This passage was given to me recently and I think it’s a great example of the awareness we all need to achieve of how we are marketed to and the change we need to embrace related to it.
Recently, in a large city in Australia, a poster featuring a young, thin and tan woman appeared in the window of a gym. It said, “This summer, do you want to be a mermaid or a whale?”
A middle-aged woman, whose physical characteristics did not match those of the woman on the poster, responded publicly to the question posed by the gym.
To Whom It May Concern,
Whales are always surrounded by friends (dolphins, sea lions, curious humans.)
They have an active sex life, get pregnant and have adorable baby whales. They have a wonderful time with dolphins stuffing themselves with shrimp. They play and swim in the seas, seeing wonderful places like Patagonia, the Bering Sea and the coral reefs of Polynesia. Whales are wonderful singers and have even recorded CDs. They are incredible creatures and virtually have no predators other than humans. They are loved, protected and admired by almost everyone in the world.
Mermaids don’t exist. If they did exist, they would be lining up outside the offices of Argentinean psychoanalysts due to identity crisis. Fish or human? They don’t have a sex life because they kill men who get close to them, not to mention how could they have sex? Just look at them… where is IT? Therefore, they don’t have kids either… Not to mention, who wants to get close to a girl who smells like a fish store?
The choice is perfectly clear to me: I want to be a whale.
P.S. We are in an age when media puts into our heads the idea that only skinny people are beautiful, but I prefer to enjoy an ice cream with my kids, a good dinner with a man who makes me shiver, and a glass of wine with my friends.
Probably the most powerful external influence on your life that acts daily to derail any attempts you make to achieve and live your Ideal Life with Thriving Health is the media or companies using media style marketing. Specifically images of models with “perfect” bodies living a “perfect” life.
Well did you know that the overwhelming majority of images in magazines and other forms of print media are altered using Photoshop or other software? That’s the message given by professional photographer/retoucher Tim Lynch, who works with the stars. Celebrities maintain strict control over what images are allowed to be printed.
How can everyone else strive to achieve a look even celebrities cannot attain? At some level the public believes the perfection of celebrities to be real, yet it is not. This external/internal game of deception wreaks havoc on the ability to achieve realistic Thriving Health.
It is at the heart of my principle of Awareness. I hope this growing trend continues so that we become more and more aware of this powerful influence on our lives.
In health,
Brent
Beginning with a degree in exercise science and kinesiology, Brent Haydey has evolved over thirty years as an entrepreneur; building four businesses, and as a health, executive, and life coach.