Student:
Why does this occur when I eat? I put food in my mouth and while still having a full mouth I already scour for the next spoon full of food.
Teacher:
Because the mind is never satisfied. It is always grasping, always seeking the next thing. You are not eating—you are consuming. You are not present with the bite in your mouth—you are already desiring the next one.
This is the nature of the mind. It is restless. It does not know contentment. And unless one observes this with great intensity, one will live their entire life in this manner—always reaching, never arriving.
If you wish to break this, stop. Be with the food that is in your mouth. Chew it. Taste it. Watch the impulse to reach for more before you have even finished. Watch how impatient, how unsatisfied the mind is. And in that watching, something may change.
Student:
Yes. This was interesting. I paid attention to this today. And it was incredibly difficult not to distract myself. I ate bite by bite and, even though hungry, wanted to get quickly through the meal.
Teacher:
Yes. Because the mind does not want to be where it is. It wants to escape. Even from something as simple as eating.
This is why people live in distraction. Because to be fully present—to actually experience life without mental escape routes—is deeply uncomfortable at first. You saw this today. You were simply eating, yet there was an urge to rush, to move on, to be done with it. Why? Because the mind is addicted to the next thing.
If you truly wish to understand this, don’t just observe it once. Keep watching. Keep slowing down. Keep confronting the discomfort of actually being where you are. If you stay with it long enough, something fundamental may shift.