Forestluv

That sounds good idealistically. Yet paradoxically, having no barriers reduces the overall power for everyone to create and share ideas. People often have an either / or mindset in which there must be either maximum 100% moderation or 0% moderation. Yet it is more nuanced. Too many barriers, as well as too few barriers, will reduce overall power to create and share ideas.

@integral Ime with mini-dosing, the form of motivation and productivity is a bigger issue than the form of psychedelic. I prefer to mini-dose at threshold than micro-dose below threshold. At a mini dose, my mental state becomes much more fluid, creative and can see bigger picture connections. This comes at the cost of less logic, analysis and concrete structure. For example, if I was mini-dosing and reading a scientific article, my mind would be making all sorts of connections between the scientific research to larger contexts of history, art, social systems, evolution, economics etc. As well, my mind would be using lots of metaphors and analogies. I would be less interested and less able to critically analyze the details of the data. For critical analysis of details, a mini dose of adderall is the most effective. A compromise between the two would be modafinil. For mini-dosing psychs, my favorite is ald-52. For me, its the smoothest and has very little body load.

Even though Twitter is a relatively small size, it seems to have a large influence on driving social / political / media narratives.

@Vision Sometimes I find it helpful to consider both difference and similarity. One way anxiety and caution are similar is that they both involve a perceived threat to the individual and the mind-body tries to protect itself from that threat. (The threat can be actual or manufactured). . . I'd say a difference is that caution involves calmness while anxiety involves activation of the sympathetic nervous system (fight or flight). A low dose of anxiety can be helpful, yet too much anxiety is disabling. Example: An actual threat to the individual Imagine driving down the highway at night in a snow storm. The road is icy and you've driven by two car accidents. Caution would realize this is a high risk situation and we need to direct our attention to our driving. We may turn down the radio and tell the passenger no more discussion so we can focus on driving. There is a sense of calmness. . . I'd say a little bit of anxiety would be a good thing as this would stimulate the body to be even more alert, improving our driving. Yet too much anxiety would be disabling, decrease our driving ability and increase the chance of getting into an accident. Example: Manufactured threat to the individual Imagine we are taking a public speaking class and are about to give a presentation. It is a supportive environment and no actual threat. Here, there is no need for caution and a little bit of anxiety is a good thing for peak performance. . . Yet what if our mind manufactures a perceived threat? The mind thinks "What if I look stupid? What if I fail? I could fail in the class and get kicked out of college! Paul's presentation was so good, I'm not as good as him. Everyone is going to find out I'm an imposter and don't belong here". And on and on. . . Here too much anxiety due to manufacturing a threat would be disabling and decrease performance.

When I breathe I am as old as the Grand Canyon and as young as a blossom. I am two dragonflies dancing in the sun’s rays I am delicate as a falling feather and as sharp as a razor’s edge I am the roots of an oak tree and a leaf fluttering in the breeze I am the the stillness of earth and the motion of wind and smoke I am the warmth of an ember and the chill of snow When I breathe I am wisdom that knows everything and emptiness that knows nothing

You are creating, assuming and projecting a thing you refer to as “identification”. That is something extra you are adding in. Of course. You can create any reality you like. You could create a reality in which Stephen Hawking was an awesome basketball player if you want.

That’s one heckuva power-washer of history.

Salt is only sodium and chloride. I was also deficient in magnesium and potassium.

@Soul_Guy I recently did a 7 day fast, followed by 7 days of strict keto diet (about 1% carbs). I then got a blood analysis. My white blood counts were very low. The theory is that during a prolonged fast, autophagy removes old immune cells and stem cells are activated to produce new immune cells - thereby improving the immune system. A lot of people do fasting to improve autoimmune conditions. If this is your first fast, I would consider first doing a 3 day or perhaps 7 day. It can get a bit tricky with electrolytes and dealing with symptoms that may arise. I'd also recommend being committed, yet also listening to your body and not letting the ego take over. For the first 4 days, I only drank water to have a pure fast. Yet by day 5, I wasn't feeling well and something was going wrong. I thought I needed to ingest some electrolytes, yet my ego wanted to do a 100% water fast and not "fail". On day 5, I ingested a small amount of kale / spinach / electrolyte supplement / multivitamin for micronutrients. This was only 100 calories and didn't impact the effects of the fast - and I felt much better and could continue on for another 3 days. I then took electrolyte supplements each subsequent day. In terms of benefits and limitations of fasting, Peter Attia is the most experienced and knowledgeable imo. He has videos on all sorts of different fasting lengths and impacts. This website provides evidence-based descriptions of fasting stages. They also have an app tracker, which I found helpful for motivation.

The vaccine has had a decade of prior research. The biotech company Moderna named their company after their mission of developing rna vaccines. Modern + rna = "Moderna". They were established in 2010 and have been working on this for 10 years. There was a huge amount of prior research, yet the clinical trials were accelerated due to the pandemic.

It was spontaneous. Totally unplanned. I suddenly felt an intuition to stop eating food. After a day of not eating, I got online to figure out why I would stop eating food. I started reading about all the positive benefits. I thought I'd go for 36hrs, yet then I read about all the good stuff at 48hrs so I stretched it to 48. Then I read about juicy stuff if I go to 72hrs.. . . I just kept going. At 72hrs, I dumped about 4 lbs of bloated water and 2 lbs of fat. I felt so much better and then started reading about prolonged fasts and therapeutic benefits. For supplements, I took magnesium, sodium chloride and potassium. On day three, I took too much potassium and got diarrhea. I almost broke the fast but continued on. I was doing about 1-3hrs a day of light cardio in hot weather and was concerned I would deplete my electrolytes. On day 5, I ingested a small amount of kale and avocado to take in a multivatimin with fat soluble vitamins. It was only about 200 calories worth and didn't take me out of the fast. Lots of people drink coffee during fasts. I'm not a big coffee drinker, yet drank some on day 3 and wish I hadn't. I felt like I was going to pass out. Yet other people drink coffee fine. I wasn't working at the time. The benefits were a mixture of physical, psychological, metaphysical and spiritual. It totally changed my relationship with food and I had amazing shamanic breath sessions during the fast.

Last week I completed a 7 day fast and I was shocked how much better I feel. I’ve now switched to a keto diet with intermittent fasting.

Different variants can have a range of effects. Flu viruses have been been endemic for a long time and tons of new variants arise each year, yet they aren’t significantly worse. The coronavirus has spread enough that it will likely become endemic, like the flu. I’m not sure of models that predict probabilities and impact of new variants, There are probably scientists developing algorithms right now.

There is no debate in medical and health regarding what Carl Richard wrote. The more people that are infected means more viral replications which allows for more mutant variants - a small percentage of which could be more contagious and harmful than the current strain. We've known this for decades. Scientists figured this out back in the 1950s. The question is not IF this could occur, the question is what are probabilities of more harmful mutant variants arising. If one or two slightly more harmful variants arose in the world each year, it's likely manageable without huge investments and disruptions. Yet if 15 more harmful variants arise each year, it would be much more difficult to manage. The more people that get vaccinated means there is reduced viral replications - which means reduced emergence of mutant variants. The probabilities are significantly reduced, yet not down to zero. Yet in the bigger picture, the vaccine might just be putting a band-aid on a more serious problem regarding human impact on the earth and humans living in more concentrated cities.

Reducing carbs is great (especially high glycemic carbs and sugars). Also pay attention to net carbs. With net carbs, dietary fiber is subtracted since it is not digested and converted to glucose. Plus, fiber is good for gut bacteria and gives a feeling of fullness. In addition to what you eat, when you eat is also important. The traditional “eat more, move more” strategy is not effective long term for most people. If someone burns 2,000 calories per day and consumes 1,700 calories per day, they will lose weight at first - yet the body will gradually reduce it’s metabolism, which we don’t want. In today’s Western culture, many people eat 12+ hours per day, throughout the day. This leaves the body in a chronic nutrient-rich state. It’s important to periodically cycle from nutrient-rich to nutrient-deficit. This will allow insulin levels to drop, allows higher rates of recycling of worn out cellular components (autophagy). And by allowing more time for the digestive system to rest, those energetic resources can be used for bodily repair. For example, eating in an 8 hr window gives the body 16hrs of reduced insulin levels and body repair.

@Javfly33 You seem heavily oriented toward goal / outcome. That can be useful as motivation, yet it's also a hindrance. I've found it helpful to balance goal/outcome with love of process - as if the destination is the journey. I used to help train people to run their first marathon. They were so obsessed with goal/outcome that they totally missed process and progress. We'd be running in a beautiful forest and they would be checking their watch every 30 seconds, obsessed with pace, distance and hyper-analyzing everything. I'd be like "how about we not worry about that stuff for now and just enjoy our run? The forest and weather is beautiful. The brook is babbling, the birds are singing and the breeze feels wonderful". Yet they were in a totally different mindset. They were never able to have fun and enjoy the process. I've been doing spiritual work for 30 years and I'm still exploring new terrain. Currently I'm doing my first prolonged fast and I'm blown away by the experience. For me, if I become too heavy on either goal/outcome or process then problems can arise.

How long / frequent were your fasts? From what I’ve read, muscle loss generally isn’t a major issue for an occasional 3 day fast.

@GGG A three day water fast is a great reset. I’m on day three of my fist one. With low intensity exercise, I’ve lost 1.5 lbs per day and there are other health benefits. It’s also been giving insight into my relationship with food and my mind-body. And the impact different foods have on my body. Going forward, I will eliminate wheat and added sugars (only eating some natural sugar from fruit). I’ll also add in intermittent fasting for the health benefits. There are various forms available. I’ve found the metabolic switch into ketosis to be a good conscious state for insight, creativity and spirituality. Below is an evidence-based article describing the benefits each fasting stage. They also have a free app to track goals. https://lifeapps.io/fasting/the-5-stages-of-intermittent-fasting/

It’s not as simple as personal ideology bias - there are standards on the forum as well as issues of provoking and inflaming that can be toxic to a community. You don’t know the history and are making assumptions and projections. And you don’t understand the dynamics of moderating a forum. It is much more nuanced and complex than you are aware. As I said, derailing threads is against forum guidelines. I can’t allow this side conversation to continue. Future posts about moderation will be hidden. If you have grievances against forum moderation you can start a thread to discuss it or you can PM me. There is also a recent thread on changes to the forum you can post on.

Part of being a mod is introspecting oneself and enforcing the rules fairly. It is like being a referee in a sporting event. I call fouls on both sides. It is also against forum guidelines to derail threads from the OP topic. So let’s not derail this thread. If you have any other questions about moderating, please don’t post it in this thread as that will derail further. Feel free to ask me your question via PM. Thank you.

I didn’t call him a gaslighter. The category of warning is called “Trolling, Inflaming, Provoking and Gaslighting.” Please tone down the confrontational tone. The situation had nothing to do with you.

Actually, it’s the opposite. The ‘crime’ is committed first and we realize who it is afterwards. We’ve tried to work with him over the years. My preference is that he stays on the forum within the guidelines. He makes contributions on other subforums.

@Shin He has had over 40 accounts banned for Trolling, Inflaming, Provoking and Gaslighting.

A Strangeloop ?