Day 5 - 159 -- Inspiration Elevated

Wow -- just wow! Those words were the only ones that came to me right after listening to one of the best memorial lectures at the annual conference. I was speechless. So many ideas challenged my brain that it took some time to begin to sort them out. That process will linger for the coming days. A main theme of the talk dealt with challenging the status quo on 'treatment' of weight-related issues. A definition of health that is weight-centric leads to 'treatment' that seems blind to healthy lifestyle changes that address determinants of health -- spiritual, mental health, social connections, healthy relationship with food, physical activity and equity. Changes to these determinants may lead to a small change in weight for some people, but will improve health status greatly for most. We need to focus on health measures that are not defined by weight. Today a dynamic speaker challenged the societal norm, giving his truth in personal stories that -- as a friend in the audience stated -- made listeners "laugh, cry and learn." This lecture will be printed in a journal issue in the fall, which makes me feel many more people will have access to the eloquently stated ideas. Many of the sub-themes are still bouncing around in my head. I expect some of them may hit this blog in the future.

At the end of the lecture, listeners were challenged to find their voice -- or to borrow that of the speaker -- to help us move forward individually and collectively. He ended with a musical clip  -- I knew I liked this person <smile>. I've chosen to share that song here today. The key words are mid-way through --

There is a voice deep inside you.
This is the voice that will guide you.
The way you need to be
It'll set you free.
Take it from me.

These lyrics summarized well the stories told with great vulnerability. The lyrics were reworked for a stage production from the original motion picture version. Enjoy!

Listen -- Amber Riley and Liisi LaFontaine (Dreamgirls)