Dear David, <<Lately, to add to that, I've been eating a lot of sugar, and just sitting around >> Let me tell you that you're not an isolated case, especially during this period of time :-) <<which I think contributed to my mental agitation and restlessness. It has made for difficult meditation -- it's hard to even pay attention to how my mind likes to be distracted.>> I noticed that a lack of discipline in alimentation had an adverse effect on my practice also. You seem you have gone further, in the sense that you have made a specific correlation with *sugar*. Can you elaborate? Cheers NB