Dr. Smita Mehta, MD

An easy example is taming the tongue/taming the taste buds. Anything they taste frequently for about 8 days, they no longer dislike.

Why is that?

It’s because humans only desire what (at least one of) the five senses has encountered at least once. And humans only like what (at least one of) the five senses has encountered repeatedly. The sense organ is habituated, and in turn, controls the human out of sheer habit. That is why we often given into the taste buds’ noisy demands even though we ourselves don’t wish to consume something.

Don’t like the taste of milk? Take a sip at least once a day; swish and spit if the taste buds mount a rebellion.

Do it daily for a week; they (the taste buds) won’t fight back any more. Do it for two weeks, or three…they start liking milk, and eventually loving it. This works for a variety of tastes, and it works for textures, too.

Then the taste buds will convince you that *you* love it!

Want to stop liking something? Give the five senses a break from it for some time. Again, the taste buds are the easiest to train. Avoid your favorite beverage/food for 3 weeks. The taste buds, with all the attention span of toddlers, have moved on to other things and no longer crave what you wanted them to forget.

It’s very liberating and empowering to not be at the beck and call of our 5 senses!