Abstention v/s Activation

What happens when you want to keep writing blogs is… initially it seems tougher, but if you persist, then voila! Your fingers effortlessly type the same shit which otherwise would come huffing and puffing. Anyway, let’s get to the idea...

What’s more tough? Abstaining or doing something?

Well, I had gone to a small specialty restaurant just because it’s nearby. They have some not generally available dishes on their menu, and I ordered one such dish, which I earlier, and remembered it to be very tasty. I got my order, and a plate was kept on my table, and just the second before I was about to plunge my spoon and fork in, I tried to recollect its taste and almost shocked to realize that I had no recollection of that previous taste. I could have kept my spoon and fork down and walked out of there at that time.

I had ordered it out of a general recollection, but I had no specific recollection of the taste. And I remembered experiences shared by friends who had to go on a diet and had to fight the craving to eat their favorite but high fat dishes. Could the craving be due to their ability to remember or recollect those particular taste experiences very vividly? Does the cognitive processes of the brain play such an important role?

Obviously, the whole process of cognition would be cyclic, and level of interest would make those memories stronger, and thus those memories would be stored deeper, thus make them easier to recollect, which in turn… and so on.

Anyway I know since many years that it would be easy for me to follow dietary restrictions. I had as just like that, experimented by starving myself for 2 days consecutively, or eating one bowl of boiled sago (Sabudana is how it’s most common term for it in India, which looks like small white spheres made from tapioca roots). This boiled Sabudana had no sugar, salt or spices, which had no reason, but I just wanted to try it out, as deprivation of spices and salt often produce strong food cravings. But I could go through these days, without major struggles. (My lack of interest in food also is seen as an undignified characteristic by gourmands).

But this absolutely doesn’t work with cigarettes for me. I have experienced what Mark Twain told in a succinct way, “I can quit cigarettes any time, I have quit it 1000’s of times already”. I am now trying to empathize with dieters by linking this cigarette craving with their food cravings, as well as trying to apply what works for me automatically or unconsciously for me while following abstinence.

Abstinence of un-healthy activities is one issue, but activation & maintenance of healthy habits is another equally or even more important issue. Are these two more similar, or are they more different from each other? Something to think over…