Several readers have asked
for more information about how these ‘hungry ghost’ problems occur…
How to know if that is a
piece of their puzzle…
What to do if you suspect 'hungry ghost' involvement.
First… take note of when
your problem started...
was it in childhood, young adulthood or later in
life?
Try not to over-analyze
at this stage. It is just fact-finding for now.
You will, no doubt, have
various explanations in mind just the same.
So go ahead and note them.
For the moment, let's
say that those are the stories we tell ourselves.
Note them, but don't engage
them for now.
As much as you are able,
leave any blame and self-recrimination on the side.
It just confuses
things.
Make a list of the foods
you struggle with. Notice your patterns.
Is there a time of day
or night when you feel more vulnerable?
What might those foods
be symbolic of? A certain person?
Something shared? A need for comfort?
As you assemble the
information you will start to have clues to your mystery.
Notice your emotions
around your over-eating, bingeing or lack of eating.
Are you experiencing
sadness, melancholy, anger, frustration, pity for one's self?
Are you
missing someone?
Do you find yourself
eating like a starving person, or eating like a man
if you are a woman? Is there a special food or cuisine?
Take time to consider all
the subtle aspects that you experience.
Is there a sense of
being pushed from behind or above?
A sense of something bearing down or
overshadowing you?
Is something interfering
with your will?
If so, do you experience
it as creeping up on you or suddenly overpowering you?
Or do you have a sense
of something gnawing or craving from inside?
If so, where? In
your belly, throat, etc.?
Try to stay calm and
objective. There is no need for fear or shame.
We are just gathering information.
Keep assembling your
clues.
Is the food or drink characteristic of you and your taste or is it
outside
your habitual food or drink?
Let's take a look at
your personality...
Are you deeply sympathetic?
A caregiver? A sensitive? An introvert?
Empathetic?
Spiritually inclined?
Do you often feel
responsible for others’ wellbeing and/or happiness?
Do people seek you out
as someone they can confide in or share their problems with?
Would someone describe
you as a bleeding heart sort of person?
Does a loved one or
family member linger in your mind?
For that matter, does
someone that you have had difficulties with
or unfinished business linger or
attach?
You might add to this
list...
Do you experience several
of the above?
If so, you may be too open and vulnerable for your own
good.
We are the easiest
targets for a needy one…on either side of life.
We often are not aware
enough of who and what is in our energy field
and how that impacts us,
sometimes against our will.
A little awareness will
go a long way here…
Here is an example… On a trip to England and Wales some years
ago,
I found myself fascinated by the charming old churches that dotted the
countryside.
I like anything old and I
wandered through many of the adjacent graveyards, as well.
I saw people making
grave rubbings and I gave it a try myself, thinking nothing of it.
When I returned home to
the states, a friend invited me along to visit an old woman
who she described
as gifted.
The old woman took one
look at me and exclaimed “Oh my! You
have been visiting graveyards!
You must
never do that!”
She was quite vehement
about it. I was a bit shocked and I must
admit I did not understand
her concern.
She went on to tell me
that I was much too open and sympathetic by nature
and that that sort of venture
was off limits to me.
Her observation was that
a whole group of the deceased spirits had followed me
back to the states.
They sensed that I was a tenderhearted person and they attached
themselves to me.
It never occurred to me that such a thing would happen.
I knew that I had been
feeling unusually tired and a bit weepy since my return…
not my usual self. What she said made sense...
I gave myself a bit of a
shaking, got back into life and made it a point to resist
all such influences
and I was soon back to normal.
Thinking back on it, it’s
easy to see how we experience other people’s ‘stuff’
without realizing it.
Their sadness, their stories, their shifting emotions…even
their illnesses.
It is simply their
energies moving through us….much like a weather system.
In the very same way
that spending time with a negative person can drag us down
for awhile, we can
experience the heaviness or
infirmity of an energy floating
in our vicinity.
It just happens quite
naturally.
Women and children often
have quite porous boundaries…too open, too soft, too yielding.
Too unaware.
These are boundary issues
that we were never taught.
In fact, if
anything, our boundaries have not been recognized or respected
and that has become the
norm for us.
We can get tangled up in
all sorts of unpleasantness.
we gain control of our
lives, sometimes for the first time.
You begin to experience
that it is normal and necessary that you have control
of your body, your life…even
your energy field and that nothing
interferes inappropriately.
You learn eventually to keep all interference to a
minimum.
Your life becomes
peaceful, especially in your stomach…your emotional brain.
