Human Cooling, Global Warming and Childhood Obesity

"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 22 observations:

1. Listening has been replaced by lecturing.

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 have replaced them 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 the idea that 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 feel not only 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? By the way, most of the people I know who love to exercise and eat healthfully 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:

1. Think of someone you are grateful to, what you are grateful to them for, and the difference it made to you and your life.

After you have done the above for one week, please come back to this post and leave your comment. And if it has been an uplifting week and gave you a new attitude toward life (and maybe made it easier to take care of yourself health-wise), 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:

By the way, 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.