INDIGESTION

When you reach your limit don’t be afraid to stop, take a breath and re-focus. It’s important.  Remember you are built for the marathon, not the sprint. Last weekend, I finally brought myself to watch a documentary called Thirteenth. It had been out for awhile. But with current events, it had only piqued my curiosity just recently. The topic – racial injustice in the criminal system—is heavy. And at first I was generally interested, but tired. So tired, that I fell asleep mid-way through. Determined to watch it all and educate myself, I propped myself up the next day for part two. I was engrossed immediately wondering how I fell asleep initially. The depths to which the filmmaker went to tell the story of the pervasiveness of racism in the justice system and the inner workings of how corporations undergird the legal system to push their agenda at the expense of many black and brown people was disheartening to say the least. My emotional state was all over the place. I was angry at the audacity of people to use their power to take one small moment in a person’s life and twist it into a downward spiral from which there seems to be no upward mobility. I was sad at the real-life accounts of people impacted by the injustice of the justice system. In one case leading to an untimely death through the desperate cry of suicide. I was disturbed as I thought about every young boy and man I knew and the possibility that they might somehow find themselves entangled because they had the misfortune of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. That might mean driving down the highway, walking down the street or jogging through their neighborhood.  Needless to say, I inhaled the documentary. There are some things you taste, like a small sip of Riesling at a wine tasting. Some things you consume, like a fine meal at a restaurant. And some things you inhale, like water after a long run or your first meal after a fast.

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Indigestion is abdominal discomfort that can occur when food or drink is consumed too quickly. It can also be caused by consuming food that is too hard for the body to process properly. Indigestion is ap problem for the body and the mind. Sometimes, you can consume too much information too quickly and when that happens, it can lead to a constant regurgitation that makes it difficult to process what you’ve seen and move forward. For me this happened with Thirteenth. The documentary did its job (I believe) in raising my awareness of an important issue and causing me to see more clearly that for all of the advancements this country has made in race relations and racial equality, we still have a lot more work to do. But those images, stayed with me. For… a long time and disturbed my thoughts and actions. My mind couldn’t digest what I consumed. And if left me sick.

When indigestion happens in the body, the ‘cure’ for it is to be kind to your system. Choose more palatable foods that the body can process easier. Eat smaller amounts more frequently to help with digestion. The same is true for the mind. When you face mental indigestion, choose to be kind to your mind by feeding it regularly with things are positive and uplifting. You don’t have to watch every documentary, read every article, subscribe to every newsletter or engage in every debate. You can and should choose to be selective in how you take in information. The world needs you healthy, whole. Preserve your peace in both body and mind.