Autosexuality, Fitness Trackers, Crystal Nonsense

                                 Modern Thinking

Nymphs Discover the Narcissus, Thomas Stothard (1755-1834)

Photo Credit: Tate [CC BY-NC-ND]

Autosexuality …means being sexually attracted to yourself, having an actual romantic relationship with you and preferring it to one with someone else…The professed “autoromantic” Ghia Vitale is engaged to be married to herself after proposing in 2017.

…But do remember that while you might use the term “autosexual”, behind your lovely, sexy back, others might be using another. Like “daft narcissistic tosspot.”

(Carol Midgely, The Times, 2019)

Daft narcissistic tosspot. Surely not, Carol? Apparently, one Japanese company offers self-marriage packages for single women and   those unhappy with previous marriages.

Fitness Trackers

The Water Wheels at Savassa, Italy, Henry Woods (1846-1921)

Photo Credit: Leicester Arts and Museums Services [CC BY-NC-SA] 

I wish people would stop talking about steps. How many steps they’ve done today. How many more they’ve left to go in order to achieve their daily target. That kind of thing.

… What I can’t abide is the constant monitoring of how much we’re moving. I am aggravated by those ubiquitous fitness gadgets we’re encouraged to wear as watches or strapped around our chests like we’re taking part in a lie-detector test. It’s exhausting having your every move measured and fed back to you when you’re simply trying to live your life.

I remember meeting a friend a while back who had one of these activity trackers clamped around her wrist like a handcuff. She had a harassed expression and a light sheen of sweat on her face.

“Are you OK?” I asked.

“Yes,” she panted. “But I had to walk here instead of getting the tube so that I can get my steps up. I’ve got to do at least 2,000 more by the end of the day otherwise I won’t have done my 10,000.

… “Oh God, now it’s going off again,” she said as the thing on her wrist buzzed and flashed. “It’s my reminder to move.” She promptly stood up and jiggled about a bit, hopping from one foot to the other. It turned out her tracker would vibrate ten minutes before the end of an hour if she hadn’t taken the requisite 250 steps over the previous 60 minutes.

…It reminded me of the time I had downloaded a meditation app during a particularly hectic period of my life… I struggled to fit the requisite ten minutes into an already busy day and was trolled by passive-aggressive notifications on my phone informing me I hadn’t meditated yet, which made me more stressed.

… While I’m thrilled that more people are aware of the health benefits of regular exercise and meditation, the ceaseless monitoring of our daily routines means that we’re in danger of losing sight of why we’re doing them. True contentment comes from finding joy in the task itself rather than in the measurement of it.

(Elizabeth Day, The Mail on Sunday, 2019)

“True contentment comes from finding joy in the task itself rather than in the measurement of it.” Exactly, so just enjoy your walk or meditation – forget the trackers.

Crystals

The Magic Crystal, Frank Bernard Dicksee (1853-1928)

Photo Credit: Lady Lever Art Gallery [CC BY-NC]

…In three short years, crystals have risen from niche new age interest to valid hobby, firmly embedded in the mainstream consciousness. In 2017 crystals became a multibillion-dollar slice of the $4.2trn global wellness industry, with shamans using them to advise entrepreneurs on investment opportunities, and Gwyneth Paltrow selling them to encourage serenity and to “purify” water. Their investment status compared to fine art.

Women have been persuaded to welcome their presence in beauty products and fashion accessories, not by spiritual healers, but celebrities. At a New York Fashion Week presentation, Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen gifted guests “black tourmaline to keep negative energies at bay”, and “white clear quartz to promote harmony and balance”. Kate Hudson “adds a little energy” to her moisturiser by storing it beside crystals; Adele blamed a bad performance at the Grammys on the fact she’d lost hers; and Kim Kardashian used them to recover from the stress of a robbery.

…The appeal of crystals is two-tiered. Their infinite sparklines has an obvious draw, but their value relies on a belief in their healing powers. Emma Lucy Knowles, author of The Power of Crystal Healing (her celebrity clients include Victoria Beckham) explains it to me like this:

“We work with crystals to draw out the ‘negative’ and ‘heighten’ the positive, such as love, protection, abundance or seeking to detoxify from fear, guilt, worry. They can be used to filter that property into the energy centres, the chakras.”

She recommends placing quartz by photos of people you love, “to promote that vibration in their direction”. “Crystals are formed under pressure, much like ourselves. The power of life force – what’s not to love about that?”

(Eva Wiseman, The Observer, 2019)

Encouraging serenity, purifying water, keeping negative energies at bay, promoting harmony and balance, recovering from the stress of a robbery, drawing out the negative by detoxifying fear, guilt and worry and heightening the positive such as love, protection and abundance.  Is there anything crystals can’t do? Presumably for some, the placebo effect manifests itself?