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A thought this morning: there may be value in exploring substitute goods as a way to mitigate the costs of emotional/escapism eating. What delivers the same results at a lower cost? (I am not speaking in terms of dollars.) And clearly to reinforce that new behavior, what complementary goods are in play? We do that all the time even if we do not label them as such.

Of course, the above is more of a reactionary approach. What if we identify and resolve our reaction to the issue that shoves us into the fridge? And maybe we cannot shake it and hence the above Kung Fu redirection.

This is nothing new and it amuses me to think I'm walking outside and saying...

"Look the Sun is good for you, not the cave! Put that cudgel down, Igor!"

"Eat our ancestral ready-to-eat meaty meals and not those Post Grape-Nuts in a box! Postum's wheat bran and molasses fail as a healthy alternative for coffee—if it was in the grocery sack on the seat of My DeLorean, it would have have never driven the change of the Industrial Revolution!"

"We are meant to live and not be governed by some arbitrary numbers written down on a clipboard by some fella schmoozing it up while on the prowl for the next bubblacious blonde at a medical conference in Vegas!"

Maybe all of this, the theme that ties everything together, is authenticity. Folks just aren't believable. But, what application is here for me?

In this space where others aren't what they appear to be, I can be me. Have I been authentic? Or better yet, where have I felt the most alive? Perhaps that's the true measure of authenticity, inasmuch as that fella I'm left alone to see in the mirror each morning. I look back to that time, way back in Plzeň, upon the threshold of adventure and what I was to be. These REM words resonated within me in that moment: "This place needs me here to start; this place is the beat of my heart."

I hear those old albums and feel the ache of what never was. Oh, Miniver Cheevy, what is in your fridge?