My husband and I do a short exercise routine most mornings guided by videos from Bloom Young. They’re very doable and I recommend them to anyone who needs to get off the couch and do some low-impact exercising. I think they’re geared toward older people, but anyone could sign up. In fact, I’m fully expecting our 3-year-old granddaughter to do these along with us the next time we see her. You can purchase on a subscription basis, or you can do what we did, which is just to buy the basic package, a one-time purchase which is a lot cheaper, but you only have a limited number of workouts available. We don’t mind doing the same ones over and over again.
Anyway, the reason I bring that up is that the young man who leads the exercise routines tells us all the time what an excellent job we are doing. I counted the number of times he said “Excellent work!” or “Excellent job!” or just “Excellent!” during a routine we did recently and it was 22 times. This is remarkable in light of the fact that he can’t see us and has no idea what sort of bumbling around we might be doing in the privacy of our living room. So, it’s phony feedback, but I’ve become accustomed to it nevertheless. I’ve gotten to the point where I expect to hear it and feel affronted when the praise is not forthcoming, even when there’s no basis for it.
Such is the danger of the whole self-esteem movement of the 70’s. (Didn’t see that coming, did you?) A whole generation of children (probably two generations now) became accustomed to hearing how awesome and excellent they were without actually earning the praise. It’s just as Dash said in the movie “The Incredibles.” “When everyone is special, nobody is.” When everything is excellent, nothing is.
Monday meanderings for you.
I’ll probably delete this excellent post in an excellent way in the excellent morning. See what I mean?
Lynniebeemuseoday 
There is one exception to the rule—-OUR exercise routine really is excellent. Somehow he knows. I get a Santa Claud vibe from him:
“He sees you when your stretching, he knows when you slough off, he knows when feel bad or good, so work hard for goodness sake!”
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Ha ha ha!!!!!
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I am not being glib when I say “Thank you for including
the beautiful and interesting photo!” I’ll even call it excellent, choosing my words
carefully (really!). It reminds me of one of my (many) favorite pieces of music.
It’s called Spiegel im Spiegel (Mirror in the Mirror) by Arvo Part, written in 1978.
It is with violin and piano. Listen to it and look at your photograph. Excellent!
I plan to include this in my funeral music (whatever decade that may be), so be there to enjoy it! ❤
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I will definitely listen to that piece of music and I appreciate the compliment on the photograph. There’s a time and a place for the word, and I’m pleased you want to apply it to the photo! You never know, Julie, you might be attending my funeral before yours happens!! 😉 ❤️
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In the meantime, I’ll just keep listening to my music while I have visions of your excellent photography in my mind!
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You sure hit the nail on the head with that one Lynn. Nothing “bugs” me more than the empty praise. Maybe that’s why so many kids aren’t challenged to do anything…why should they when they get praise for doing nothing. Maybe I’m exaggerating a little, but the words “good job” for every little thing gets to mean nothing.
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PS I have a walking video that gives me a good workout when I use it…thanks for reminding me to get back at it….
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