One more potato chip.
One more potato chip.
After this, no more will pass between my lips.
I’ve got to have it.
Can’t live without it.
I will take only one more unnoticeable bit.“I’d like a thin slice, please.”…
“Another small slice please.”…
After this, I surely will feel at ease.
I really need it now.
I deeply need it now.
One more scoop. I’ll be contented as a cow.
I’ll take one tiny bite.
O.K., just one more bite.
Is there a cure for an insatiable appetite?
Why can’t I stop myself from taking more and more and
more and
MORE?
Help – I’m trapped inside this struggle. I’m a Prisoner of
War.One chocolate chip cookie.
Two chocolate chip cookies.
I could finish up the box when no one is looking.I’ve got this hunger.
It’s a strange hunger.
When the last piece of cake is gone, it’s even stronger!While gobbling up some food,
Then gobbling up more food,
Why, I am in just the most delightful mood.But when it’s over,
Oh, when it’s over,
The emptiness I tried to bury is uncovered.When did I give in and face it?
No food would cure the pain.
I longed for a kind of nourishment,
That came with no pounds to gain.Inside was a desperate craving,
A deep spiritual hole.
My stomach was not hungry.
What was starving was my soul!
We typically overeat because we want the pleasure we are experiencing when eating to keep on lasting. The Pleasure Ladder, based on ancient mystical wisdom from the Kaballah, provides a roadmap of how to bring lasting pleasure into our lives at every moment. It is empowering so that we can identify what can bring us more pleasure than eating. This is how I learned to nourish my genuinely hungry soul. And each rung on this Stairway to Heaven on Earth is reached through gratitude.
You can nourish the lowest level of the soul, the part of the soul connected to the body, by feeling gratitude for the physical pleasures in your life – like all your body parts that are working, our natural world, and healthy food.
To nourish the second level of the soul, focus on what you appreciate about the uplifting spirit of the individual. This is an empowering way to bring the more lasting pleasure of love into our lives at any moment, and it is not dependent on the actions of others. It is the warm, emotional feeling you experience when you focus on what you value about someone else. You don’t even need to be interacting with the other being to feel the love – an incarcerated person, for instance, can still focus on the virtues of a grandmother who was kind and feel that empowering pleasure of love.
To nourish the third level of the soul, reach out and do something good, meaningful, and helpful, even if it is just calling or texting a lonely person. Each level up the pleasure ladder takes us to a place of greater connection, greater enjoyment of gratitude for life, and more lasting pleasure.
When I was explaining this level on a podcast as a guest recently, the podcast host said he was about to plow through a whole pizza box by himself one day. After finishing two slices, a neighbour knocked on his door because he needed the host’s help with something. When the host came back to his table a couple of minutes later, he wasn’t interested in finishing off the pizza anymore, so he packed the rest away in the fridge. He had just filled up on something that had meaning instead – helping his neighbour. The pleasure derived from doing something meaningful was greater than the fleeting pizza pleasure.
Creativity nourishes the fourth level of the soul as you tap into the creative flow of the Universe and connect with it. It’s when we give life to something positive outside of ourselves from our unique inner being. When we are immersed in the zone of creative pleasure, we don’t care about eating – or even sleeping.
The greatest level of pleasure of all is the state of awe, transcendence, cosmic oneness, or unity.
This corresponds to the fifth and highest level of the soul. It happens when we transcend a previous limitation in our lives by making a significant crack in a bad habit, for instance, finding new clarity and nourishing our spiritual beings by experiencing and integrating deep wisdom. We also experience it under a starry, starry night when we feel connected to our greater Universe, as that pleasure stays with us forever. And it occurs in those wondrously mindful moments when the veils lift, and we see how we are all intrinsically connected energetically to everyone and everything through the same infinite Source.
A recent article in Psychology Today stated that researchers have found that the most positive feeling that reduces inflammation and disease-causing chemicals in the body is the state of awe, just validating our ancient mystical wisdom.
There is only one price to pay to be able to climb every rung of The Pleasure Ladder, and it’s a vital one. The price tag is gratitude.
Experiencing gratitude is what brings us lasting pleasure.
Throughout our lives, there is a force trying to make us feel that we lack something. Once we recognize how natural that is, we can more clearly choose gratitude instead. As ancient sages explain, gratitude is our purpose for being here, and it is the key to everything.
I also want to add that there may be certain coverings blocking spiritual nourishment from being able to reach a pure soul. If a person has experienced significant trauma, especially as a young child, therapeutic intervention may be needed in addition to nourishing one’s spiritual being.
When the blockages, the protective coverings on the soul, are faced with loving awareness and lifted, then the spiritual nourishment can much more fully and effectively nurture each uniquely beautiful and infinitely resilient soul.
When the blockages, the protective coverings on the soul, are faced with loving awareness and lifted, then the spiritual nourishment can much more fully and effectively nurture each uniquely beautiful and infinitely resilient soul.
It’s what made the bags of potato chips stop calling my name so loudly. And those boxes of cookies didn’t have to last forever anymore. There is no longer that hovering fear of scarcity. The loneliness, disconnection, estrangement, boredom, and pervasive anxiety have been replaced by seeing a real Stairway to Heaven on Earth – an abundance of ways to enjoy the more lasting sweetness. There is no longer that vast emptiness within.
Whenever you feel like overeating or overindulging in any addictive behaviour, you can ask yourself, “Is it my body that is hungry – or my soul?” That’s when you free yourself to think about all the other wonderful things you can do that can bring more pleasure into your life right that very moment – like calling or texting someone lonely or even simply opening the window to soak in some sunshine or feel a soft breeze.
The amazing thing is that you don’t even have to do the new pleasurable action. Just recognizing that there are other possibilities empowers you to become unstuck and free to enjoy a wide variety of other pleasures.
But with this valuable, timeless understanding in your grasp, you now have the know-how and the power to enjoy all the little – and the big things – in life much more fully, with genuine gratitude.
Bracha Goetz
Bracha Goetz is the Harvard-educated author of 41 books that help children’s souls shine. She is also the author of a candid memoir about her journey to spiritually and joyfully overcome food addictions:Searching for God in the Garbage.
- Bracha Goetz
- Bracha Goetz
- Bracha Goetz
