19

Oct

Feeling Nervous – Calm down in 60 seconds with your breath

Filed Under (Habits, Nervous System) by Alvin Mites on 19-10-2012

breathe in to a count of 5
hold to a count of 6
breathe out to a count of 6

repeat 5+ times

will activate your Vagus nerve which closes down production of adrenaline and forces your body to begin relaxing

also works in counts of 2, 2, 3 for a total time invested of  35 seconds

or any variation your comfortable with

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09

Feb

Criticism is easy — it just doesn’t help anyone

Filed Under (Habits) by Alvin Mites on 09-02-2012

criticism is easy, spotting faults requires very little effort

helping to create solutions requires an investment of time and energy, yet if you wish to see change in behavior to improve results it is the only way
if you see something you like or dislike then please, offer some positive feedback to show that the effort taken was appreciated, and/or take the time to think through another way to handle the situation,  then mentally walk through how the outcome might have changed given the new behavior / process
whether your suggestion is implemented or not, through the exercise of doing so you have improved upon your own ability to create solutions to difficult situations
just my 2 cents (apologies for the *lack of* grammar — perhaps someone has a method for helping a dyslexic to improve?)
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21

Dec

Ask yourself how you got where you want to be

Filed Under (Cause and Effect, Habits, Personal Inventory) by Alvin Mites on 21-12-2010

Find a quiet space, and imagine a room where there are 2 chairs and invite yourself 5 years from now to join you and have a conversation, ask any questions that you are unsure of and observe the differences between yourself now and the projection
then dismiss your future self, switch chairs and chat with yourself 5 years ago

inspired a great number of internal shifts without any other effort, been encouraging to realize that I have all the knowhow to accomplish most anything I want, just a matter of applying myself – largely through (re)building habits

How about you? What habits would make a difference between where you are now and where you see yourself in 5 years?
While logically working on the biggest change the great fulcrum that will change everything is tempting it can easily become a distraction to prevent you from getting started on making changes. If you don’t have a clear answer then pick 1 thing and get started, after a few days (5 seems to be the critical number) momentum will start to carry you forward.

– Thank you Steve Pavlina for the inspiration of the technique

PS. Yes this is grammatically terrible, this is a 1st draft which is a habit I will continue for several posts at least as I develop the habit of writing to this blog more often.

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17

Apr

You are what you eat

Filed Under (Cause and Effect, Habits, Nutrition) by Alvin Mites on 17-04-2009

Tagged Under : , , ,

You are what you eat, you’ve likely heard the phrase before. Ever given it much thought?

Ghandi once said “There are men in this world so hungry that god cannot appear in any form except bread“. Both powerful and true, the hungrier we get the more things looks like food. This is basic survival instinct that has carried our species through many generations of feast and famine. Given a choice you likely have preferences based upon one of two things; taste or nutrition.  As you may guess I fall into the later category. Life has a way of changing over time, when placing your attention upon improvement.
While I was exposed to eating for nutrition early on it wasn’t until later than I began to gravitate towards the idea. This is not to say that taste does not have its place, taste is one of a few sets of senses we have to experience the world with and I like to feed my senses a healthy variety. Primarily sweet fruits, with textures and flavors of all kinds being mixed in over time.
Why nutrition? Seems strange to adopt the idea of eating to live, until you consider the alternative is living to eat? Do you pay much attention to the causes and effects of the world around you? Have you considered the relationships apply within you?
One way to experiment, visit your local grocer, watch the people around you. Look at what is in their carts and how they appear, who do you see that looks happy, how about healthy? You can do this with people of any age, though it seems more pronounced in those that appear older. I practice not judging people, I also notice relationships.
Another way to look at it, how often do you get sick? Have any ailments that your doctor said must be treated with drugs, not mechanical things (broken/replacement bones, etc…) so much as imbalances. Diabetes, cancer, depression, arthritis, etc… with a bit of research, and the willingness to adopt some new [eating] habits you can probably cure your dis-ease? If you don’t believe me take a look at Google and spend a bit of time searching, ignore the theories, look for repeatable science and patterns in personal stories. They are all over the place, if you have trouble finding any please leave a comment on this article. I am not claiming that changing what you eat will cure [any|every]thing, for [any|every]one, closer to 80%. That still leaves a fair chance that your suffering can be alleviated.
“Our food should be our medicine. Our medicine should be our food.” Hippocrates
Though there will be side effects, depending upon what changes you adopt, in most cases the biggest negative is that others will make comments about “eating rabbit food”, if you practice non-judgement this will be great. The benefits… for now I’ll focus on just one. Mental clarity.
Oddly enough your brain is a part of your body. Your brain just like the rest of your body has a direct relationship between how well it functions what what kind of fuel it has. Yes, you can become smarter by changing what you eat. How much depends upon how far you decide to stray from the normal empty calorie junk food.
Over time I have tried a number of experiments and encourage you to do the same. One of my prefered methods is the 30 day trial. This can be eliminating a single thing from your diet, changing what you eat for a meal each day, or whatever you come up with. For your own sake, when attempting any personal experimentation, keep a journal, it’s not difficult to remember what you had for breakfast yesterday, remembering everything you ate last Tuesday is a bit more of a challenge. Also remember the brain likes what is familiar, if you are used to doing things a certain way anything different will seem strange, for a little while.
Suggestions for what to keep track of; what you eat, how much effort it takes to concentrate, how much sleep you need to feel rested, how easy is it to remember new and old information, how many times do you wander into a room with a purpose and forget why you are there, or how much effort it takes you to comprehend.
Becoming smarter may not seem like such a big deal, to make a quick list of changes I have noticed both in myself and others that have made improvements in their diet include increased; emotional wellbeing (overall happiness), physical agility and endurance, libido, overall health (not getting sick)… This list could go on for a while, because you really are what you eat.
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26

Mar

Greatness: A combination of hardwork and dumb luck

Filed Under (Books, Habits) by Alvin Mites on 26-03-2009

Tagged Under : , , ,

I recently finished listening to Malcolm Gladwell‘s new book Outliers - The Story of Success <Audio Edition> (yes I listen to a majority of the books I peruse, topic for another time). Which has already changed my life. I cannot remember a time when I have felt luckier for the random luck in my life, especially in my earlier years. It has truly acted as a humbling experience, in a truly positive way.

The Story of Success begins by searching out some of the most successful people in the world and finding a pattern than links them all together. World class performers within their field, some of whom managed to create new records and/or shape parts of our society in valuable ways. The common thread began with a magic number 10,000 hours. Ten thousand hours of practice is the difference between a beginner, and a true world class expert. Whether your a software programmer, violin player, lawyer or in another field entirely. If you stick in 10,000 hours of real work into your passion you can become one of the greats.

This may not seem like such a big number when you first think about it, 10 years at 40 hours a week and your there. The big differences between those that find a hobby and get good, and those that become great. While Malcolm wrote about several other topics in the book, this one hit me the hardest. Imagine working in a field for that long and not loving what you do. What a terrible waste.

If you find a task that you love to do and pick it up right now, you could likely be earning an income from it in 6 months to a year. If you were lucky enough to find something that you love when you were young, and have an environment where that skill could be nurtured what do you think you can accomplish?

If you want to become a great writer, start writing, a great artis(t|an) start creating. Nothing short of practice is going to take you from beginner to mediocre, and from there to greatness.

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