think indeed that loving (self) awareness and ditto (self)compassion, as Dr. Kristin Neff calls it; or compassionate inquiry, as Dr. Gabor Maté calls it, are the only way out to lasting change. In fact, I think the barbarian way (as I described it above), may make matters worse, and perhaps, instead of scolding at oneself and using harsh language, as the author suggests, just BREATHE (and perhaps pour in some loving light while you’re at it). Breathing creates space for something else to come in..

Feel free to share your experiences in the comments below 😀