No. 205 - ARE YOU SUFFERING FROM LIGHT STARVATION?

No. 205

Jim Davidson...NEWSPAPER COLUMN

ARE YOU SUFFERING FROM LIGHT STARVATION?

The other day I read something that gave me a chuckle, and while I had never thought about it before, it was the gospel truth. Its been said there are two classes of people in the world; the righteous and the unrighteous. The classifying is done by the righteous. Now I will let you think about that for a little while because you can go at it from several different angles. Before I get to the meat of what I want to share with you during this visit, I would simply remind each of us of these verses of the Bible found in Matthew 7: 1-2, Judge not lest ye be judged yourselves. For in the way you judge, you will be judged; and by your standard of measure, it shall be measured to you.

In addition to working on my attitude each day, I also remind myself to never be judgmental because to do so is to violate this very important Biblical admonition. My objective in writing these columns is to help each of us to become better human beings, to love a little more, to hate a little less and to leave this world a better place than we found it. One of the opportunities that we all have is the wonderful gift of communication. To be clearly understood a large percentage of the time is a great asset and will make us more successful in anything we attempt to do. While many young children learn to speak very clearly early in life, successful communication involves much more than just the spoken word.

For example, have you ever heard this comment: my parents, my husband or wife or someone else just doesnt understand me? As I said earlier, being understood a high percentage of the time is one of the keys to a happy, successful life. One thing for sure, if we are serious about success and have some definite goals and plans, what Im sharing here will help you, especially what Im going to share with you next.

While you may not agree, being from the South Ive always felt that people down this way are much friendlier, as a general rule, than people from other parts of the country. It involves a lot more than being friendly and we call it Southern hospitality. A friend of mine from Boston shared something with me a while back that has helped me to understand this and consequently I relate much better to people all over the country.

He shared an article that appeared in a magazine called Psychology Today that stated that many of the changes that occur in an individuals personality has to do with light starvation. In the fall of the year, the sun slowly reduces the amount of light, and this affects the temperature of the soil, as well as the amount of light on the leaves, grass and animals. This subtly drives plants into dormancy, just as it affects the bears who hibernate in the winter.

This is one reason for the suicide and depression rate being higher in the North. Just think, the people who live in Florida and Southern California during the winter months get 70% more sunlight, because of the angle of the sun at this time of the year. While we are all different, and there are many reasons why we develop a certain personality, here is my message loud and clear. When you run into someone who acts like they have been weaned on a dill pickle, there may be a good reason. They may be suffering from light starvation. To me, there is never an excuse for any of us to be rude all the time but just remember, when someone is curt, short or thoughtless, pause a moment and remember what Ive said here; try to understand why a person would act this way, and you wont be upset and you may also be able to help them. Its been said that we should treat every person as though their heart were breaking because it very well could be. (Jim Davidson is a motivational speaker and syndicated columnist. You may contact him at 2 Bentley Drive, Conway, AR 72034.)