Anchors

Think about your local mall -- somewhere, tucked on the ends or at the corners embedded in the mall there are anchor stores.  These are the stores that draw people to the malls -- The stores that spend marketing dollars to get us to drive to the mall.  Most of the other stores live in the shadow of the anchors and rely on the store front merchandizing to draw customers into their store once the anchors have done the job of getting us into the mall in the first place.

People have anchor behaviors, too.  Those behaviors that make up the bulk of how we interact with the world.  Our optimistic (or pessimistic) attitude, our mak- it-happen (or sit-back-and-see-how-things-develop) behaviors, etc.  The rest of our behaviors develop around our anchor behaviors.

I think eating behaviors are one of those non-anchor behaviors.  We develop the ones we have because we are influenced by our anchors.  Do you see yourself as an active, athletic person?  You are going to eat to support that anchor in your life.  (Have you ever noticed how many times formerly active people still eat like they are active -- even though they are logging huge hours sitting at a desk all week?)

Thanksgiving is next week (like I need to remind you, right?)  And in the spirit of thanksgiving (the act not the dinner), give some thought to your anchor behaviors and beliefs.  Are they still true for you?  Are you really still the active athlete you were before the new job, house, and kids?  Do you assume you are still a very optimistic person when upon closer reflection you notice your wine intake has gone up this last year as a way to de-stress because your company is on uncertain ground and you are not happy with the direction your bosses are taking it?

There is something to be said for being thankful -- but there is also something to be said for an honest appraisal of the situation.  If you don't know where you are, you will have a hard time getting to where you want to be.