AS I TOOK THE LAST BITE of my Ben & Jerry’s Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough ice cream, a wave of anger and self-judgment washed over me. I had done it again—after a distressing encounter with my boyfriend, I’d given in to my craving and devoured a pint of ice cream, covered in fudge sauce. But, for some reason I can’t pinpoint, something different happened this time. I paused amid the self-criticism and offered a moment of kindness and compassion to myself, and especially, to my unfulfilled longing. After that, my binge eating subsided.
The Pali word for craving is , which or suffering.
