Over-sentimentality, over-softness, in fact washiness and mushiness are the great dangers of this age and of this people. Unless we keep the barbarian virtues, gaining the civilized ones will be of little avail.
- Theodore Roosevelt
Reflecting
Each school year, my kids’ schools send hundreds of messages on various flavors of niceness – empathy, inclusivity etc. 100% are the modern, effeminate, delicate virtues. For all of the repetition of the word “diversity,” there is none. Empathy variations are repeated like medieval incantations with a new 21st century orthodoxy. I hope my kids grow up to be empathetic and inclusive; in fact, I hope they got the message the first thousand times it was offered.
But there are other virtues. Bushidō offers seven (sometimes eight): righteousness (義 gi), loyalty (忠義 chūgi), honor (名誉 meiyo), respect (礼 rei), honesty ( 誠 sei), courage (勇 yū), and consistency (誠 makoto). Individuals and societies often fixate on their strength and ignore their weakness. The western developed world has gotten quite good at the soft virtues. Time to check them off the list and turn to the hard virtues. The east offers some valuable counterbalance. For some actual diversity, the samurai code of Bushidō has a lot to offer.
Training
This morning’s white board –
8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1
Bench Press AHAP
100ft Farmer’s Carry AHAP
:30 Ring Row Hold
Next run:
Fueling
Next up: rare venison rib rack. Lollipops for men.
Supplementing
Trying to figure out how to better take care of my skin, now that I can actually see it. One of the docs I most trust uses this himself but also has heard good things about this for slowing the appearance of aging; I’m testing out both. Raging against the dying of the light.
Measuring
Thanks to the anonymous reader who just committed a $1 per push up I complete at the upcoming comp. He sent a $720 retainer so now I’m 100% committed to getting at least that number done.
Recovering
This is my first week of float tank/sensory deprivation. Interested to see how it goes and if it aids recovery.
Closing
When it is time to go to school, my three kids are baffled by every step of the process. They are confused by waking up in the morning. Flummoxed by breakfast. Didn’t quite expect homework. And the bus – same time/place every day – they never see it coming. When it is time to go for a swim, they are three SEAL Team Six operators with perfect coordination, wearing the right stuff, all gear organized, and ready to hit the door in seconds instead of hours.
Everything is easier with alignment. Lift with your knees over your toes. Connect your mind and your body. Get your money and time focused on the same priorities. Work and play with aligned people who are trying to accomplish what you are trying to accomplish. If you want something badly enough and it seems self-evidently desirable, it can be hard to remember how things don’t work when others aren’t aligned. As you cull non-priorities, drop everything and everyone not aligned.
Will be interesting to see if you like the sensory deprivation chamber. I did it for a while and it was a tremendous struggle to get my brain to let go of the overload stimuli we experience constantly every day. In the chamber it’s just you and your thoughts. My brain began to hallucinate faded images of what my mind was thinking due to the withdrawal of stimuli. Interesting stuff.
My wife was very happy with the oneskin peptide when I bought it for her after hearing about it on a podcast. Probably should considering buying some for myself.