Michael569

A Life of Purpose

246 posts in this topic

Went out for a 21km hike on Saturday to climb the highest hill in south-west wales via the long loop. What a wonderful day that was. It felt like we walked forever but the scenery was changing and it was not super busy so I allowed myself to slip into the role of the observer on many occurrences and just taking it all in. We ended  with a bit of wild swimming in the nearby glacial lake which was a perfect end to that day. 

My corpo work has become super busy lately (I should be working on the RFP rather than writing this), many new projects that I'll need to complete by end of August. Every time some new shitstorm like this comes up, I envoke the impatient monkey in my brain that starts yelling " quit now quit now  quit now" but then the rational part takes over and says "not yet, my dear, not yet, we are not ready ". I'm just so lucky and blessed to have the coolest boss in the world who does not micromanage nor load our calendars with pointless meetings and catch-ups. The guy is an ex-military and the mindset is clearly visible. Our team is incredibly lucky to have him rather than some of the hysterical KPI-neurotics other teams have. Maybe that's why nobody in our team has quit for 3 years. 

Been working on a new blog on L-theanine during my evenings lately, after I've been asked about it by a few clients. I was surprised by the amount of good quality research I found on the topic. Lots of interesting info coming up. Think I'll go for Reishi next, I've had my eye on that one since (I think) it helped me cure my allergies. 

 


“If you find yourself acting to impress others, or avoiding action out of fear of what they might think, you have left the path.” ― Epictetus

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Mastery, beauty, perfection, creativity, art + epic as fuck. The man knows how to leave an undying legacy and share his gifts with the world. 

Finished my latest blog on telomeres, longevity and biological ageing. A lot of super interesting research out there. I'd like to explore this topic much deeper but a lot of the research just exceeds my understanding of genetics and biochemistry so I have no idea what I'm reading about. Looking into Reishi for the next one. 

Work has been picking up a lot lately, evidently, our CEO got cornered by shareholders to bring in more revenue so the entire management is screwing everyone to perform harder and take on more projects. Yet more motivation to get the hell out of this freaking place. 


“If you find yourself acting to impress others, or avoiding action out of fear of what they might think, you have left the path.” ― Epictetus

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On 8/4/2021 at 8:54 PM, Michael569 said:

Mastery, beauty, perfection, creativity, art + epic as fuck. The man knows how to leave an undying legacy and share his gifts with the world. 

I watched this on a trip a couple of months ago and was absolutely mindblown, quite literally mindblown. That reality could imagine these people who manage to create this music, which was all of my (our) own doing...amazing! 

Edited by fridjonk

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10 hours ago, fridjonk said:

I watched this on a trip a couple of months ago and was absolutely mindblown, quite literally mindblown. That reality could imagine these people who manage to create this music, which was all of my (our) own doing...amazing! 

I know right! This was from his 2017 Prague concert, I rented the whole thing on Amazon, it is incredible. 


“If you find yourself acting to impress others, or avoiding action out of fear of what they might think, you have left the path.” ― Epictetus

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Took a deep dive into research on Reishi mushrooms. Not as mindblowing as I expected if one looks at how hypermarketed these things are. I was a bit disappointed that there was literally nothing on allergies as I'm still that convinced medicinal mushrooms cured my allergies but hard to say whether that was due to a mix with the other 5 mushrooms or just a coincidence. Might have been due to something else completely. 

I would like to understand if medicinal mushrooms are safe for people with autoimmunity. From what we've been taught, they are not because they can exacerbate intracellular hypersensitivity and flare up the symptoms but from anecdotal stories, I've heard from people they were fine. The camps are divided between people who claim they are 100% safe and those who say people with autoimmunity must not touch them. I think I don't have an opinion on the topic before reviewing the data myself, but put a disclaimer in the article nevertheless. The effects is probably dose-dependent as well as dependant on whether the person is in remission or relapse. 

It is funny because these things have been used in medicine for thousands of years with evidently good results but it is only today that we end up being scared of them. But then, we have never been extracting and hyper concentrating natural remedies the way we do today...............Too much of a good thing perhaps

 

Listening to the Metro Exodus soundtrack makes me wanna replay the game sometime soon. Probably the most epic game I've ever finished. 

 

 

 


“If you find yourself acting to impress others, or avoiding action out of fear of what they might think, you have left the path.” ― Epictetus

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A morning 3 hour lecture on observational studies. My brain is fried, confused, overwhelmed and somewhat depressed. 

Why did I sign up for this course again? Why did I do this to myself? 

Well because knowing how to read & interpret research will be a number one tool if you're to be serious on this journey 

Why does it have to be so fucking complicated thou? It was easier when I just took anything for granted. It's like, no sources can be trusted anymore...

Because they can't...people have their biases and it will be your job for next 60 years to be able to see through all that personal bullshit, beliefs, dogma, cherry-picking and deliberate misinterpretation. 

Right.....

 


“If you find yourself acting to impress others, or avoiding action out of fear of what they might think, you have left the path.” ― Epictetus

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@Michael569 I'm really on this topic today for whatever reason, maybe it resonates and if not disregard. There's a point where the rules and guidelines are really useful, they allow us to learn so that we can explore the depths of what we couldn't access before. They allow us to connect with our own intuition. Once you learn the rules, you can then follow your own intuition clearly to break the rules that were before. It's like an author outlining a book, or an artist sketching out the basic form of what she wants to paint. This step can and will be completely changed, edited, built upon. It is a groundless foundation. From one perspective it's a total waste, worthless. Yet, from another it is invaluable and completely necessary. 

Your awareness that research and rules for health and healing is a mirage, an enigma, is actually an enormously valuable and helpful "rule" to know in itself. Tools have more uses than their one clear, intended purpose in the hands of someone who really sees and envisions the creation they are helping to shape. 


My Youtube Channel- Light on Earth “We dance round in a ring and suppose, but the Secret sits in the middle and knows.”― Robert Frost

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@mandyjw thanks for sharing a bit of your wisdom. 

10 minutes ago, mandyjw said:

There's a point where the rules and guidelines are really useful, they allow us to learn so that we can explore the depths of what we couldn't access before.

This really resonates with me. You need to know the rules of the game before you break the rules of the game.

14 minutes ago, mandyjw said:

Your awareness that research and rules for health and healing is a mirage, an enigma, is actually an enormously valuable and helpful "rule" to know in itself. Tools have more uses than their one clear, intended purpose in the hands of someone who really sees and envisions the creation they are helping to shape. 

Could you elaborate on this Mandy? 


“If you find yourself acting to impress others, or avoiding action out of fear of what they might think, you have left the path.” ― Epictetus

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1 hour ago, Michael569 said:

Could you elaborate on this Mandy? 

Have you heard of man with a hammer syndrome? "To a man with a hammer every problem looks like a nail." Healers, doctors, diet gurus, etc, are usually "men with hammers", they have their favorite beliefs and their solutions and they push them. You've seen through them, the "eliminate toxins" hammer, the "low carb" hammer, etc.  From this framework (the metaphorical hammer), they derive their expertise and confidence. Expertise and confidence are in themselves, immediately a relief to someone suffering who does not know what to do in order to feel better. The vitamin D might be healing, but so is the knowledge that I was feeling bad because I was vitamin D deficient and now I am no longer, so I will now feel good. It's deeper than just a placebo effect. Side note: If we try to escape all this and say "it's all belief" we're again, just a man with a hammer. 

What I mean to point out is that knowing the limitation in knowledge and the sources of knowledge is an incredible power and knowledge unto itself. Within this paradox resides the actual potential for healing. We heal both by giving attention to the problem, addressing it and then forgetting it. Sometimes your client needs a wound cleaned and bandaged. Other times they need the miraculous healing power in leaving it the hell alone (like putting a cone on a dog's head to keep it from constantly licking a suture.) Having true intuition for what someone needs is based on the foundation of not knowing. You are only serving to connect them with their own source of intuition. Some people need to cut the crap out of their diet to really feel and connect with their bodies again. other people are so obsessed with diet and fixing themselves through those means that they need to be told to eat a piece of chocolate cake and chill in order to connect with their own source of well being. 

When you see through the oooo...! shiny obsession with the hammer, (the knowledge and their sources) you actually for the first time, can appropriately use the hammer and all the other tools to build with/help heal the person. They only gain in value, never diminish. 

 

 

Edited by mandyjw

My Youtube Channel- Light on Earth “We dance round in a ring and suppose, but the Secret sits in the middle and knows.”― Robert Frost

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@mandyjw thank you! That makes a lot of sense to me :)


“If you find yourself acting to impress others, or avoiding action out of fear of what they might think, you have left the path.” ― Epictetus

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I would have never thought one can get water poisoning in a developed country such as the UK but what do we know. We stayed overnight in an older inn (400 years old if the owner is to be believed) but it seems their piping system may be Victorian for all I know. I don't usually drink from the tap but options at night were limited so I did it and since then I've felt like shit. 

For 3 days I've been shitting myself 15 times a day, cramps in the stomach, nausea, fatigue and complete lack of motivation. It's funny how something so simple takes you down. I've been thinking a lot about this. "So this is what it feels like to be really sick". It is completely impossible to muster happiness and enthusiasm for life. And some people live like this for years, in never-ending pain and fatigue.  Despite this experience being short and acute it was somewhat humbling.

But hey at least that's a lesson learned. I chose not to report the owner to booking.com but I did send them a personal email suggesting they look into it with immediate priority as someone else with less appreciation of how hard it is to run a small business will fuck them up if they experience anything similar.  

 


“If you find yourself acting to impress others, or avoiding action out of fear of what they might think, you have left the path.” ― Epictetus

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My momentum has definitely been halted for the past 10 days. Ever since that poisoning episode, I stopped all research, blogging, and all the creative world completely and instead spent several days just playing video games and doing the lowest energy activities. Eating one meal a day mostly made of simple ingredients helped the healing. But glad to say that this is now over. I've fully recovered after that episode and the momentum is building up again. 

Excited for the new challenge we'll be doing on Facebook. I didn't expect a lot of interest so 16 people is like a small army! (link for anyone looking to attend ).  The last time I hosted the cold shower challenge it was so much fun, a lot of community interaction and I know many people managed to keep it as a regular habit so that was awesome. 

I've also finally set up my youtube channel as well and have started scripting the first video. I feel so much resistance towards doing this but many people including my mentor have told me this is a mandatory way to go to attract potential clients out there so I'll give it a year and see how it goes. Initially I'd probably like to try 2 videos per month. Not yet sure if that's realistic expectation. I tend to run out of ideas pretty quickly even for social media posting. Ordered some internal lightning and will start testing my old Nikkon camera to see how the sound and video quality is. I'm not 100% sure about the content yet. I'd like to talk about other things than just nutrition, there is too much of that out there. Gues I will start testing the waters and see if I can get at least 20-30 views per video. 

 

During my recovery time, I finished this epic game again. My second top after metro exodus probably followed by days gone 

 


“If you find yourself acting to impress others, or avoiding action out of fear of what they might think, you have left the path.” ― Epictetus

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@flume set it up, then delete it and then renew for the next challenge (probably around Nov-Dec) ;) Would love to have you. Looking forward to the chat as well :)


“If you find yourself acting to impress others, or avoiding action out of fear of what they might think, you have left the path.” ― Epictetus

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Sugar-free (detox) challenge is now live and going. I'm happy I've managed to pull of shooting the intro video, editing and it finishing the guidebook among all the crazy shitstorm that was happening at work yesterday. Despite AH being focused on men's health, I'm super excited to have got so many ladies on board as well. I'm definitely not used to be making videos, it felt super awkward, took forever to get decent lightning and I ended up using my phone rather than Nikkon camera due to auto-focus issues. The quality in HD was pretty decent still unfortunately I messed up the upload so it showed as pretty shitty quality on Facebook. 

However, after this experience, I can definitely imagine myself starting to do some simple youtube videos. The production quality will probably be low in the beginning but it is the next logical step to reach a wider audience. The light ring definitely made a difference and it seems my Power Director license is still valid so the editing bit should be doable. I'd love to use Premier Pro again but fuck the license is expensive !!! Maybe there is a way to add it to the company expense tho. I can't quite decide what I want to do but I'm most inclined towards just talking to the camera (Leo type of content) about stuff rather than doing what I eat in a day type of stuff. I'd also like to add some workout & nature content to that, not yet sure what it would look like. I am passionate about researching and then sharing that research so I feel called towards this area. 

NOTE TO SELF: "stop daydreaming and actually lift your ass off the chair and go record an actual video...."

I'd like to dig into the research on dental health and a systemic connection to the health of the whole body, especially digestive health. I was aware of the connection before but never paid as much attention to it as I should have. After a recent conversation with a medical doctor who highlighted some pretty mind-blowing research to me, I realised this has to be my next target of research to serve my clients better. Shame the topic of dental health was explored so poorly at school. 

 

 


“If you find yourself acting to impress others, or avoiding action out of fear of what they might think, you have left the path.” ― Epictetus

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Been a while since the last journal entry. I've been spending a lot of time with my family lately. I've finally seen them after 9 months after coming back to Slovakia for a visit and to attend a friend's wedding. 

Seeing the lovely couple of my elementary school buddy and his fiance say their "yes" has kinda triggered something in me and my girlfriend. We have been together for over 10 years and we've both felt that it is about time for us to start talking about these things. We have set a deadline of 2 years to get married and probably leave UK and go back to Slovakia and start a family. I feel like, for the first time, we both really agree we are ready to do this. 

My main goal during the next 2 years will be to make the clinic sustainable enough to be able to leave corporate job and do this free time to be able to spend more time with my kids in the future without doing some sort of soul-destroying job once we come back to Slovakia. I'd like to be able to have a home-based clinic and seeing clients both in person and online. As it stands, I'm nowhere near that place but I'm motivated more than ever to put some serious effort into making this a reality. 

We've also been talking about moving up north to Snowdonia for the next 6 months since both of us are still remote workers, it is possible and we'd just like to experience as much of Wales as we can before leaving this country for good. 

I'm also looking more into investing in some sort of business development course, something a bit more complex and expensive. I want to embark on this before the end of October. 

So lots of moving pieces but I've lost momentum in the past 2 months so ready to get back to it, put more deliberate effort and be more serious about the clinic and my life generally. It's about time to become more serious and piss away less time on social media, video games, youtube and all sorts of other distractions. 


“If you find yourself acting to impress others, or avoiding action out of fear of what they might think, you have left the path.” ― Epictetus

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I finally feel I'm regaining the momentum I had before that water poisoning session. I'm getting way more done than before, a decent amount of effort into social media posting and I've put over 12 hours into the latest research since Friday 

The first of the upcoming 3 posts is up  The topic of dental health in connection to wider disease is so incredibly fascinating. Shame it wasn't part of our syllabus. It is funny how dentistry is always isolated from mainstream medicine yet the amount of havoc it can wreak in the body once it goes unchecked is pretty scary. The most fascinating is the connection between biofilm clusters hidden deep inside the periodontal pockets releasing pathogenic bacteria that may even lead to something like SIBO, heart infection, pneumonia and systemic inflammation. How the hell did we not talk about this? Maybe we've got the treatment of the gut wrong, maybe we should have always started from the mouth, not from the bum O.o 

My main challenge remains to condense these articles into reader-friendly material. I keep seeing that as a major difficulty. If I omit too much, I feel like I'm not being true to myself but then if I include too much geeky stuff it is completely unreadable. Ideally down the road, each blog post would come with a summary youtube video. I'd like to start doing that. 

I'm also looking into launching my first video course. I have a few topics in mind but haven't decided on anything yet. Been looking into Thinkific for a platform and I'd say the price is reasonable and functionality pretty good even at the lowest price point. Maybe I'll launch the first one before the end of this year :) 

KEY 3 TARGETS FOR THE REMAINDER OF THIS YEAR 

  1. launch the first video course
  2. invest in marketing & business tutorial course 
  3. Collect 15 more CPD points - I f****g hate attending CPD lectures, a bunch of industry-sponsored bs biased towards selling products and tests. There are exceptions thou such as the research course our lecturer is running at the moment, that's one of the diamonds in the huge pile of shit of supplement-company sponsored CPD courses. Gods, if only I could claim my own research as CPD, would have got those 30 hours in the first week of the year. 

Cool mix ↓

 


“If you find yourself acting to impress others, or avoiding action out of fear of what they might think, you have left the path.” ― Epictetus

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3-hour lecture on cross-sectional and ecological studies this morning.  The content is brilliant but I just can't stop losing my focus all the time because of how monotonous his voice is. Guess the nature of the material is that it has to be boring, dry and academic. While it takes a huge amount of willpower and energy to review all the lectures, make notes and practice I can see the immense value this stuff has if I can stick to his 3-level course. The guy has an incredibly high level of integrity, he really cares in what he does and the price he asks for it is in my opinion much lower than what it should be. Yet still, very few people even in our industry seem to be interested in this level of depth and detail. 15-second tic tock nutrition videos seem to sell better. But guess that's where the market is heading. 

I seemed to have rediscovered a new passion and enthusiasm in my workouts lately. For many months, I kinda dragged myself through these sessions, often not particularly enjoying them but lately, since finding the new calisthenic place and having my bike fixed I've been really enjoying both these bodyweight workouts and long bike rides. Having purchased annual membership on Strava was also super helpful, the app is so brilliant. It seems all that was needed was a little bit of variety. I can definitely feel my body responding better to these calisthenic sessions than what I was doing for the past year. It's only been 2 months but my pullups have improved significantly I'd say. I'm also really enjoying not having to pay for gyms anymore, realised I can get equally challenging workouts with the bars, TRX and 3 rubber bands I got from the Facebook market for 10 pounds. The only thing that sucks is the freaking Welsh weather lately that makes both difficult quite often. 

Visit to Snowdonia is now just 1 week off. Can't wait, been wanting to visit this area for years. With climbing Snowdon, the UK's second highest mountain off our list, it'll just be Ben Nevis in Scotland till I can cross 3-peak challenge off my list. 

 

 


“If you find yourself acting to impress others, or avoiding action out of fear of what they might think, you have left the path.” ― Epictetus

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It's been a while since the latest journal post. Lots has been going on over the past month. 

I've finally finished my in-depth research into dental health as a part of holistic health which was a super fascinating subject to explore.  I feel a huge piece of the puzzle has been completed in my jigsaw of the ultimate human health. Turned out into 3 part blog series with some useful stuff. I could have easily written another 3 with all the incredible information there was. Hoping to turn these into video content someday. 

I think my next research topic will be benefits of Aswagandha, I've felt an inclination towards exploring research on adaptogens for a while, should be a good one to start with. 

Super excited to be hosting another Facebook challenge, the last one this year. These have definitely been some of the highlights of this year. We got Winter Workout Challenge going on this time. (link for anyone potentially interested to join). I was surprised by how many people joined at the very first day, seems this will be our busiest challenge so far. Can't wait. 

Our recent trip to Snowdonia in norther Wales was absolutely incredible. I've never seen such a landscape, Wales just keeps being a mindblowing journey and a wonderful experience. Mountains, lakes, medieval castles, caves, hidden valleys, old mines hidden deep inside the mountain. I've added a few pics below. 

I've also been exploring new ways of clinical engagement with local medical and private centres lately. Super uncomfortable to do this as it requires a degree of selling which I suck at but if I could make that work it would be an incredible step forward and yet step closer to leaving corporate behind. 

 

 

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“If you find yourself acting to impress others, or avoiding action out of fear of what they might think, you have left the path.” ― Epictetus

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