Category: life Page 14 of 16

On my mind lately is this quote from Tim Ferriss’ Tools of Titans by Dr. Peter Attia:

If you’re over 40 and don’t smoke, there’s about a 70 to 80% chance you’ll die from one of four diseases: heart disease, cerebrovascular disease, cancer, or neurodegenerative disease.

The good doctor has done research at the National Cancer Institute on the role of regulatory T cells in cancer regression and other immune-based therapies for cancer. Oh, and he is a former ultra-endurance athlete, and got his MD from Stanford University, and his BSc in mechanical engineering and applied mathematics from Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario. All of which to say is, he knows his stuff.

So to increase the chances of not dying from those four diseases, he suggests:

• Eat healthy, exercise (high-intensity, heavy strength training) (for Heart Disease)
• Eat healthy, exercise (high-intensity, heavy strength training), meditate (for Cerebrovascular Disease, aka stroke)
• Avoid highly refined carbohydrates and sugars, fast once a week (one primary meal between a two hour window) (for Cancer)
• Take low-dose lithium (below 150 mg) and meditate (for Neurodegenerative Disease, with Alzheimer’s dementia being one of the top ten causes of death in the U.S.)

The doctor argues that if you’ve made it to 40 years old, you’ve managed to not get hit by a car or do something really stupid to kill yourself. Now, it’s a matter of doing the work to be able to live long(er) and healthy.

Which apparently means eating less junk food, exercising more, fasting, meditating, and considering low-dose lithium.

Some things to think about.

So that previous post—you know, the one about “Stay the Course” and not getting distracted? Yeah, I should read that. Every. Single. Day.

Gak.

Like all New Year’s resolutiony things, I had somewhat grand plans (quite modest, in my opinion, but still, in the grand scheme of things and in hindsight, perhaps a bit on the large side), and those plans got derailed as I ran into doubts and questions and “oh, I just need to research this ONE thing . . . ” And then the train literally, metaphorically, and absolutely ended up and over the rails, just as it was crossing the Great Ravine*.

Stay the Course. Right.

I am managing to keep up with The Daily Stoic readings, which has been good. More on that in upcoming posts.

So, this is the post of Deep Atonement. And a reminder to myself that I really should listen to, er, myself.**

 

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*I’m seeing that scene from Captain America: The First Avenger where the train is on the raised railroad, crossing the huge ravine somewhere in WWII-ravaged Europe, and Bucky is hanging on for dear life as Cap tries to save him . . .  Yeah, feeling like Bucky. And not the “Winter Soldier” kicking ass Bucky. Oh, no. The “oh my god I’m going to die because I’m dangling over an abyss” Bucky. Which is not good, because actually I want to be Captain America. No, nix that. I want to be Peggy Carter. That woman rocks.

And no, the train in Captain America doesn’t get derailed. For some reason, that’s what I remembered.

*And a bit of an Austin Powers moment there. Yeesh.

Did I mention there was snow?

At least it’s pretty. And quiet.

I’ve been reading Tim Ferriss’ latest book Tools of Titans,* in which he distills key insights from the nearly two hundred people he has interviewed over the past two years for his podcast (if you haven’t listened, I highly recommend it).

An interview with retired Navy SEAL Commander Jocko Willink has changed the way I look at obstacles or frustrations: “Good.”

How do I deal with setbacks, failures, delays, defeat, or other disasters? I actually have a fairly simple way of dealing with these situations. There is one word to deal with all those situations, and that is “good” . . . when things are going bad, there’s going to be some good that will come from it.

• Oh, mission got cancelled? Good. We can focus on another one.
• Didn’t get the new high-speed gear we wanted? Good. We can keep it simple.
• Didn’t get promoted? Good. More time to get better.
• Didn’t get funded? Good. We own more of the company.
• Didn’t get the job you wanted? Good. Go out, gain more experience, and build a better resume.
• Got injured? Good. Needed a break from training.
• Got tapped out? Good. It’s better to tap out in training than to tap out on the street.
• Got beat? Good. We learned.
• Unexpected problems? Good. We have the opportunity to figure out a solution.

That’s it. When things are going bad, don’t get all bummed out, don’t get startled, don’t get frustrated. No. Just look at the issue and say: “Good.”**

So many things lately have been frustrating to the point of maddening. Another snow storm? Freezing temperatures? More snow? Are you freaking kidding me?*** The proof I ordered for my flash fiction collection should have been delivered a week ago, but due to the icy roads and “winter weather events,” it still hasn’t arrived. Given the weather outlook, I’m guessing it may be sometime in February before I see the proof. Argh.

While my instant reaction is to get angry or depressed or want to hit something, when I can reframe it as “Good,” the situation immediately improves.****

• More snow? Good. It is beautiful and our mountains could use more snow.
• More ice? Good. It will help with the bugs for next summer.
• Didn’t get the proof yet? Good. I can stay focused on creating the digital versions of the flash fiction collection.

Now, if I could just get “Good” to be my automatic reaction to frustrations . . .

What frustrating situations are you facing that could be “good” for you?

 

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*This book is amazing. Seriously. I’ll be writing more about it.

**Ferriss, Timothy. Tools of Titans. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2016. Pages 640-641. The bold text is my emphasis.

***Living in the Pacific Northwest (heavy on the Pacific), winter is generally rain, showers, mist, and more rain. Occasionally there will be a snow fall maybe once a winter, and it may shut things down for a few days, but that’s it. So far we’re looking at four snow storms since December, including the massive ice storm over the weekend that had the Oregon State Police dealing with over 750 traffic accidents.

****Seems rather Stoic to me. Hmmm.

Wishing everyone a peaceful and playful New Year.

Peace, love, and sparkling apple cider,
Andi

I was five years old when I first saw the original Star Wars in a movie theater. I don’t remember much about it, other than the frantic drive with my family to get there, and I think we were a little late, and that it was cool. But it must have left enough of an impression because I started writing Star Wars fanfic at the age of seven. It was mostly dogfight scenes involving Rebellion fighter pilots communicating with each other as they fought Imperial fighters written in pencil on that elementary school paper with the top and bottom lines and dashed lines between them.

The Empire Strikes Back changed everything. I was eight years old and I loved that movie. We had the movie on a vinyl record—not the soundtrack, but the dialogue from the majority of the movie. My sister and I would play it over and over and over to the point where we had it memorized* and I could voice a fairly accurate Yoda. Not only that, but I thought if I could just get my hair long enough, I could wrap it in braids around my head like Leia did when she was on Hoth. I even got snow boots that looked like her boots from the movie.

Then there was Return of the Jedi. I got the novelization for a friend’s birthday present, and had to read it before I wrapped it and gave it to her (because I hadn’t actually seen the movie yet). While I was bummed that Leia didn’t get a bigger role in RotJ (and annoyed that they did the whole ‘slave girl’ thing, although she did kick ass with strangling Jabba *spoiler*), she was a Jedi (or at least had potential)! She had skillz!

Then in The Force Awakens we saw an older, more experienced Leia as a General. A General! Not a Princess, but a General. And still with an attitude.

But Carrie Fisher was more than that. I loved her in When Harry Met Sally, as well as her novel Postcards from the Edge, and her memoir Wishful Drinking. She was smart and funny and painfully honest about her mental health, and other, issues. No matter what life threw at her, she came through it with admirable wit.

She will be deeply missed.

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*Fun party trick: recite all the lines of The Empire Strikes Back to the amazement of your friends. Or until they start to get annoyed. I still can’t manage a Wookiee cry, though.