The Time for Embodiment is Now
too much tech • food relationship and our inner landscape • real popcorn
Real is beautiful to me—real life, real feelings, real challenges, real connection. I think that’s the reason why appearances-over-everything-living and social media posturing disturb me so…all distractions from what truly matters; it makes me sad that people languish there.
Years ago I read Cal Newport’s Digital Minimalism; Choosing a Focused Life in a Noisy World and loved learning about this computer scientist who wouldn’t engage with social media—he valued his attention too much to give it away. The book inspired me to moderate my personal use and to prevent the online from taking over my kids’ lives. While I controlled the obvious, I wasn’t familiar with Discord servers and, of course, that’s where my most tech-savvy child went to “play”—away from Mom.
Just last week I got into Nicholas Carr’s Superbloom: How Technologies of Connection Tear Us Apart. I couldn’t help but think, thank goodness all this additional distraction wasn’t around when I grew up, as I'd have no sense of what it felt like before: relatively calm.
My career was in tech, back in the olden days when tech was about increasing efficiencies. We made financial applications, software large companies used to make stuff, provide services, and pay the bills. Better, faster, cheaper was our mantra. When the internet came to be, we redesigned everything in a race against new start-ups. I drove myself hard, fueled by a constant high-anxiety state. My body tried to get my attention (IBS, eczema, acne, fatigue) but I was too busy to pay attention.
Technology, once simply a way to increase efficiencies and have more time for the good stuff in life, now threatens to alienate us—from ourselves, one another, and the wonder and mystery of life. When we spend too much time with tech, we’re duped into thinking that we “have no time” to do anything else—no time to meditate, read, or even walk outside. I just want to say, please pay attention. Be intentional with how you use technology and where the precious minutes of your life are going.
“The key to thriving in our high-tech world…is to spend much less time using technology.” Cal Newport, Digital Minimalism, p.xvii
In the introduction, Cal quoted Thoreau’s “simplicity, simplicity, simplicity!” which led me to look up the full thing (…thanks technology…), wise words as we continue into this age of AI and chatbot companions:
“Simplicity, simplicity, simplicity! I say, let your affairs be as two or three, and not a hundred or a thousand; instead of a million count half a dozen, and keep your accounts on your thumb nail.”
Henry David Thoreau, Walden
Time for Embodiment
It should come as no surprise that I believe embodiment and paying attention to our senses—sight and sound, taste and touch, intuition and interoception—is essential to our well-being. Our level of embodiment lies on a spectrum from connected and in-tune with ourselves—mind and gut, heart and soul—to quite the opposite.
How’s our embodiment? Examine what goes on within, your inner voice, your inner landscape. Our relationship with food is a pretty good barometer.
What’s it like in there?
This is what my writing is all about: how I began to cultivate connection from a place of disorder and emotional bifurcation—what everyone saw on the outside and the chaos within. My relationship with food has been both light and darkness in my life but ultimately, the light shines.
“The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” John 1:5
Real Popcorn
In the spirit of simplicity, I suggest you identify foods that bring you maximum pleasure and enjoyment and fit those into your life. Doing so helps me to ignore the constant bombardment of pushes—eat this, eat that! When you simplify your eating and do more of it at home (including the making and baking), I guarantee that your food life will become more centered, connected, and calm. Plus it's fun!
One of those foods for me is popcorn. I'm so crazy about popcorn, we did a feature on it in the Spring 2022 issue of Edible Bozeman (click for the recipes: Truffle Parmesan Popcorn, Honey Butter Popcorn, and Sweet Cream Olive Oil Popcorn).
And then there's caramel corn; this recipe is a family favorite. Use really good sugar for best results, India Tree's light muscovado is my favorite. (Tara at Joe's Parkway here in Bozeman keeps it stocked.)
Smooth Sailing, Fix Your Food Relationship in 2025!
So this is week 20 of Smooth Sailing. We’ve covered the 10 Principles of Intuitive Eating, and I post every Monday to share my perspective on how to set yourself free from diet-thinking and live a more connected life. Please subscribe and share. Thank you so much for being here.
Please see my About Love & Cookies site on Substack for access to my writing.
Have a great week!
