Revelation
Charlotte Rains Dixon  

There’s Revelation in Deprivation

Hey–before you read this, hop on over to Jodi Milner's blog, My Literary Quest, and read her interview with me.  She asked great questions that I enjoyed answering!

For the next couple weeks, I am off coffee and alcohol.  Okay, I get to drink one cup of coffee a day.  But no alcohol.  And no nuts, seeds, spicy foods, chocolate or popcorn.

Why?

Blame it on the ileocecal valve.  Or you could blame it on my new chiropractor.  But whoever you want to blame it on, here's the deal: I've had pain in my shoulder and my knee and leg off and on for the past two years.  My acupuncturist would get it knocked back and then it would flare up again.  Finally, at her insistence I went to a doctor who practices Applied Kinesiology. 

Which is magic.

He poked here, rubbed there, moved my leg around, adjusted my spine and voila! I feel way better.  Like, no pain in my shoulder for the first time in forever.  And only a bit of pain in my leg when I rise after sitting for awhile.  Plus, I have my normal gait back.  I've been walking like Dustin Hoffman in Rain Man for the past year or so, all the while suspecting that one leg had got shorter than the other, which turned out to be true.

I'm getting to the point of all this.  Which is that in the AK world, as with all alternative medicine, everything is connected.  And my doc suspects that some of this muscle pain has to do with a cranky ileoocecal valve, which happens to be the case for most people.  It's a little flap between your large intestine and small intestine and it controls things I don't want to think about too much, like waste backing up into your colon or something like that.  Anyway, all the things I listed that I am not currently eating or drinking irritate it.  Which is why I'm not eating or drinking them.

Coffee and wine are the most problematic, as I love them both, and my first thought was no way.  But I truly want this lack of pain to continue.  And so I've committed to this path.  And I have to say, it is amazing what results.

I'm finding that if I don't leap to sip at my coffee or drink a glass of wine at night, there's openness.  I'm not tamped down, I'm not suppressing myself, I'm open.  It's not always the most comfortable feeling, this being open.   Hence, the tendency to depress it.  But I'm hanging in there.

And I think, no I know, this is crazy wild good for my writing and creativity.  Simply feeling different is always a generative state.  But feeling different and open?  Unreal.  Mad writing is the result.

What opens you up?  Have you ever had an experience of revelation in deprivation?  Or even just revelation?

 

0 thoughts on “There’s Revelation in Deprivation

  1. J.D.

    So the glass of red wine I have every night, while it may be good for my heart, is trashing my ileocecal valve. Hum. You’re post sent me searching for the name of a lady from the hippie era, Adelle Davis. Ms. Davis always espoused—and I believe she had a book titled—you are what you eat. The phrase has come up a few times since Anthelme Brillat-Savarin, in 1826, gave us this little gem: Tell me what you eat and I will tell you what you are. Hum. I have to think about that. I believe food is important—really important. It is interesting that you feel creatively different with this change in your habits. I wonder if your readers have any suggestions for book—starter foods.

  2. Charlotte Dixon

    J.D., Sorry to be the bearer of bad news. I always thought wine was good for me, too. Oh, and I love, love, loved Adelle Davis. I remember my sister and I carrying her book around like a bible.

    Love your suggestion that readers note book-starter foods, hope someone answers!

  3. Suzanne

    Charlotte, What an interesting take on things! Today I have whiled away much longer than my lunch-hour reading and pondering this post & all the links in it. Love your Dr. Weeks and his site. Boning up, no pun, on the paleo diet. Of COURSE it’s a good idea, but yikes. I hope your changes help you, especially to stop walking like Rain Man. 🙂

    Great interview with Jodi Milner, too! Now I must get back to paying job — it’s not car-top carriers but in the same family.

  4. Zan Marie

    For what it’s worth, my sodium level remained stubbornly low and the doctors were despondent that I’d get critically low until I stopped drinking diet Coke. Oh I knew it wasn’t good for me, but I *liked* it. I don’t now. ; ) It has to help with the creativity! Good for you for sticking to it.

  5. Charlotte Dixon

    Suzanne, I know that Paleo diet is intense. It has also spawned some semi-obnoxious names of books like “Neander-thin.” Sigh. I’ve got my hands full with no wine and coffee at the moment so I’m doing the best I can on the diet, but not being obsessive about it. But Dr. Weeks is great! And thanks for reading the Jodi Milner interview.

    Zan Marie, Isn’t it funny how we love the things that are bad for us? I was a confirmed smoker for years and I loved it. I always joke that when I’m eighty I’m going to start smoking again, except that now I hate the smell and the taste, so that probably won’t happen after all!

  6. Trisha

    No alcohol…oh my gosh!!! I know 3 weeks isn’t too bad, but wow. That would be a test for me.

    I need to try a kinesiologist.

  7. Charlotte Dixon

    Trisha, it is definitely a stretch for me. But so far, so good, and I feel great.

  8. David Paine

    OK, so I’m reading your post and the comments, and I have two – totally unrelated, which is typical – questions:

    1. So, no wine. What about gin? Could I still drink gin and get all this crazy, wild, good openness stuff?

    2. Your valve comments are making me think of Ignatius J. Reilly in Confederacy of Dunces and his irritable valve. Same valve?

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