What I learned on Mother's Day
Family Subconscious Fat
I learned something new this past Mother’s Day.
“Oh. I can already predict what it’s about.”
The question was a rhetorical question to you, the reader. Not to asshole Mr. Skeptical, but I guess I must now respond to his rude interruption. “You can predict what I learned on Mother’s Day?”
“Sure. I predict that since we’ve already seen from previous posts that you were mean, selfish, and spoiled rotten, we will hear more of the same. You likely spent time with your mother on Mother’s Day, so you learned of something awful your poor mother had to deal with in raising you.”
My jaw tenses, and I take in a deep breath. I hate to admit it, but Mr. Ass…I mean, Mr. Skeptical is not far off the mark.
Subconscious Fat at 30,000 feet
I don’t want to give idiot Mr. Skeptical the satisfaction that he’s correct. “I recently heard on one of my favorite podcasts: Hidden Brain (Episode Success 2.0 The Obstacles You Don’t See) a story that goes perfectly with the past Mother’s Day Holiday.”
“Interesting, do tell.”
“In America, back in the 1930’s American Food Companies came out with simple cake mixes. Women could cook up a cake in only four minutes by adding water and putting it in the oven. But after two decades of growth, sales began to flatten. However, General Mills hired psychologist Ernest Dichter, who found the cooking process too simple. It wasn’t hard enough.”
“That seems very counter-intuitive because don’t most people like something easy? I’m all for ease when it comes to cooking.”
“But American women at the time didn’t want something easy. Baking a cake should require effort and be done with care, and this is what the psychologist found out. He found the missing Subconscious Fat as to why sales weren’t growing. So, he convinced General Mills to advertise using fresh eggs in the cooking process and to encourage women to decorate the cake. They removed the dried eggs and made the women crack and whip up fresh eggs. This made the women feel they were truly cooking something and that it took effort. This made sales soar.”
“I would’ve been like, screw the men; I want it easy.”
“I agree with you, for I suck at cooking and can barely make a peanut butter sandwich. But I’m glad that most women, many mothers, are better people than you and me. So that was some Subconscious Fat I wanted to get out there to the world today with a Mother’s Day ring to it.”
Mr. Skeptical puts up his hands. “Wait, wait. You can’t be serious. That’s all you have for us today?”
“Uhhh, yeah, that’s all I have today.”
“I don’t believe you. You mentioned you learned something on Mother’s Day, and it wasn’t just this story. You learned something by spending time with your mother. What was it?”
I’m sure I have a ‘tell’ when I lie. I must have a fidget or something. Damn it!
Subconscious Fat at 10,000 feet
Before I get into the story I learned from my mom and sister, I want to define a word: fugue. There are musical and psychological definitions, and we’re talking about the psych definition.
Fugue: Also known as fugue state, dissociative fugue, or psychogenic fugue, is a temporary state in which a person has amnesia and ends up in an unexpected location.
There are situations of people going missing for days at a time in a fugue state. One extreme example is
Subconscious Fat at Eye-Level
Mr. Skeptical leans close to me and points his index finger at my face. “Get to your personal story.”
I realize there’s no way to avoid the story I’m about to tell, but I can delay it. “There’s another word I want to define called transient global amnesia. According to the Mayo Clinic, it isn’t caused by a neurological condition, and the memory of recent events may disappear.
I sigh and continue. “It seems, after talking to my mom and sister, that I had an episode when I was likely 11 or 12. Unfortunately, I don’t recall any of it.”
Mr. Skeptical is leaning closer to me. Eager as a beaver would be an understatement. “And?”
“At our Mother’s Day brunch, my sister told me how I used to eat my food quickly and then look at her plate. Often, I’d take food from her plate.”
Mr. Skeptical is shaking his head with a disgusted look on his face. He whispers, “What they had to endure.”
“I do that. To this day, my girlfriend complains about it. I eat fast and look at her plate, eyeing her food.”
“Don’t try to wiggle your way out of this. What happened with your mom and sister when you were younger.”
“Well, after taking the food from my sister, she complained about it to our mom. So, our mom came over and upended a bowl of cereal on my head.”
Mr. Skeptical bursts out laughing. I try to ignore him. “My sister said it was Fruit Loops cereal.”
He’s leaning back in his chair, still laughing. “I’m so happy you got what you deserved.”
“Yep. I guess I did. After that incident, I never tried to take food from my sister again. Yet, I have no memory of the incident. It was memorable for my sister because she was shocked. She felt bad for me, saying it was okay that I took some of her food.”
“No, your mom did a great thing. She put you in your place. You got what you deserved.” He emphasized the word deserved while pointing at me.
Practical Suggestions and Conclusions
Mr. Skeptical starts, “You can’t possibly have any advice to give anybody. Except to reaffirm that you’re a spoiled-rotten, mean human.”
I grit my teeth. I’ve had enough. “Shut up and let me finish this newsletter.”
When getting together with family, talking about the past is often intriguing. Seeing how a sister/brother viewed growing up can be enlightening. The same parents and circumstances while growing up can impact people differently. Like I did this past Mother’s Day, one may discover some Subconscious Fat to observe.
All families have Subconscious Fat. My mother didn’t want her face on this newsletter, so I took the opportunity for a little digital revenge. However, I do have a great mother. Of that, I am aware and grateful. Are you?
Always good stuff Hermann!! Keep ‘em coming…
Hahaha this is a funny one.