They’re in there.
They’re looking for you.
Calling for you.
They know you by name. They know all your secrets. Know your greatest desires and fears.
Those damn cookies will haunt your dreams until you eat them.
All of them.
Savagely.
Until they are but crumbs.
And then you’ll eat the crumbs. Destroy all evidence. Take the bag out to the trash. Maybe a public trash. So no one will ever know it was you.
Who ate.
All the cookies.
Why do we torment ourselves?
You know that stuff’s all in your head, right? The drama of the cookies in your cupboard?
Cookies aren’t living things, and they certainly aren’t ghosts.
They aren’t out to get you, haunt you, tempt you, demon you.
They aren’t little devils who giggle in pursuit of your surrender.
They are just cookies – made of flour, sugar, baking soda, eggs, butter, chocolate chips, and other stuff.
Why make them out to be anything more?
Baking bad
There is nothing inherently evil about cookies. And there is nothing about them we should fear.
We like to label certain foods as “bad” and “good” in order to differentiate between what is acceptable and unacceptable according to certain standards.
Labels help us make decisions.
But the reality is, no food is inherently bad, and yet everything you eat can be bad for you.
Huh?
How can food be simultaneously bad and not bad?
It all depends on how we attach to food and our potential for overindulgence.
Detach from the desire
Instead of blaming food for our lack of discipline, let’s leave those poor, sweet cookies alone and take personal responsibility for our choices.
Let’s learn to detach from the desire to satisfy our emotional needs with food.
Food is for nourishment, pleasure, and social bonding – it should never be confused with punishment, reward, or salvation.
Next time you feel the urge to splurge, try doing this instead:
- Breathe.
- Acknowledge the desire.
- Recognize the desire as something separate from you.
- Detach from the desire.
- Allow the desire to dissipate.
- Continue living your life.
REFLECT
Really think about your relationship with food and how you use it to fill voids in your life.
Food can often feel like a warm fuzzy blanket, but that feeling (like all feelings) is fleeting. Soon after divulging, the good feeling will go away and you’ll be back where you started.
Let’s turn toward the deeper issue – the underlying attachment – and tackle it head on by actively practicing detachment and calm acceptance of the present moment.