HOW DO YOU DIGEST LIFE?

I want to begin with a question.

It may seem simple at first glance, but I won’t be explaining it too much because sometimes explanation waters down the potency of a question.

So here it is:

How do you digest life?

And

How does your digestion of life mirror how your body digests food?

Let that settle. Let it marinate. Let it sit with you for longer than a scroll or a sip.

Because I believe this question, when lived with rather than answered too quickly, holds depth beyond information.

It holds transformation.

Your Gut Doesn't Always Whisper in the Gut

Most of us think digestive issues live in the gut. Bloating. Gas. Constipation. Diarrhea. But the truth?

Many digestive challenges do not even show up as what we’d traditionally call digestive.

Your gut is interwoven with every system in your body: your brain, immune system, skin, joints, emotions, eyes, hormones, energy, sleep, breath.

Which means that headaches, joint pain, fatigue, depression, chronic illness can all be signposts of something deeper unfolding in your digestive system.

Now let’s add another layer.

The Values We Swallow

What if your gut doesn’t only digest food?

What if it digests your family’s values?

The values you inherited. The ones you were raised around. The silent expectations about success, expression, love, failure, money, image, gender role, productivity.

What if your GI tract holds the memories not only of food but of loyalty, guilt, fear, shame, and confusion?

What if your ongoing symptoms physical or emotional are not only responses to gluten, dairy, stress, or alcohol but are also responses to an internal war?

A war between who you were told to be and who you desire becoming.

Compliance or Defiance?

Most of us fall into one of two camps when it comes to our family's belief system:

1. Compliance:
   You do your best to uphold the family’s values.
   You say things like: “My parents were amazing, they did everything right.”
   And yet you might find it hard to tell the full truth about your upbringing.
   You might feel guilt, fear, or even shame around admitting what wasn’t perfect because that might feel like betrayal.

2. Defiance:
   You do everything opposite of your parents.
   You push away their values, maybe even with intensity.
   You rebel. You fight. You insist: “I’m nothing like them.”
   And yet the fight still revolves around them.

Both are forms of attachment to the central idea of family dynamics.

Both are reactions.
And both, in their own way, keep you entangled in the same system you’re trying to escape or uphold.

Osho and Jung: Letting Go to Digest Fully

Two teachers offer insight here.

Osho once said: “You must kill your parents.”
Jung said: “You must individuate.”

While Osho’s words sound intense, they point to a shared idea:

True digestion of life begins when you release the inherited roles, values, and attachments that no longer serve you.

Not from hate or resentment.

But from respect.

From acknowledgment.

From clarity.

The Mess You Hide, the Truth You Reveal

Here’s a real-life reflection point:

What do you change about your home or self when your parents come to visit?

Do you hide the mess?
Tidy up your life’s rough edges?
Conceal the evidence of who you’ve become?

That’s a breadcrumb.

A reminder that some part of you may still be seeking approval, fearing disapproval, or trying to keep your spot at the family table even if it costs you your truth.

Physiology Mirrors Psychology

When we live in tension compliance or defiance our nervous systems feel it.

This can lead to:

• Digestive dysfunction

• Immune dysregulation

• Food sensitivities

• Chronic fatigue

• Skin flares

• Sleep disruption

• Emotional rollercoasters

Your gut is brilliant and sensitive. It knows when you’re in conflict with yourself.

And your symptoms might not be something to eliminate. They might be something to listen to.

So What Now?

Ask yourself:

• Where am I still living out my family’s values through agreement or rebellion?

• What parts of me feel afraid to live my truth?

• What parts of me are ready to be seen, respected, and nourished?

• Am I willing to digest life on my own terms not from fear, but from honesty?

This is individuation. This is self-respect.
This is the beginning of freedom and the softening of your gut.

When you begin to choose your values with curiosity, with courage, with reverence for where you came from your physiology will often follow. YOU MUST RESPECT FROM WHERE YOU CAME. RESPECT IS DIFFERENT THAN APPROVAL.

You digest food more fully when you digest your life more honestly.

Let this be a reminder:

You're allowed to step out of the old story.
You're allowed to keep what works and compost what doesn't.
You're allowed to be both the seed and the soil of your own becoming.

Be well
Digest gently
And enjoy being you

Jator