Why “Against the Grain”?

Clearly, I am fascinated by how often our most widely accepted beliefs lay at the foundation of the behaviors that serve us least. So why “Against the Grain?”

Because what’s a good blog title without a clichéd double entendre?

The foolishness of official doctrine can be seen with devastating clarity in the effects of United States nutritional guidelines and food policy over the last 40 years. Indeed, there may be no realm in which supposedly well-intentioned, state-promulgated wisdom has proven more disastrous to human health.

History of Obesity Rates, by State (1990-2010), click to enlarge:

Obesity Map - 1990Obesity Map - 2000

Obesity Map - 2010

Nevermind the corporate-sponsored, convenience-centric mentality that now informs most Americans’ moment-to-moment decisions about what to put in their mouths. Even folks who go out of their way to “eat healthy” are often doing themselves more harm than good. Continue reading

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It Is Always Now

I was tempted to include the video, below, as a coda to my opening post because its themes align so nicely with those that drove me to finally publish on Monday, but I decided it was more important to let my words stand alone at the outset.

This excerpt from Sam Harris’ speech to the 2012 Global Atheist Convention, which has been expertly synthesized with background music and images by YouTube user AJ Salas, touches on a poignant, but less obvious, aspect of living “against the grain” — being present in the here and now.   Continue reading

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Today. Now.

This blog is a long time coming, and although this post is but the first step in what I hope will be a great journey, its publication is a personal breakthrough I’ve only dared whisper about until now. To my wife. To a dear friend. To the passing acquaintance I’m in no danger of disappointing.

Today I follow through.

Today I commit, out loud, to share myself more freely; to honor my gifts and lift the shroud of self-conscious shame beneath which I have too often hidden them – my curiosity, my playfulness, my tenacity and tenderness. My pride and fear. My hopes. My love. Until now, I have viewed these gifts as mine.

But they are ours. Continue reading

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