In a live Q&A, a participant (Speaker A) describes chronic attention‑deficit‑like symptoms and strong compulsive cravings—especially for sugar—that disrupt his ability to stay present. He outlines his inconsistent meditation routine (5‑20 minutes, 3‑4 times a week), past intensive practices such as Vipassana boot‑camp, fasting, plant medicines, and regular cold‑water swimming in Hyde Park, all aimed at cultivating presence. He reports a daily spike in sugar craving around 3:45‑4 PM, leading to binge consumption of chocolate and sweets, and expresses concern about health consequences. Eckhart Tolle acknowledges the issue and begins to probe the nature of the compulsion, setting the stage for practical guidance on observing and delaying the urge rather than suppressing it, thereby using presence to transform the habit.
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My question relates to attention deficit disorder, which I'm one of those people that have been told that they have it, and it seems like there's a growing number of people younger than me that perhaps have been told the same thing. So I've sort of— I quite often look around the room in here and I think, Gosh, you know, I'm just a sort of pretender when it comes to presence. And, you know, I've done some pretty drastic things to, you know, be one of those people that can be still in a room, like Vipassana, which you mentioned earlier in the week, and all sorts of like fasting for 7 days and, you know, doing plant medicines and all sorts of things. It's been very difficult for me to find a natural access into presence, and I just wondered what advice you might have around that.
Right, so you've practiced. So do you have a meditation practice every day?
Yeah, it's not as consistent as that, but it could be anywhere from 5 to 20 minutes, I would say 3 or 4 times a week.
Right, and you have participated in the Vipassana boot camp meditation?
Yes, yeah, yeah, and I do Wim Hof— well, I don't, I do swimming in the Serpentine, the lake in Hyde Park, right, uh, and over the winter. So anything that would pull me into presence. Yes, and I think some progress has been made, but really I just have such strong compulsions from all around, you know, be it sugar or— that's the main one, in fact. But yeah, all sorts of things that just hinder my presence.
Yes. Well, you look at some compulsions. So you mentioned sugar as an important one. There may be others. Sugar. So on a very practical level, the sugar compulsion, how does that manifest? Obviously it manifests with the intake of sugary substances, but how exactly does it on a daily basis— how do you experience that?
Yeah, I experience it around 3:45 or 4 PM in the office, and you know, I would have done so well up until then, and then I just go crazy. I go to Waitrose and I'll buy a very large bar of chocolate and some sweeties I've noticed there's a tuck shop here as well. And I will just destroy it like it's a drug. Yeah, I'll eat it. It is quite extraordinary how I consume those things. But it is funny to laugh about it, because it can slip through so easily. I'm worried, you know, that I'm going to end up a diabetic, you know.
Yeah, yeah.
Sounds like it's not that big of a deal, but it, you know, it really, it's every day.
Yes, yes, very interesting. So that could— I would— let's just focus on this particular compulsion. Because they're all similar, so if you can deal with one, you can deal with others, and that seems to be the main one, although I'm sure there are others. It's, uh, start experimenting with it. Suppressing it probably won't work, at least not for long, but so you begin the experiment by when in the afternoon, as you say, it begins to come up, you can feel that pull, at first I would suggest to introduce a delay in reacting, giving in to that pull, so that give yourself 5 or 10 minutes to observe the pull, to observe the energy field that lives in you, that you call, or I call, the pull, wanting you to go and get it and then eat it. So bring in some awareness. You may not immediately be able to stop it, but at least you introduce a delay, and in the delay period, you're just, you observe what it feels, what this energy pull feels like. So you bring awareness to the feeling of it. That's quite interesting. It's— you don't— it's not so much thinking about it, but simply consciously feel that pull and say, ah, there it is.
