Hi bitflipper. Several things come to mind when reading your post.
The American culture we live in today is one of false fronts. No one wants to show any weakness or deficiencies. We are all perfect, and I am even more perfect than you. This is all too much at the forefront of our society, especially coming out of an election year when every candidate is so perfect, how could you vote for anyone else?
Your post here displays the opposite. You are revealing an area of your life which you are requesting input. This is an example of humility, something sadly lacking in America. Thank you for your honesty.
Even though I have not read all of the replies to your post, they seem to come from an experiential point of view. Maybe my reply will touch on this from an informational point of view.
Your subject line states “cutting back”, as opposed to quitting. So the question is why are you cutting back and not quitting altogether? Do you want to lessen the negative effects but still hang on to something that is a comfort zone of sorts? In other words, don’t you want to do without it entirely? Or, is this too hard to imagine living without? If I were to post that I was cutting back on eating sugar cookies, then all I have to do cut back. But why don’t I quit eating them altogether if I know they’re not doing me any good? And why even post such a thing? Your posting of this subject reveals that you’re looking to fix some issues that you believe are related to the level of marijuana intake.
So here is the informational part. Two of the essentials for the life of the body are oxygen and nutrition. Oxygen we obtain by breathing the air so our lungs can pass that oxygen along to the bloodstream. Nutrition we obtain by eating food. The reason we eat is because our brain is telling us to replenish the nutrition that has been used in metabolic processes; therefore we feel hungry.
Let’s start with the oxygen. We are meant to inhale clean air. With the intake of any smoke, which is a toxin, that process is hindered. Can the body still survive when inhaling smoke? Yes, up to a point. Any toxin entering the body will divert attention from experiencing normal metabolism to dealing with eliminating that toxin. In other words, some of your body’s energy supply is now used for housecleaning instead of vitality. I can just hear some of you reading this and thinking, “Wait a minute, I’m not smoking all day long. It’s only from time to time” or however much you do smoke. Now you enter into justification, or trying to defend something that’s harmful. A little bit of toxins won’t hurt that much. But I don’t think you would justify putting your head to a car’s tailpipe for a few minutes every day and say, “I don’t do it that often”. All of a sudden that becomes a different topic. No, it’s the same thing. Why do something to damage your body? Does our air have pollutants in it? To varying degrees, it probably does. But don’t use that as an excuse to make your desire valid. The body and brain need clean blood to function properly. So, it’s best to give it what it wants by breathing clean air.
Now to touch on the nutritional aspect for a minute. The body needs a good supply of nutrition which is obtained through eating food. The question then becomes, “what is food”? Sadly, in America we don’t know the right answer. We go to the food store to buy food and then eat that food. However, the majority of that food purchase is not really food even though it is marketed as such. This is why America is in epidemic levels of chronic degenerative diseases and increasingly obese. Our bodies are trying to survive on this food that has little value. The next time your car’s fuel gauge is low, go to that same food store and buy 5 gallons of orange juice and put that in your tank. No one would ever think of doing such a thing. The car needs gasoline. Our bodies need proper nutrition but we’re putting the equivalent of OJ into a car’s gas tank. After your car is towed, what would your mechanic then suggest? “It looks like we need to do valve replacement surgery”. (A little sarcasm there). No, he is going to tell you that you put the wrong fuel in there. A car simply will not run without the proper fuel. Our bodies can tolerate more wrong doing than a car, but over time, we’ll end up at the “mechanic’s shop” too.
I’m sure you know that scurvy is a condition related to a vitamin C deficiency. Vitamin and/or mineral deficiencies absolutely result in impaired bodily functions. But there is no such thing as a marijuana deficiency. It is not essential for the vitality of the body. In fact, it takes away from the vitality of the body. A headache is not a condition related to an aspirin deficiency. But we think that simply taking a pill or medication will solve the problem. The lack of aspirin in the body did not cause the headache. The real issue is doing a multitude of wrongs to our body and then asking the doctor for a pill to fix everything. Don’t tell me to change anything I’m doing wrong. Just medicate me. It’s okay to leave your entire house open in the winter. Just crank the heat way up to compensate. Wouldn’t it be more efficient to shut the windows and use much less heat?
We would rather deal with the outward symptoms than the root of the problem. If you can follow the symptoms back to the problem then you’re on the right path. If all you’re doing is comforting your symptoms, then you will be caught in a never-ending loop. If you boosted too much high-shelf EQ on your overheads track, don’t stuff cotton in your ears and think you’ve solved the problem.
Now, after all of this talk about giving the body what it really needs so that it functions efficiently, you probably think that making nutritional changes will fix everything. Well, it may not be that easy. From a logical standpoint, sure, it makes sense. But living is more than just logic. We are all emotion-filled as well. The loss of a loved one can be a highly emotional experience.
I have learned from excellent teachers that, by far, the most controlling aspect of our lives are our thoughts. You ate that slice of pizza because of a thought. No one ever accidentally ate anything. Our mind and our brain are the controlling factors of dealing with everything in life. Food choices, substance choices, etc. You have a free will and hopefully use wisdom in making decisions for the best outcome for your and other’s futures.
At this point, some of you might be mad at me for making these comments; seemingly turning everything into “Just do this and everything will work out”. Some of you might have an entire list of unanswered questions based on these topics. I decided not to go into detail for the sake of space. This thread could go on and on. I am only replying here based upon what thoughts were triggered in me from what I read. Maybe this will be of some help or trigger more interest to learn more. It has helped me tremendously.
Finally, bitflipper, I really appreciate your knowledge in reference to all things Sonar. I always get something out of your replies. Keep up the good work. This Cakewalk community is better because of your involvement.