Being quite sick of this craving getting the best of me – I devised a plan! I wanted to more deeply understand what peanut butter represented to my internal world, why it was so important, what it meant. I wanted to get present with was so that I could really begin to address the issue from a place of wisdom and clarity rather than from the bottom of a peanut butter jar. So, here’s what I did . . .

I took the great forbidden food, sat down to meditate and placed the peanut butter jar and spoon in front of me. It felt important to have the actual food so that the senses were engaged as well as the imagination. I closed my eyes, took a few minutes to open my heart and really bring the witness forward to facilitate the proceedings. Then, I imagined a great round table with many chairs around it. I sat the jar of peanut butter in the middle of the table and invited anyone that was interested to come join me at the table. One by one, their interest piqued, they showed up. When it seemed that all of those who wanted to come were around the table, I started the proceedings. I took a spoonful of peanut butter and rolled it around in my mouth, then spoke a few words about what I was feeling and what peanut butter meant to me. And so it went, sticky spoonful by sticky spoonful, each aspect took a turn with the peanut butter, attempting to tell some sort of truth about themselves. It was meaningful to hear each of them speak – it often wasn’t about the peanut butter at all. With few exceptions, the sharing was more about the individual suffering then the love of peanut butter.

I crave less now. It’s quieter now. The edges have softened and the ravenous hunger has settled down. What remains is the 10 year old who is always – and perhaps forever – convinced that love lies in the bottom of a peanut jar!

Symptoms, then, are an indicator that something is out of balance, and that ‘something’ affects the entire system.  The way to rebalance is to provide information and direction – verbal, physical, conceptual – to the whole being; to awaken health from the inside out so that the body can reestablish equilibrium, restore the system and heal the symptom.

We normally do just the opposite – just manage the symptom and ignore the system. Losing weight is a good example: If we focus only on losing weight, the opportunity for true healing is diminished as only the symptom (weight) is being addressed and not the fundamental imbalance. If, instead we address the body as a whole, feed it relevant and caring information, guide it into its healing capacity, then it has the opportunity to reorganize itself and regenerate health. At this point, with the strength of a balanced system to support it, the extra weight can come off in a way that is natural, conscious respectful and intelligent.