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moderndayruth

~ Tarot inspired essays and more

moderndayruth

Tag Archives: Health

i wish there would be following Facebook buttons, besides Like:

02 Wednesday Oct 2013

Posted by moderndayruth in Humor

≈ 11 Comments

Tags

Android, China, Facebook, First Amendment, First Amendment to the United States Constitution, Health, iLike, India, IOS, Online Communities, Social media, Social Networking, Social Sciences, status, United Nations, United State, Update, World population

1. i agree 100% with your update (whatever it is & usually it’s something highly irrelevant to the 99% of world’s population) AND i wish i thought of it myself, but then i am a non-native speaker and still couldn’t word it so neatly, so i feel tad envious too;

2. i disagree completely, more so – i almost hate you right now, but can’t remove you from friends because there is no reasonable explanation to my neurotic reaction for our mutual fb friends, thus i’ll pretend i haven’t read your status AT ALL;

3. i didn’t reply to your cry for help not because i am insensitive, but because i am in another time zone and now, 22h later,  i feel embarrassed to say anything at all;

4. i hate prolonged status updates posted late in the night, i mean, c’mmon, who has the focus for that in this ADD era?!

5. you are plain WRONG, but i am too tired to argue, so here is a passive-aggressive Like with a smirk ;

6. you post in a language i don’t speak, but you look kinda hot on your profile picture, so i Like your update & keep my fingers crossed that it isn’t about your companion being ill or something;

7. iLike your status, i really do, but it’s quite personal and i am neither sure who you are nor why i added you to friends, so i’ll pass;

8. i have no idea what you are talking about & i am too busy to read it all, but given that 78 mutual friends liked your status & commented on it Like it is!

9. despite being called ‘most anti-social invention’ by some,  a Facebook “like” is a form of speech protected by the First Amendment; “Liking” something on the social media site is a “substantive statement” being made by a user – and i don’t take those lightly, because the mere sound of the phrase is legal-power-igniting & it doesn’t matter the least that i am not sure at all what substantive statements are!

10. iLike what you are saying, it comes across as intelligent and eloquent, but i am uninformed on the topic& can’t be bothered to read extensively about it, so to comment appropriately, thus i’ll pretend that i missed this one, albeit i didn’t;

11.  i think i Like your status, but i am not sure & it’s my bedtime (i am in another time zone)

12. i like your status, but then i think your significant other won’t like yet another Like of mine on your Facebook wall;

13. you haven’t Liked any of my statuses recently & being a firm believer in Facebook reciprocity, i pass;

14. yours is a marketing douchebaggery, so no Like from me, despite the big puppy eyes you are making;

15. if i Like this, you’ll expect me to Like other stuff of yours; if i do – then you’ll invite me to Like your Facebook page, if i do that – all your Facebook friends will start nagging me to Like their respective Facebook pages and i don’t really like many of their pages, but would feel thorn apart if i liked some and wouldn’t like others and i don’t wish that kind of anguish for myself, so i pass!

facebook

Related articles
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  • I Have an Unlike Button & I’m Not Afraid to Use It !! (Week 7: Blog 1) (jwoodard73.wordpress.com)
  • Your Facebook “Likes” Are an Expression of Free Speech (blogs.smithsonianmag.com)

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How to Master the Universe

28 Thursday Feb 2013

Posted by moderndayruth in Zen

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

Comfort, Comfort zone, Food, Health, Leo Babauta, Physical exercise, Procrastination

reblogged from zenhabits.net

 

Discomfort Zone: How to Master the Universe

By Leo Babauta

Of all the skills I’ve learned in the past 7 years of changing my life, one skill stands out:

Learning to be comfortable with discomfort.

If you learn this skill, you can master pretty much anything. You can beat procrastination, start exercising, make your diet healthier, learn a new language, make it through challenges and physically grueling events, explore new things, speak on a stage, let go of all that you know, and become a minimalist. And that’s just the start.

Unfortunately, most people avoid discomfort. I mean, they really avoid it — at the first sign of discomfort, they’ll run as fast as possible in the other direction. This is perhaps the biggest limiting factor for most people, and it’s why you can’t change your habits.

Think about this: many people don’t eat vegetables because they don’t like the taste. We’re not talking about soul-wrenching pain here, not Guantanamo torture, but a taste that’s just not something you’re used to. And so they eat what they already like, which is sweets and fried stuff and meats and cheeses and salty things and lots of processed flour.

The simple act of learning to get used to something that tastes different — not really that hard in the grand scheme of life — makes people unhealthy, often overweight.

I know, because this was me for so many years. I became fat and sedentary and a smoker and deeply in debt with lots of clutter and procrastination, because I didn’t like things that were uncomfortable. And so I created a life that was deeply uncomfortable as a result.

The beautiful thing is: I learned that a little discomfort isn’t a bad thing. In fact, it can be something you enjoy, with a little training. When I learned this, I was able to change everything, and am still pretty good at changing because of this one skill.

Master your fear of discomfort, and you can master the universe.

Avoidance of Discomfort

When people are stressed, they often turn to cigarettes, food, shopping, alcohol, drugs … anything to get rid of the disomfort of the thing that’s stressing them out. And yet, if you take a deeper look at the stress, it’s really an unfounded fear that’s causing it (usually the fear that we’re not good enough), and if we examined it and gave it some light of day, it would start to go away.

When people start to exercise after being sedentary, they are uncomfortable. It’s hard! It can make you sore. It’s not as easy as not exercising. It’s not something you’re used to doing, and you fear doing it wrong or looking stupid. And so you stop after awhile, because it’s uncomfortable, when really it’s not horrible to be uncomfortable for a little while. We’re not talking about incredible pain, but just discomfort.

When people try a healthier diet, they often don’t like it — eating veggies and raw nuts and flaxseeds and fruits and tofu or tempeh or black beans isn’t as thrilling as eating fried, fatty, salty or sweet foods. It’s a form of discomfort to change your taste buds, but the truth is, it can easily happen if you just get through a little discomfort.

Discomfort isn’t bad. It’s just not what we’re used to. And so we avoid it, but at the cost of not being able to change things, not being healthy, not being open to adventure and the chaos of raw life.

Mastering Discomfort

The way to master discomfort is to do it comfortably. That might sound contradictory, but it’s not. If you are afraid of discomfort, and you try to beat discomfort with a really gruelling activity, you will probably give up and fail, and go back to comfort.

So do it in small doses.

  1. Pick something that’s not hard. Take meditation as an example. It’s not really that hard — you just sit down and pay attention to your body and breath, in the present moment. You don’t have to empty your mind (just notice your thoughts), you don’t have to chant anything weird, you just sit and pay attention. If you don’t like meditation, try a new healthy food, like kale or raw almonds or quinoa. Or a fairly easy exercise if you’re sedentary, like walking or jogging.
  2. Just do a little. You don’t have to start by doing 30 minutes of something you’re not used to doing. Just do a few minutes. Just start.
  3. Push out of your comfort zone, a little. My friend and Zen priestSusan O’Connell has a favorite meditation instruction that you can use for any activity actually: when you’re meditating and you feel like getting up, don’t; then when you feel the urge to get up a second time, don’t; and when you feel the urge to get up a third time, then get up. So you sit through the urge, the discomfort, twice before finally giving in the third time. This is a nice balance, so that you’re pushing your comfort zone a little. You can do this in exercise and many other activities — push a little.
  4. Watch the discomfort. Watch yourself as you get a bit uncomfortable — are you starting to complain (internally)? Are you looking for ways to avoid it? Where do you turn to? What happens if you stay with it, and don’t do anything?
  5. Smile. This is not trivial advice. If you can smile while being uncomfortable, you can learn to be happy with discomfort, with practice. When I did the Goruck Challenge in 2011, it was 13 hours of discomfort — raw and bloody knees, sand in my shoes as a hiked and ran with 60+ pounds on my back, carrying teammates and logs, doing pushups and crabwalks and other exercises, needing the bathroom and being tired and hungry and cold. And yet, I practiced something simple: I tried to mantain a smile through all this discomfort. It’s an important practice.

Repeat this practice daily. It will be strange, perhaps difficult, at first, but soon your comfort zone will expand. If you practice it enough, with different activities, your comfort zone will expand to include discomfort. And then you can master the universe.

What You Can Now Master

If you master discomfort, what can you now master as a result? Just about anything:

  1. Procrastination. We procrastinate to avoid something that’s not comfortable, but if you can learn to stay with that task, even if it’s not comfortable. The discomfort isn’t bad. Those of you going through theProcrastination module in my Sea Change Program are learning about dealing with the discomfort of staying with your important task.
  2. Exercise. We avoid exercise because it’s not comfortable, but if we expand the comfort zone a little at a time, we can make exercise something we’re comfortable with, after a little repetition.
  3. Writing. If you want to write but always seem to put it off, that’s because writing is often difficult, or less comfortable than checking email or social networks (for example). Stay with the discomfort, and you’ll write more than ever.
  4. Eating healthy. It’s amazing how much our taste buds can change over time, if we gradually get used to healthier foods. That means going through small periods of discomfort, but it’s not that bad in little doses.
  5. Meditation. We avoid the disomfort of sitting and doing nothing, of focusing on the present. But it’s not that hard — just a little uncomfortable.
  6. Waking early. Waking early means being a little tired for a little while, but that’s not a horrible thing. Read more about rising early.
  7. Learning a language/instrument. Want to learn something new? That means doing something you’re not used to, by definition, and so we often quit before we master this new skill, simply because (you guessed it) it makes us uncomfortable. Stay with the discomfort, and before long you’ll enjoy learning this new skill.
  8. Clutter. Clutter is just another form of procrastination. You don’t put things away, or you let a pile of things you don’t need build up, because it’s not comfortable dealing with it right now (as compared to, say, browsing the Internet or watching TV). But dealing with something right now isn’t that hard once you get past the discomfort.
  9. Reading novels. We tend to avoid simply sitting with a book, because we are pulled towards something more comfortable (again, Internet browsing as an example). If we can just sit with the book and a little discomfort, we can read more.
  10. Empty email inbox. Another form of procrastination — you get some emails, maybe look at them, but put off dealing with them right now because it’s easier not to.
  11. Debt. This is a series of things we have to deal with that are uncomfortable — listing out our debts and bills, making a simple budget, doing things that are free instead of shopping, etc. But I got out of debt by finally facing all of these things, and it was wonderful.
  12. New adventures. Many people stay with places they’re comfortable with, which means missing out on new experiences that might be a little uncomfortable. Even when they travel, many people stick with the tourist sights and food that they’re used to, rather than finding strange but more authentic experiences in a new land. We avoid meeting new people, speaking on stage, letting go of what we know, being open to new things … to avoid discomfort.

And that’s just the start. Within each of these areas there’s many things you can work on over the coming years now that you’re not afraid of discomfort, and there are many other areas of exploration now open to you.

Discomfort can be the joyful key that opens up everything for you.

  • Discomfort Zone: How to Master the Universe (zenhabits.net)
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A Journey Without a Goal

10 Wednesday Oct 2012

Posted by moderndayruth in Zen

≈ 6 Comments

Tags

Flow, Goal, Health, Learning, Leo Babauta, Mental Health, Motivation, Self-Help, Zen Habits

by Leo Babauta, reblogged from zenhabits.net

Nearly every activity we do has a purpose, a goal in mind.

We drive to get to work, to the store, to a class or party. We walk for fitness, or to get to a specific destination. We work to achieve something, to reach certain numbers. We workout to get healthier, to get a nicer body.

But what would happen if we gave up the goal?

What would a journey without a goal be like?

Imagine setting out for a walk with no particular purpose — you might go in one direction because there’s a nice explosion of flowers over there, but then explore a different direction when you see someone playing music, then go in another direction because you’re curious about what’s there.

No destination in mind. Nothing to achieve. Just curiosity, fun, not knowing.

What would it be like to work without a goal? You might write something for fun, because you want to get it out of you, without knowing what the effect of the writing would be. You would figure out the work as you go, without knowing what the finished product would look like.

What would it be like to live life without a fixed plan? Without knowing where you’ll be living in five years, or what you’ll be doing, or what you want to achieve?

I don’t know the answers, but I do know that I’ve been freer as I’ve learned to let go of goals, fixed plans, fixed destinations.

How to Flow

I’ve long been a planner and a goal setter, but I’ve been learning a different way over the last few years. It’s a radical shift in thinking and doing, to a freer-flowing mode of being.

How does it work? Well, to be honest, there’s no one way. But it goes a little something like this:

You wake up, excited about being alive. You wonder, “What do I feel like doing today?” You aren’t constrained to anything at this point, but the question is important.

So you get started, doing something you’re excited about, having fun doing it. Is that thing you’re doing a destination, a goal? Well, in some ways, yes, but it’s not fixed. There’s no set plan, and the destination doesn’t matter as much as the process, the journey.

You start, but you might shift as you go, depending on the flow of ideas, on working with others who might have ideas you didn’t foresee, on things that happen along the way. You couldn’t have predicted these things when you got started, so you have to adapt — no plan can anticipate all of this, no goal would be adequate to the task.

You might even completely shift, if something new comes up, if a new opportunity presents itself. You let go of your idea of what today was going to be, because these ideas of what should be are lightly held. They mean nothing, really, and the important thing is the flow.

You learn to be flexible instead of set. You learn to be good at change and uncertainty, instead of fearing it.

As things arise, you adapt, and let go of your plans and goals. You move with the flow of water, with the changing landscape. You are free to do this because you don’t care where you end up — you just want to be present in your journey, be compassionate with each step, have fun each moment along the way. The destination becomes irrelevant.

No destination or goal matters if they are all good. Each step along the way, then, becomes the destination, and is exactly where you should be.

 

Copyright Notice: Leo Babauta released copyright on this content, BUT be a darling &   credit him for any work of his that you use, and ideally, link back to the original.

 

 

Song Dynasty painting in the Litang style illustrating the theme “Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhism are one”. Depicts Taoist Lu Xiujing (left), official Tao Yuanming (right) and Buddhist monk Huiyuan (center, founder of Pure Land) by the Tiger stream. The stream borders a zone infested by tigers that they just crossed without fear, engrossed as they were in their discussion. Realising what they just did, they laugh together, hence the name of the picture,Three laughing men by the Tiger stream.
Source: from http://www.npm.gov.tw 

 

 

 

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Skinny gossip, Kate Upton and the Suckling Piglet

05 Sunday Aug 2012

Posted by moderndayruth in I Ching

≈ 23 Comments

Tags

Body Image, Cindy Crawford, Health, Judeo-Christian, Kate Upton, Models, Sports Illustrated, World Health Organization

I’ve been thinking of what i’ll write next for couple of days now; i wanted to cover erotic novels as a genre – following the worldwide infatuation with James’ “Fifty Shades of Grey”- with digressions on Umberto Ecco’s  subversive power of laughter concept,  but truth to be told, my mind is actually busy with one way more trivial topic…

It’s the Kate Upton’s ‘case’ and the bashing she got at skinnygossip forum: http://www.skinnygossip.com/kate-upton-is-well-marbled/

I spent hours at the forum, trying to figure out what is it exactly – and i wouldn’t say it is pro-ana (promoting anorexia), at least not openly; it seems that many members there are models or else working within fashion industry and, well, it’s within their job description to be thin… Or is it?

The unflattering picture of Kate Upton seem to negate it.

In these parts traditionally measures for a beauty peagent contestant are 90-60-90 cm ( i am not sure what is i tin inches)  and even less than that for models.

My personal favorite is Croatian model Petra Friganovic:

Petra is also a dear friend of mine and i do know she leads a very healthy and proactive lifestyle; i met Petra’s mother who – in her mid fifties –  is also stunning – and quite thin too.

A lot of it indeed comes genetically (i am not that lucky) albeit truth is that pigging out on junk food and sedentary life style  will ruin any figure, sooner or later.

Here is another of my favorites – a classical Mediterranean beauty, the drop-dead gorgeous Jelena Milic, Montenegrin contestant at Miss All Nations peagent in Nanjing 2011:

My own role model at the time was Cindy Crawford – i used to do her DVD work outs and all in all was inspired bur her toned and defined figure; back then (in 90ies) super models looked healthy and slim.

Too thin models are not to my taste but with standards we have here, albeit myself i am far from being thin, it is difficult for me to see Kate Upton as a “model”. A sensual woman -sure, attractive too, but a model (let alone the size) with cellulite and love handles… not really.

Of course, the controversial blog entry at skinnygossip is a gross exaggeration, but still – if one’s job is to model and they are highly paid for it, isn’t it unprofessional not to keep in shape? I don’t think Kate Upton should lose weight, but it does seem she needs to exercise  – and badly so.

Anyway, i did cast I Ching on all this size obsession, and here is what i got:

51. Arousal, Thunder, moving lines 1,3,5,6 , changing to 33. Retreat/ Save your bacon

I Ching is endlessly deep – Hexagram 51. does actually indicate sexual arousal among zillion other things, it’s also about shock and laughter… and totally missing the point, it’s a warning too.

Six at the top means:
Shock brings ruin and terrified gazing around.
Going ahead brings misfortune.
If it has not yet touched one’s own body
But has reached one’s neighbor first,
There is no blame.
One’s comrades have something to talk about.*

When inner shock is at its height, it robs a man of reflection and clarity of vision.
In such a state of shock it is of course impossible to act with presence of mind.
Then the right thing is to keep still until composure and clarity are restored.
But this a man can do only when he himself is not yet infected by the agitation,
although its disastrous effects are already visible in those around him.
If he withdraws from the affair in time, he remains free of mistakes and injury.
But his comrades, who no longer heed any warning, will in their excitement
certainly be displeased with him. However, he must not take this into account.

(Wilhelm’s translation)

I just laughed out loud at this line: One’s comrades have something to talk about, for it seems to be literally referring to the skinnygossip forum! 

It is interesting that all the media uproar is due to an anonymously posted blog entry; if we go by the distinguishing between important and unimportant  rule – which presumably shapes the human intelligence – why does it matter at all? It’s not a statement by World Health Organization or a FDA guidance, it’s merely – a gossip, yet NYDaily features article on it and  so does Elle and Yahoo and pretty much everyone else.

It’s a thing to boost the hits&ratings i guess, while obsessing over “celebrities” long ago became the most wide spread form of idolatry – albeit it’s presumably a no-go within Judeo-Christian tradition…

The Chinese character  for Hexagram 33, Dùn , is pig (1) + meat (2) , which is a suckling pig, one raised to be eaten; again – tongue in cheek given that we are discussing fat tissue here!`

(image adopted from YiJing, Oracle of the Sun by LiSe Heyboer http://www.yijing.nl/)

If seriously, the nuclear Hexagram of 33 is 44 – Heir/GÒU; in the Judgment of hexagram 44 it is said that the woman is zhuang 壯, a word only used with men or boys. In the sixth line we have a girl wearing the hairstyle of a boy. The picture we get from this is that of a Mulan, a girl who behaves like a boy, which (in ancient Chinese culture) of course is highly impropriate.

The next Hexagram – 34 – is DÀ ZHUÀNG, Power or Strength.

All in all, it does seem that the epoch of pre-puberty boy-like thin models is over and that a healthier and stronger looks will be promoted from now on – to that i say Amen! 

But, no love handles and suckling piglets, please! 

Hexagram 33, YiJing, Oracle of the Sun by LiSe Heyboer http://www.yijing.nl/i_ching/hex_33-48/hex_e_33.htm

Petra’s picture snatched from: http://www.fashion.hr/user_galleries/gallery/petra-friganovic/

Miss All Nations portal http://missosology.info/forum/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=109468&start=60

NYDaily article: http://articles.nydailynews.com/2012-07-12/news/32652175_1_carina-cruz-kate-upton-teen-protesters

Elle: http://www.elle.com/news/culture/skinny-gossip-site-trashes-kate-upton-curves

Mulan in the Yi Jing: http://www.i-tjingcentrum.nl/serendipity/archives/56-A-Mulan-in-the-Yijing.html

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