Sometimes things spring to mind that I used to indulge in – like drugs, cigarettes, alcohol, sport and motorcycle riding, to name a few. One by one I have been constantly refining and redefining the things I put into or do to my body so as to not cause harm to myself, adopting a more self-loving, non self-destructive way.
I often think I miss the taste of things but on looking at this a little deeper I wonder if I actually do.
Whiskey for instance – I used to believe I loved the taste and would drink it straight like a ‘real man’. I remember thinking it was so sophisticated, single malt in one hand, and a cigar in the other. The first time I ever took a swig of whiskey straight, it burnt my throat, made my eyes water and probably made me sick – but still I persevered until I acquired the taste.
I have to say that I never really got to grips with cigar smoking, but cigarettes were a close second.
The first time I ever tried white wine it gave me instant heartburn, so I tried red; this didn’t give me heartburn but tasted ghastly, however I was able to persevere until I was a ‘connoisseur’.
Oysters looked disgusting and tasted worse, but once again I overcame my fears and was able to coolly consume with the best of them.
Cheese was disgusting . . . and I lived on a dairy farm! My dad wouldn’t eat it but it was quite often on my sandwiches for school, so once again through perseverance I acquired the taste.
Black coffee was another thing – bitter at first to taste, but with perseverance became a well-loved beverage of mine. The list goes on and on…
A lot of the tastes I acquired were about trying to fit in, be cool or be sophisticated; some though were about learning to like something because you were told it was good for you, or that it was all you could afford to eat at the time.
Why are we given such sensitive taste buds if we are to totally override what they are telling us, and why do we constantly override what our bodies are telling us in general?
Since I have been listening to what my taste buds have been trying to tell me for years, and noting how my body reacts to different foods, I have shed many kilograms, have a clearer complexion and feel ten years younger.
Thanks to Serge Benhayon and other practitioners of Universal Medicine I have been inspired to remove a lot of harmful things from my life. Without this inspiration, would I still be persisting in eating and drinking, not to mention inhaling, things that my body was screaming at me to stop? I’d like to think I would have stopped of my own accord but I can’t really say. I was always saying I wanted to stop those things I knew were not good for me, as I always felt imprisoned by them. Not having the self-love or self-worth would quite likely have been the deciding factor in carrying on the self-abuse. It probably would have taken an illness or disease to wise me up, but even then, who knows? My resolve and stubbornness were legendary – not to mention thinking I was bulletproof.
I had now realized that the constant heartburn, being overweight, the extreme highs and lows and the hangovers were just a matter of choice, not something I was contracted to for life.
As time goes by and I am a million miles from the person who was out there trying to fit in and be cool, now in my late forties with no mid-life crises apparent, I am freer to make my mind up about taste … and without outside influences.
So thank God for Serge Benhayon and his entire family and all the other practitioners and fellow students who have shown me that there is another way.
By Kevin McHardy, London
Further Reading:
On The Topic of Food and Diet
And That Was My Last Drink – No Drama, No Resolve, Just Plain Common Sense
Messages from the Body to the Mind about Food
1,258 Comments
Will power alone is not the answer to overcoming our addictions. It is developing true purpose by reconnecting with the love that we are that truly gets us over the line. If we have not acquired the taste for this process, then we have acquired the taste for all that distracts us from it.
This is a great blog though my experiences have been different – I always liked bitter as a taste so I liked coffee. My first taste of alcohol was a spirit at about age 10 and it left no real memory. On reflection, though, yes, Kevin, you are right – beer took quite a bit of time to get used to and red wine only tasted nice with plenty of food in the beginning.
I recall when I was a child I picked up a cigarette on the ground that was still alight and I had a go at inhaling it. I choked and choked, my eyes were watering and my throat was burning. I never did it again as I couldn’t imagine how it was possible to get past what I had experienced, it was horrible and my body spoke to me loud and clear.
Our body never lies . . . it is only the mind that feeds us lies.
Its all a game of evolution and the the game is to offset it as much as possible – we can play dumb but we all know deep down what substance evolve us and what do not.
This is so true, but not something I would have consciously figured out for myself if it wasn’t for the help of a few very wise characters I would be stuck in the thinking that it was certain things that I was addicted to and not that there was an underlying reason for doing them in the first place.
Often we have to work very hard to like alcohol or cigarettes. That says it all really. If we don’t like it when we start, then clearly it is not for us.
Our body naturally tells us what it likes and doesn’t like, and often this is a great indicators as to what is good for us and what is not. I recall tasting cheese for the first time when I was 7 or 8, the smell reminded me that something had gone off and when I tasted it, it tasted rotten. But years later I developed a liking to it because I persisted and convinced myself to like it. It is interesting how we can override what our body is telling us if we continue to ignore its messages. Now, I have learnt to listen to my body.
We can acquire a taste for just about anything when our head and not our body rule us.
Add in the belief that this is the food I was raised on and every excuse can be given to ignore what the body tells us loud and clear isn’t truly supporting us.
“A lot of the tastes I acquired were about trying to fit in” How many of us have taken things, drink things and smoked things we knew was not any good for us?
So many of us have overridden what we knew to be true in order to fit in – no wonder we have such illness and disease rates – hardly anyone is brave enough to claim what they truly deep down feel.
‘Not having the self-love or self-worth would quite likely have been the deciding factor in carrying on the self-abuse’
I am with you on this one, Kev. You have to find yourself important enough to make changes that support your body.’
Gorgeous to read Kevin, there is another way and we have found it. I remember choosing red wine over white because I thought the red was better for me, I really didn’t like either but drank to be sociable, my tummy rebelled after a while with gastritis, I look back now and feel how crazy to do this to my tummy and abuse myself in this way, to just fit in.
Everything we consume and love to eat has a certain energetic effect in our body. Exploring and healing the roots of the cravings and needs will support you to return back to the innocence you once had, before hurts imposed on your eating or drinking behaviour for example. Returning from being a puppet of behaviours to the real choice only you as a soul can make.
These are very wise words Stefanie because if we don’t get to the root cause of our behaviours and heal them we will be puppets to the spirit until we do.
Isn´t it crazy that we get used to substances that tastes in the first moment horrible. A proof that it is not about the substance itself that we seek, but the effects and pictures we place on them that we emotionally seek.
It is so true Kevin, we have such delicate sense of smell and taste and yet we continually over ride this ‘to acquire’ a habit of consuming something that may not be great for our bodies. Not only do we have very discerning senses but also are very sensitive and feeling in our very beings, something which we dismiss by dulling or overstimulating our awareness.
When we begin to listen to our body and make our own choices about what we put into it, choosing from how whatever it is feels and how we know from experience it affects us, so much changes for us . For myself I have found a much greater level of vitality and awareness and enjoyment in myself with a decreasing level of outside props that I used to count on to keep me going.
Yeah I agree Elaine the quality of life and how I feel is worth every second not indulging in the outside influences available to us. Now it’s a matter of refining because I can use food in this way, so being honest as to why I have chosen certain foods is one I keep having to check in on and also the quality in which I am preparing it too.
It is a taste for stimulation that we acquire and when we seek this we can ingest almost anything, when we stop seeking this we attune our senses again to a different taste.
We have a society that is hungry for stimulation and not so much for nutrition and nurturing our body.
“I had now realized that the constant heartburn, being overweight, the extreme highs and lows and the hangovers were just a matter of choice, not something I was contracted to for life.”
This sentence says everything, many of us deem the heartburn, being over weight and the highs and lows of life as being ‘how it is’. But as is shared above it isn’t, rather that it is a choice, often one made on the advice of another and many times made with some intention to care for our body. But there is a deeper reality, this being that our bodies are all different, so the mainstream ‘this is good for you’ may not be what is best for each persons particular body. The reality is that we are each the only one that can truly discern what it is that our body thrives on.
Getting to this point is a seminal experience in life.
When we start to explore a more self-loving way of living our whole outlook changes to listening more to what our body is clearly communicating is harmful and knowing that overriding these messages is not worth the ensuing consequences. We begin to realise we are worth far more.
Isn’t it staggering the lengths we go to to self abuse! Clearly it is never pleasurable to self abuse yet there must be more behind this as we even put up with sour and aweful tastes and experiences just to make self abuse normal for us!
It baffles me that I used to find smoking a pleasurable thing to do, even when I deep down knew it tasted gross that didn’t matter and it became something I enjoyed! Mind boggling really, but now understand the energy behind it and being in the lack of self worth all these things seem attractive. Not any more!
It is amazing how we can get used to things, I remember as a smoker thinking non-smokers totally over-reacted to the smell of smoke even though I remembered it almost choking me as a kid. It was not until I stopped that I realised that I realised how invasive and smelly it is.
Yeah it so is and I was ignorant to how imposing the smell was as well. Now I can’t stand it and make sure I am well away from it even if I have to cross the road to not have it in my face.
A profound job for you to choose Kevin and to make such change, not only stopping but also you had to look at what came up and why you have been choosing them so. To face the behaviors that then come to the surface take courage to undergo and face them in full capacity without reacting and going in the cycle around again! It shows us that we are capable to be honest and actually heal by nominating and letting go..