Losing Weight (Sigh!)

We are bombarded day in and day out about articles on how to lose weight, images of men and women with their perfect bodies. Our youth look up to celebrities and athletes with their good looks and perfectly toned bodies. So they can throw a ball from one end to the other, or put it in a basket or a hole or a net or pretend to be someone else. How earth shattering! 

I see kids moving from one sports activity to the next as though being constantly in motion is a virtue. I too am guilty of talking about losing that spread around my waist. We are constantly told the virtues of physical exercise and physical activity.

My brain shouts "What about mental exercise?" The brain is a muscle and needs to be constantly exercised as well.  What about solving a math problem in your head, reading a few pages and appreciating the written words, solving a sudoku, doing a crossword, memorizing a poem or a song, playing a word game or doing a puzzle or just learning something new? What about simply contemplating, thinking, appreciating mentally what the significant people in your life say or do, admiring the marvels of the latest technology and its inventors?

How about admiring the brain that has the ability and mental discipline to create a novel, or the brain of a computer programmer who can write complex programs that look so elegant and easy to use, or the brain that produces an elegant solution to a complex mathematical problem or the brain that does incredibly pioneering work to be awarded a Nobel prize or the brain of an entrepreneur who creates jobs and provide livelihood to so many or even the brain that experiments and produces mouth watering incredibly creative recipes? Why this frenzy of physical activity unless it is something you love or are passionate about?

So your house is a little messy, your garden needs a little weeding, your lawn could do with some mowing, or you forgot to keep out your recyclables, so you have a little spread around your waist, flab on your arms and thighs, what's the big deal? You've been busy thinking, experimenting and being creative! Next time you are caught staring into space, someone calls you lazy or a wool gatherer, tell them you are busy thinking, contemplating, exercising your brain!

:D