May 7, 2017

Americans Are Giving Up Because they Feel There is No Hope – Don’t Be the New Normal

The proportion of American adults who were either overweight or obese has been growing steadily for decades, rising from about 53% a generation ago to roughly 66% more recently.

But the share of these adults who had gone on a diet dropped during the same period, researchers reported in the Journal of the American Medical Assn.

Basically Fat is the new normal. If we are all fat, we don't stand out. If we mention to someone that their size is unhealthy we are no “Fat Shaming.”

In a nutshell, Americans are giving up hope. When you lose hope, you die. Why do I say this?

In the 1950s, they did a brutal experiment drowning rats. It was done by a Johns Hopkins professor Curt Richter. The experiment included domesticated and wild rats. He first took a dozen domesticated rats, put them into jars half filled with water, and watched them drown. The idea was to measure the amount of time they swam before they gave up and went under. The first rat, Richter noted, swam around excitedly on the surface for a very short time, then dove to the bottom, where it began to swim around, nosing its way along the glass wall. It died two minutes later.

Two more of the 12 domesticated rats died in much the same way. But, interestingly, the nine remaining rats did not succumb nearly so readily; they swam for days before they eventually gave up and died.

Now came the wild rats, renowned for their swimming ability. The ones Richter used had been recently trapped and were fierce and aggressive. One by one, he dropped them into the water. And one by one, they surprised him: Within minutes of entering the water, all 34 died

Richter then tweaked the experiment: He took other, similar rats, and put them in the jar. Just before they were expected to die, however, he picked them up, held them a little while, and then put them back in the water. “In this way,” he wrote, “the rats quickly learn that the situation is not actually hopeless.”

After elimination of hopelessness,” wrote Richter, “the rats do not die.”

Full Article

Here is a Great Article in Find Hope When There is None

In the article, it points out

Consider all the amazing things you have done. All the hardships you've worked through

Surround yourself with optimism

Allow inspiration in (read a book, listen to music)

Spend time in Nature it's remarkable, and so are you.

Be courageous: Cultivating hope requires courage to take that first step forward. Give yourself the chance to find your way through your challenges. Take that first step and then the next. You will soon be on the other side and ready to tackle your next challenge.