Inspiration and Dreaming:
There are all sorts of things I dream about, too numerous to put into this website. Here are some things that inspire me as of late:
Yes Man: As noted in the introduction to the website, I want my one regret to be not knowing what regret feels like…..
So, as I cruise through my sixties, I try to say ‘yes’ to everything. Every nutty or crazy idea I think of or hear about I try to say ‘yes’. The only exception is things that are dangerous. This includes (so far) in just the past year or so, singing Lessons and Stand Up Comedy (where I bombed my first try ☹). There are a bunch of other things on the drawing board as soon as I have time. I would love to try Pole Vaulting but there just isn’t a place nearby.
Okay, and here is my latest crazy idea I said yes to. I want to create my own brand of beer called: Bru Brew.
My Longevity Hobby – Like many millennials, I am making longevity a hobby. I read everything I can about it. There is a combination of some amazing breakthroughs with a heavy dose of bullsh*t surrounding it, so it is hard to discern what is real and what is hype, or worse. So far, I have enjoyed both Tony Robbins’s book Life Force (which seems a bit tilted to hyperbole) and Peter Attia’s book Outlive (which seems much more tilted to accuracy and solid advice). I am a fan of Dr. Attia and I also like Men’s Health, which is quite interesting. There is much more on the subject. It is just one of my hobbies.
One thing I will mention is the concept gaining traction is that the goal is not the prolonging of life. Who wants to live to 110 and spend the last 30 years in a wheelchair? Instead, the goal is to prolong the healthy part of your life, which results in the coined phrase: Health-Span.
As I muse on this I wonder if Ripped at 65 leads to More Ripped at 66 — could it be someday Ripped at 75 and then…..?
However things turn out, I will certainly my best not to get old.
Meditation – you probably think I am going to espouse meditation here — where you take twenty minutes in the morning and maybe in the evening too, and meditate and stuff. But after trying it, I find it is not for me.
I just don’t like to spend the time on it and it is at best okay for me, but I don’t think it does anything for me except — being too honest — feel like I am wasting my precious time.
To be super clear, I am not trashing it. Many people feel uplifted and better from it and more power to them. It just doesn’t move my needles.
However, before turning away from meditation, I came to a different direction, which is my own brand of mini-meditation.
This consists of interspersing four one-minute meditations during the day.
All I do – wherever I am – is close my eyes and focus on my breathing – six deep and slow breaths in and out – and just reflect on what an utter joy it is to be alive. Notably, I don’t try to turn down the music or other peoples’ conversations — I just (as stated) reflect on how wonderful it is to be alive.
It makes me feel just great.
And it only takes a minute!
I have also tried to meditate during workouts — since I was told when I took TM that there was no such thing as a bad meditation — but so far this has not worked at all — at least not yet.
Wasting Time: This is really not wasting time at all – it is the opposite of that – it is truly enjoying things – really sitting up and smelling the coffee. This is time for myself. I love my own company, however that sounds. I love my morning rituals – going to Starbucks in the suburbs – or going to The Peninsula Hotel for breakfast in NYC – and reading the paper. Yes the actual paper and having coffee and breakfast. What a treat. The Miracle of Mindfulness by Thich Nacht Hanh is apropros here as this is mindfulness as he describes it.
Walkabout: This is different from wasting time and is both fun and inspiring. I like going to a place I have never been before and wandering around speaking to the people and just interacting. There is no purpose which it itself its purpose. I’ll be you’ve never done it — try it sometime.
Quitting: You might wonder about why I have this under Inspiration, but it makes great sense. Over the years, I have learned that quitting is a wonderful thing to do at the right time. Sticking too long at something you aren’t ever going to get good at or even enjoy is the ultimate fool’s errand. Of course we are all taught to never quit, and yes that advice is quite valuable at times. The point here is not to advocate just quitting too easily. Instead, it is to make an intellectual assessment of why and whether you should continue a losing proposition and act on that assessment. Sometimes you keep going in the face of adversity. And other times you should divert to a more optimal plan.