Cravings

Craving leads to suffering - it is entwined with obsessive, addictive mental and physical behaviors. But desire is the root of craving, and we don’t want to be free of the pleasures of our senses - the taste of delicious food, the sound of music, gossip, a good joke. Insight meditation helps us differentiate and manage these impulses effectively.

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Mindfulness encourages us to “see” cravings and desires objectively, as they arise - to understand that they are impermanent - that they can be objectively controlled - and to help us create the space between the stimuli itself, and our automatic reaction to it.

There’s nothing inherently wrong with cravings - it’s the behaviors they lead to, in a state of mindless automaticity, that can be de destructive.   

A craving may be triggered by boredom, or sadness, or loneliness, or any of a score of other emotions. Mindfulness trains us to “notice” that it is unconsciously taking hold - and gives us the mental capability to pause and consciously choose the way forward.