hunger

I guess I had a sense of the power of the mind with regards to appetite given that I acknowledge being a worry-eater and I know that anorexia and bulimia exist. I just never contemplated how one might have such complete power in the mind over the feelings of the body.

Such was my revelation at the meditation retreat... though my stomach bulged with the amount of food I consumed relative to that which I could work off walking and sitting and meditating, I felt hunger. Not random pangs here and there but the instinct to shovel whenever I was near food. The inclination to hide food somewhere so I could go back to it when it was NEEDED.

Notes on Hunger from today's (8/10) reflection:

Sometimes I have a driven need to eat, shovel, really; it's not at all about being hungry or really needing nourishment, but it is a craving.

In my body, it is a deep craving for food even when I have just eaten; or it is a desire to eat what's in front of me quickly.

I experience it as empty, bereft, hungry in my heart or soul; it's hard because it has an urgency that drives me to try to quench it. It's helpful if I ignore the urge by giving it reality: you just ate!