Don't limit your vision to the present time

I want to remember something that I learned this week about mastery. After reading most of the book I asked some friends advice on something that I would love to master. I asked them if anything they had ever heard about how to eat healthy and avoid over eating had ever stuck with them and sank in in a way that helped them to make a change. I have always struggled with this in my life and although I also work out hard and run a lot in order to keep things in a relative balance, I am starting to realize that the thought process I go through is the same as any harmful addiction. I am realizing that if I can master this one area of my life, so many other areas of my life will benefit. I listened to their advice but realized that this was something that neither of them had given serious thought to in terms of how to proactively evolve their own minds. If something had sank in with them, in the way that I was describing, they would be at least on their way to mastery.
The answer, in part, came to me when I was studying for another class about how Buddha came to be. At one point in his life a beautiful goddess was trying to tempt him during his meditation. She sat before him in the most beautiful scene. There were other lovely women around and they were all positioned towards him. He was meditating and did not seem to notice. At last, the beautiful goddess tipped a pitcher of water and it crashed to the ground gushing water. Even this did not startle him or get his attention. Finally, we see a view of what this future Buddha was actually experiencing in his mind's eye. He said that he was not seeing things in the present time but as they truly were in the future. The view before him was of desperate, ugly demons who were miserable and nasty. Of course this was not a temptation to him as he was able to see past the temporary pleasure they offered and know the truth of who they were.
I will apply this to my mastery over appetite. I need to see food for what it really is in the future. It is energy or it is lethargy. It is strength or it is fat. It is poor digestion or cleanliness. It is fulfillment or guilt. Satisfaction or gluttony. Mastery is about putting aside temporary pleasures and seeking the long term goals.

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