Food for your thoughts

One of the “culture shocks” I experienced coming to US was the fast food culture.

In the old country going out to eat was not a necessity, it was a luxury.

Eating out was an event reserved for special occasions.

People would go out on a date, birthday, mother’s day, a job promotion or other significant events.

A lunch or dinner in a restaurant was a unique experience.

The food was exquisite, the people were dressed elegantly and the time you spent there was special.

The whole idea of eating out, the whole setting, was centered and focused on quality.

It was a prize, a reward, something you did because you deserved better.

The idea of “fast food” was not only foreign but also absurd.

Why would anybody stuff their face with mediocre or junk food in as little time as possible?

Life is not a contest of who is doing things faster, but in enjoying the experience.

Then I come to US and I found the explanation: CONVENIENCE

But convenience is just an abused excuse. ‘

It is not all the time that we are in such hurry, that we are in such a time crunch that “fast food” will be a convenient choice.

It is more likely that people are too lazy to do the right thing and instead choosing the fast and cheap way out.

Of course after years and years of following this trend America has developed a new problem: OBESITY

And slowly but surely people have become more aware of the shortcomings of the fast food culture.

More and more people are going back to the old ways of preparing and eating the food.

More and more people are choosing health and a good experience over convenience.

But I really don’t want to talk about food in this post.

The fast food craze it is just a point of reference an analogy to what I really want to talk about.

Let’s talk about your brain “food”. The information, the news, and the knowledge you are ingesting.

I lived through the personal computer revolution and the rise of the internet.

What I am seeing is practically the same trend and trajectory the fast food industry had in the past.

The McDonalisation of information. The replacement of quality content with junk thought.

The wonderful experiences of my youth, the marvelous hours I spent in a museum, a theater or simply reading a book are gone.

The more the technology has advanced, radio, television, the internet, the lower and lower the quality of information and the quality of the experience have declined.

We are now at the paramount of junk brain food evolution and the resulting problem is starting to become obvious: the growing epidemic of mental “obesity” I’m seeing around every day.

Apathy, short attention span, a degeneration of the common sense, irrational behavior, rage and confusion just to name a few of the symptoms of this new epidemic.

How long before we all realize that this “diet” of junk thought is as damaging to our mind and soul as the cholesterol, the fat, the sugar and salt of the junk food is damaging to our body?

Do we really have to wait for the scientists to tell us that all this garbage we expose our brains to is bad for us?

I don’t know about you but I instinctively started a mental “diet” and I am urging anybody with some common sense left to do the same.

You deserve much better than what the media and internet is pouring down your throat.

You just have to drop the “convenience” of the junk thought industry and go back to the old ways.

You deserve quality nutrition not only for your body but also for your mind and soul.

Here is what I do and maybe you can add some suggestion of your own to my list.

-          I cut off the satellite subscription since 2011 and not replaced with anything else.

-          I cut off my social media presence to a bare minimum. I don’t have a Face Book account, or should I say I couldn’t close it so I just turned it into a fake account I just use when I need a FB account to log in something else.

-          I changed my internet presence from passive to active. And this is what I mean by it. I changed my browser homepage to google.com so when I go on the internet it opens to an almost blank page and nothing is forced down my throat. From there I choose what I want to see or hear.

-          I cut down on my email intake by putting any unrequested email in the junk bin. I am now down to 3-4 emails a day.

-          I spend as much time in nature as I can. No weekends at home or on the internet.

-          I nurture face to face or at least person to person communication and relationships.

-          I meditate and dedicate special time to my spiritual wellbeing.

-          I try to be as creative as possible. Even if it is just writing a blog post.

So that’s a little bit of my experience I want to share with you.

I believe I deserve better and YOU should also seek, choose and accept only what’s best for you