Bring back that lovin' feeling! - The Righteous Brothers
Are we getting even with an unloving world by taking from Mother Nature and then eating poorly?
Tell me I'm wrong about these twenty two observations:
- Listening has been replaced by lecturing
- Talking with has been replaced by talking at or worse, talking over
- Thinking has been replaced by reacting
- Being contemplative has been replaced by being bored
- Joy has been replaced by excitement
- Gratitude has been replaced by disappointment
- Taking responsibility for your actions has been replaced with blaming and/or excuse making
- Being loving has been replaced with being resentful
- Laughing with has been replaced with laughing at others
- Happiness has been replaced by fleeting fun
- Kindness has been replaced with irritability and being judgmental
- Fulfillment has been replaced by busyness
- Wisdom has been replaced by smartness
- Patience has been replaced by impatience
- Calmness has been replaced by agitation
- Contentment has been replaced by momentary satisfaction
- Making love has been replaced by having sex
- Giving has been replaced by taking, or even worse grabbing
- Selflessness has been replaced by selfishness
- Value has been replaced by ROI
- Human being has been replaced by human doing and worse, human having
- Peace of mind and peace on Earth has been replaced by piece of the action
If I am not wrong, then what do the items at the beginning of each observation have in common that those on the right that they have been replaced by don't?To me, it seems that the ones at the beginning of each observation overflow with, "Being okay with the world and oneself and wanting to give back to the world," while the ones at the end overflow with, "Something is missing and something is wrong scarcity and pulling, pushing, taking and grabbing to fill the hole."
The more you feel or live with those experiences on the right side of the list, the more you will try to consume, buy, take and grab to compensate for it and doing that heats up the world and leads to global warming (a.k.a. much ado about nothing).More importantly, the more you feel and live with those experiences on the left side of the list, the more you want to give back to the world for those gifts.
How does this relate to childhood (and adult) obesity? Imagine being a child living in a world surrounded by people who behave much more like the descriptions on the right side of the list. Furthermore imagine being a child who feels frustrated, hurt, upset and/or angry and that the first thing you need is comfort (not pity, but compassion and TLC) and the last thing you need is a lecture or worse being barked at and shamed. If you not only feel deprived, but "beaten up" (figuratively or literally) and comfort is nowhere to be found and ice cream, hamburgers, french fries and good old American grease makes you feel better and zoning out on your computer or video game offers you a distraction and even some fun and healthy food and exercise feel like more pain, what are you going to choose? BTW most of the people I know who love to exercise and to eat healthily have a passion (if not obsession) about it and those two focuses often relieve emotional pain for them instead of adding to it which is true of the majority of children.
To test this hypothesis, for the next week, each day:
- Think of someone you are grateful to, what you are grateful to them for, the difference it made to you and your life.
- Contact them (or a surviving family member if they have died) to tell them the above.
- Think of someone you need to apologize to and what you need to apologize to them about.
- Contact them, tell them (if it's been a long time), "This is a long overdue apology, that I should have made a long time ago, but as time slipped away I felt too embarrassed to contact you.But I'm contacting you now to tell you, I did _______ (or failed to do_____________), I was wrong and I am sorry."If you use email, write in the subject line, "A long overdue apology," which should get their attention.
After you have done the above for one week, please come back to this posting and leave your comment. And if it has been an uplifting week and gave you a new attitude towards life (and maybe made it easier to take care of yourself healthwise), teach it to and model it for your children.
If you think human cooling is new, as this famous 1964 song by the Righteous Brothers will attest, think again:
The Righteous Brothers - You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin' from A on Vimeo.
BTW if you're too cynical, hardened and critical about this particular blog, beware that you may be on your way to becoming like the unforgiving, bitter parent that you swore you would never become.