My 2020 Story

Celebrate Life

It’s sad, I think, when people go to funerals of family or friends they haven’t seen for a while – they sit an consider the departed with a sense of loss although they may not have seen the deceased in a good while.

Are funerals always a sad occasion? For sure they represent and ending – but without endings there can be no new beginnings. No-one lives forever, and were it not for those leaving this life there would be no space for new life.

I think it’s much sadder when people go through this life not actually living it. When they spend many of their latter years riddled with disease and unable to enjoy life. When they trudge through day to day as if every day were a chore not a joy. When they live in so much fear of death they forget they are here to live.

Our time in this life journey is limited. One day, for each of us, our time will be up. The time to live is now – and when it comes to the day to mark the end of my time, I want that day to be a celebration of my life with those who loved me and travelled part of the journey to come together and remember a life lived with purpose and joy.

21.1

All Crossfitters will have written about this, I’m sure. 21.1.

The Crossfit Open is a worldwide event where all Crossfitters can enter to do a workout every week, log their scores and compare themselves, fitness-wise against others. Others in their country, their age bracket – whatever. Others (the elite) enter in order to win access to the Crossfit Games, and elite arena where they compete in-person against each other. I’m entering to compare my fitness against others in my age bracket.

21 refers to the year – 2021

.1 refers to week one

and the workout? – a 15 minute timecap to do

1 wallwalk – 10 Double unders

3 wallwalks – 30 Double unders

6 wallwalks – 60 Double unders

9 wallwalks – 90 Double unders

15 wallwalks – 150 Double unders

21 wallwalks – 30 Double unders

I got as far as almost completing the 150 set of Double unders – at my second attempt. Improving on the first attempt by 21 skips whilst all along tripping over the rope about a million times. Should’ve been a lot smoother – but hey – not repeating again, thank you!

Score submitted – watch this space!

Letting go

‘Letting go’ of things that in the past have caused harm to you – be that damage caused by a love affair that ended badly or a grudge held if someone has done wrong against you – it’s easier said than done.

These things that happen on this journey we call life are there to teach us something – and once that lesson has been learned it servers on-one to harbour those past emotions. The lesson must be learned – but storing the impact as a wound to the physical body will only end in discomfort. The theory being that unless we process and ‘let go’ we hold onto these wounds which embed themselves in the body – initially perhaps superficially in the joints but unless we process them those niggles work themselves deeper – into the tissues and onwards to the organs of our physical body causing deeper dis-comfort – or dis-ease.

Remembering that we are energetic beings it makes good sense to make a habit of letting go of past harms.

As the moon presents us with its dark side over the next day or so it is traditionally said to be an excellent time to ‘let go’ of those things that no longer serve us before welcoming in the energy of the new moon on Sunday. Where-ever you stand in your personal philosophy on such matters is your own concern. But where-ever that may be and however you wish to put it – allowing the past to damage the future is never a good idea. Time to let go of something?

Biohacking

Biohacking – the art and science of using the body and mind for optimal life- and health-span. An art as old as the hills or the most recent up-to-date science?

The 3 pillars of Biohacking are diet, lifestyle and mindset. Not exactly rocket science then. In fact it could be argued that the biggest route to longevity is simply avoiding an early death. Accidents aside that would mean making lifestyle choices to prevent the most common killers – heart disease, cancer, metabolic disease; diet, exercise and mindset.

A brief overview of the art and science for a long and healthy life –

Diet – includes not just what you eat and drink, the supplements you choose (and modern science does provide some fascinating new age-benefitting supplements) – but also the air you breathe and the noises you listen to.

Lifestyle – includes portions of high intensity exercise, slow mindful movements, sleep (quality and regularity), meditation – all those healthy habits.

Mindset – if you think you can, you will – and if you think you can’t, you won’t. It’s as simple as that. Surround yourself with the right people and life will be a more enjoyable journey.

So is it an ancient art or a modern science? A bit of both? or maybe one and the same. Choose well – live longer and healthier.

Crossfit Open

I started Crossfit in 2014, and every year I have entered the Open. The Crossfit Open is a worldwide online competition to find the fittest in the world. Not that I imagine myself to be the fittest in the world.

The reason I do the Open is so that I can compare myself in fitness terms with other athletes in my age bracket the world over. In the gym where I workout the majority of athletes are at least a decade younger – so this is always an interesting exercise.

The last 2 years I have finished in the top 100 worldwide in my age group – actually, I’m quite proud of that! Despite having a standard to uphold, this year I’ve been feeling a bit less than enthusiastic about entering. The gyms have been more closed than open for the year and for the last 10 weeks its been garage workouts only. Do I still have the strength and skills?

Only one way to find out I guess. Today I signed up. So for the next 5 weeks – starting on Friday – expect fitness talk!!

Gut Feeling

They say we have 2 ‘brains’ – 2 centres of control for our body. One being in the head – the other being the gut.

The gut in a highly innervated area of the physical body. Those nerves send messages to and from the brain and the gut. From a physical perspective it makes good sense to ensure the gut is well cared for – feed it well, give it the nutrients and conditions preferred by healthy bacteria and keep hydrated.

A healthy gut will benefit the whole body.

Have you ever had a ‘gut feeling’ about something – perhaps something that you can’t quite explain verbally or even logically. Perhaps you’ve ignored that ‘gut feeling’ and gone with the option that you can explain logically. Perhaps your gut feeling wasn’t in line with popular opinion?

Have you looked back at that decision some time later and wished you had paid attention to your gut feeling? Perhaps it’s time to slow down and trust yourself?

Informed Consent

As a previous dental practitioner the subject of informed consent increased in importance over the past decade in particular. No longer was the patient given a treatment deemed in their best interest as directed by the practitioner without a full and detailed conversation. That conversation to include preferably a written explanation of the proposed treatment as well as the alternatives and the relative merits of each. A discussion of all options was to be fully documented with time to consider the options before any treatment was then finalised with documents signed confirming such a discussion had take place.

Factors such as cost, personal preference and potential risks of undergoing or declining the treatment were noted. Time between the proposed treatment conversation and the administration of said treatment was deemed vital.

Whatever the patient selected the risk of performing any kind of invasive treatment lay with the practitioner – perhaps undisclosed underlying medical conditions or events such as the patient moving suddenly causing surgery to go slightly awry. The quality of the materials and equipment used carried their – perhaps that risk lying with the practitioner or otherwise with the manufacturer.

This concept on informed consent is embedded in law around the world. Is implied consent enough? (it certainly wasn’t in the world of dentistry) – to not know all the risks both short and long term or to have a full discussion of alternatives such as improving ones personal care before diving into treatment (preventive or curative). Is it ok that no liability lies with the manufacturer of any product given under whatever circumstances to a person?

Lack of informed consent just doesn’t sit right and more.

Intolerance Rules

Driving back from (I’d love to say the gym) the shop this morning I passed a man on a bike.

He was riding uphill on a dual carriageway at a rather slow pace. Not a lycra-clad racing biker; an ordinary man on an ordinary bike. So far so good. Except there was a cycle lane just to his left. No-one else on it and no reason I could see to not be using it himself – after all he was creating a hazard on the road for both himself and other road users.

The though passed through my head that perhaps I should tell him to get on the cycle path. Then I though of all the people who’s intolerance of others cause them to shout at people having a break from their cycling to have a drink from their flask ‘there’s a pandemic on’ – or those who glare and pass comment to others not wearing a mask when they don’t know the full story. Well – the list goes on.

Live and let live – not divide and conquer. It seems intolerance is the order of the day though.

Gaslighting

Gaslighting is a form of psychological manipulation in which a person or a group covertly sows seeds of doubt in a targeted individual or group, making them question their own memory, perception, or judgment.

Sound familiar?

Many of have inadvertently been drawn into a personal relationship with someone who uses this technique. It is a technique in which the subject looses their power within the relationship as, over time, they begin to question their own perception, thoughts and judgement. Having been involved in such a relationship and coming out the other side, seeing the behaviour for what it is – does this make the subject more able to spot this behaviour in others?

Denial, misdirection and contradiction lie within the arsenal of the perpetrator. The aim to destabilize, delegitimize or even to divide beliefs. Maybe on a personal level simple following their base instincts with a need for control within a relationship. The danger comes when these techniques are adopted by the perpetrator in order to deceive and control a larger group – perhaps even a population?

The goal would be to gradually undermine the confidence of the victim(s) to distinguish truth from falsehood, right from wrong, or reality from delusion, thereby rendering the individual or group dependent on the gaslighter for their thinking and feelings.

Makes you think, deosn.t it..

Obnoxious

There are some topics about which we must agree to disagree. These topics will not be the same for every relationship – and that is to be expected. Perhaps we disagree with a friend about religion, aspects of health care, family matters, what style of dance is ‘the best’ – to name but a very few.

There seem to be an increasing number of things to disagree about – and an increasing number of people with whom these matters of disagreement have overridden their ability to maintain a relationship despite their differences.

I think it’s still possible to maintain relationships despite such differences as long as there is a respect for each others opinion and provided that there are other areas where the relationship is fulfilling.

I find that if someone has a strong opinion where agreement on such a matter is not going to be met then an agreement to disagree is the easiest way forward. We must each decide how important it is to the success of the future relationship for the other to agree on this.

This likely sounds somewhat convoluted – but today I have been called ‘obnoxious’ by a close family member as I don’t happen to agree on a health matter. What is right for one is not necessarily right for another.

Time to meditate…