Have you ever thought about what makes good food good? Or what makes a beautiful person so? Naturally we all like good food and beauty but why?  Perhaps the answer is found in why we don’t like the not so beautiful or not so tasty foods.

There is a school of thought called Human Needs Psychology.  According to it, everything we do comes down to a feeling we are trying to attain.  For example, you might have a habit of slapping the snooze button on your alarm clock every morning.  Why do you do this?  Perhaps you believe an additional 10 minutes of “sleep” will actually help you FEEL more rested during the day.  On a deeper level, this translates to more peace of mind and the ability to perform.  Instinctively you know that but really what you are going for is the feeling, not the sleep!

Back to the question at hand…  if what we really want is a feeling, and I believe it is, perhaps the reason that we don’t like certain foods is because they lead us to feel a certain way.  Another example may help to illustrate.  I grew up absolutely hating most fruits and vegetables.  I believe that I was conditioned by peers on all sides to like rich foods.  Fruits and vegetables literally made me gag for years!  I simply could not eat them.  About the time I turned 30, I began to experience a food revolution triggered by my increased education about the effects of certain kinds of food on the body.  It’s amazing how those ideas drove deep into my psyche.  Within a relatively short period I found that one of my least favorite foods, apples, became one of my favorites!  I began to really love things like broccoli and spinach because of the feeling they inspired was so different from before.  It used to be that when I ate those foods, I was focused on the moment and if it didn’t taste good (rich) then it wasn’t worth eating.  Now it gives me a sense of peace to eat these foods because I know that long-term they will help me stay healthy.  I also know that they will improve my daily energy and help to cleanse my body.  These things make me feel that I’m taking care of this great gift which is my body.  When you put the cells of your body under a microscope and begin to examine the effects of foods, it has the power to change what you desire.  If you find this concept interesting, I encourage you to check out the alkalinity index of your foods and learn about what happens when your blood becomes too acidic.

How about beauty?  We all know that beauty is in the eye of the beholder right?  How true that is!  But even with that truth in place, it’s amazing how many of us call the same things beautiful.  Most of us think that a well-groomed individual who stands tall and caries themselves well is more beautiful.  Why is that?  Do you need to try the experiment to get the answer to this question?  For 2 months, over eat, grow your body hair out, slouch while you sit and walk, and never take a deep breathe.  No standing tall and straight, no shaving, no showering, no exercise.  Let that hair get greasy.  Do you think others will find you attractive for that month?  If you are anything like me, you experienced enough of that stuff when you were 16 years old.  It made me FEEL like garbage!  And though it may not have been a turn off back then, for most of us with a few more years behind us, it is a total turn off now!  So when you see someone else who has chosen not to groom and doesn’t carry themselves well, what kind of feelings does that conjure up in you?  Do you enjoy looking that person?  True that beauty is in the eye of the beholder but we have a great power to influence that eye (both ours and that of our beholders).

This principle applies to most choices we make.  Can you think other examples?  If so, share in the comments!