175.0 Trading Addictions

I really believe that most of us if not all of us either are addicted to certain things like food, wine, etc., or activities like talking on the phone, hobbies that we can't put down, even exercise, and so on.

Over the past two and a half years I think I've traded in my food and wine addictions for some much lower calorie addictions, but addictions all the same. My iPhone has become inseparable from me. I am constantly checking my email on it or playing Scrabble on it, or on a really slow day, checking the weather in all the various places my relatives live. I take it to bed with me and when I have my bouts of insomnia, I check my email again. It's amazing what stuff I get in the middle of the night and that I read it. Most are efforts to get me to buy things. So far, my addiction hasn't included buying as a result of reading all about these very special deals.

No, none of this is perilous to my health, physical or mental, but I wonder what life would be like if/when I could be free of my dependence on my iPhone to make me feel connected and alive.

Have I always been addicted to outside forces to help me navigate life? Are we all? Maybe the word addiction is a little harsh, but you know what I mean. And, to be honest, the iPhone addiction hasn't totally usurped the place of food in my life. I will battle that addiction forever, but it is a lot easier now to just say no.

So what use do these addictions have for me in my life? Could it all be about distractions from really living, facing life, being in the thick of it, rather than eating, drinking, and... oops, gotta go check my email!

175.0 Food and Happiness

Ted at 7


My son called yesterday and was laughing about some work that he had written in school when he was about 6 or 7 years old that he had just come across as he was sifting through stuff in preparation for a yard sale. I'm so glad I saved it, and even laminated it in hopes that some day he would look back at it and smile!

He suggested that I write about this in my blog. It just about says it all when we think of how strong the connection can be between food and happiness for some of us. Here's what this adorable little guy wrote in response to the question what makes you happy: "I am happy when my mom lets me have something to eat!" And, in response to what makes you unhappy: "I'm unhappy when she doesn't!" And, by the way, I did feed him at least three times a day - I'm laughing to myself - in case you were thinking that this was some poor deprived little kid. And, yes, food still makes him very happy and he's become a wonderful chef!

Oh, and in response to what would you like to give your dad, he wrote "a corvette". His dad is still waiting! :)

202.0 Reward System Revealed!

I finally went Christmas shopping. I have bought several things online, but today was the first day I faced shopping in stores. It was really quite eerie. I didn't have to wait long to get checked out, people were available to help me, and except for the Andrea Bocelli Christmas CD I wanted, I found perfect gifts for several people.

As I was waiting to get checked out my eyes fell upon all the candy bar choices (I was at Target) and I had a major flash back to the time when I would buy a candy bar every time I went to the grocery store. This was several years ago when I didn't want my kids to see me eating candy or Jeff, for that matter. It was a little reward system I set up for myself, sort of like a frequent flyer point system. The more times I shopped for the family, the more often I could have a candy bar. I am really aware of the addictive qualities of certain foods now and I know that an addiction to chocolate was well established. That chocolate that we had at the Bellagio triggered it all over again. I find myself thinking that I want some chocolate, after not having that message running around rampant in my mind for a long time. So, the next time I am tempted to take a piece of chocolate I am going to try to remember that it will be a little like uranium, having many half lives until I can get it completely out of my system.

By the way, I am delighted that Jeff's birthday dessert hasn't come back around to haunt me. I wonder why....