education

…that’s what the numbers say anyway. Oh, and before I forget, they will also make history as the first generation with a lifespan that is projected to be shorter than that of their parents.

As a parent, it is hard enough to stay ahead of my children’s simmering resentment. If they get a clear grasp of the statistics behind my headline, I’ll never make up the lost ground.

Is It Really That Bad?
Obesity rates are at epidemic levels and increasing at a faster rate among the young. The misguided and corrupt advice on nutrition provided by corporate interests and those who serve as their surrogates (like the USDA) combined with the lack of access to resources and honest information on nutrition and food politics means there is little hope for change.

Recent studies show that the “emotional health” of college students is at a 25-year low. Anyone who really knows college students knows that the free trade at colleges in Adderall and Ritalin is only the tip of the iceberg. Academic and social pressure increase at an even faster rate than the number of students who enter college needing remediation. Depression is projected to be the 2nd leading cause of disability by the year 2020.

Job prospects are worse than at any time since the Great Depression. Eight million jobs have disappeared in the past three years with no sign that they will reappear as companies park their money on the sidelines and send whatever roles they can overseas. People continue to delude themselves that the charter school movement will fire the silver bullet that will make our kids competitive in an international marketplace. The tremendous increase in income disparity over just the last few years means that we have built an economic system that no longer values real economic contribution, talent, hard work, or entrepreneurialism.

Some kids may escape the trifecta – particularly when it comes to the “poor” part for the children of the Billionaire Boys Club (thank you, Joe D’Angelo for the reference!). This demographic also has the resources to pursue appropriate nutrition. It also helps that body image and shame are taught by their parents as part of the syllabus of entitlement. Now, the crazy part…. that’s a different story.

For Anyone Who Cares
I have a few humble suggestions for anyone who wants to lean into the wind and maybe salvage something in the coming years.  I’ve got a mixed audience so this is for young people and for those who care about them.  The points are kind of general but some people will get it and hey, I am around for anyone wanting to go more in depth.

Young people will first need to cultivate the quality of courage. This may have to be done “on the job.” It’s a quality that can be developed. The more you have in the bank, the more resilient you will be.

It really is true that “it’s not what happens to you that matters, it’s how you feel about what happens that matters.” Whether it’s growing muscles, getting a tan, developing callouses, or maintaining your integrity – stress should be welcomed. Don’t ask for things to be easier; seek to make yourself better and more skilled. Here are a few other suggestions:

• redefine success
• make yourself useful (see Robert Heinlein on the problem of specialization)
• get clear on your values
• look for ways to start and strengthen community; be open to looking for it in places where it might not normally exist
• develop a growth mindset (see the work of Carol Dweck)
• build your decision-making muscle
• decide what you will tolerate
• embrace this unique opportunity to be defined by your humanity instead of your role
• understand that biography is not destiny
• be careful who you allow to populate your private universe
• take responsibility for your physical health (I’ve been shocked at the lies and misinformation I discovered we are being told  about nutrition)
• Choose your focus carefully – even in the small things
• You determine the meaning of anything you focus on
• Be the proof that strangers do care
• Develop an entrepreneurial mindset even if you’re stuck in a cubicle
• Look for opportunities for growth in everything you do
• Seek connection
• Give yourself to something greater than yourself

Following this path won’t get you the private jet share, the $4 million house (notice I didn’t say “home”), the 2 or 3 luxury vehicles, or the fancy vacations.  You will: gain peace of mind, serve as a model for the next generation, attract a better class of people, live with integrity, have a clear conscience, be a leader, value simplicity, be closer to the Truth, live the way God intended for us to live.  In any event, it’s better than dying a quiet life of insignificance or, worse, selling out.

The Challenges Ahead
My process for determining the voice for this blog is ongoing. I feel like that mosquito in the nudist colony – I know what to do; I’m just not sure where to start. In the past several days, news stories and studies (see Pew Trust) have come out about the clouds of regret and depression that hover over my fellow Baby Boomers. When we nervously look for renewal and hope from those younger than us, we are confronted by films like Race to Nowhere and news that students in college are suffering from mental health issues in shocking numbers.

The Talk
When I write here, I have tried to put past bitterness to the side and share lessons learned, in the hope that they may be of value to someone. I’ve done some things and been some places that might help provide some people perspective on their travels. The need for this perspective was brought home to me during a conversation with a young man worried about where the world is headed. He said…

“I’m worried about taking on the challenges of the 21st century.” This very general concern might annoy me in other contexts, however…

since this was my 9 year-old son, I put on my best listening skills as he continued…

“When you and Mommy are dead, I’m not sure how I’m going to know what to do about those challenges” (Ask someone who knows him. They’ll tell you it sounds like him). I didn’t have a lot of great advice at that moment but I was able to refrain from a lecture about Bentham’s Utilitarianism versus Pareto efficency and we instead discussed some of the qualities that I thought he needed to cultivate. We talked about things like courage, friendship, service, freedom, and responsibility.

I’m glad that he’s in a wonderful school that has allowed him to develop his natural gifts. It’s one of those places that understands that knowing the name of something doesn’t equal knowledge. Unfortunately,it only runs through 8th grade – well, there’s always homeschooling!

The Curriculum
My goal and desire for him is that he continues with his fascination for the natural world, continues to develop his physical skills to navigate through it, develops the physical and moral courage to confront the bullies who will inevitably invade his journey if he’s ding it the right way, learn sales (after all, so much of the life we live is transactional), and follows the “Heinlein curriculum” – “A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects.”

I want him to grow strong and I also want him to grow gently. I also want him to develop the practice of seeking and practicing good habits. Whether you’re 9 or 79, developing the right habits can help you grow into who you are supposed to be. The spiritual journey does not mean from “here” to “there.” The knowledge and enlightenment that we seek are no further from us than is the voice of God. We don’t need more names, knowledge, or skills – we only need access to the wisdom that we have always had. To begin or strengthen the process of unlearning, we need to develop good habits. And so I present…

Good Habits
When you have formed a good habit, not only will it become necessary to you, but the corresponding bad habit will no longer hold any appeal and will die a natural death. A new set of neural paths is thus formed while the old paths are gradually obliterated. Neuroscience says that forming a new, better habit is much more effective than trying to eliminate a bad habit. Good habits are like a group of lieutenants or executive assistants, working for us by relieving us of the need for conscious attention to an excess of details. Compare the efforts of a child learning to walk, or of a man learning to swim or ride a bicycle with a young child running through a playground or the expert swimmer or cyclist and you have a good example of what habit can accomplish. Our conscious mental processes — in the area of right-thinking – are often as ineffective as the efforts of the child learning to walk or the adult learning to swim or ride a bicycle.

Suppose we were forced to make the same effort in breathing that we do in any voluntary action, how laborious it would be. In the same way, controlled thinking is an effort at first, but stay with it long enough and it becomes a habit and almost automatic. When you make your habits your friend, you make your nervous system an ally. Just like bike riding or walking cease to be conscious processes, an expert thinker comes in time to balance his mind and control it in accordance with the laws of right-thinking. Little or no conscious attention is required for the body or for mental processes.

With most of us, wrong-thinking is habitual and automatic. When right-thinking becomes automatic and as unconscious as breathing, we shall have become truly our own friends. The heart beats and the lungs are inflated without conscious effort and those muscles are never tired, whereas voluntary action of the muscles soon fatigues. Athletes who persist too long in the development of any set of muscles become physically unbalanced. Too much conscious direction of thought produces a sort of mental paralysis – we become unbalanced mentally.

Reflection AND Action
Reflection must eventually find an outlet in action. It must find expression because of that intimate association of thought and the nervous system. If it does not, we become self-hypnotized by watching our own mental processes. Mere affirmations are not enough. One who goes no further than affirmations is like a would-be bicyclist who devotes the majority of her energy to affirming that she can ride, without ever getting on a bicycle to give his thought an outlet in action. Endeavor to give concrete expression to the truths you hold in mind, for only then do they come to life.

Kindness, consideration, cheerfulness, self- control may all become habits. They should in fact be designated as normal habits of a first-class mentality – the normal inheritance of the spiritually well-born. They are acquired, sometimes painfully and with much effort. Gradually, like the expert cyclist for whom bicycling has become a habit, we are relieved from conscious effort. We are balanced and able to enjoy the “scenery.”

When we find ourselves thinking thoughts of an undesirable nature, we must put the brakes on, stop the current of thoughts, and turn on to another road. If we have developed an alternate map of the territory and are clear about the values that inform our journey, we will be okay. Putting on the brakes and changing the path is where the Will comes in – the topic for a future post. Until then, remember that it’s easier to cultivate good habits than it is to try to bury bad ones. It’s also never too late to begin the process of growing gently.

P.S. If you find this of interest, sign up (in the box on the right, or wait for the fancy Pop-up) for my gentle emails on moving through the crap.

What Happened To The Village?
They say that “It takes a village to raise a child.” The village for most children in this country, is nothing but a ghost town. It doesn’t matter where you fall on the economic spectrum – as a child, you are better off finding your own Lord of the Flies island and bringing the Crazy Glue for the conch shell. You’re either “Waiting For Superman” to put you on a glitzier conveyor belt to serfdom or you’re “Racing to Nowhere” because you are the progeny of the wealthy elite who tend to eat their young (after my education at Collegiate School, Princeton, and contact with board members from Boys and Girls Harbor, I AM The Spook Who Sat By The Door regarding my knowledge on this).

Those of us who care at all about the school system, can succumb to the bystander effect. A lot of people are looking at the problem, so someone is sure to step in with a solution.  Why won’t anyone let the kids in on the joke that is their future?

Why Can’t I Keep A Job?
I pride myself on not being a bystander. Some would say I’m no better than the Good Samaritan who administers mouth-to-mouth when a Heimlich is called for but what the hell… I’m a man of action if nothing else. This is one reason why I have moved into the area of “personal development” as part of my professional portfolio. I went through a period where I lost “friends” when I stopped practicing law to enter the field of education. I have now lost more “friends” after abandoning my prestigious leadership position at a dysfunctional nonprofit. In both instances, my initial reaction was that people were somehow embarrassed by my change in status. Now that I have more clarity, I see that the discomfort these people suffer is because of the choices they have made with their lives.

My reading choices are eclectic and range from nutrition and sports performance to economics and biography. My guilty pleasure is the action/adventure genre. I’m currently reading a novel from Lee Child’s Jack Reacher series. I’m about halfway through. Reacher is trying to get to the bottom of a suicide that he witnessed that has left him with questions. As a result of his inquiries, Reacher (a former military policeman and occasional government operative) has been apprehended by what appear to be agents from some Federal agency. He is shot with a tranquilizer gun and placed in a cell in an abandoned firehouse. When he wakes up, he sees two local police officers involved in the case, also locked up. Reacher is able to overpower his jailers and when he sets about freeing the other two, he is stopped by their concern that if they escape from these anonymous inquisitors, they might be confirming their “guilt.” Reacher points out to them that they are guilty of nothing and that relying on their jailer’s benevolence is a fool’s game.

I realize that many people are okay behind their prison walls as long as one of their kind does not attempt to escape. Reminding people of the possibility of freedom is provocative.

Personal Development
When I talk with young people – my own children or other people’s – I tell them about this personal development thing. There are a lot of other professionals who will instruct them on the transactional nature of their formal education. The stuff I talk about has to do with getting rid of limiting beliefs, how to create well-formed outcomes (aka “goal-setting), managing stress and their emotions, discovering their muse, discerning and establishing their values and acting in accord with them, developing habits of courage and action, and the importance of developing their moral imagination. Whether it’s an audience of a single teenager, or a group of veteran Baltimore police officers, I believe it is my job to convince them that these things are survival skills for this new time we find ourselves in.

The Power of One
What next? Learn more about:

• Growing Power
• Transition Communities
• Exuberant Animal
• Edmund Burke on Moral Imagination
• Ralph Waldo Emerson
• Frederick Douglass
• Essays by Wendell Berry
• Community by Peter Block
• our Personal Development workshop

It’s part of the Long Defeat.  Are you in?

Thanksgiving Podcast

Thanksgiving is the perfect time to engage in mindful eating. This podcast (click the link above) takes you through a relaxation exercise – after all, Thanksgiving can be stressful. Stress causes the production of cortisol and too much cortisol will kill us!

I also talk about Robb Wolf‘s idea to re-brand Paleo to avoid the resistance and just get people eating healthfully.

Also, go to Boomer Ronin and sign up for our December 15th workshop!

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving.

With Love,
Hans & Brownstone Fitness

I am getting a better handle on the sources of my Paleo lifestyle fascination.  One of the wonderful legacies left to me by my parents is that I am one of the “And People.”  For me, this means that I wear the cultural fabric of the Africans and Native Americans passed through my mother’s genes AND that of the German Lutherans on my father’s side who made a living farming the land of Nebraska.

Yes, I love NY but I have always felt a restlessness in this place.  The deserts of Sudan and Utah, the wilderness of Montana and New Mexico, a lake in Maine, a village in Nicaragua – these have seemed to hold (at least for the short period of my stay) the rhythm and resonance that I need.

This realized rhythm and my genetic inheritance let me know that I am not suffering from orthorexia or a juvenile and dramatic desire to play a role in a caveman reenactment. My ancestors from all the branches of my family tree shout to me that factory farming is wrong.  It is disrespectful and deadly to the land and its animals;  it is disrespectful and  deadly to the people who are victims of poverty and the trance caused by false abundance.

I don’t wear the robes of a Paleo priest or subscribe to a nutritionism orthodoxy.  I do know that the lowfat  high carb movement of the 70′s and 80′s coincided with the beginning of the obesity epidemic.  I know that the poor, especially poor Native Americans and African-Americans suffer disproportionately under the weight of the food pyramid with its choice of either cheap and  harmful calories or hunger.

As Wendell Berry said, “Eating is an act of agriculture.”  Those of us with options can no longer pretend that our food choices have no consequences.  We have a responsibility to support the local food movement and to expand the market for this food.  Subsidies that allow the increased production of high fructose corn syrup and hydrogenated oils should instead be made available to people who want to produce vegetables and pasteured, free range animals.  We can no longer afford to ignore the externalities we support in exchange for cheap unhealthy food.  At least that’s the message from my ancestors – ALL of them.