Re: mind frenzy

["David Yeh" <ldreamr@...>]

Hi,

I, too, have dealt with some food addictions. I think that, as with 
other addictions, the root issue is not in the food but in your 
relationship with yourself. For long-term healing, I think it is 
important to identify the mental/emotional reasons behind the 
addiction. In terms of IIH, the astral soul-mirror work can be a 
powerful ally, as that is exactly what you're supposed to do in Step 
One: become aware of your positive and negative characteristics. 
Once this has been done (without judgment or undue haste), the work 
of dealing with these issues can begin. This is about self-
acceptance and about awareness of what-is.

In everyday life, this also means being aware of your own states of 
mind. Fighting yourself doesn't work in the long run, and obviously 
surrendering to your every craving isn't desirable either. A third 
way is to become fully aware of what you are feeling, the conflict 
of simultaneous and opposite mental states: I-want-to-eat vs. eating-
is-wrong or whatever. Become aware of the tremendous anxiety that 
arises when you choose to eat or when you try not to eat. In such 
circumstances, eating or otherwise fulfilling your addiction is 
often a habitual way of getting away from the pain and fear and 
anxiety. Once again, learning to see and accept what is there can 
be very empowering; if you can learn to live with the anxiety rather 
than trying immediately to escape it, you've put a little distance 
between the feeling and the addictive behavior. It doesn't, at 
first glance, translate into getting rid of the feelings; but I find 
that anxiety feeds on itself, so that, paradoxically, simply by 
becoming comfortable with the feeling of anxiety, it directly 
reduces anxiety. And thereby it reduces or removes one primary 
reason for escaping through addictive behavior.

Once again, I find Step One of IIH to be helpful. The very first 
Mental exercise is about observing what is passing in the mind 
without interfering with it.

In general, my opinion is that doing less is actually more effective 
than trying to do more or fighting yourself.


David

--- In BardonPraxis@yahoogroups.com, <dustovshio@y...> wrote:
> Hi, what is the preffered method to deal with
> addictions? I have become addicted to food, and use
> it for emotional support when challenges arise. This
> has become a big problem, but it's going to help a lot
> if folks start laughing at how ridiculous it is. My
> main question: Does it help not to think about the
> problem at all, or to make plans to derail it? Now
> the thoughtform is big and omnious. I will use food
> to avoid emotional confrontation, so any thought about
> being afraid of a certain situation is a link to the
> fear of food. See, Many things in my personal
> inventory have gotten linked up like this, that is why
> I feel trapped in a web. If anyone has experience
> here is the best approach to
> 1. deal with one element at a time?
> 2. use auto suggestion to come to terms with the root
> cause of the guilt. i.e. trouble homelife, or fear of
> becoming a productive member of society, etc.?
> 3. emotionally finding a nurturing source to replace
> the food comfort?
> 4. join a support group, or seek professional help ;-)
> ?
> 5. face it head on by using meal planning etc. 
> 6. fasting periodically
> 
> So far, numbers 5. and 6. seem to work, but when I'm
> under pressure a slight distraction can cause an
> explosion which leads to a long period of indulgence. 
> And it seems as though controlling or repressing it
> actually makes it stronger (even if I don't happen to
> be eating at the time) For example: before this was an
> issue I decided to fast for a weak for the purpose of
> beginning IIH. As I went with less food, and
> experience spiritual food, I felt a guilty attraction
> to going back to the old way. It always started out
> as a sort of morbidness. For example, a few years ago
> I read something that some frater wrote about how his
> biggest challenge was overcoming simple sugur. I
> thought "gee that could very well be me." Then after
> I ate alot of food once, I can't remember why, I
> thought to myself, "This could become an addiction." 
> The thought was very quiet and subtle, and I didn't
> really take it seriously. Next, after the problem
> was afoot, I thought , "wow, if this continues it
> could really jeopordize my education" I knew the
> thought was crazy at the time, and I negated it, but
> there was a subconscious alliance, and my thoughts
> became polarized to manifest this tunnel reality. Is
> there a rational reason (for example, learning how to
> be compassionate towards people with challenges) why I
> would do this, or should it be considered a stupid
> irrationality and not given any more importance? The
> more I think about the problem, the stronger it
> becomes, but I am not sure if there is some sort of
> hidden lesson or karma in my past that I can profit
> from now that I am motivated to resolve this. I
> almost considered deleting this, but is has gone on so
> long, I at least need someone to tell me I'm stupid. 
> (in a good-natured way )
> 
> Cheers,
> Dustin
> 
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