Mindful Eating Basic 2

Patterns

Be aware of the following patterns.

Eating by Pleasure:

  • Tasting favorable food results in experiencing pleasure.
  • Experiencing pleasure results in a rise of desire to continue experience the pleasure.
  • The rise of the desire results in pushing you to eat.
  • The pushing results in eating.
  • Summary: food, pleasure, desire, pushing, eating (lifting food, chewing, swallowing)
  • Simpler version: food, desire, eating

Eating by Displeasure:

  • Experiencing hungry sensations results in experiencing displeasure.
  • Experiencing displeasure results in a rise of desire to run away from the displeasure.
  • The rise of desire to run away from the displeasure results in pushing you to eat.
  • The pushing results in eating.
  • Summary: hungry, displeasure, desire, pushing, eating
  • Simpler version: hungry, desire, eating

Desire

  • Just be with desire.
  • Lifting, chewing and swallowing by your choice (instead of being automatic driven by the desire or urge).

Causes

Be aware of causes for the phenomena: e.g.

  • food, taste, pleasure, displeasure, desires
  • the mind interpreting hungry sensation as unpleasant.

More Practices

  • Know the followings: relation between pleasantness and desire; relation between unpleasantness and desire; relation between desire and eating; your motivation for eating; why you like/dislike the food; whatever you experience; the dominant eating experience; the mind that is aware of the eating experiences; the one who is eating and experiencing.
  • Eat with gratitude.
  • Discover yourself in food.
  • Eat for others.
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