“Know thy self… The unexamined life is not worth living”
~ Socrates
“We need more understanding of human nature,
because the only real danger that exists is man himself. He is the great danger.
And we are pitifully unaware of it. We know nothing of man ... far too little.
His psyche should be studied — because we are the origin of all coming evil”
~ C.G. Jung
~ Francis Crick
From this
point on one thing is for sure..... I can't promise you each blog will be 500
words or less. Each section from here on out will require us to dive a little
deeper beneath the surface in search of the answer to, "why we do what we do?".... And the specifics of
nutrition and exercise.
Before we
begin I must first thank my wife Kim. I've attempted to write many blogs and
books about health and fitness before and she has always been there to edit my
mess.
(I know what I think... that is until
I read what I write. She has always been there to help make sense of my ADD
mind)
But the one
thing I want to thank her about the most (besides
marring me and raising the most incredible kids) is a brilliant question
she asked me after another failed attempt to put my thoughts on paper regarding
fitness.
She stated,
in a very sensitive tone... "Kelly, this is great, but people know
what to do.....a great question to address is why don't they do it?"
If it had
not been for Kim's simple question, I would still be like most of you....
focusing on the solution...rather than trying to understand the problem.
Newton said,
"If I have seen further than most it’s
because I've stood on the shoulders of giants."
In my case
those shoulders belong to my wife....thanks Kim.
So now let’s
sit back, kick your feet up, and get back to YOU...
In my first
blog about YOU, I stated "You
cannot change what you do not acknowledge." This of course is only one
part of change.....of course the most important part...but still only one part.
Most times
the "acknowledgement" leaves us focusing on the manifestations (i.e.
behaviors...eating, drinking, drugs, sex, etc.), rather than understanding the
complexity of the origins of human desires.
For a
moment...I want you to envision an Iceberg.
(Visualize the tip above the
surface...now...visualize the large mass beneath the surface)
Because the
density of fresh water ice is less than that of sea water, typically only
one-tenth of the volume of an iceberg is above water. The shape of the
underwater portion can be difficult to judge by looking at the portion above
the surface. This has led to the expression, "tip of the iceberg"...
when only a small portion of the entire (and
usually larger) problem or situation is visible.
Let me
rephrase this in human terms...
We are all
individuals floating on the surface in the sea of life.
Each
individual is a unique combination of genetically coded biology and
environmental conditioning, which makes it very difficult to judge what lies
beneath the surface.
This diverse
and unique combination of genetics and environment is what makes each of us "believe what we believe", and
therefore "do what we do."
Although we
are different, we all struggle - it
has been well documented throughout human history.
Take a
look...
“I do not understand
what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do”
~ Roman 7:15
~ Stephen Batchlor
YOU are not
alone.
One of my
statements in my first blog was, "You do what you do because you get something from it."
So what do
we get?
Consequences....you
get consequences.
The consequences
from eating in moderation are most times health and limited trips to the doctor’s
office. The consequences you get from
over eating are weight gain and most times health issues.
But looking
at the consequences is like looking at the “tip of the iceberg.” What we see is just a manifestation of what’s
happening beneath the surface. What’s
happening below the surface is
ironically located at the top of our
head.
The next
couple of sections will focus on the two main determining factors as to-
"Why we do what we do”
The next
sections will cover the blind drives of biology and the learned behaviors
from our environment.
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