What comes natural.
Image: Carp, Ohara Koson, 1887-1945, Rijksmuseum. Used with permission.
So I have been thinking about naturalism, because it's a topic of concern in Narrative Therapy. (In particular the therapist marcela polanco got me thinking about this, as well as some of the work of Narrative's founder, Michael White.)
Anyway, naturalism: it's kind of where ideas go to get dismissed, because if you say something is "just natural" well then it needs no further explanation.
Naturalism is the reason given for "eating when you're hungry, stopping when your body is satisfied." Babies do it, we hear, so it's natural. BUT.
I don't know. Is that enough? We all want to branch out from what comes naturally to a baby. Achieving more organization in my eating is one of those things.
And I also wonder about how natural it really is to eat when you're hungry. Is it? For 99.99% of human existence, eating when you were hungry and stopping when you'd had enough would have been a high weirdity.
There NEVER WAS ENOUGH food to fund that kind of approach to eating.
Hunger was the rule. HUNGER was what was natural. Stopping when your body was "satisfied" was probably for dumbasses. Surely you would always be hoping to pick up a little extra weight.
If anything, overdoing it is what's natural for humans. Which is why in our current environment, eating is a problem so many problems. We live in the only known time in actual human history of constant abundance.
(Except maybe the Garden of Eden? I mean sure but Adam, what a goody-goody. I bet he was the perfect little intuitive eater. And we all know about Eve's inability to control her appetites. Tcha!)
If anything, conviviality is the other thing that comes naturally for humans. Eating in groups, for fun and safety and of course, we may hope, equitable sharing.
Conviviality means eating with some predictability, around here aka "eating meals at mealtimes" <- h/t my friend Deanna, who now styles this "M@MX" haha 🤩
In the Narrative view, claims of naturalism might be viewed with skepticism. Such a claim is likely sitting on top of more interesting (and more powerful) complexity.
For me, the claim that the natural way to eat is Intuitive Eating (I mean, just look at it, it's already a tautology!) serves to pre-empt the question: Hey might there be an even better way to eat?
Tell you what. For binge eaters, PREDICTABILITY and REPEATABILITY AKA BEING ORGANIZED, that is a better way to eat.
Other things are...
WRITING.
Over on Modern Daily Knitting I wrote about evening routines: Self-Care: Morning Begins at Night.
Are you subscribed? If you are a knitter, MDK is a great resource. Something EVERY DAY.
PODCASTING.
I got to talk to Cameron Steele of Interruptions on Interrupting Binge Eating. That was fun! Bit revealing. Cameron (disclosure: is a friend) is a dazzling woman with an amazing intellect.
Interruptions is about literature, tarot and more. The pod is for paid subscribers, which you might consider. And there's a book club!
READING.
Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals, by Oliver Burkeman. I would really like the "Only About A Thousand Weeks Left Now" short version. But it's good! Here is the best thing I learnt from it:
Have one (or two, if you want to separate work and life) full to-do lists. These are your "open" lists. Then have another current tasks list ("closed") with no more than six items on it. If you want to put something more important on your closed list(s) for immediate attention, something has to come off to make room.
In practice, I do more than six life things and six work things in a day. But Burkeman's system has made me more mindful—in the practical virtue sense of the word, not the cheesy virtue-signaling sense of the word—about how I choose what to do and also HOLY SHIT DO I GET A LOT DONE IN A DAY. It's very satisfying to notice.
I recommend this book! It's got a ton of sanity.
Woke Racism, by John McWhorter.This book.Basically, it's about performative virtues and the language thereof. I substantially agree with McWhorter about the religiosity of much activism. I WISH he didn't sound 600 years old when he's talking about this shit, because the moments when he doesn't, sound 600 years old I mean, are so funny and good.
Next week I will tell you about The Verifiers by Jane Pek! Frolic!