1. Cold showers
This is easily my favourite drug. Homo sapiens are fully capable of ample endogenous drug production. Cold showers plus Wim Hoff-esque breathing meditation techniques produce a godly respone. I used to hate the cold. I would never enter the Irish or Atlantic sea. For the first week of cold showers it felt like hell, but as expected, I adapted. It took a week for adaptation to occur. The response was noticeable. I used to have to take days off to rest after destroying my body. No more. My recovery was off the wall. I easily maintained (with lazy behaviour) my tautness and nimbleness and noticed I no longer had to do yoga every other day to remain in perfect operational condition. It was a cheat code. I trained my brain; I told myself that I am walking into a power source, and my body accepted the cold blasts, full well knowing I am upregulating my testosterone, growth hormone etc, improving my health,strength, speed (I'm a faster runner now as well), and power. Once adaptation occurs it becomes enjoyable. Sometimes I would hose myself down in the cold multiple times to chase that high it gives. The OP physical, mental, and spiritual attributes are all secondary to that system shock high high. 15/10
2. Psychotechologies
Psycho-technologies are technologies off the mind. They can enhance our ability to think, to be rational, and to overcome the self-deception that grows greater with increased intelligence. Literature is a set of psycho-technologies; such as reading and writing. The human brain has not changed much in the last 100,000 years, yet we are highly likely considerably different from those 100,000 years ago. What makes us different is our psychotechnological achievements. With the advent of the roman the alphabet, literature became accessible to the average person, which advanced the population's intelligence. Being able to read and write gave rise to second order thinking:
First-level thinking is coming to a simple obvious conclusion and making a bet on it. But if something seems simple or obvious, there's a good chance everyone else is thinking the same thing.
Every action has a consequence, and each consequence has another consequence. These are called Second-Order Effects. Every change you make to a system will have Second-Order Effects, which may affect the system's functionality. Be careful when making changes, they may have the opposite effect of what you aimed for.
Anyway psycho-technologies are key to transforming our culture, communities, character, and consciousness. Every problem through history that arises, is derived of the meaning crisis; our inability to generate enough meaning to suffice ourselves.
This is a big subject, and I will write more on it soon.
Modified Teeline Short hand
3. Always bet on the future
I learnt this as a young adult, so sure of myself in my early 2000 and whatever. The future was something that was way away! Super far away. But it wasn't.
In the early 2000s I was outgunned in an investment opportunity by my own hubris in thinking "When will that catch on!???".
I was so wrong. The future always comes. And it leaves no prisoners.
So I got in on the crypto markets back in 2017, thanks to having learnt this lesson. Ripple was like half a cent back then, and I was all like "What's with all these prices!".
Anyway, ignoring some of the big coins I have seen these opportunities again in the recent crypto market... making me think real real.
With crypto I don't care where I was a year ago, where I am in a month, how many hundred of thousands, or single digit dollars I have. It's all about that long term number game. Time is irrelevant; the destroyer of all things.
4. Shaolin training
I always discounted Shaolin as another fake hip martial arts... but actually I have hyperbolic time chambered my fists by practicing horsepower pose punches. Shaolin has helped me achieve new heights.
5. Resistance training/physiotherapy
I'm a firm believer that all training should be based around physio exercises. Physio style exercises are the greatest way to improve your maximum power level; unfortunately our society treats it as a broken person's thing, when it is more like having a mechanic's eye view of your own body, quickly working through all the kinks, like the cut of a samurai sword, chopping away until only ornate bamboo structure remains.
Something something something. Hope you enjoyed. What did you wish you knew when you were younger?
@RiskDebonair
Irish Writer, Poet, & Lover