August 24 - Conquering Human Nature

Subdue your appetites, my dears, and you've conquered human nature. 
- Charles Dickens

  I think it's pretty safe to say that none of us will ever conquer human nature even if we do occasionally manage to subdue our lusts for sugar, salt, and fat.  In part that's due to the fact that we don't really have an adequate definition of what constitutes human nature.
  It's all very well to look at someone's behaviour and say "well that's just human nature" and receive nods of acknowledgement from all those in earshot, but recognising it doesn't define it.  Is it the demonstration of our frailties, our vulnerability, our predispositions, our capacity for love, lust, anger, hatred, selfishness and selflessness?
  The Wikipedia entry states that "Human nature refers to the distinguishing characteristics, including ways of thinking, feeling and acting, that humans tend to have naturally, i.e. independently of the influence of culture." but of course there is no list of specific thoughts, feelings or actions that encompass this.  Is it human nature to eat to excess?  Or is that simply a remnant of our biological past?  Eat while the getting is good, for soon we may hungry again.
  I don't know of too many things I do that could be classed as independent of the influence of culture either.  Upbringing, education, peer groups.  All influences of culture.  And anything I do that is instinctive, well.. it's instinctive, not what someone would describe as human nature in conversation.  You wouldn't say "Sorry I hit you but you snuck up on me and my human nature took over".
  A bit of a ramble perhaps, but I just wasn't sure I agreed with Mr Dickens.  Perhaps what he should have said is:  Subdue your appetites, my dears, and you've conquered your waistline.  That at least, is much easier to agree with.

And now a quick run down of the day:
  Breakfast: Yoghurt, berries & fibre toppers.
  Morning Snack:  A Honey-Murcott mandarin and a nut snack pack (half a dried apricot, two pecan halves, two hazelnuts, two brazil nuts and four almonds).
  Lunch:  A slight variation on this week's norm.  A toasted sandwich of Bürgen Wholemeal & Seeds bread spread with Masterfoods Corn Relish and topped one slice of Bertocchi Triple Smoked Ham with the fat trimmed off (about 73g) and one slice of Bega Extra Light Tasty cheese.  A toasted sandwich is always lovely on a cold day.  I also had six thick slices of cucumber, a small Kiwi fruit with skin on and a tamarillo.
  The fire alarm went off at work today, not exactly a false alarm but nothing dangerous either.  The boys quickly identified the cause and everything was deemed safe so we didn't have to evacuate (yay!).  I go into a cold panic every time that damn thing goes off.  There has never been anything really bad happen, but it's just the thought that something could.  It took me a good couple of hours to feel calm again.  It never used to bother me but about a year ago when I was going through a lot of personal stuff it induced an actual panic attack (my only one ever) and I've never really recovered from that feeling.  The noise makes me feel terrible every time.
  I had every intention of doing my exercise as soon as I got home from work but then I got chatting to Mr Smart online.  As he is wont to do, he asked a question that deserved an answer.  That led to a further hour of interesting and enjoyable conversation.  After that I went and got changed into my work out gear but just as I was finishing that I got messaged by a girlfriend of mine.  I have not asked her what name she'd like to be known as so for now we'll call her Chook.  (It's an affectionate term, just ask my Dad).   Anyway, Chook and I hadn't caught up properly in a while so I figured it was already late and started cooking my dinner while talking to her.
  For dinner I had another serve of my plain but hearty bolognese which I served on a mix of wholemeal and coloured pasta spirals (65g dry weight) and a sprinkling of Mainland Finely Shredded Light Tasty cheese.  I need to experiment with the dry weight of pasta, I reduce it from last night but 65g was still a pretty damn big bowl of pasta.  After that I had 17g of Balance dark chocolate.  I am pleased though, I managed to turn down a Lindt ball at afternoon tea time.  I put it in my drawer for a rainy day.
  Chook and I had a pretty good long catch up but eventually it was time for her to sleep and me to write!  And now that I have finished writing, I'm going to go and take my pills, brush my teeth then get on the cross trainer for a little late night Buffy!  Thank goodness I still don't have next-door neighbours!  They might think my nocturnal habits very strange.
  Jess

PS: Today's photo challenge was "Inspiring Thoughts" so I thought I'd share my take on it.

It's one of the things I generally believe to be true in life.  It's certainly not 'all you need' as The Beatles had it, but it is a crucial element of a happy life.