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.
Here is the logic, the addition and craving you are feeling is emotional. You, like myself, can justify eating it because you think you will feel happy, content or calm. Deep down you know it will not make you feel better, but think it will subconsciously. After a while you actually start to believe it will make you feel better and because our minds believe this, you do feel better, but only for a short time.
As the taco is disappearing, a bite at a time, the guilt kicks in. You might have guessed this does not stop me from eating one taco, or even my second! I am sure you know this feeling, and it is very frustrating. I know I should not be eating the greasy and oddly textured taco, but I really feel like eating it. I have the same cravings, longing and urge to devour that taco, the same as you.
Demolishing the taco is a habit and the habit was learned through different ways. I learned the love of the taco by going to the beach. I was 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 were talking 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. We reached Jack in the Box and ordered the tacos, and boy were they the most amazing tacos in the world! Some sand got into one of my tacos, but I did not care, we were having a good 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.
I have been able to conquer my embarrassing fear of spiders, thank goodness. I managed to trace it back to a time when I was six or seven and had a run in with a black widow spider. The spider was inside of a rear window in our van. I remember the van had pin striping and the interior was tangerine orange with matching carpet. Try not to laugh too hard, it was SoCal in the 70's. My parents were freaking out and they made my brothers and I quickly evacuate the van. Now I am able to kill spiders but if I see a big one, still gets my heart racing.
Other memories we associate with feelings or emotions might be something as simple as a voice. I don't know about you, but whenever I hear a stern voice, like my wife saying, Patrick Michael Glancy, I know I have either done something wrong or need to find something to do and fast! Most people feel like a child when they hear this tone of voice. Especially when someone uses your first, middle and last name!
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. Take a moment and think about some powerful memories you have had and think about how they might relate to other things in your life.
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