Breaking up with a craving can be a hard thing to do. Do you have an actual physical addiction? Is your life filled with stress? Is the craving serving other needs in your life – like keeping you from thinking unwanted thoughts? Do you actually want to make the change? There are many methods for helping you become free if you want to (and you do need to “want to”). Here are two very powerful ways toward the transformation of your life.

Not This, But This

One of the powerful ways to undo a specific craving is through substitution – not just any ordinary substitution, but substitution that serves a very specific purpose.  When you find out what needs the object of your craving is satisfying, you can get those needs met in some other ways. If you don’t do this, then substitution may not be as effective as you’d like it to be. You can’t just substitute a rice cake for a birthday cake or a carrot for a cookie, if you don’t get any satisfaction from rice cakes or carrots. The word “satisfaction” is the key here.  What needs is the object of your craving satisfying? You may need to take a moment to think about it. Is it a specific kind of oral gratification that makes you feel really content, as if you were a baby at your mother’s breast?  Is it a special kind of stimulation or calming that you’re craving?  When you figure it out, find something that is truly satisfying that will help you meet your needs in ways that are healthy and positive. I substituted Japanese yams for sweets. You may not know it, but they taste like cake.

Horrible, Terrible, Bad

This is the second method, and it’s called “aversion therapy.” Not very positive, to say the least. Some people wouldn’t touch this method with a ten foot pole. Others think it’s brilliant. You might want to call it the “maggots on the chocolate cake” method. What you need to do is to find aversion statements that are truly meaningful to you:

* “I don’t want that because if I do it (eat it, drink it, smoke it), I won’t live to see my children (or grandchildren) grow up.”  

* “My husband or wife) might leave me. I don’t want that.”

* “If I do that, I won’t be able to do my work, and I won’t be successful.”

* “I won’t be able to fit in my old clothes, and I won’t have anything to wear.”

* “That stuff is pure junk, made in factories, calculated to addict me, made for pure profit only, tastes like cardboard, makes me feel worse – not better. I don’t want that junk.”

 The litany is up to you, whatever gets to you deeply. You can have it ready in your mind whenever you pass a candy store or a group of smokers or drinkers at a party. You have to have your own good reasons – and you need to talk to the part of yourself that says, “Just once, go ahead. Just have a little.” Say, “No thanks,” do your substituting, say your aversion litany, and keep on walking forward.

Other Approaches

There are a lot of other ways to make these shifts, such as working with positive suggestions and more. You can take what works for you and go out and transform your life in powerful, positive ways. But the main point is: you have to be ready for the shift, and it needs to be the right time for you. Then miracles can take place in your own transformation and healing.