"Much of modern culture is built around the notion of disenchantment with one's current state. As marketers we count on this angst and insecurity to kick start the engine of daily commerce but what if we could be happy AND unhappy all at once, what would that be like?"

- Blurb for a short talk called "The lost art of being satisfied," which I won't be able to attend.

Disenchantment is a big motivator for action (and consumption), so it's interesting how modern society is shifting us in this way.

Obesity is a growing threat to public health in all the advanced countries throughout the world.
- OECD spokesman Matthias Rumpf, as quoted by USA TODAY

This is a side-effect of the urbanized lifestyle that most of us have. Food is easily available, easy to store, and you don't have to exert much to get what you want. Physical exertion in urbanized environments tends to remind me of hamsters running in a wheel.

Not many are able to break out of what modern society is sucking us in to. I propose we all engage in something that constantly challenges our bodies. Don't neglect your physical condition. Your body is your connection to the natural world, which in urbanized environments, slips further and further away.

75% of women claim they cannot achieve and maintain the look they want.

- not sure of the exact source of this, but it was referenced in some work by people that work on the Pantene brand

"A frog in a well cannot be talked to about the sea"
- Chuang Tzu

Don't be that frog.