Disrupting the Rabblement

“All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident.” – Arthur Schopenhauer

Remember when the Earth was the center of the Universe? Me neither, because I wasn’t alive then. But apparently everyone back in the day believed that the Earth stood still and everything else revolved around it. Then along came a chap named Nicky Copernicus in the early 1500′s, with the audacity to suggest that the Earth actually revolved around the Sun while spinning on its own axis. Of course, everyone thought he was insane and the holy men told him not to be contradicting the good book or he’d go to the bad place.

But of course, Nicky turned out to be right.

About 350 years later, a Frenchman by the name of Louis Pasteur discovered that it was tiny little airborne organisms that caused beer to go sour and spread disease among humans. Poor Louis was ridiculed by his peers, some refusing to believe him even after he demonstrated his findings to a gathering of famous scientists at the University of Paris in 1864.

But of course, Louis turned out to be right.

In the 1940′s, some weirdos started speculating that cigarettes might not be all that healthy for you, and could even lead to bad things like cancer. The cigarette companies laughed off those ridiculous claims. Lucky Strike said their cigarettes didn’t make you cough because they “toasted” the badness out of them, while Camel found that their brand of cigarettes were the most popular among doctors, so how bad could they really be?

But of course, those weirdos turned out to be right.

Stories like that make me step back and question my beliefs regularly. I’ve given just a few examples, but history is filled with such stories of people thinking they knew an absolute truth, only to eventually be proven very wrong. I try to keep that in mind when I meet someone with a viewpoint different to my own. Rather than clinging to my pre-existing beliefs, I allow myself to consider alternative truths. In doing this, I often gain a better understanding of both the person and the subject. I’ve found that everyone can offer some truth; nobody is 100 percent wrong.

Back to another example…

These days, professional athletes and other good-looking famous types tell you to drink three glasses of milk a day so you’ll grow to be big and strong and oh-so healthy. If you don’t drink the cow juice, you won’t get enough calcium and then you’ll get osteoporosis and nobody wants that.

But wait! They’re saying we’ll suffer if we don’t drink what comes out of the giant boob things dangling from the female of another species? That doesn’t sound right. And look, here’s some craziness saying that cow’s milk actually does humans more harm than good, even going so far as to reference in-depth scientific studies from Harvard and the like.

I wonder, how will we look back on those claims ten, twenty, or a few hundred years from now?

Below are five things I try to do every day. Introduce these practices into your daily routine and you’ll lead a healthier, happier, and more balanced life.

Meditate

I started taking meditation seriously about six months ago, and I’ve meditated for 10-12 minutes almost every morning since. In the last two weeks, I’ve upped that to 25 minutes to incorporate breathing exercises I learned at a recent Art of Living course here in New Orleans.

I find the benefits of meditation to be amazing. Practice quieting your mind for a few minutes each day, and you’ll notice you can think more clearly in pressure situations. You’ll gain more control over your thoughts, the importance of which cannot be understated.

“The happiness of your life depends upon the quality of your thoughts: therefore, guard accordingly.” – Marcus Aurelius

Some people give up on meditation quickly because they can’t stop their thoughts from racing. If that happens to you, know that sitting quietly for a few minutes each day can still be extremely beneficial. The important thing is not to resist the thoughts that come into your head. Step back from them and try to figure out where each one comes from. Note whether each thought is positive or negative. Ask yourself how each thought, if repeated often enough, will affect your actions and emotions. Then seek to eliminate those thoughts which are of no benefit to you.

Stretch

When it comes to stretching, as with most other things, take your cues from nature. What does your dog or cat do right after waking up? He or she will have a nice, long stretch.

The importance of stretching is summed up nicely here:

During sleep, most of our skeletal muscles are normally “switched off” by the brain to prevent potentially harmful motion, and blood pressure gradually drops. Upon awakening, our muscles are oxygen-starved and loaded with irritating waste, and the brain needs a blood pressure increase to prepare the body for activity, especially standing up. All of those issues are addressed by a good stretch. The simultaneous elongation or contraction of almost every major muscle group flushes out waste, brings in oxygen, and boosts blood pressure.

One of the first things I do each morning is a few quick stretches. It literally only takes two minutes to stretch my back, neck and shoulders. Since I’ve started doing this, I’ve noticed that I suffer from back ache much less frequently.

Give thanks

“Let us rise up and be thankful, for if we didn’t learn a lot today, at least we learned a little, and if we didn’t learn a little, at least we didn’t get sick, and if we got sick, at least we didn’t die; so, let us all be thankful.” – Buddha

The best way I’ve found to get out and stay out of a slump, is to focus on gratitude. I recently started taking about three minutes each morning to write out six things that I’m grateful for; three of which I already have, the other three of which are coming my way soon. I phrase all of them in the present tense. Examples:

I am so grateful and thankful for…

• My education. Lots of people never get the opportunity to be educated, but I got plenty.
• My colleagues at work, for keeping the bar high and working their asses off every day.
• My excellent public speaking skills.
• My confidence and rapport with strangers.

The point is to focus on the infinite number of things that are right with your life instead of the handful of things that are wrong with it. You’ll be much happier when you do this, and you’ll attract more good things into your life because of it. Like attracts like. Haven’t you seen The Secret?

Fail

If you’re not failing regularly, you’re not pushing yourself hard enough.

History is filled with stories of successful people who were not afraid to fail, and that is precisely why they succeeded. Thomas Edison failed a thousand different ways before he invented the light bulb. Michael Jordan failed to hit the game-winner 26 times in his career. The Beatles failed an audition for Decca Records in 1962.

Society teaches us that failure is bad. Fail a test in school and you’re labeled lazy or stupid. Fail at sports and you get heckled. Fail with the opposite sex and your buddies laugh at you.

We’ve been conditioned to take the safe, less fulfilling route, rather than risk the embarrassment of failure.

I’m trying to get past that fear of failure by failing regularly. The only way I can do that is by taking chances, pushing myself out of my comfort zone. I try talking to strangers, asking questions I’m afraid to ask, trying new activities. My goal is to succeed at failing at least once each day. If I say hello to someone on the street and they ignore me, score. If I make a suggestion at work and it’s rejected, score. If I go rock climbing and I fall off the wall, score.

Failure is a part of life, so I best get accustomed to it and not let it bother me.

Hydrate

If you regularly find yourself thirsty, you’re not staying hydrated. Figure out how much water you could reasonably drink in a day, then drink twice as much. Drinking lots of water burns fat, boosts energy levels and cleanses your system. Soft drinks or sodas might give you a quick lift, but they do much more harm than good in the long run. Stick to water.

I use a Brita filter at home to fill up two big jugs I keep in the fridge. I’m not sure why anyone buys bottled water when a filter ends up costing you much less and saves on plastic waste.

I get asked a lot of questions about being vegan. This is an attempt to answer those most frequently asked. I’ll be happy to answer any additional questions in the comments.

Why did you decide to give up meat?

In a word: curiosity. I became interested in the benefits of vegetarianism in 2008, most of it sparked from reading Steve Pavlina‘s experiments with plant-based diets. I was especially curious about the increased focus and mental clarity which many people reported experiencing after moving to a vegetarian or vegan diet. I decided I would try vegetarianism for 30-days to see if it could work for me. I gobbled up some good gumbo at a friend’s New Year’s Eve party, then dived into my month-long trial.

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