Food & Content
I am daily reminded of how foods influences what comes up for me, especially since I have some food sensitivities.
Last night, I made a stew with onions and garlic. It is long between each time I use those two ingredients, and waking up this morning I (again) knew why. My system seemed dense, dull and easily irritable. I noticed how I woke up with an undercurrent of anger (very unusual for me, and almost always triggered by food if it happens), I noticed the searching of something in the surroundings or the situation to put it on, and also how all this was just my human self playing out whatever it had to temporarily play out, and that there was no need to give energy to it. It could just unfold within space.
Fortunately, it does not last very long and is mostly over now - especially after some physical activity (going for a walk in the sunshine). The yogic traditions warn about those two foods, and it is easy for me to understand why.
Other foods that impacts me include dairy (sluggish, heavy, clogged up), sugar (energy drops dramatically) and wheat (odd mental space, sense of unreality). Artificial sweeteners, flavors etc. are even worse, especially in triggering an odd mental space.
It seems that food is one way the content of our experiences are influenced, and a reminder of how the content of our experiences has infinite causes, some which are quite physical and seemingly mundane. For me, at least, food is also a relatively simple and transient way to experience a range of mental states. Not that I need to seek it out, food-induced states comes frequently enough anyway.