Dear Parker:

When we shut down our emotions, or shed them, it happens without our choosing, it is a natural occurrence, happens as a reaction to lack of love. But our emotions don’t die, they don’t disappear, they are there, only repressed, numbed, underneath. The passion that you have for Italian food, that comes from those numbed emotional part of you.

What happens next is that you get too-excited-for-comfort, facing pasta or pizza. You are not used to that kind of excitement, fearing it, so you rush through eating, to get the excitement over with.

Eating differently is a way for you to make a lot of progress in your situation, but it will be a slow and gradual process. Next time you are facing pizza, don’t rush. Every time you notice a rushing, slow down-

– this is very difficult to do and very unpleasant, but there is no way to heal from emotional shut down without the anxiety and discomfort involved in healing.

Slow down, chew slowly, make the eating not an automatic, quick experience. Slow down. Try it, if you will and let me know how it goes.

anita