What do vacations, travel, new experiences, food, drugs, and alcohol all have in common?
Whether we know it or not, most of us use all of these things for the same reason: to distract ourselves so that we can be temporarily free from the incessant chatter of our minds.
The reason you crave travel, new experiences, or an alcoholic drink, is more often than not to put yourself in a state where you're not being bothered by your mind. With travel and new environments, all of the novelty around you forces you to pay attention, thus quieting your mind.
If you think about it, you're not really craving the travel experience so much as you're craving to get your mind to shut up and stop bothering you.
That can sound harsh, but in many cases, it's the truth.
We don't really want the thing we think we want. We mistake the trigger for the thing. The trigger is the travel, the new experience. The net result of that trigger is a sense of presence, and therefore aliveness, that is typically absent without the trigger.
It's the same reason we all look forward to the weekend. There's nothing inherently special about Friday, Saturday, or Sunday. The only thing special is that we get a temporary break from the stress we cause ourself during the workweek. The weekend is the trigger. The net result is our inner experience.
Why not learn to work directly at the source - that is, with your inner experience - rather than trying to manipulate triggers your whole life?
The next time you find yourself craving a new experience, a vacation, a piece of food, or a drink, take note of the reasons why you might be craving it. Do you really want that thing? Or perhaps do you just want your mind to stop craving that thing, and you think the only way to do that is to get it?
Something to ponder.
Live with substance!
Gabe Orlowitz
