Dial In

When we think great quotations and inspiration, Colin Farrell does not usually float to the top of the list.  This morning, while running through a few topics to write about that all felt lukewarm, I was listening to Good Morning America in the background.  Colin Farrell was a guest, and I heard him say, "We are all emotional. We are either connected to our emotions, or suppressing them."

Well, isn't that a simple truth? We are 10 days into the Paleo Zone Challenge, and I'm going to venture a guess that we've all had the emotional pendulum swinging pretty heavily at times.  I was born emotional -- it's pretty much a requirement to survive in an Italian-Irish family.  We are all so in tune to the activities in others' lives through social media, that we forget to realize that human beings are very complex emotional creatures, all the time, but we are all usually suppressing those emotions to carry through the day.

Every single person that uses social media could fill their year with status updates or tweets that are completely different - the unsuppressed emotional versions.  Granted, there are a few individuals who share their every thought and feeling, and those are usually the ones that people deem weird or unstable and end up blocking.  Why? Because no one wants to read about everyone else's mundane problems or feeling of the moment when we all are experiencing the same.  I could have updated throughout 2013 in an intensely personal way, sharing all the things that scared or upset me, shook my confidence, or even gave me a small, very personal success, but mostly, I didn't. The face we project to others is mostly the "suppressed" emotional version - because it's what is socially acceptable.  We save the "connected" emotional version for our innermost circle: the few friends who will take you or leave you regardless of your life's mess, your significant other, members of your family who love you unconditionally, and of course, our beloved dogs (that's my dog Max in the picture.  Dogs are incapable of suppressing their emotions.)

I am noticing, here at Day 10, that without sugar, alcohol, and artificial fuel in my body that I am becoming more connected to the people and situation around me.  Chris and I were discussing it this morning, even before I received my Daily Affirmation from Colin Farrell.  I realized, that while I was at work all weekend, I was more present in the workplace.  My thought processes were clear.  I was able to multi-task more efficiently.  I engaged others not in a sarcastic, biting way, but in a more light-hearted yet still humorous way.  I laughed easily with others.  In general, I felt more real, more awake, and more aware than I have been accustomed to feeling in many months.

I find myself now saying, "Am I feeling [this way] because of the sugar detox, or because I just never noticed that I should have felt [this way] before, in the same situation?"  One of the primary methodologies behind alcohol and drug rehab is to learn to feel the real emotion, deal with it, and move on after feeling it, without using the previously used crutch to suppress it.  We are all experiencing that methodology now, and sometimes it's gonna feel uncomfortable.  Were there times when I wanted a beverage over the weekend? 100% yes.  Am I feeling confident, successful, and very well-rested because I chose to stick to the program? 110% yes.

I welcome the real emotions now.  Is "real" always flowery and pleasant and gigantic smiles with big shiny, white piano key teeth? Not that I was that person often, but we all know those who are.  Remember, they are suppressing whatever emotion they need to, to get through their day.  The perfect person on Facebook who's life is engaging and funny and full of awesomeness? They are suppressing an emotion that is not for general consumption.  We all are. Social media is not the best platform for our real emotions, but face to face or voice to voice is.  Use those times to your advantage to connect to your, and their, emotions.

Take the hugs and kisses when they are there.  Pound your fists when you need to. Or just take the time to emotionally connect your truths with those around you.  It will serve your mind, body, and spirit much better than any other part of this challenge.