Adapting

Daily writing experience - day 64

Adapting

I'm back in Guatemala, my country of origin, after being away for over five years since my last short visit. By now I've lived more than half my life elsewhere.

My senses are helping me revisit the past. Food that's only available here is returning to my digestive tract.  Smells from flowers that only grow here are entering my olfactory receptors.  Energies from the environment are making themselves known throughout my body.

Food that's available elsewhere because it gets exported, but grows here like papaya, pineapple, and coconut tastes so very different because it's allowed to ripen on its vine, tree, or bush.

Many of the same ingredients are transported, sold, and used so differently. And yet, many meals I'm currently having are adapted to a foreign palate as I'm currently lodged in a hotel that caters to tourists.  I'll have to wait several days to get to my childhood home to experience the flavors I grew up with.

Intellectually, I know it'll never be the same again. My taste buds have adapted to a different flavor profile.  I'm no longer the same person physiologically given that our body's cells completely regenerate every seven years.  My gut flora is completely different and it can't handle the same foods, preparations, or spices it used to.

And I'm aware of the desire to revisit certain flavors because they were consumed at special times in my life which is why they're full of pleasant emotional connections in my brain.

Some scents definitely bring memories back. My brain connected them and I can't get those moments back. 

No need to be disappointed, practicing awareness allows me to nurture the desire to reconnect. I have all the special memories inside, even though they're more easily triggered by the external coming into my physical senses.

I'm aware of my past experiences of Guatemala, while at the same time being aware of how differently things are done where I live in Tarzana, and aware of what's true in the present moment.   

I'm grateful for the opportunity to review, reconsider, and reconnect.

Is there anything you'd like to revisit?