[My] Rules of Thumb

Thought I would share a few rules of thumb that I am living by these days, in case any of them appeal to you. 

I am trying to address a slight food addiction and a more-than-slight predilection for letting the day get away from me and nose diving into uber-reactionary mode, but I think that these may be transferable.

(1) The Long Fast

I am something of a binary person, so, for me, any diet that calls for restraint simply does not work. Ergo, I have adopted what I call 'the long fast'. I eat breakfast at 8am, and then I do not eat anything during the day - i.e. work from 8am to 8pm, hit the gym from 8pm to 10pm, eat dinner around 10pm. 

One would think that this would be a challenge, but, in reality, once I get over the hunger-hump (no double entendre intended), I am good to go, and my workouts have been _way_ better (I think this has to do with my body having all available resources at its disposal, versus having anything locked up in digestion). 

(2) The 15 Minute Interval

Throughout the day, every 15 minutes, I take 3 sips of water. This is a poor [less capable] man's version of the _only_ technique that Buddha used to achieve enlightenment (i.e. by being aware of every breath). 

I think I would go insane if I had to be aware of every breath, and I am pretty sure if Buddha had to code in three different languages, work a laptop / tablet / smart phone, drive a car, etc, while being aware of every breath, he might have gone insane as well ;-) At the very least, I have to 'wake up' every 15 minutes, and this is far superior to the 'black out' periods that I have experienced in the past. 

Polls and Poles

The tendency to attribute all that is bad to a single leader and all that us good to the collective or even external happenstance, obfuscates the deeper issues in the inner-workings of an organization. This appears to be the case in the current, ideologically polarized US government, and while news networks on either pole stoke the angry flames of people on the same side of this dichotomy, we the people are not being served. Anyone who is fixated on destroying the enemy within by voting with an ideological heart rather than a pragmatic mind is simply locking in more deadlock. If we are going to get anywhere, it will be via the middle of the road, and this means compromise. 

Distraction

Distraction. It's dangerous. In the near term and the long term. It can cause you to lose track of time, valuables and risks. It can sentence you to a lifetime of reactionary and misguided activity. But where does it come from? Why does it happen? Simple. A lack of presence. I see less and less presence in the world today. More and more people walking around in the 'machine shop' of life, indiscriminately putting their hands one cutting, flattening or grinding machine or another. Perhaps we feel like we are buffered from life to a sufficient degree to shed ourselves of the 'super focus' our ancestors relied on to survive? I don't think so.

The World Within

Today I pulled out 300-400 staples from my 2nd story floors with a pair of needle nose pliers, and I realized that if you make your world sufficiently small, even the most mundane task can be an adventure.

Irrational People

Dealing with an irrational person can be incredibly interesting. They cannot distinguish their inflated perceptions from the narrow facts, and when you try to guide them towards that, even when it is for their benefit, they may very well attack you for it, because the nightmare in their mind is still 'home'. It is good to just steer clear of these kinds if people, but also good to wonder if others are steering clear of you. 

Just One

I recently had an exchange with a friend that reminded me of a similar conversation I had with someone long ago, wherein we talked about how important it is for everyone to have, at least, someone who believes in them and is on their side. That single tether, that stand-alone validation can go a long way towards stemming the erosion of self-doubt and the fatal blow of disbelief in one's own character. The fact that we even see ourselves as having 'character' means that we need to be in each other's stories, and, very often, need to be written as the protagonist in our own story, which can only happen relative to the other 'characters' in our story. Think about that before you withdraw from the pages of someone else's life. 

Life Goes On

I am often amazed how life goes on, and how the aggregate experience of humanity balances out, at such a cost. Someone is born, someone else dies. Someone falls in love, someone else has their heart broken. Someone is diagnosed with terminal cancer, someone else orders a pizza. The seriousness juxtaposed against the mundane. We may all be connected at some higher level, but down here on earth, we are patently, if not decidedly, disconnected, else we would probably be dysfunctional. Imagine someone lying on their deathbed listening to the hospital staff laugh about their favorite sitcom. This is okay. This is how life goes on.