It’s 3 p.m. The afternoon slump hits. Your brain feels like mush, and suddenly, a craving for chocolate descends like a fog. It’s not a gentle suggestion; it’s a primal, overwhelming demand.
You know the drill. You try to resist. You tell yourself you’ll be “good.” You try to drink some water. But the craving is a relentless beast. Eventually, you give in. You eat the chocolate. And for a fleeting moment, there’s relief. Followed, almost immediately, by a wave of guilt and shame.
“I have no willpower,” you tell yourself. “I failed again.”
Bullshit.
That craving was never about the chocolate. And your response to it was never about willpower.
Your Body is Speaking in Metaphors
Your body is a poet. When it needs something that it can’t name directly—like emotional connection, a moment of pleasure in a joyless day, or a release from unbearable tension—it asks for it in the language it knows best: the language of the physical.
It asks for something sweet, something creamy, something that melts in your mouth and gives you a momentary hit of the feel-good neurotransmitter dopamine.
It asks for chocolate.
That 3 p.m. chocolate craving is your body’s desperate, metaphorical plea for something it’s not getting. It’s a message from your emotional body, disguised as a physical urge.
In the framework I use, based on the Four Elements, that craving for something sweet, rich, and comforting is a call for Water.
Water is the element of emotional expression, of connection, of being held with care. It’s the energy of flow, of feeling, of allowing yourself to be soft.
When you’re stuck in your head all day, grinding through your to-do list, operating in a state of high-pressure, masculine, go-go-go energy, your Water element dries up. You become brittle, tense, and disconnected from your own heart.
Your body, in its infinite wisdom, sends up a flare. It says: “I need softness. I need pleasure. I need a moment of connection. I need to feel something other than stress.”
And it asks for chocolate.
Stop Answering the Wrong Question
When you eat the chocolate, you’re answering the literal question. You’re giving it the physical substance it asked for. And it provides a temporary fix—a quick hit of pleasure, a momentary distraction.
But you haven’t addressed the real, underlying need. You haven’t given it the Water it was truly asking for.
So, the need remains. And tomorrow at 3 p.m., the craving will be back. Because the message has not been received.
The work is not to resist the chocolate. The work is to understand what the request for chocolate means. It’s to learn to give yourself the emotional nourishment you’re actually starving for.
Maybe it means taking five minutes to listen to a piece of music that makes you cry. Maybe it means messaging a friend you love. Maybe it means putting your hand on your own heart and just breathing for a minute.
When you start answering the real question, the craving for chocolate doesn’t need to be resisted. It simply… dissolves. Because the message has been delivered.
If you’re tired of fighting with chocolate and you’re ready to learn the language your body is actually speaking, this is the work. This is how you get free. If you’re curious about the Four Elements framework and how to decode your own cravings, you can find more info at www.cetfreedom.com. Or just send me a message. I’d love to hear from you.
