Michael569

A Life of Purpose

246 posts in this topic

Had friends from London visiting, we hiked over 50 km in 3 days, so much to explore, it never ceases to amaze me how beautiful the Welsh countryside is. I've discovered a rock with hundreds of tiny fossils, evidently, these things can be up to 400 million years old, that's insane. They say this country was once all covered by the ancient ocean, sometimes makes me wonder what it all looked like back then. Looking at these tiny spiral shapes in the 400mil year old rock made me realise how insignificant we are and just how it all comes to a nice spiral in the end....a strange loop perhaps is a nice way to say it. 

I have way more time to read and research than I had back in London, the life in that city, it seems, isn't just attuned to having a peace of mind. Me and my girlfriend did a bit of beach cleaning and within 20 minutes we had a bag filled to burst with plastic shit. Felt good but made me realise how much we've screwed up our seas and oceans. Maybe this is one of the reasons why people are sicker and sicker each year, it is all coming back to us from our plastic-filled food. 

The clinic has been picking up nicely, I've been looking a lot into many new conditions and am discovering some insane connections especially with the latest research on gut-brain-microbiome connection. The stuff I'm discovering is unlike anything I knew even 2 months ago. The human body is such a miraculous wonder machine and it amazes how much everything is connected and how ignorant modern medicine has become. Perhaps that's why they are massively failing in treating chronic conditions. So much stuff is falling in place and a lot of gaps I had in more systemic understanding are filling up. But I feel even if I keep this pace for the next 30 years, I'll never really get to understand the whole thing. 

Toxicity has never been a thing when I studied, we did not have a single lecture on environmental toxins, heavy metals, pesticides , PCBs or any of that crap but now reading Pizzorno's 2018 book I'm realizing how incredibly deep this rabbit hole goes. I will need to educate myself much more on spotting the signs & symptoms of systemic toxicity and conducting powerful detoxification programmes with my clients the worst thing is that what we currently know is probably only a top of the iceberg and wich each month new stuff is coming out. 

 

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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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My research into gut-brain-microbiome has gone really deep now. This is such as mind-blowing and fascinating area of the body to research. Looking into connections between gut permeability, microbiome, blood-brain barrier, dysbiosis, mental health and low fibre diet. Wonder how many people walking around with mental health problems actually have gut problems in reality. Have seen the gut-mental health connection in my practice few times as well and it always fascinated me how much the two are connected and how much a brain fog can clear if digestion is fixed...although sometimes that is easier said than done and it doesn't always work. The human body is such a wonderful mystery and I get fascinated like a child given a candy with each new connection and each new puzzle of the whole jigsaw I discover. 

An old friend of mine reached out me with gestational diabetes while being in the final trimester. She was told she'd be put on metformin if her blood sugar control wouldn't improve. Lucky enough we got her back to green numbers and she started gaining weight again, in fact 2 kilos in week 1 so I'm happy with her progress, she's been an amazing person to work with. Interesting how sometimes so little can do so much in terms of support. Didn't think I'd ever be supporting a pregnancy or fertility client but here I am researching pregnancy diet. I'm really excited to be a part of this stage of her life, having a hand in helping to create the foundations of a new life is a wonderful experience. 

8 hour webinar yesterday at work. Key takeaways: "I need to get the hell out of that place already", been a while since I felt so out of place, so out of touch and so disinterested in what was shared. I am forever grateful to my company for the employment 6 years ago when I just finished my internship and had little experience but I'd like this to be the last corporate job ever. I can see this now becoming a reality in next 1-2 years but would be cool if I could do that this year. Maybe some things are not meant to be pushed and I need to practice more gratitude and appreciation, that's for sure 


“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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Got an early b-day present to myself, a new Garmin watch. I've never owned one of these and for a long time I was very much against them but I'd give it a shot anyway and test how I feel about it. I love that it is nudging me every half an hour of sitting to go move around, perhaps I may keep it around for that one function solely if nothing else. 

This week was a bit on and off, my only female client had to be put on metformin as we were not able to control her gestational diabetes with lifestyle and diet despite it going really well in the beginning, her numbers just started to rise up from the same foods. Her doctor said it is impossible to try to control it without medication in the final trimester as the baby grows yet deep inside I have a feeling of failure even though, rationally this is the best thing for her to do. I'll need to work on this feeling of perfection and not expecting perfect results, sometimes it just doesn't happen and that's okay. She still says she feels the most support she has ever had in her life so I guess that was really what was important to her more than getting perfect sugar numbers 

I continue my research into gut-brain axis, into probiotics, prebiotics, gut permeability and been looking into blood-brain barrier disruptions as well. A new term I never heard before called "brain microbiome" a potentially toxic and dangerous stage when pathogenic bacteria from the gut enter the brain due to disrupted blood-brain barrier. They say people with dementia and Alzheimer's often had post-mortem finding of these bacteria in their brain where they shouldn't be. Seems like this is a completely new therapeutic area worth exploring. Maybe we're really seeing the dramatic consequences of antibiotic, toxicity and poor lifestyle going way beyond the messed up gut. 

Signed up for a 12-week course for learning how to properly interpret research statistics, I'm really excited for that I definitely feel I am not good at interpreting the results of complex trials especially if a lot of statistics is involved. One of my former lecturers is leading the course, a brilliant guy, more knowledgable than anyone else I know. Been looking at "statistics for dummies" as well as "biochemistry for dummies" but for now I managed to resist both but might go for them in near future to expand some of my understanding of different topics 

 


“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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With my girlfriend going back to London for the prolonged weekend, I've decided to do something I've wanted to do for a long time, walk the remaining traces of ancient roman roads here in Wales. I have my eyes at one particular section in Brecon Beacon stretching from a site of Roman Fort a few kilometers northeast. The road supposedly goes through some woodlands and hills and most of it is not visible anymore but there should be stretches that should still be possible to identify. Started looking into some old academic research and some old photocopied maps from early 1900s. Seems there is a decent amount of information on how to find these places. Hell, with a metal detector, one may even find few roman coins along the road from what I've heard.  The satellite images of google maps are actually pretty amazing in this endeavour I've always been so fascinated by the ancient history of this country so should the weather hold, it will be a nice experience to trace the road used by legionaries 2000 years ago...maybe ina  different world I should have become an archeologist 


“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 extending my scope of research into toxins, heavy metals, pesticides, household contamination and general environmental medicine lately. More of my clients have shown interest in this and I've realised I definitely need to widen my scope of awareness & therapeutics. A  few brilliant books were added to my medical library and have been a wonderful guides. I've never fully realised how deep this rabbit hole goes and I will be extending my current health assessment that I always do with a general environmental profile. This is not something we have really been taught at school, which currently surprises me considering how much research there is already out there especially around heavy metals and pesticides. 

I've been in denial of this topic at first, didn't believe heavy metals and toxins are a real concern to anyone , I've been sceptical of chelation and necessity for cleansing programmes but I don't think so anymore, I think humanity is facing the greatest onslaught of environmental toxicity we've ever seen and all the types of toxin-associated cancers and disease are on the rise so this seems like the perfect time to invest in expanding my practice so that this not become my blind spot or an ignore elephant in the room. 

Listening to Leo's JP video I have experienced a call from above. As if call to put more work into my spirituality and from higher stages of the spiral, maybe I've been keeping myself too stuck with all this materialistic study and maybe I need to put more effort into grounding and letting go rather than acquiring more knowledge all the time. At one point I feel a powerful sense of connection to my life purpose and to my tiny business but at the same time I realise that in the grand scheme of things I will eventually be attracted to higher values. Helping other people is what gives me the highest satisfaction at the moment and I can't imagine doing something else for the living but maybe the practice will evolve at some point to something different. I will keep myself more receptive for more signs from the universe 

 


“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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Started working on a new e-book this week. I'd like to pour some of my latest research into it and hopefully make it fairly practical and easy to read. It takes ages to create something that actually looks kinda nice and can be engaging, this has been my struggle with both the previous e-books. The content part is easy but the graphic bit gives me a lot headaches. Still, the process of trying to be creative is fairly enjoyable and makes me feel good to leave something out there that people find value in. The second men's health e-book had a decent download rate, more than I expected which was nice. 

Received my first video review today, thanks very much @Average Investor, a pleasure working with you ^_^

Sometimes I still get doubts and moments of hesitation about whether this is the right journey to be on. Especially during times of feeling low, I question a lot what I do and whether it is really THE WAY going forward, but then moments like these are what makes it all worth it, seeing real human value and real human benefits. Beats money, beats success and beats fame any time. Transferring knowledge learned into making somebody else's life a bit better gives me a lot of personal satisfaction and fulfilment. 


“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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52 minutes ago, Michael569 said:

Received my first video review today, thanks very much @Average Investor, a pleasure working with you ^_^

This makes me so happy! So cool ^_^ Bryce, your speaking ability is just great. And I couldn't agree more with what you said about Michal.

54 minutes ago, Michael569 said:

but then moments like these are what makes it all worth it, seeing real human value and real human benefits. Beats money, beats success and beats fame any time. Transferring knowledge learned into making somebody else's life a bit better gives me a lot of personal satisfaction and fulfilment

Pure purpose right there. Radiating passion in all directions. Love it:x So proud to be part of your journey! Much love!

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@flume :x


“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 No, thank you! I have much appreciated the help. 

@flume Thank you. I thought so too watching the play back of that to myself. I've made some serious progress. 

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I couldn't agree more with the video! With @Michael569 's help i was able to transform my health! Thank you for everything. 

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10 hours ago, Average Investor said:

I thought so too watching the play back of that to myself. I've made some serious progress. 

I couldn't ask for more professional delivery seriously -_-

@BlackMaze pleasure to have been part of your transformation, can't wait to see you unleash your full potential^_^


“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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After 3 weeks of shit weather, we have now had a beautiful clear sky for full 3 days it seems like it's not changing anytime soon. Today as I finished my outdoor morning workout with a 20-minute meditation, fully grounded to the morning dew under the bright sun, I had a moment of incredible love and appreciation. I got very close to shedding tears of joy.  I came to appreciate how lucky I've been during the past few months for being able to live in beautiful Wales and just for the past 6 years that changed my life forever. I became grateful for Leo and the work he puts out there, for my school, for being able to pursue my life purpose, being able to work with all these amazing people and having their trust, for everything that happened for the past 5 years since the moment I discovered what my real passion, for the tiny group of cool people on facebook and most of all for my amazing partner. I just sat there and took it all in, breathing in the cool salted sea air. It is easy to forget these amazing gifts of life whenever I get stuck in the "do mode" and the "what else is out there" mode. 

Visiting Lake District for the next 5 days, I am absolutely excited about it. Been wanting to visit since I moved into this country, the largest national park in the UK. Hopefully, we'll get time to tackle England's highest peak would be nice if that happened. 


“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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Back from 5 days in Lake District. If there is heaven on earth, it's gotta be there. I've never seen such a spectacular and pristine play of forests, mountains, lakes, wildlife and monuments of ancient history as this place. The natural beauty was so abundant everywhere that one could just pitch a house at any random place, spend the rest of their lives at that place and it would not be a life wasted. It was also fairly easy to avoid the crowd once we stayed out of the 2 main towns. Also climbed England's tallest mountains which weren't that tall actually but the experience was much fun. Observing the bees pollinating flowers , sheep and their young ones grazing endlessly and just the sheer perfection of nature everywhere around us made me ponder a lot of things including whether I really want to return to Slovakia at some point, something inside me told me that if I spend the rest of my life in a town or a city I would be shooting myself in the foot. Whenever surrounded by nature, I just feel so inspired, so many new ideas are coming out and my happiness level is increased 100 fold. I've had this dream for many years now of one day creating my own healing/retreat centre somewhere in the mountains or forest. I don't know where and if but this place rekindled that dream in me and perhaps it will become a reality one day if I could ever figure out how to finance something like that. Don't see that happening anytime soon thou. 


“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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Life is getting somewhat busier but I don't mind. 2 new guys have entrusted their health into my hands which makes me forever more grateful and empowered. I feel I'm getting better with my clinic administration, paperwork, organisation and planning and am able to create protocols in half the time being more organised now. 

9-5 slave job is getting somewhat busy as well and this is the bit that I do mind but despite all my resentment to this part of my life, I remain thankful for having the stability of income and the option to keep working remotely. It has been a blessing and it WAS always supposed to be part of my journey despite all the ups and downs and the backstabbing nature of the corporate environment. I don't yet see myself able to leave my 9-5 job this year. Soon but not yet. And that's ok. 

I've started including primal movement more and more into my routines. I'm now rolling on the grass doing gorilla walks, alligator walks, cobra pushups and walking on my 4 like a maniac forwards and backwards. My favourite routine is to "go crazy" for 12 minutes. I set a time and am just running around rolling, jumping sideways, doing handstands until the timer beeps. It is also a good practice to stop caring what people think as I see a lot of curious glances but it seems more people are too busy to pay any significant attention. Most of my lower back pain from too much sitting has gone with these exercises and it is a nice way to be a bit more silly and childish which I am often missing in my life.  

 


“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

Have you ever tried bioenergetics exercises? Give them a shot if not. They release tensions, deep or shallow, and force you to be more in touch with and aware of your body.

There's a YouTube channel called Devaraj Sandberg that has been very helpful to me. Released a lot of deep suppressed emotions and my muscles feel more alive than ever.


Been on the healing journey for 5 committed years: traumas, deep wounds, negative beliefs, emotional blockages, internal fragmentation, blocked chakras, tight muscles, deep tensions, dysfunctional relationship dynamics. --> Check out my posts for info on how to heal:

https://www.actualized.org/forum/topic/82579-what-causes-anhedonia-how-can-it-be-cured/?page=2#comment-1167003

 

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@Superfluo thanks, I'll look into it. Haven't heard of him before :)


“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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Got my first vax yesterday. So far so good, a bit of sensitivity around the spot but otherwise seems to be going alright. Being in Wales meant we had to travel back to England for it so made it a trip by booking the jab in one of the UK's most beautiful and historical towns, Bath. I finally got to visit the ancient Roman baths, what a marvellous site that was. The place just breaths with ancient history and culture. 

Currently taking deep dive into research on soy for my next blog post. There is just so much pseudoscience and nonsense out there that I just can't trust anyone anymore unless I have done my own research. Endless cherry-picking, personal biases, dogma and invested interests in one side or the other. I am just realising more and more that I can't rely on other people anymore to tell me what is right and what isn't in this industry. I just need to find the answers for every single thing myself. 

I may eventually need to do this for saturated fats and cardiovascular disease as well, this topic scares me as hell because there is just so much contradiction out there and I don't know if I have the right skills to interpret it yet. 

I've noticed my skills in distinguishing good quality research have definitely improved since having started that course on how to read the research. I'm finding it easier to identify good quality trials, being better at reading the statistical methods and being more critical about it as well. There is so much information out there that it may end up being another 2-parter. 

The latest e-book has been finished, quite satisfied with this one.  Had a decent download rate so far so quite happy about that. Need to put more effort into putting it out on social media a bit to make the most of it for people to find it. A member of the forum has reached out to me asking if I could help their friend, very excited about that and curious how that will go. We'll be talking next week for the first time, hopefully, we'll be a good match for each other to start working together. 


“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've felt somewhat less motivated through the past week. Spoke to my mentor and she hit the nail on the head. "you don't have a long-term vision for your business". She was right. I have been going through motion without planning strategically and being super smart about my goals and my vision. 
Just kinda doing different things at different times. I enjoy the part where I work with my clients, create plans and see them go through the process of getting well, but everything else including marketing on social media I feel I haven't done effectively. 

So for the last 3 days, I've worked on a new 12-month plan and a vision for my clinic. I've created a plan of my next actions, a plan of social media posts, a plan of what I'd like to achieve within the next 12 months and my most ambitious goal is leaving my 9-5 career behind,. So far I have not been able to fulfil this goal but I feel it may be possible eventually. 

6-hour intense lecture into the human immune system tomorrow. Really excited about this one. I've been meaning to dwell deeper into this topic for a while and while I've spent many hours digging into a better understanding of human immunity, the topic is just so incredibly complex, probably the most complex of all I've studied so far. I'm really glad I signed up for this should be helpful in better understanding of allergic conditions and autoimmunity. 

My only female client has recently given birth to a beautiful girl. Both were very healthy and I was pleased to see my client recovery really quickly. With that our clinical work has finished as her diabetes has now gone but I feel so blessed and fortunate to have been part of that process and guide her on the journey. I have been pondering extending my scope of practice to women as well for a while now. I originally felt that my approach was more suited for men but she seemed very happy with the support and said she found it appropriate and very fitting to her situation so maybe I should consider adjusting what I do. I will put more thoughts into this. 


“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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During my meditation yesterday, In had a powerful realisation. And on the intellectual level, I kinda knew this already but I feel for the first time this really struck home. And it was that "it's never enough". Regardless of how successful my clinic got, regardless of how many promotions I'd get at my 9-5 job, regardless of how many subscribers I'd get on social media I had a vision of a potential future where all of those were hit and I realised my happiness level would not be any bigger than it is now. Sure thing, it would be nice to be able to leave the Corpo job and become a full-time nutritionist & health coach to be able to dedicate more time to marketing, creating and caring to clients but the realisation was that regardless of how successful I'd get in any area of my life, there would always be the "what's next" question. Even when I write my blog, the moment I release an article, the immediate question is, "so what's the next one gonna be ?" So I realised I seriously need to put more effort into being more present, happier with what IS, right now and being cool with that. Looks like I'll be expanding my daily meditation by some extra time for a start. I don't want to stop releasing new content, I enjoy the research of different topics for blog but I want to practice approaching it from the perspective of genuine open curiosity rather than just neurotic need to write something. I feel till now it was a combination of the two. 

I'm done with researching soy for now. I feel like I got all my questions answered and put some of it on the blog and with that this research chapter is concluded. I'm thinking of looking into either antinutrient next, I feel that this entire topic stands on nothing by cardboard legs of some small in-vitro studies but haven't dug deep enough to be able to tell for sure. Either that or probing further into some of the popular superfoods with made-up benefits by marketers. I'd probably go for spirulina, I have a bad taste in my mouth every time it comes up as superfood so would be nice to find out whether there is something to it. 

With my girlfriend in London again for the weekend, I plan to do some solo hiking again. Might go and explore some of those ancient roman roads again or visit the Carleon ruins and Legionary museum, that's been on my list for a while. 

 

 


“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 bit of peaceful exploration of Welsh nature this Saturday. We were lucky enough to spot a group of dolphins hunting in distance from the coast. A group of at least 10 of them diving and occasionally jumping over the surface We sat at the edge of a cliff observing this scene while the sun was slowly setting directly in front of us drawing a dark red line across the sea. It was quite a distance and even with my binoculars most details were lost but it was one of those moments when time stops and I just became the experience and connected fully to the moment, losing a sense of self and identity. For 30 minutes neither of us spoke other than exchanging binoculars. 

Coasts are starting to colour from yellow as the spring vegetation changes to the summer vegetation. Everything blooms and comes to life, butterflies are awakening from their cocoons in billions it seems. I even took a short dip into the sea, it is finally tolerable enough. In March, my thoughts of Wim-hoffing quickly dispersed as I tasted the reality of the ice-cold sea and could not muster enough courage to get in there. 

We found a small bit of secluded beach by the coast, made our way down there and for an hour I became a child again. I got to practice all the gymnastic moves I once use to be so familiar with as a kid. Single-arm cartwheels, frontflips and a half-assed backflip all of which considerably more fear and fairly shitty form but it felt good to fool around without any regard for any observers. 

The Sunday was mostly rainy. I didn't get out, spend the day making client plans, researching and video gaming. A circle of balance 


“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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