View PDF | Print View | Html Version
by: PatrickGlancy
Total views: 3
Word Count: 726

We all have our favorite comfort food. For me it's Jack in the Box tacos and Wheat Thins. I am guessing you crave your comfort food or snack when you are tired, lonely sad or even happy. I know I do! If you had tasted this food as an adult, you most likely would never eat it again, but still you find yourself drawn to it. I know, it's just not logical.

The logic is simple, you have an emotional attachment to the food you are craving. I can justify eating it because I think it will make me feel happy, content or calm, I am guessing you feel the same way. You may know it is not good for you, but subconsciously you think it will. After a while you start to believe the food will make you feel better and because our mind believes this, you do feel better, but the effect is not long lasting.

After a few bites, guilt kicks in. However this doesn't stop me from finishing my first taco, or even my second. I know you know this feeling and it can be frustrating. I know I should not be eating this greasy, oddly textures taco but at the same time I really feel like eating it! I like you have the craving, desire, longing, and urge to devour that taco!

Inhaling the taco is a habit and the habit was learned through different ways. For me, I remember being seven or eight years old maybe. I was with my family on the way to the beach in Southern California. We were talking about Jack in the Box tacos. My mom and aunt talked about how good and greasy they are. We talked about how perfect the tacos would be to have at the beach. All of us were all happy and having a good time. It was a warm, sunny day at the beach, and we were going to play and enjoy ourselves, it would be a good day. We reached Jack in the Box and ordered the tacos, they were amazing! Some sand got into one of my tacos, but I did not care, we were having a fantastic day. Memories which are important are typically vivid and more influential than everyday random memories.

Just the thought of getting a taco from Jack in the Box triggers good feelings and sends me into a taco craze! Sometimes the actual memory comes with it and sometimes it does not. It is important to understand how we relate feelings to different things in our lives, things like food, music or a voice.

I used to love Aerosmith. I would listen to their songs over and over again, and never get sick of them. All this changed in the 90's when I took my then girlfriend to an Aerosmith concert. Things did not get well and since then I don't care for their music, each song reminds me of her. This is just another example of how memories can influence simple things in our lives.

Growing up my parents had a van with pin stripes, and the interior was tangerine orange with matching carpet. Now try not to laugh too hard but it was SoCal in the 70's. I was about six years old and encountered a large black widow spider in this van. My parents freaked out and made me and my brothers' get out of the van quickly. For years I had an embarrassing fear of spiders. I was able to link it to this memory. I am now able to kill spiders, but if I see a big one I still get nervous, but nothing like it use to be.

When I hear my wife yelling my name, I know it is time for me to hide in the garage or look busy fast! Sometimes a stern voice makes me feel like I did something wrong or I am in trouble. Most people like me, feel like a child, especially when someone uses my first, middle and last name. This is just one more way we associate feelings or emotions, and hold on to those attachments.

Enough about me. The point of all this is to show you common sense examples of learned behaviors. Emotions associated with memories trigger very powerful, behind the scenes reactions and decisions in our minds.

About the Author

Glancy Hypnosis for Hypnosis in Portland Oregon

Add Comment