What are you hungry for?
What are you hungry for?
So it is Friday in the office and of coarse there is a birthday party. Everyone gathers around and sings Happy Birthday. Then here comes the platter of chocolate and vanilla cupcakes with sprinkles on them. Wow, they are beautiful! You just went to lunch an hour ago and ate a well balanced meal that left you very satisfied. However, the singing starts, the cupcakes appear…. and they smell really good. Now, all of a sudden you start feeling a little hungry. You have been so good all week eating very healthy food and have even lost a couple of pounds. So you think to yourself… I am hungry and I want that cupcake. I have been good and I deserve a reward.
Does this situation sound familiar? I here it all the time. Normally my first question I ask is : Were you hungry? Well…. I wasn’t hungry until I saw that cupcake and then I was hungry. Then I saw everyone eating those cupcakes (even the thinnest girl in the office) and I thought well why can’t I have one? So I ask again: Were you hungry? I know that most people I speak to in this situation are not hungry for that cupcake at all. They think that somehow that cupcake will bring them a moment of happiness. They remember in the past they saw a cupcake like this one and when they ate it-they were happy. But, was it the cupcake that made them happy or was it just a feeling of happiness that came from within? We all have those happy memories of our mom or a teacher presenting us a beautiful cake on our birthday that was glowing with lots of burning candles. Every one sings Happy Birthday to us and claps when we blow out the candles. Then after the song we ate the cake and got to open lots of presents wrapped in pretty paper. What a great memory.
So, when I ask : Are you hungry?
What I mean is: what are you hungry for? Most of us realize that the flour, sugar, baking powder, oil, eggs, food coloring, etc. Well, the combination isn’t really good for any of us. Actually, if you are gluten sensitive (which most of us are) this treat is down right poison. Why when we see this combination do we want this concoction that just isn’t good for us? My feeling is that we are thinking that “the cupcake” will magically make us happy. Maybe it is the memory in which we think it was the cupcake but, what we forget is it was the people around us, the actual singing, the colors and the lights… it was the feeling that came from within us that made us happy. We all can access the feeling of being happy and it does not come from the cupcake. We make ourselves happy. NO ONE and nothing ever makes us happy. We are the only ones that can bring happy feelings and joy into our life.
Instead of grabbing that cupcake and gobbling it down, taste the moment. Breath the air and feel it expand your lungs. Smell the fragrance in the room. Notice the people around you. See the colors and the light in the room. Most of all, be grateful and you will not be hungry. Notice the cupcake for what it is: a beautiful object, a sweet gift of love. Let it mark the moment and feed you with the reminder that life is meant to be happy. So Be HAPPY.
Thank you Steve Ross, my yoga teacher of many years. You can read his ideas in Happy Yoga which I list in my recommended reading. I have been inspired over and over again by his teachings. He has given me so much and most of all….to be happy and not to take life so seriously. Namaste