The Desire Versus the Act

Disregulated eaters tend to act as if feelings and behavior are one and the same, or at least as if they’re so intertwined that they can’t be separated. A line in a mystery I read long ago struck me as a useful description in distinguishing the two. I hope it helps you recognize the difference, especially around your eating. The line came from the protagnist in Lawrence Block’s mystery, EVEN THE WICKED: “There is, I have been taught, all the difference in the world between the desire and the act. The one is written on water, the other carved in stone.” The speaker is a recovered alcoholic, a deeply flawed but reflective private eye who has found a better life in recovery after years of addictive misery. Not so different from disregulated eaters who are working towards “normal” eating and learning not to act on impulse.  I like the way that Block—from what I’ve read about him, a recovered alcoholic—uses the word desire. Most of us recognize that desires are internal impulses and that they come and go. You may want to have Asian food one night and seafood the next, may wish to spend one vacation in the mountains and another at the shore, may desire on a Saturday to do nothing but read and relax and on a Sunday prefer to get out and be with people or vice versa. Are we all agreed then that desire is an internal word? Thoughts or feelings, they're strictly an inside job. However, when—and only when—desire crosses over the line to b...
Source: Normal Eating - Category: Eating Disorders Authors: Source Type: blogs