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Practice Session #52 Welcome to my show notes for this week’s session of Practice! We record these sessions every Sunday. I try to publish the audio on the same day of recording, but I may get delayed now and then due to various reasons. Also, I will usually have the AI-generated transcript and my initial notes published on the same day of recording as well. On Fridays, I’ll (try to) go back through and proof the transcript while I add all of my notes. I’ll be utilizing this opportunity to clarify and elaborate on points that I may not have conveyed as well as I would’ve liked to. I’ll also provide links to further information and resources. So, on Friday, I’ll intersperse all my notes with the transcription from the audio below (unless I don’t ). Intro. [00:00] Pam: Truck coming. CK: I have a lot of it gone. Pam: I didn’t want it right in the beginning. Here we go. There’s a stop sign up there. So it takes a while to go pass. There’s two more cars going CK: There we go. Heyo! I’m CK, and you’re listening to Practice. I’m your functional systems integrator, and this is my podcast where practice is not just the theme of the show, but the whole purpose behind it. What started out as a practice of podcasting, as well as speaking in general, has evolved into a practice of self-coaching and self-reflection while espousing half-thoughts and providing unsolicited advice. As always, I’m fortunate to be joined by my Practice partner and partner in life: Pam. Pam: Hey, that’s me. CK: Pam is also my pattern awareness manager, and every Sunday we reflect on the past week and my progress with this practice, along with other lifestyle practices, as well as theories and ideas behind the virtues of practice itself. We’re doing this on the fly, and our dialogue here is unedited, so don’t hold me responsible for what I say here. Make sure to check out my show notes where I’ll provide some fact-checking, self-psychoanalysis and commentary on things I could have done better. You may find this and more information about this project at ForcesOfEqual.com/Practice. Catch up with the Anomaly and the Linchpin. CK: We’re recording today on Sunday, February 21st of 2021. And have I been saying 20, 21, the last few podcasts? I feel like I might’ve been saying Tony. It sounds weird saying 20, 21 now. So I have to go back and check. That’s funny. Yeah, I’m not sure. I’m I feel like I’ve been saying 20, 20 Pam: This is the current equivalent of writing the wrong year on your check saying the wrong year in your podcast CK: this is the new age. So yeah, this is episode number 52 practice session number 52. Pam: a whole year of weeks. CK: that’s crazy. This is even more special in that. We’re totally changing up how we’re recording today. And we are currently in our car, in the neighborhood next door under some shade. And yeah, we’re all cozy. Close it up here in the front seats and some of our sound blankets covering the dash and get the windows closed up. And you’ll probably hear some traffic coming through. We’re on one of the main roads in the neighborhood. It’s not one of the main streets, but it’s still one of the more trafficky roads in the neighborhood. But yeah, I’m here and, uh, we’ll get more into our setup and stuff in the podcasting segment, but let’s start off with the quote for the week. And this one came up a couple of days ago, then in the middle of the week. And I really liked it short and sweet, and it comes from Epictetus stoke philosopher who I’ve quoted many times before. And it goes like this circumstances don’t make the man. They only reveal him to himself. That’s, uh, along the same lines of the Viktor Frankl quote from last week in terms of circumstances versus. The person or, you know, the person or situation debate as I was trying to articulate with the fundamental attribution error. And this is similar in that sense. And we’ve had quite a week pretty stressful, I’d say, or a lot more stressful. It’s been a departure from what we’re used to. Yeah, it’s a huge departure. So we may go into that a little more during our weekly reflection, but yeah, that’s why that quote came up and maybe we’ll be able to tie it in throughout. And so let’s get into our weekly status reflection. So do you want to start? Pam: You went first, last week. Do you want me to go this time? Um, okay. So the, the rules here are that we rate mental, physical, and social. CK: exactly. One to 10, 10 being the best. Pam: Okay. So, uh, I would say my mental over the last week has probably been like, uh, Um, I dunno, I, I would say a six, maybe borderline seven. Like I was, I was doing well mentally as far as like intellect, but it’s been a little stressful towards the end of the week here with everything that we have going on. So, um, docked off a point for that. And then also, because I didn’t sleep well. Where I slept a lot, but I got up at three 30 this morning, so I’m a little off right now. Um, and then physical, um, I would say like, uh, I’m going to go with a six borderline seven again there as well, because I felt fine, but I didn’t get to keep my normal schedule and doing normal workouts because we had to take down some of the equipment in the house. Uh, so that got off a little bit and my knees bothering me a little bit. And then, um, social, yeah, go with an eight. That’s fine. CK: All right. So like a six and a half, six and a half. So that’s a total of 21, which isn’t too bad. It’s a good, good week. And last week you were at nine and nine. Yeah. So that kind of illustrates the. Difference from this week and last week, and, uh, definitely reflects what we’ve been going through. So mentally, I would say my week was at a six on average and that’s a little low, but still fulfilling. And right now today, I would say the better put it in a seven or eight, but overall during the week would say a six. And that goes to speak towards my practice of practice and our Sundays and having some. Regularity and routine, even though we’re out of our routine right now, but because of my routines, I incorporate it as much as I could. And just having some of those things allowed me to kind of returned to my happy place, you know, get back to my steady state level out a little bit. And so, yeah. Oh, okay. So, uh, Yeah, we might be talking about our mic technique during the podcast segment. If you hear a difference in my audio here. Pam: Cause it’s hard to not talk with your hands while you’re holding a mic. CK: So I’d say mentally overall six, and then physically, I would say physically in eight, I had a pretty good week and I’m feeling better. My hip impingement is getting a lot better. And it’s pretty much gone. I would say I’m just a little, I think maybe there’s some nagging or kind of maybe posts. It’s not like post traumatic, but Pam: You’re worried about it coming back. Are you like you keep thinking? Sorry. CK: there. Yeah. And I’ve been implementing more exercises and hopping into some of Pam’s warm-ups for her workouts. So. Yeah, I’ve been progressing physically, so that’s good. And then socially, socially, I would say socially, like nine. Because I totally ramped up my social health over the past week. And I went live on live streaming on Facebook to my friends and did that for real. And I did it on Wednesday and I’m kind of planning on Wednesdays being my live streaming to Facebook friends day during my doodling evening, noodling sessions. And Wednesdays have become kind of my creative they use. So, yeah, I, I loved doing that this past Wednesday and kind of realize that I’ve been ready for it. And I didn’t really do anything special. I’m still kind of testing things out and practicing and exploring the whole live streaming format and all that stuff. But even that, like I had a lot of audio issues actually. And it, I think I discovered it had to do with an internet connection. And so, yeah, Wednesday was fun and caught up with a bunch of friends. A bunch of people were watching and they seemed to enjoy it and, you know, you’re just hanging out and if people want to join in, then they can join in. So yeah, I, I liked the. Aspect where I just put myself out there and if people want to come hang out, they can join. Pam: You haven’t said what you’re doing on your life. CK: Yes. I’m just basically noodling with my music and my music gear and trying to practice laying down beats and tracks and getting my workflow or figuring out my workflow and getting used to the. Here and instruments in how to use them so I can get better and faster and figure stuff out more because I haven’t done. I haven’t been to. Regimented, or I haven’t put too much focus on the music stuff yet because I’ve been so focused on all the podcasting and audio and post production and all that stuff. So with the music stuff, I didn’t just kind of dabbling and just experimenting or just. Playing around whenever I found time found time or maybe some inspiration, but now I kind of want to want to make it a little more regular and more deliberate. That was a big truck. And. That way I’ll get more out of the practice. So yeah, we’ll see where that takes me, but that was so fun on Wednesday that I did it again on Thursday night. Like I couldn’t wait to get back on and it’s like, my, you, you had asked me, uh, if you thought that, so I also dealt with some insomnia this past week, so I kind of fell back on that end. And you had asked me if maybe the live streaming. What was affecting it. And I think the live-streaming is helping everything, you know, rather than hurting anything because it’s fulfilling to me and I don’t really have to do much to get it up. There’s like no stress around it anymore. And on Thursday I figured out the connection and the audio issues and it sounded great. Like I was so surprised for one and very pleased for two. And the, how the audio quality came out because, um, for that, for the live streaming, I’m using the SM seven B, which Pam uses for our podcasting while I use the need King bee for podcasting. But the neat thing B is a condenser mic, which is more sensitive. Which is good for picking up details in dialogue and instruments and other things. But because of that, when playing music and stuff, it’ll pick up my movements and hitting the keys and all that kind of stuff. So I’m using the SM seven B for the music noodling stuff. And because the SM seven beam is a lot of game. Because it’s a very quiet mic and he’s more power behind it. And with more power introduced, introduces more noise. So I was worried about that, but in the feed, as I watched back on Facebook, especially my second recording on Thursday, there was less noise then. I work with when I’m processing pens, podcasts, audio, which, so that was really interesting. So I don’t know if Facebook does anything to the audio. In their system or algorithm or whatever they use to process their audio. Uh, they might use like a noise gate or some kind of noise reduction or some kind of equalization or some kind of processing. I don’t know. Uh, I may look into that, but I do know that some platforms like YouTube compresses audio. So I’ll look into that, but it was interesting. I was really surprised at how well the audio came out and I had fun myself watching myself back. So I hope there there’s others, you know? I mean, like I. Came to this because I enjoyed watching other people live streaming. So I hope other people, there are others that enjoy my live stream as much as I enjoyed it. So I’m going to keep trying that. And then eventually I’ll go on to Twitch and YouTube, and it’s going to kind of be an extension of practice actually, because. I want to relate complex systems and my functional systems integration with music and how it’s been helping me with my mental health and overall health and everything. And we can go into philosophies and I’ve been relating a lot of stuff with audio to complex systems. So yeah. Hopefully eventually be able to talk about all that stuff while I’m playing around with music as well. So yeah, that’s, what’s going on with that, but that again, long winded status check-in. So, yeah, that’s why my social status is at a nine this past week. And I did also catch up with my parents and my brother and some other friends. So yeah, it’s been really good week socially. So what was my mental? Mental is six. Physical was eight in social is nine. So 1723. 17. Yes, 23 total. So that’s a pretty good week considering how low my mental score was, but yeah. Pam: I think that’s the first time you’ve ranked higher than me. CK: Yeah. And that’s interesting because it was still a trying week, but. Yeah, we’ll get into that. So let’s get into the next segment with our practice with podcasting. And like I mentioned, right now, we are in our car because there are people looking at our home. Pam: We’re selling our condo. So we’re doing showings today. CK: Yeah, and we did shines all day yesterday too. And this whole process has been crazy. We basically met up with our realtor on Monday and. Sign papers to get our house listed. And our home went up on Friday and within a couple hours, we already had an appointment set for Friday night, Pam: Within four hours, we had 12 or 11 appointments set for. CK: Oh, we had a whole, Oh, wow. Yeah. I think within like an hour we had someone outside looking at the house. Yeah. This market is nuts. And then so yesterday we actually went down South a bit to see a house that we were interested in and that was a whole circus. So yeah, it’s been really stressful. And I just want to recognize that. We’ve been very consistent. Like our days have been very, very consistent and we’ve found a level of comfort with how our days have been progressing and we have a rhythm. Yeah. And this totally knocked us out. So it was very stressful. And just especially yesterday, and I. Plus we are both on limited sleep this past week and I’m dealing with him son insomnia again. And whereas I think last week I kind of cut back up this week. I fell all the way, all the way, way back down. And so, and it was, it’s like the worst timing too, considering we’re going through all this life stuff this week. And so sorry. So now yeah, my mic technique is, uh, so maybe we can talk about that, but uh, let me finish up my previous time. Um, so yeah, I think, you know, in considering that I think we’ve been dealing with things very well. And interestingly, yesterday, I can, I could see myself spiraling and it was interesting to be mindful of it and kind of even watch myself from outside myself and kind of see that happen and still not being able to do what I want to about it. Like my. Brain was ready to give up, basically. Pam: Just a certain point when there’s nothing you can do in your brains. Like, look, I’m done. I am done. CK: Yeah. And I think maybe the point of that point of this is that sometimes you’ll reach those low points and it’s okay. You can get out. It’s not always going to be like that. And so. There’s several different techniques you can incorporate in terms of curbing your biases or getting your health, your mental mentality I was thinking of too, at the same time, I was thinking of mindful. Miss and perspective and mentality and all that. So yeah, that’s where my brain is at now. But yeah, getting your mentality right. Still stumbling over that word, but yeah. So, you know, there’s tools like mental contrasting and. Um, uh, stoicism, obviously you can go into philosophies about what you can and can’t control and thinking about all that stuff. So, yeah, it was interesting because I was trying to incorporate this stuff while my mental power and willpower was low and kind of watching myself. And observing myself deal with this was really interesting, but I think it’s been very beneficial to even know and be aware of trying to do that and being mindful of how you are acting. And yeah, we, we w we kind of talked through a lot of things yesterday. I don’t know. Do you have anything to say about all that? Pam: Um, no. Well, I think the key takeaway is that you have to take everything into context with what’s going on in your life. And. You kind of get to a point of system overload and you can recognize that and you can be in it and not be able to get out of it, but you can do things to make sure that it doesn’t get worse. So like, can be all, you know, as mindful as you want and it doesn’t, it may not get you out of it, but it can put you in the mindset of being like, look, I’m in a bad mood, so I’m not going to take it out on other people or I’m going to do, like, what you did yesterday was you gave me a warning. You said I’m crashing. I don’t remember what your exact words you said. Like I’m not in a good place. Yeah. It was something where you were, you were giving me a heads up that. At any moment, you could be real crabby. You could take something the wrong way. You could say something that would, that I would take the wrong way. Like you just, you took the step to just say, Hey, this is going on with me. And you also knew that I was. Yeah, cause we spent all day in the car together. So Austin we’d had a little argument. So I think that, um, that was that’s. The big thing for me is, um, taking that step to not just be mindful of yourself, but to be mindful of how you are with the people around you. CK: the situation outside yourself. You’re a super system Pam: And just giving people a heads up then dramatically change CK: Yeah. So I think that kind of relates to the third, fourth or the third space that I have. I discussed that before, where it’s, you know, when you’re in an interaction, it’s not just you two, it’s not just. The speaker and the receiver there’s context. There’s that third space, that third force. And this also can be by associated with complex systems where, you know, one plus one doesn’t equal two, it equals more than that. It can go three or four, meaning that it’s not just. C K plus Pam equals decay and Pam is CK. Plus Pam equals decay and Pam, and then together. And like, because I have my own things, Pam has their own things and it’s not just my things and Pam things together, our things together and make up a whole nother thing. So, I don’t know if that makes sense, but, or if I made enough sense out of that, but, um, yeah, I mean, it goes into our quote for the week where circumstances don’t make the man, they only reveal him to himself. So we were in some stressful situations. Okay. It’s not like those stressful full of situations created something. Inside us that didn’t exist before. It’s that, you know, it just brought out stuff in us that isn’t normally brought out. And so in that sense, your situations can kind of show you how you react to them. And then in turn, You can learn how to respond differently or respond better, or, you know, as long as you’re mindful of that, there’s potential for you to control it somehow in some manner you can influence the situation. Yeah. So, yeah, I guess we’re kind of mixing our podcasting segment with still our status of the week, but you know, that’s what we do here. Pam: You want to talk about the mix? CK: Yeah, definitely. Yeah. So I’m using the zoom. H five is a field recorder. It’s like a portable kind of pocket. I mean, it fits in your pocket, but it’s pretty bulky. Just handheld recorder. Yeah. It’s a handheld field recorder and it comes with. An X, Y capsule, Mike, I’m not exactly sure of the details, but I just looked it up and it’s two condenser mic capsules, and it’s a very, very little and unsurprised third condenser because when I just listened back, there was very little Mike bleed and background noise. And. There’s less of that actually then Tams SM seven B and P. And that’s a dynamic Mike, which just supposed to reject a lot of that. So this little mic is pretty impressive. I don’t necessarily like how my voice sounds on it. Nearly as much as it does on the King being the King bee is. Very much more suitable for my voice. But, um, but you know, in spite of that, I’m really impressed with the audio quality of this little mic. I mean, it’s not, I think it retails for $80 or something like that, but it comes with the zoom H five, if you purchase that. And I think the zoom H five, I think I got it for around 200, but I think it retails for two 50 or something. But yeah, I mean, we use the zoom H five as Pam’s audio interface typically. So this is the same setup for Pam, but we’re, we are hand-holding our mics. So we may be a little off with our mic technique. I keep bumping my chin and, and then. Realizing that I’m not close enough sometimes. So my audio quality and maybe might be changing throughout the spot podcast session. So that’s why, and similarly with Pam, we’re not used to holding their mics in her. No, this socks and pants. Pam: Heavy. CK: Yeah. Oh yeah. The Shure SM seven B is accused of a mic. So yeah. Well, we’ll have to deal with that. So yeah, we, yeah, we have some sound blankets set up in here. Um, and yeah, everything’s closed up, but we’re on a, a little bit of a traffic extreme. And of course there’s always the airplane and helicopter noises, but I don’t know, this is kind of fun and it’s really fun to have it fall on our 52nd episode. So yeah. Do you have anything you can think of that I might’ve missed or anything else you want to say? Pam: I don’t think so. CK: Okay. Yeah, I’m trying to think of other podcasting things. Oh, so I, um, my buddy Shane hit me up yesterday about dealing with noise in podcast audio. So it seems like he might be going through a lot of the noise issues that I went through. When we were starting out and yeah, I can totally empathize because if you guys have been listening to me here and you’ll know all the trials and tribulations, I went through with the audio for this podcast, and now I’m realizing I’ve been listening back to some podcasts and listening more critically to podcasts that I like and think are good. And I’m realizing. How, well, I don’t know how to say this exactly, but I’ll just say it. I’m, I’m realizing how good our audio actually was. And I’m really realizing how not as good that audio is on projects that I thought. It was good. So, yeah, because when I listened to our audio I’ll I listened to it several, several times in several different ways and through different monitors and different volumes and I’ll turn it all the way up even versus, you know, podcasts that I like and listened to. I’ll just have it at a normal volume and just listen to it like that the whole time. So I’ve been kind of taking more of that kind of approach when listening to R. Podcasts and processing them, just listening them closer to a more normal volume and analyzing it and processing it that way. Of course, I’ll be a little more critical and it sometimes, but I won’t be, I won’t process it as much in that way. I’ll get to retain a lot of the original audio. And a lot of that is actually pretty good quality with the setup that we’ve. Progress with right now. So yeah. Um, I feel like we’re at a good place with our audio. And so, I mean, Kind of excited to talk with Shane about his audio and seeing what we could possibly do to help him and maybe trade notes and see what he’s dealing with. But yeah, it’s, it’s interesting just talking to someone else. Who’s starting to deal with all this stuff after having gone through all that, but yeah, that’s fun. So yeah, let’s move on to our next segment and we are. Oh, it’s time for the weekly ForceCast and this is the part of the podcast where we talk about. Oh, so, okay. So, okay. So I mean, yeah. I don’t know what else. So yeah, we’ll start out with Podspo where we talk about a podcast that may have inspired us over the past week or so, and I am not ready for this. Pam: I don’t really have anything. CK: Okay. So I’ll just skip that. Actually. I’ll just reiterate podcasts that I mentioned before, because they always have good episodes and every week I enjoy them and, you know, I could talk about. There are episodes every week. And those include Ted talks daily and wave, and I’ll leave it at that. I recommend tech talks daily and short wave. She’s always been producing some awesome episodes lately. So yeah, check that out. And Ted is always good. So. Check those out if you haven’t already. And then the next portion of the podcast is Linchpinspo where Tim might provide us with some inspiration from the cards or the stars or the planets or herself. Pam: Um, yeah, I’m, I’m not terribly prepared for this today, but I will say that we are out of mercury retrograde at his station direct. We are still in the retro shade periods. So there might still be a little bit of tomfoolery going on there for a little bit. Um, and then we’re in Pisces season now. So. So we, um, are into a more, um, emotional couple of weeks or three to four weeks still. Yeah, four weeks still. Okay. So a little more emotional, uh, feeling a little more. I’m connected to other people and. Yeah. Being more, um, concerned with, um, with emotions and less we’re out of our heads now and out of our thoughts and more into an emotional season. So, um, we’re wrapping up the end of the calendar year for, um, the, the Zodiac. So this is the, the end where we are, uh, reviewing what needs. To be let go from the past year and preparing for the forward action. That will start when we move into areas. CK: Cool. Cool. Yeah. Thank goodness. Mercury’s retrograde is over it. I’ve been dealing with so many issues on the technical side. But, uh, lately I think things have been okay. My computer has been acting up, so I don’t know. It’s it did that thing with the monitor again, where it got all crazy and yeah, I’m, uh, kind of beefing up my audio connections for live streaming and. Trying to figure out some signal flow logic on Dannon, but it’s still been fun. I’ve been really enjoying that kind of stuff. And I kind of. I figured out why I’ve been enjoying the whole process with music and even this whole audio production and post processing stuff too. And it all goes into complex systems and all the logic behind it and all the research and analysis I get to do. And yeah, it’s not just about the music for me. It’s about. The, you know, researching the gear and figuring out the signal flow and learning about, but all these processes. And I just love the whole thing. Like I don’t even have to make music. I can just mess around with all the machines and, uh, be in my happy place. And yeah, before we leave off, I think I just want to continue on a little longer and. Especially since this is our 52nd episode, maybe adding a little special bonus here, but I don’t know how much of a bonus this is. It’s just more, more half thoughts coming up, coming out of my mouth. Pam: Hopefully their full words. CK: I can’t promise that, but Oh, shoot. Um, hold on, let me, I think it was good. Uh, do you have anything that can fill in dinner for a second? Pam: That’s that’s asking a lot from someone who’s been up since three 30. CK: Yeah. Okay. Uh, yeah, I don’t remember. Um, Actually what we’ll do here, it’s getting hot. So we’ll take, we’ll take five, but I w I want to get this idea out. I forget what it was. So, yeah, we’ll take five. Cool. Off for a second. And hopefully I’ll remember what I was going to say. Yeah. Okay. And we’re back. And I still don’t remember. I totally lost it. Lost my train of thought. And we’ll just start closing out now. Pam: Sorry, I interrupted you with my joke. CK: What was your joke? Pam: So you said you were going to give half thoughts and I said, I hope they were full words this time. CK: Yeah, it’s all your fault. So you guys complained Pam. Pam: I have deprived you of the wisdom of suitcase half awake brain. CK: Yeah, it was whatever I was going to say was really, really good. Probably the best thing that I’ve ever done. So yeah, we lost that forever. Pam: Sorry, forever. CK: So, yeah, I guess, uh, first time for everything. Now, this is the first time we’ve taken a break and return to the podcast everything’s happening on this 57, 50, 52nd episode. So yeah, I guess we’ll start closing out. So before we leave off, Pam, do you have anything else that you want to add? All right. Well, where can people find Pam: Yeah, you can find me on Twitter where I am at Pamela underscore Lund. CK: And you might be able to find me on Twitter at CK disco. And thank you to Pam for joining me as always first time in the car. It’s kind of fun. It was a interesting hope. It sounds good. We’ll see how that comes out and yeah. Thank you guys for listening. So I hope you all come back next week and keep on practicing. Toodaloo!

Practice Session #51 Welcome to my show notes for this week’s session of Practice! We record these sessions every Sunday. I try to publish the audio on the same day of recording, but I may get delayed now and then due to various reasons. Also, I will usually have the AI-generated transcript and my initial notes published on the same day of recording as well. On Fridays, I’ll (try to) go back through and proof the transcript while I add all of my notes. I’ll be utilizing this opportunity to clarify and elaborate on points that I may not have conveyed as well as I would’ve liked to. I’ll also provide links to further information and resources. So, on Friday, I’ll intersperse all my notes with the transcription from the audio below (unless I don’t ). Intro. [00:00] CK: There we go. Heyo! I’m CK, and you’re listening to Practice. I’m your functional systems integrator, and this is my podcast where practice is not just the theme of the show, but the whole purpose behind it. What started out as a practice of podcasting, as well as speaking in general, has evolved into a practice of self-coaching and self-reflection while espousing half-thoughts and providing unsolicited advice. As always, I’m fortunate to be joined by my Practice partner and partner in life: Pam. Pam: Hey, that’s me. CK: Pam is also my pattern awareness manager, and every Sunday we reflect on the past week and my progress with this practice, along with other lifestyle practices, as well as theories and ideas behind the virtues of practice itself. We’re doing this on the fly, and our dialogue here is unedited, so don’t hold me responsible for what I say here. Make sure to check out my show notes where I’ll provide some fact-checking, self-psychoanalysis and commentary on things I could have done better. You may find this and more information about this project at ForcesOfEqual.com/Practice. Catch up with the Anomaly and the Linchpin. CK: We’re recording today on February 14th, 2021. And this is practice session number 51 and it’s Valentine’s day. So happy Valentine’s day, everybody happy Valentine’s day, Pam. But that we really care celebrate these hallmark holidays, Oh man, there’s so much traffic going on today in our neighborhood. Uh, our listeners probably won’t hear that background noise, that car noise, because I’ll be able to take out most of it, hopefully, but anyway, Let’s start off with the quote for the week. And today’s quote comes from Victor Frankel. And for those of you who don’t know Victor Frankel, he is a Holocaust survivor. I actually don’t know if he’s still alive. I don’t think there’s any Holocaust survivors still around anymore, or they’re Pam: I think there’s a CK: very few, Became a psychologist. And, uh, he has a book called man’s search for meaning, hwhich I would highly recommend. And I actually just finished memorizing a different quote from Victor Frankel, which is along the, along the lines of stoic philosophy, which is why probably one of the reasons why I like a lot of his stuff. But anyway, today’s quote from Victor. Frankel goes like this. When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves. Okay. And short and sweet and goes along with similar themes that we’ve discussed before. And in this case, it reminds me. Immediately, like my first instinct was of the fundamental attribution error, which yeah, it’s basically a cognitive bias where we tend to put blame or perceive as others having. The faculty of doing things or, um, why, why is this definition so hard for me, basically, it’s a person versus situation debate. So we tend to see if people do something wrong or negatively. We tend to see it as their own fault, but when we do the same thing or similar things, We see it as someone else’s fault or the situation it’s because of the situation. It’s not our own fault. So our perspective differs whether it’s occurring to us or to someone else. And whether it’s something that you see them doing wrong, like a behavior that’s faulty or dysfunctional or whatnot. So we tend to see others. Being at fault on their own. It’s their own fault. That’s something really happened. Whereas for us, it’s someone else’s or something else’s fault or the time or situations fault. So quote, when we are no longer able to change a situation, we are changed. We’re challenged to change ourselves. It kind of goes into the whole, my whole thing with complex systems and the hierarchic whole lines where there’s, you know, us humans as a system and then our subsystems below us that we have autonomy over that we should be able to have control and will that we can have freewill and decide over. But when we’re no longer able to change a situation, of course, there’s super system considerations. So there’s things outside of us that we can’t necessarily control. And we’re dependent on where there’s no autonomy. You know, we can’t function outside of our ecosystem. For example, like we have to adhere to the laws of gravity. And so we’re dependent on stuff like this outside of us in our super system. So when we can’t change those things, We are challenged to change ourselves. Those things that we do have control over. And a lot of this has to do with mindset and of course mindfulness. So the way we perceive things and the way that we integrate the super system with our subsystems is where we can have the amount of autonomy that we have available to us while still living. With the dependencies of our super systems. So yeah, the quote stood out to me because of that. Basically it relates a lot to my own functional systems, integration philosophy, and also the quote that I’ve been learning over the past week. Basically the quote, the other quote I’ve been learning has to do with success and the journey basically versus. Aiming at the end product or angle. So it’s all about the journey. And so do you have any thoughts for him? Pam: Um, only that it’s really apropos for me this week. Um, that’s something that I’ve been thinking a lot about as I had an interaction that could have only been improved by changing myself, uh, that the situation had had no fault or no blame. And so I needed to change how I was behaving to make it have a better outcome. CK: Hmm. Interesting. Pam: makes sense for me. CK: cool. Cool. All right, so let’s move. Oh Pam: Oh, to close the loop. Viktor Frankl passed away in 1997. So he’s been gone for awhile. CK: Yeah, I think I knew that, but for some reason, yeah. All right. Uh, but yeah, definitely recommend Victor Frankel’s work and let’s move on to our status. Let’s check in with ourselves and I’ll start this week. I had a really good week. It’s not necessarily optimal, but definitely progressed from previous weeks. And so mentally, I would say. I’m at an eight physically, I’d say I made an eight. So mentally I feel very good. I’m progressing. And I have my circadian rhythm thinked up and, um, built up some. Uh, built up my sleep sleep bank, which I was in debt for over the past couple of weeks. And I did kind of veer a little off course the past. Two nights stayed up a little later than I would’ve liked to. I got caught up with a few things and I’m just having fun with a lot of different things. And so I’ve been doing a lot more research and stuff like that, but I still have my rhythms aligned. And so I’m waking up at a better hour. And even though I’m going to bed a little later than I want to. And so my entire rhythm in general is still aligned, so that’s good. And I feel fine. I feel okay. I. Don’t necessarily feel like I needed more sleep or anything like that. So I feel good. I feel alert and my cognition’s working well. And so, yeah, mentally I feel good. And physically, I feel better than I have been. I worked out that impingement that I’ve been experiencing in my left hip, and it’s a lot better. It’s kind of weird walking around now and realizing that I’m not feeling that impingement. And then. Being mindful of that makes me feel a lot better. And of course grateful that I’m not experiencing that pain or impingement that I kind of forgot that I had. So anyway, that’s going better. And we did a two thirds mile run this morning and that felt great. So I hadn’t, hadn’t gone out for a jog around, in like two to three weeks. Probably three or four, actually. So it felt good to get moving. And I’ve been joining Pam for her workouts. And to be fair, I’ve only been doing the warmups basically, but I liked them and they’re enough of a workout for me. And. I’m also kind of getting back into being more active. So I’m going to take things slow, but those exercises felt great. And my body’s feeling good. So I’ll say an eight physically and socially, I did a lot better this week as well. So I’m going to say six socially. And so last week my numbers were at. Eight seven and three, I believe. And this week we’re saying eight, eight and six for a total of 42. And so, yeah, that’s up from 18 last week. So it’s really good. And in terms of social, I finally caught up with my parents and let me catch up. Yeah. I caught up with them yesterday and I’m going to catch up with my brother later today. And collab with some other friends through text messaging. And I actually got on social media in Facebook and participated in some groups that I’m in, uh, and they’re like their music groups and, uh, they’re based on production music, production in gear as well. And I’ve been lurking in these groups forever. And like the past year, since I started doing all this stuff and I don’t know why I didn’t ever post, like I’ve had questions that I very well could have asked and gotten. Legitimate responses from probably in a more efficient manner than me just researching all this stuff myself and I, well, most likely because I found out this week when I actually did participate that, you know, I got all these answers and even more that I hadn’t even considered. And so, yeah, I just kind of basically ended up throwing the baby out with the bath water. And with my restriction of social media, I just kind of restricted a lot of potentially beneficial aspects of it. So I’m starting to work those things back in, and I mentioned live streaming last week. And so I’ve been testing out more things over the past week and I’m getting really excited. This is all kind of a whole new world. That’s opening up for me. That I didn’t realize how big and influential it was. And it’s a totally different social aspect that I really didn’t consider, like before I kind of perceived it more along with the gaming community, I think in terms of live streaming. And I didn’t understand why you would. Sit around and watch other people play games. That was just so weird to me. Pam: Do you watch other people play sports? CK: Yeah, that’s true. But yeah, that’s an interesting perspective. Yeah. You kind of stumped me there. That’s really interesting, but yeah, I mean, I guess on that note, I’m starting to realize, now that it’s a social experience and to your point, it’s even more social than watching sports because that’s just one way, you know, you’re, you’re watching and they don’t, what’s on TV. They don’t know, like they’re not interacting with you. They’re not responding to you in any way. Whereas with live streaming, you can have interaction with the streamer and the person that you’re watching. So it’s actually more, there’s more of a social experience and that’s what I’m getting at. That’s what I’m realizing that it’s more of a social experience. I keep saying that, but for lack of a better term or another term that you’re hanging out and socializing. And it’s, of course it’s not as functional as real life, but that’s almost as close as you can get without socializing in real life, you know, even more so than text messaging or writing on social media or, or even talking on the phone. Like, because you get the visual aspect there and you’re just kind of hanging out and it’s more of a relaxed environment. So yeah, this is all new to me. And I’m kind of discovering it in, um, seeing how fun it is basically. So getting into all that stuff. So I, the past two weeks I gave myself a really low social score, and I think that. Really skewed things incorrectly. And I was being a little too critical of myself and my social status, because like you were saying, your social scores were still fairly high in your feeling fulfilled socially and meaty. I mean, I, I. Just basically need you to feel fulfilled socially, but I also had been craving some other interactions and I know that I get motivated and I get, uh, exactly yeah. Inspired with. Various interactions. And that feedback helps me and, you know, it feeds and nourishes my brain. And so, yeah, that’s kind of why I was more critical about my social status, but I’ve been fulfilled. So I would say like, if we’re fulfilled in our mental fiscal and social aspects, You probably have at least a score of six or so. So rather than the scores of two or three that I gave myself the past couple of weeks, I had at least a score of six, I would say. Pam: Okay. Now those twos and threes were pretty depressing. CK: Yeah, I was just, I was just being harsh on myself because I wasn’t socializing with anyone other than you. And, but yeah, I, it’s not, like I felt I was lacking in social stimulation, so yeah, that’s my status. And I’m sticking to that. And so Pam, how about you? W what’s your status like over the past week? Pam: Uh, I had a really good week until last night or yesterday. Um, so I would say an eight, um, for my mental, um, probably nine for physical. I’m finally starting to get over the shoulder and hip and knee issues that I’ve had for the last year. So it felt good on the run this morning. Um, my shoulders moving much better. I’m starting to actually be able to. Um, work out a little harder again and social good week. Let me give myself a nine. CK: Nice. That’s a really good week. Let’s see Pam: it was CK: total is about a 26, so yeah, very good week. Nice. All right. So I, that segment always takes me really long, but I. I think that’s okay. I kind of want to get that stuff out and reflect Pam: Therapy CK: Exactly, exactly. But anyway, let’s move on to the next section segment. And this is where we talk about our progress with podcasting. And over the past week, things have been going really well. I, I, well, I just can’t believe how much more there’s. Still to learn. And I’m still learning stuff around noise reduction, which I’ve been learning and doing for almost a year now, which is crazy. And I’m still learning a lot with it. And it’s pretty cool. The stuff that I’m able to do now. So that’s exciting and I’m still discovering new tools and stuff that. May or may not improve my workflow and processes and make it more efficient, but I’m excited to try one that I just found out about last night. And so, yeah, it, it has to do, it’s like a, I think it has like AI built in and it has some kind of progressive equalization. Feature. So, yeah, I, I don’t know too much about it yet, but it sounds awesome. So I’m going to start testing that out. I think there’s a seven day free trial and I may talk about it more once I play around with it. But yeah, other than that, I kind of got hung up with not bad advice in terms of banking. The next step is stone. And so I, so that’s kind of what. Triggered or catalyzed me to go into noise reduction and those aspects in processes even more over the past week. And then I, so I almost got to the point where I wanted to rerecord the next episode that we were going to be putting out. But then I figured out that I could clean it up and have it at the level that I want it. And so, yeah, I mean, yeah, just still learning things and still trying to get ahead, but I’m at a much better place now where I have things on schedule and getting things in line and stuff is getting more efficient in my more, my workflow is getting more efficient, so yeah. Things are going well in general. And. I’m having fun with it. Like everything’s been positive this past week, so yeah. Any notes on your own town? Okay, well, nothing’s good. At least there’s no negative stuff. And I guess that’s another point that I want to make. Like you don’t have to improve or make progress all the time. It’s okay to maintain status quo if you’re in line or on a long-term trend of improvement. So, yeah, I think a lot of times we tend to get caught up in that cycle of productivity and having to be more and more productive and produce more things all the time. Where, as you know, there’s a point of optimization where if you surpass that you over-optimize, and then you get into a point where things become unsustainable and you fall out of the momentum and then you may. Start finding yourself, not progressing on a regular level. So yeah, I just think it’s important to say that you don’t have to keep improving all the time. It’s okay to maintain your level. And that’s kind of what I try to get at is to maintain that position in the momentum wave. You want to be in the middle of the wave and. Another thing is that you may not see yourself improving, or you may not notice improvement, which is wait, which could be, it affect you mentally in terms of, you know, if you want to improve and you keep hitting it hard when you actually are, and you’re not seeing it. So that’s. Uh, you know, that’s something that can talk towards being mindful in reflecting on your progress in having certain milestones or goals or like touch points or boundaries, so you can evaluate your progress. So, yeah, I don’t know. It just kind of went on a little one off on a little rambling rant, the inner. So does that all make sense? Pam: It does. I think that having plants is a really good way to keep yourself reminded of that, because you’ll have a plant that you like watch for months and you’re like, it’s not doing anything, but it is it’s growing roots. It’s doing a lot of work underground that you don’t see. And then all of a sudden it hits its growing cycle and goes nuts. CK: Yeah, great metaphor. It’s perfect example. Okay, so let’s move on to the next segment. And this is the weekly ForceCast and we’ll start off with the first part, which is Podspo where we can, I haven’t come up with like a standard deduction for this. So. I’m not like I can never remember what to say or I don’t know what to say here yet, but we’re going to recommend a podcast that inspired us over the past week. And I’ll go ahead and start. So last week I accidentally mentioned planet money when I meant to say the indicator and they’re both similar podcasts. I believe the indicator spun off of planet money, but this week I’ll go ahead and recommend planet money. And I consider planning money is one of the OJI podcasts. It spin around for a while. I don’t even know how long, probably at least before 2010. And I don’t know if it was like a regular radio segment for podcasting got big. I don’t think it was, I think it. Became one or started out as one of the bigger podcasts, but yeah. Uh, I don’t know, but anyway, it’s a great podcast and it’s been around for awhile. It’s an NPR podcast, so it’s produced very well and they talk about money and economics and pertinent, relevant, timely information. And. The this past week, the episode that stood out to me had Sam Sanders on it. Who is the host of Pam: It’s been a CK: it’s been a minute. Yeah. Which I don’t listen to. I think I’ve tried a couple of times, but it’s just not, there’s just too many podcasts to listen to. And I think it’s produced well, I was content just wasn’t for me. I think it was just too mainstream something. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. But anyway, Sam Sanders was on and they kind of did a, a what I called like a, where you have multiple stories about the same subject compilation. It’s like a compilation episode. They, Oh, they first had Raj Chetty on who’s a Harvard economist economics professor, and he’s regarded as one of the top micro economics scholars or mines around right now. And he’s really into taking huge data sets and using data to inform. Behaviors and policies and stuff like that. And he, I believe he’s very much into complex systems and he looks at things from a complex systems perspective where there’s so like all these different variables that are affecting certain things. So I really like the way he does this work. And so that’s one reason I liked the planet money episode. And another reason is another story. Was, I don’t remember what the story was about Sam Sanders. I believe Stan standards was saying that throughout the pandemic he’s developed a routine and his schedules become similar from day to day. And he’s finding comfort in that. And he’s ended up making the same meals and eating the same meal every single day. And so he’s talking about how there’s comfort in that and knowing that, you know, whatever happens that day, the next day, he can expect that and he’ll have that, you know, at that time. And so he’s developed this routine throughout this pandemic. And so I’m thinking, so this is what I’ve been doing for the past 10 years or so like, so it was interesting to have that perspective where people who aren’t in our positions, where we’ve been working from home. For a long time and have developed these schedules and routines that, you know, all these other people who are now getting into this situation over the past year are finding out how beneficial it is to have routine and schedule and. All this stuff. And yeah, that was just kind of an interesting perspective to me and also gave me some, maybe confidence per se, in terms of sharing or asserting myself in my experiences, in what I know, because it was kind of a, maybe even a shock to me to hear that from someone like saying like, But like thinking of course, like of course that’s beneficial and efficient and optimal or, yeah. It’s just like, I’ve been living in it for so long that I don’t realize that others have, you know, it’s like this big revelation to them. So yeah. Plenty of money. I recommend that podcast. It usually comes out like once a week or so. Pam: And do you see how. The story of him creating a routine in the pandemic relates to your quote CK: Oh, yeah, Pam: to, he’s basically trying to find something that he can change and exert control over, to feel comfortable in his situation. CK: totally. Nice. Cut. So any podcasts stand out to you holding fast week? Um, I’m going to recommend ghost of a podcast done by Jessica Haven’t heard of that one. Pam: Well, it’s an astrology podcast, but you can actually completely disregard that she’s talking about astrology at all, because she really focuses on personal growth and, um, just like perspective on your mental health and you know, behavior. And so she had an episode recently that was talking about joy. Being that we’re in a pandemic and a lot of people are really struggling, but then there’s also a lot of people that are doing great. And I talk sometimes about kind of feeling guilty that I’ve been so, um, okay. This year and, you know, really, uh, done, you know, actually came up with a lot of, you know, new things and, and, and did really well this year. So she talks about, um, how different people handle things differently and about that, you know, maybe. Maybe it’s okay to feel joy when other people are having trouble with it. And she talks about the difference between happiness and joy and that happiness is fleeting. And it’s, you know, you feel moments of happiness, but joy is something that you can cultivate long-term. CK: Interesting. Pam: Yeah. So, um, yeah, I think her, her podcast is, is really good. And you might learn something about astrology while you’re listening to it. CK: Nice. No, that’s that’s fine. All right. Thanks for that. So let’s move on to the next portion of the weekly ForceCast and this is Linchpinspo where Pam provides us with some inspiration from the planets or the stars or the cards, or? Pam: Well, I had a whole thing prepared and then I got mercury retrograded. Um, I wrote it all up. It disappeared. So we’re going to do this on the fly. Uh, so yeah, this week we have the sun moving into Pisces. It’s sort of Pisces season on February 19th. And that will last until March 20th. And, uh, also on February 20th, we have the end of mercury retrograde. So we kind of have two big things happening right there on the 19th and 20th. CK: February, sorry, February 20th is the end of mercury retrograde. Pam: end of the retrograde period. CK: I think Pam: So Pisces is the last sign in the astrological calendar. So it’s the end of the cycle. And, um, it’s, you can think of it as like that time of year it’s it’s, um, you know, the end of winter, right? Uh, because March 20th, the end of Pisces, uh, season is also the spring Equinox or the Vernal Equinox. When the sun moves over the equator and starts spring in the Northern hemisphere. So. This period of Pisces is the end of winter. You’re not quite to spring yet, but you can like feel that it’s coming. Like maybe there’s still snow on the ground. It’s still cold, but you get a couple of those really warm days where you’re like, Oh, like spring’s coming. Like we’re almost out of this, but you can’t quite move forward yet. So this is like a time to review and reflect and think about what you learned over the last year and what you want to integrate. Before we move into that next season. And the symbol for Pisces is two fish that are tied together, swimming in opposite directions. So it’s reminding you of the duality of past versus future or reality versus fantasy. Like we have. But all of those things happening at all times, and we’re constantly being pulled in both directions. So you want to think about what you need to bring with you from the past to move into the future and what you need to let go of to be able to move forward. Because if you don’t keep both sides in mind, you just swim in a circle. Right. Two fish tight together that are trying to swim. They’re just going to end up in a circle instead of being able to make progress one direction or another. So even if you don’t believe in astrology or you think that everything that I’m saying is crazy seasonally, we are in that same period with winter ending spring, starting soon. We’re about to move into a growth phase. So this is that pause. Before you move into that growth phase. These are the roots under the plant that we were talking about earlier, where you want to you’re you, maybe aren’t making progress right now, but you can start planning for it and you can start getting ready for spring coming in March. CK: Sounds good to me. All right. Well, thanks for that town. And that brings us to the end of our session today. So do you have anything else you want to say before we leave off? All right. Well, where can people find you? Pam: You can find me on Twitter where I am at Pamela underscore Lund. CK: And you might be able to find me on Twitter at CK disco. So thank you, Pam, for joining me as always. Thank you listeners for joining me this week, and I hope you all come back next week and keep on practicing to loo

Practice Session #50 Welcome to my show notes for this week’s session of Practice! We record these sessions every Sunday. I try to publish the audio on the same day of recording, but I may get delayed now and then due to various reasons. Also, I will usually have the AI-generated transcript and my initial notes published on the same day of recording as well. On Fridays, I’ll (try to) go back through and proof the transcript while I add all of my notes. I’ll be utilizing this opportunity to clarify and elaborate on points that I may not have conveyed as well as I would’ve liked to. I’ll also provide links to further information and resources. So, on Friday, I’ll intersperse all my notes with the transcription from the audio below (unless I don’t ). Intro. [00:00] CK: There we go. Heyo! I’m CK, and you’re listening to Practice. I’m your functional systems integrator, and this is my podcast where practice is not just the theme of the show, but the whole purpose behind it. What started out as a practice of podcasting, as well as speaking in general, has evolved into a practice of self-coaching and self-reflection while espousing half-thoughts and providing unsolicited advice. As always, I’m fortunate to be joined by my Practice partner and partner in life: Pam. Pam: Hey, that’s me. CK: Pam is also my pattern awareness manager, and every Sunday we reflect on the past week and my progress with this practice, along with other lifestyle practices, as well as theories and ideas behind the virtues of practice itself. We’re doing this on the fly, and our dialogue here is unedited, so don’t hold me responsible for what I say here. Make sure to check out my show notes where I’ll provide some fact-checking, self-psychoanalysis and commentary on things I could have done better. You may find this and more information about this project at ForcesOfEqual.com/Practice. Catch up with the Anomaly and the Linchpin. CK: We’re recording today on February 7th. 2021, February, February, February. And this is practice session number 50. Wow. That’s crazy. 50 episodes, 50 weeks. That is a crazy number to think about. And quite a milestone. I think Pat myself on the back or patting myself on the back earlier today, doing a lot of that, I guess. Pam: Okay. CK: So that brings something to mind where when we started out this practice, Podcasts. I looked up, excuse me. I looked up the average number of podcasts that people tend to produce or release before they quit, basically. And for some reason, I can’t remember the exact number, but it was either like somewhere around 11 or 17, but either way we’ve. Surpassed that by far. And yeah, I don’t see myself stopping this process anytime soon. I really like it. And especially today, uh, I I’ll probably go through, go into this a little later, but I’m really grateful for having this process in place. And having like a touchstone every week where I can just kind of get my myself centered and keep like a consistent, I mean, of course we do this every Sunday, so it’s a consistent practice, but it’s something to come back to and something that’s always there. And even though I instituted myself, instituted it myself, it’s something that has become a routine. And almost a ritual and it’s always there and I can kind of count on it. And in a way I’m like today I can kind of count on it to kind of bring me back and get me back on track and get my week started off on a good note. So yeah, really enjoying this practice and hopefully that’s obvious we’re 50 sessions into it. So I’ll just keep going and see where it takes us. Pam: Cool. CK: So the quote for today comes from stoic philosopher Seneca, and the quote goes like this. I am not born for one corner. The whole world is my native land. That’s it short and simple. And of course it has a lot to do with things that I like to talk about in terms of. Basically complex systems in individualism versus collectivism. And that’s basically the gist of it. And the reason that this kind of stood out to me was less for the actual meaning of the quote in more for Seneca, the name Seneca, because for some reason, when I saw this. This past week, I realized that I spent my first six months of life in a town called Seneca. Pam: Really. CK: And it’s outside Chicago land about an hour South of Chicago, South West, I believe. And yeah, it’s just a little small town, maybe a few thousand people. And I really don’t know much about it, but after that came up this past week, I looked it up a little bit. And there’s no real history or there’s no like reason that like there’s no written reason or historical reason why it’s named Seneca. Like, no, one’s really written that down or said, why. But, yeah, I don’t, I don’t know why either, but I just think it’s kind of interesting to have that in my life somewhere and now being so interested in his philosophy. So yeah, I thought that was interesting. Pam: Can you say the quote one more time to make sure I got it. Cause I think that it ties in well with the Linchpinspo operation today. CK: I’m perfect. It’s I am not born for one corner. The whole world is my native land. Pam: Okay. CK: Sure. So let’s see. Now we’re into our next segment where we check in with each other. And we just started this last week where we do a little check in of our mental, physical, and social States on a scale of one to 10. So Pam last week or, okay. So do you want me to say what your numbers were last week? Or do you want to say your numbers for this week? And then I’ll say the numbers for last week and kind of compare Pam: Um, man, I don’t think it really matters. I don’t remember what they were. Um, okay. So what am I rating? CK: mental, physical, social. Pam: Mental physical, social, mental. Um, so the first week of the month, which is always my busiest week with reporting and whatnot. Um, but even with that, it was still a pretty good week and I signed a new client. So, um, well, whenever I signed a new client, I start to get stressed out because there’s so much that I could do. And there’s like, um, performance, anxiety. So. I still think I’m going to give it an eight though. I had a pretty solid week. I wrote some content for the, not bad with money site, which felt really good. So I’m going to give it an eight. Um, Physical. Uh, I would say I’m gonna give that one a six because I had a regression with my knee issue. Um, I squatted in properly and aggravated it again. I’ve got some old patterns with my hip that ended up effecting my knee. So give that a six and then social. I don’t know this one’s so weird for me because I. Obviously I have friends, but I am perfectly fine being alone for extended periods of time and never speaking to anyone. I’m like, I don’t re I don’t give that a low rating if I do that. CK: Yeah, I think that’s fine. It’s like, whatever you feel, if you’re not, if you don’t feel fulfilled socially, then you know, it’d be a lower number, but it’s yeah. It’s your own subjective opinion. Pam: All right, let me give it a nine then feel good. CK: Nice. So this week you’re at eight, six and nine for a total of. 23. And last week you were at nine, seven and eight for a total of 24. So Pam: Consistency. CK: yeah, pretty close. And we kind of determined that anything above 20 is a good week. Anything above 25 is an awesome week. So it sounds like you had a pretty good week. So for me, I’ll say my scores for last week. And there were seven for mental six for physical two for social. And I was struggling a bit with my sleep cycles and my, my sleep wake cycle, basically my circadian rhythm. And so this week for mental, where it was seven last week, I would say it’s eight this week. Definitely feel an improvement. And I have been getting my cycles back in line and, uh, this past sleep wake cycle was perfectly in line. So if I could get on that, I’d be, uh, I’d be good. So if I can keep this momentum, uh, I’ll be on the right path. So last night I was able to get to bed at 10 30. Whereas I haven’t been getting to bed till like midnight, I think the week before I pulled it back until like 1130 and then my goal this past week was 11. So I hit that and more this, uh, last night. So that’s good. And I got up around seven, I believe so. Yeah. That’s a much better timing for me. And. I hope I can stay on that schedule and I don’t see why not. Although, looking back, I’m like, I’m not exactly sure why I got so knocked out of my schedule because of course there were some things that came up in terms of anxiety and working on these podcasts and audio shoes and a lot of technological issues. We mentioned mercury last week or the week before being in retrograde and causing issues with technology Pam: Everything CK touches breaks CK: yeah, it’s been ridiculous. Oh my God. Yeah. So anyway, it seems like I did have some tech logical issues this past week as well, but. I was able to deal with them and got over some of them and didn’t encounter any issues the past couple of days. So that’s been good. So mentally, I mean, and getting better and improving. So that’s good physically. I was at a six last week. This week, I’ll say seven. I feel better than last week. I’ve been working on the hip impingement that I’ve been dealing with and. Actually this morning during my morning walk was the first time that I noticed that it didn’t really bother me much at all, because pretty much every walk we go on, I’m mindful of it and mindful of my posture and gait and everything. And this morning, As we were walking, I noticed that, you know, I wasn’t having that pain and pinch him. So I was surprised because I worked on it. I did soft tissue work on it Wednesday, no Thursday and still experiencing some issues. And then suddenly this morning, it just kind of all felt better and then went through my Oh shit. Okay. So there goes mercury again. One of my mounts camera months. Hello. Ah, anyway, where was I physical? So anyway, I did soft tissue work again this morning on the hip and my legs and everything around that. And. Uh, it was a good session. It feels good. And so I feel loose and good. So hopefully I can get back on the road and start running again. Actually yesterday, I was just thinking, you know, my body gets sore and, or it starts hurting and I get these impingements whether I’m very active or not. So I might as well just be very active and just try to get over the issues through activity. So I was in that mindset and then this morning, everything felt better. So I don’t know, maybe it’s mental, maybe there’s some kind of placebo effect going on or something, but whatever it is, I’m feeling good. So I made it a seven physically and I’ve been feeling like a little so low on the physical totem pole lately. Like obviously I haven’t been playing soccer throughout this pandemic. So I haven’t been nearly as active as I usually am. I haven’t been out on the trails as often, and I’ve been doing my little exercises here and there every day, but still I feel a little lacking and I’m losing weight like crazy. And I dunno, I feel like I’m getting smaller. So I don’t really like that feeling. Pam: You always say that, but you look exactly the same, literally, no matter what you do, you always look perfectly fit. CK: Maybe I’m feeling weaker. So I don’t know. I, I want to get some strength back. So Pam: You’re welcome to work out with me. CK: yeah. Um, I’ve been thinking about that. I see you doing your exercises every now and then, and thinking some of those movements look pretty nourishing, so yeah, we’ll see where that takes me. So last week in terms of social, I had my status at two and I did not improve that very much, but I did a little bit, so I’ll say three. So yeah, I did message, uh, some friends this past week, which was more than I did last week, but I didn’t do as much as I wanted to and ran into some issues with technology and stuff like that. And I had some ideas of. Going crazy social that didn’t work out in terms of live streaming. So I’ve been having a, what’s the word I’m looking for? Like propensity or inclination to live stream for some reason. Yeah. The urge. Exactly. And. I tried getting up on Wednesday and of course, mercury intervened. And, uh, my issues with technology came crashing down. So I’m going to try again this coming week and see what we can do, but had some interesting thoughts around that because like I’m going from being so isolated or internal or. Introverted to wanting to just be everywhere, kind of, or be live or put my self in a position where anybody can watch, or even with this podcast where anybody can listen. And so I dwelled on that a little bit and thought that maybe like, there is this live performer inside me. Like I, I am a live performer and. Of course there, there’s a lot of different variables that go into it in terms of how that increases motivation maybe, or incentive or initiative in even thinking about me being a soccer player. I mean, that’s like alive action, sports and sport, and you’re performing in front of people. And of course there’s certain pressures that that brings about. In terms of performing and having others being observed by others and being responsible, having a responsibility to others on your team or your fans or your coach or whatever. So I think there’s this aspect of live performance that really invigorates me. So yeah, I’m kind of exploring that. And it’s just, it’s kind of weird to me because there’s one side that says, you know, I don’t want to put myself out there and I don’t want to be judged or, you know, stuff on that end. And then there’s the other side where, you know, I want to express myself in a certain myself. So trying to find a balance between that, I think is what I’m trying to say. So, yeah, last week, my total was 15, I believe, which wasn’t very good. And this week I am crystal by three to 18, so we’re improving and hopefully we can improve that next week. yeah, that took a while to get through, but. Move on to our next segment and this segment, I forgot last week, and this is our forest principles segment, and this is where we each choose an object for each other. And we try to come up with other uses for the object within 10 seconds. So let’s see. Do you want to go first or should I go first? Okay. Oh, I’ll go first. I’ll volunteer myself this week. Pam: Got your timer ready? CK: Okay. Do you have an object? Pam: I do I have the one from last week that I didn’t get to use. CK: Oh, I guess so. Pam: All right. Your object is a towel. CK: The towel could be used as Oh, a weapon to clean. His clothing is shelter. Oh my God. That was hard. Oh man. Yeah, I think. I thought that at first, and then I got flustered and then I got really anxious and flustered. So yeah, I wish I could do that again, but yeah, that was bad. Yeah. We won’t even talk about it. I, I guess I wasn’t ready for that. All right. Yeah. I, I don’t know if I would count any of those. Okay. So let’s see. Um, all right. I was going to change this, but I’ll just stick with it. Okay. You ready? So your object is a piggy bank. Pam: Piggy bank, a paperweight, a door jam holder thingy, um, and weapon a, um, CK: You like to resort to the door Pam: Georgia can hold the door open. CK: same Pam: a giveaway CK: Like anything can be. Pam: except to tell, well, maybe you could choke somebody with a towel, I CK: Yeah. So like, I think what threw me off with the towel was like, my first thought was using it to slap someone, you know, like you snap Pam: Oh, okay. CK: on someone’s butt. Pam: but that’s just using it as a towel. CK: Right, right. But yeah, for some reason that just totally threw me up. Okay. Well that was fun. So let’s move on to the meat of the session and go into our progress with podcasting. And I think I kind of got a little bit into this before with technology and stuff like that. And I was dealing with a lot of that with our last episode of not bad advice. And we’re still going through all the episodes that we’ve recorded months. Prior and the recording qualities are so different from episode to episode. So I’ve been dealing with that. And these recent episodes that we’ve been releasing, I think is when we switched to Mike’s we’re using now, but we didn’t have our like techniques down and it’s done sunlight. We were way too close to the mix. And so there’s just so much mouth noise and stuff like that, that I had to edit out. And so this past week, after dealing with all that, I finally decided, you know, I don’t want to deal with that stuff anymore. I’ve had enough practice editing and processing that kind of quality. So, and it, it takes so long, like a recording that’s maybe 20 minutes. Takes at least an hour or two to just go through and edit through the noise and get the quality of the audio to a point where I find it acceptable. And so rather than doing all that and processing and editing, I decided, well, let’s just rerecord. And you know, it’s just another 20 minutes that it takes rather than a couple of hours. yeah, we’re at that point and I’m at the point now where I’m like, you know, I just don’t want to deal with it. I’ve practiced enough. And we know, we know now that I’ve gotten to the point where I can edit and release and the podcast I’m good. So I just don’t want to spend all that time doing it. And it’ll be much easier for us to just rerecord it. And now with our audio quality, especially. Like what I’m doing with practice. I can just get that done and processed and everything done within an hour, if not half an hour. So that’s where I’m at with that. And we’re trying the PreSonus to pre V2 again with Pam’s Mike. So everything looking good so far. Pam: We still have one blue light. CK: All right. So hopefully that comes out well before. For some reason it seemed to cut the gain by almost half. It seemed like about a third of the way through our session. So hopefully that doesn’t happen this session in we’ll see how that goes. So yeah. Anything, any updates on your end, Pam? Pam: Um, really what is happening on my end with podcasting, other than getting more comfortable promoting it. And, um, like before I would just like tweet once that there was a new episode out and, um, now I’m getting a little bit more aggressive about it. So I’ll tweet a few times about the same episode, but, you know, with different, um, Context or content from the episode, knowing that people who need it will see it and people who don’t will ignore it. And that’s okay. Um, but also I’m getting more comfortable hearing my own voice, which has been, um, a problem my entire life. Like I always thought that my voice was squeaky or annoying or whatever. And so this week two of our friends, Casey and Kelsey, both tweeted that I had an audio book. Quality voice. And that meant so much to me because of the, of those issues that I have with hearing my own voice. And so I started talking to someone else, a man who replied and was like, you know, you know, why do you have issues with your voice like that? And. I started kind of processing it. And I realized that a lot of it is like the like misogynistic patriarchal messages that we get as women that we shouldn’t be speaking up and we shouldn’t be heard and that our voices are annoying because they’re higher pitched. And that, that takes away the quality of what we’re saying. So, um, that was kind of a revelation this week to shift how I felt about that until there’s a kind of step into using my voice and not. Being afraid to hear it. CK: Cool. Yeah, I was going to say that I feel like we all have issues with our own voices or hearing our voice back. Especially because it’s, when you hear it back, it’s not the same as hearing it yourself when you’re talking. Obviously it’s when you talk and hear it while you’re talking, it’s being conducted through your body and your bone and bones and everything. So it’s a little deeper and there’s a different tone and it’s different from someone else hearing it. But to your point, I think you, you have a great voice too, like a totally radio quality or audio book quality. Something that’s pleasant to listen to. So a lot of the work that I do is going into making sure that your voice comes out the way it is and the quality that you have, and to make sure that, you know, it’s not dirtied up with all the technology and the mic noise and, you know, ambient noise and all that stuff. And yeah, I want, I want to get your voice out there and it’s easy to listen to you. And so, yeah, that’s a lot of my motivation, so Pam: That’s the second part of what I was going to say. There was to thank you for the work that you do editing because having it edited well and having good audio quality obviously helps with being able to listen to it. So thank you. CK: Yeah. You’re very welcome. And I enjoy it. For the most part when it works, when everything works. Right. I enjoy it. And you know what, I, I actually liked the process and the challenges and, you know, it might be frustrating in the moment, but I enjoy the challenge. So I gotta maintain that perspective. I, you know, be aware of that and realize that I do. It’s it’s weird to say that I enjoy that obstacles, but there’s I enjoy the growth that comes out of it. Pam: well, and you made the choice consistently to not rerecord these episodes that you’ve been having trouble with every week. I was like, why don’t we just re re record it? And you’re like, no, I’m learning. I’m learning. So that was a conscious choice that you were making was to go through that. CK: Yeah. That was an interesting mindset of mine where I been. Purposefully challenging myself. And also this past week where I had so much trouble and I almost quit, like you gave me permission not to publish this week. And I was so close to saying, yeah, it’s not going to work. I can’t do it. And like, for some reason I have this tendency to. Still get it done. Like I, I have an issue with deadlines and not missing deadlines. Like when I used to work for the man before I worked for myself, I never missed a deadline. I never missed a single deadline in my history of working for someone. Pam: You don’t seem to have a problem with deadlines that I give you. CK: Yeah, I’m not sure what that tendency or mindsets attached to, but yeah, for some reason, but I mean, the deadline was not bad advice for some reason that stuck. Um, probably because we’ve been publishing it every week and there’s other people that are expecting it. So, you know, that’s probably me plugging into my super system in. Being dependent on that. So, yeah, we’ll see where we go with that, but that’s where we are or where we are with it now. So let’s move on to the next segment and we’re going into the weekly ForceCast and we’ll start with Podspo. Where are we? Talk about a podcast that inspired us over the past week. And I finally have one this week. I remembered it. Actually, I think it came up today or maybe it was yesterday. I think it was yesterday, but this is another NPR podcast. And if you haven’t guessed yet, I love NPR. And this one is called planet money or no, I’m sorry, planning. Money’s a good one. But this is called the indicator. And it’s kind of a spinoff of planet money, but it’s a shorter, it’s about five or 10 minute episodes and they come out once a week or so maybe sometimes more. And they’re just short bits on economics and a lot, there’s a lot that has to do with money, but there’s also that they talk about in terms of behavioral economics, which I’m very interested in. And so, uh, the, there was one this past week where they talked about the whole game stop fiasco. And there was someone that was, they had a guest on who was anonymous, but he was a Redditor that was in that subreddit. I forget what it was called, but it’s the sub Reddit that. Uh, they all go on to talk about trading and stuff like that, but it’s like, it’s a really cool community and they’re all like for each other and they’re really for these businesses. So they, uh, obviously I’m sure everybody knows the game stop story, but the cool thing that this guy was saying was that, you know, when game stop went up to like 300 bucks or something like that, he. Still he didn’t sell. And now it’s down to like 90 and he’s not selling, he doesn’t care to sell because a lot of these guys like him are in it for the companies, or they’re not in it for the money in it for the ethics and the morals. And that was just really awesome to hear. Of course, I’m sure a lot of them cashed out. And cashed out big, but it’s cool to hear that this community, like a lot of people in this community are all about helping each other and helping businesses and helping the whole. And that goes into the quote for the week, which was, I’m not born for one corner and it, the whole world is my native land. So I didn’t connect those beforehand on purpose. I just kind of realized that, but. It’s all about the whole system in collectivism. And I just thought that was awesome. So the indicator from NPR is what I recommend. Pam: Okay. Um, I am going to make a recommendation since we are in black history month. I thought it would be good to highlight, uh, voices that are not. Middle-aged white men as we usually have with podcasts. So I wanted to nominate code switch, which is, um, stories about a lot of stories about black experiences, but also Latino and, um, you know, basically just not white centric stories. And, um, they handle a wide variety of topics relating to race and politics, obviously, but they also just cover like good. General topics like books and music and human interest stories. Um, so it gives me a perspective that I wouldn’t normally get from my bubble and from my experiences. So sometimes I will listen and I have absolutely no idea what they’re talking about, but it’s valuable to me to hear it and learn about it and just kind of broadened my perspective. CK: Cool. Yeah. I listen to code switch every once in a while too. And then I get so good choice there. All right. So let’s move on to the next portion of the weekly ForceCast and this is Linchpinspo. Where Pam gives us some inspiration from the planets or the stars or the cards. Pam: I’m actually not really going to do any of that today. Um, so this morning I was thinking about a movie that we watched last night, which was bliss on Amazon stirring, Owen Wilson and Selma Hayek. And it’s about drug addiction, but it also makes you think about what in life is real. And without ruining anything, um, there’s this theme throughout the movie that some things, and some people are real and some aren’t and like that some are simulated. So there’s like this running joke that people are living in a simulation right now. And I mean, who knows, maybe that’s true, but, um, we really are in some ways, because your brain is literally creating your world. It’s a computer that is running the simulator of your life, but at the same time, you’re able to control the computer. So you can program it to create the simulation that you want to be in to a certain extent. So what I want to do for our inspiration today is tell you to think about what is. Real to you. What do you want to program your simulation to have more of, and what do you want to edit out of the code? What self-limiting thoughts are you ready to let go of? Because none of that stuff is real. Anyway. It’s literally all made up by your brain and it’s your brain. You can use it to simulate what you want instead of just wishing that you could change. And I want to tie that back into the quote because the quote was, I’m not born for one corner. The whole world is my native land. So. Use your brain to get out of the one corner. That is your reality. Change the simulation, expand to the entire world and see what’s possible for you. CK: Awesome. Yeah. And I just want to relate that back to complex systems really quick Pam: Okay. CK: and where you are a system as a human. And we talk about the super system that’s above you, that you’re dependent on, which is, which could be your social system or the ecosystem or the economic system, or, you know, everything around you. Uh, you know, of course where the quote says the whole world is my native land. This is your super system. And then where Pan’s saying, you know, you have some control over your brain and what it does. Your brain is a subsystem of you. So you have control your brain is dependent on you in the system, and you have some autonomy on your sub systems. So yeah, I mean, control what you can in be mindful of your super system and integrate those things. And that’s where you get integration and optimization. So that’s what I’m about. And. That hopefully I can continue articulating that. And I guess that’s all for this week. Did you have anything else that you want to leave off with? All right. Well, where can people find you? Pam: You can find me on Twitter, where I am at Pamela underscore Lund. CK: And you can find me on Twitter where I’m at Sitka disco. And of course, thank you, Pam, for joining me as always. Thank you to the listeners for joining me. And I hope you all come back next week and keep on practicing.

Practice Session #49 Welcome to my show notes for this week’s session of Practice! We record these sessions every Sunday. I try to publish the audio on the same day of recording, but I may get delayed now and then due to various reasons. Also, I will usually have the AI-generated transcript and my initial notes published on the same day of recording as well. On Fridays, I’ll (try to) go back through and proof the transcript while I add all of my notes. I’ll be utilizing this opportunity to clarify and elaborate on points that I may not have conveyed as well as I would’ve liked to. I’ll also provide links to further information and resources. So, on Friday, I’ll intersperse all my notes with the transcription from the audio below (unless I don’t ). Intro. [00:00] CK: There we go. Heyo! I’m CK, and you’re listening to Practice. I’m your functional systems integrator, and this is my podcast where practice is not just the theme of the show, but the whole purpose behind it. What started out as a practice of podcasting, as well as speaking in general, has evolved into a practice of self-coaching and self-reflection while espousing half-thoughts and providing unsolicited advice. As always, I’m fortunate to be joined by my Practice partner and partner in life: Pam. Pam: Hey, that’s me. CK: Pam is also my pattern awareness manager, and every Sunday we reflect on the past week and my progress with this practice, along with other lifestyle practices, as well as theories and ideas behind the virtues of practice itself. We’re doing this on the fly, and our dialogue here is unedited, so don’t hold me responsible for what I say here. Make sure to check out my show notes where I’ll provide some fact-checking, self-psychoanalysis and commentary on things I could have done better. You may find this and more information about this project at ForcesOfEqual.com/Practice. Catch up with the Anomaly and the Linchpin. CK: We’re recording today on January 30, first of 2021. This is practice session number 49, and I’m going to start off with yet another new ish segment where we check in with ourselves, which we’ve done. In past episodes or most episodes in terms of our week. And I want to kind of standardize it a little more and structured a little more and borrow from a practice that we used to do every morning during our morning walks, where we checked in with each other, and it was more Pam checking in on my mental condition. So. This was, this was developed. Pam developed this when I was dealing with a lot of anxiety and insomnia and mental health issues along that end. So what she would do every morning during our walk, after we wake up is asked me how I felt on a scale of one to 10, and that was pretty much it. So she gets some idea of what level I’m at. That day. So do you want to explain anymore why you developed that or? Pam: Um, well, it was, I think it came out of a conversation where you were having a really stressful day and you kind of, um, Snapped at me a little bit or said something like you should know that I’m not feeling good or like that I’m anxious. And I was like, well, how would I ever know that? Like, if you don’t tell me, I have no way of knowing that I’m not a mind reader. And so I wanted to get some sort of, um, empirical, is that the right word for something measurable that, so I wanted to get something that we could measure every day and have as a consistent. Um, rating system. And so I w I had you give me a score from one to 10 every day with 10 being the best day of your life, and one being the worst day of your life. And then after you gave me the number I would ask you to give me, um, the why, like, why are you feeling that number so that we could start to correlate. You’re rating with causes. And that was really, I mean, within a very short period of time, we identified that insomnia was what was triggering the majority of your anxiety or your bad days. CK: Yeah. So, yeah, that was very useful for us. And it was. Good in terms of giving Pam an idea of how I was feeling, because I’m very good at not showing my emotions and my mood and state, uh, I, I tend to be very level throughout most days. So I don’t know if you agree with that, but that’s what I Pam: You project that your level. And now I think you’re more level, but you weren’t before, but you were still acting like you were. CK: Right, right, exactly. Pam: there was that point where I told you that, that for eight years, I thought you never had a bad day. Meanwhile, you were dealing with debilitating anxiety. CK: yeah, exactly, exactly. And that’s basically the premise of our podcast, equanimity that we’ve been in the process of developing over the past. Two years or so we’re still in the process of that, but we’re learning a lot about podcasting through this practice and also of course not bad advice, so that will come around sometime. We’re still working on it here and there. So we’ll see what happens with that. So with this check-in I want to go through three different categories. And that’s mental, physical, and social. And we’ll just do a one to 10 scale on all three. And you could briefly say why you chose that number. So do you want to start? Okay. Pam: Um, let’s see. So mental, I would say last week was like a nine. I had a really good week felt really balanced and, um, present and creative and had a lot of mental energy. Um, so that was really good. Um, physical, I would say like a seven, I’ve got a couple little nagging issues with my shoulder and my knee, but after six, seven months of a lot of issues with them, they are finally getting better and my workouts were able to progress this week to being a little bit more challenging again. So that was good. CK: Nice Pam: And then what was the last category? CK: social. Pam: Social. Hmm. That’s a difficult one for me. Um, let’s see. I would probably give it an eight because I reconnected with someone that I haven’t spoken to in over a decade. And I think that it was a really good thing to have happen and I’m really trying to close loops on, um, You know, negative interactions or problems that have occurred with relationships in my past. And this was one that had been kind of hanging around. So I get to close that loop now. CK: Nice. So your scores were nine, seven and eight, so pretty good week. Pam: Yeah, it was a good week. CK: What does that add up to Pam: 25 w was Oh nine. Okay. 24. Yeah. Sorry. I thought I gave myself a 10 in the first one. CK: So I was thinking like a score above pony would be a good week and a score above 25 would be like, you know, awesome. I mean, this is pretty subjective. I mean, it’s more subjective than objective obviously, but it gives us a good idea and we can kind of track trends and stuff like that. And so for me, I would say mentally I’m my week was at a seven, six or seven. It’s a little lower than usual and physically, I would also say six and socially, like one or two. I mean, I haven’t done anything socially or the past week. And so my scores were pretty low the past week. Uh, so I’m gonna say seven for mental six for physical and two for social. So what’s that 15, which is not very good. And, and it does reflect my past week because I still had problems with my sleep wake cycle. And as I discussed last week, I was. Trying to head that off. And I was working on that throughout the week, but in spite of that, it kept getting worse and worse. So I think last week I was going to bed around midnight where I would, whereas I would usually be going to bed around 10 or 10 30. And so I was trying to, I give myself a small, incremental goal of trying to get to bed at 1130. And ended up going to bed later, like at 1230 and then, so I kept trying to hit 1130 throughout the week and it kept getting later and later until like two nights ago, I didn’t get to bed till like two or two 30. And then I didn’t wake up until 10, 10, 15. And I did not like how that felt. I mean, in terms of. Physical status. I, I felt fine and I was able to go through the day, the day fine, but mentally, I just didn’t like the rhythm and the cycle and my schedule has been getting out of whack. So I’m trying to head that off. And fortunately, last night I got to bed at 1130, so I finally hit that goal last night. And I got a decent night of sleep. I’m still short on sleep. I’ve been sleeping less than six and a half, seven hours each night over the past week. Whereas usually I get at least eight and so I’m a little lacking with the sleep, but I still feel fine physically. My lower number for physical is more because of a hip impingement that I’ve been dealing with for the past couple of weeks thought I got better, but the past couple of days, it kind of flared up a little bit again. So rolled it out a little bit this morning and it’s feeling better now, but over the past week, you know, I really didn’t do much of anything physically because I was a little low on the mental and. And I think all of that also contributed to the social and I, I didn’t go on social media at all. And I just realized that this morning, when I checked Twitter for something that didn’t go on Twitter at all throughout the week, whereas before I was getting on there pretty much every other day, or maybe almost everyday, even just to look up in school through the latest. In politics and coronavirus and all that stuff. But yeah, I, without even realizing, I didn’t even go on it at all this past week. So, uh, I’ve also been meaning to catch up with some friends and also my parents, but I haven’t talked to anybody. So yeah. I feel like I’m lacking very much on the social lane. So I want to. Work on that as well this week. And I think that’ll also help with everything else because social health is a huge element in terms of overall health. And I relate the social. So I, uh, I wanted to use these three categories, mental fiscal, and social, because I’m kind of relating them to complex systems in terms of. Physical being your subsystems, basically, and social being your super system, obviously, and mental being you, your system. And I’m not sure if this makes complete sense, categorizing it that way or relating it that way. But. Based. I mean, the quality of your life depends on the quality of your mind. So everything is mine based in your life. So that’s why I’m starting to, you relate the self and the human system and like the of the human system in terms of. Designating the system, the subsystem in super systems and the human system is more fundamentally based on the mind. And so that’s kind of how I’m looking at these three categories in terms of mental fiscal and social. And so I, um, uh, of course I always speak about integrating the subsistent, the subsystems with the super systems. And you have to achieve a balance in order to be optimal. And so my social super system balances way low and so I need to work on it. And so I think I’m thinking I’m hypothesizing that that will also help with everything else and also helped me align my cycle, my sleep wake cycle, and boost all my other systems. So does that make sense? Pam: It does. I’m wondering for going forward, are we counting each other in our social, uh, ranking? Cause like you’re my best friend. So I consider you my social circle. CK: Yeah, definitely. But that’s, it’s going to be more consistent, I guess, you know, it’s not. Pam: the way we really could be different though, like you’ve been tired and not. Total, like how much you talk to me and how conversational you are definitely fluctuates with how much you sleep and how good you feel. So CK: yeah. I mean, yeah, we could definitely include that. Pam: just wondering what the rules are. CK: yeah. I don’t know where this is all we’re, you know, we’re keeping an agile and adapting on the fly. So this is all kind of iterative and it’ll constantly be. Forming in different ways. So I guess, uh, yeah, well, uh, move on to our next segment. And I think this is where I will recite the quote for the week. Pam: Cool. CK: So this quote today’s quote comes from Buddha and I actually had another quote from Buddha Jetta done as well. So Buddha. The quotes from Buddha have been new. I just edited them into my own readings a couple of weeks ago. And they’re speaking to me. So, um, I don’t remember exactly why I chose this one, but it’s short and simple. And this is what it says. Three things cannot be long, hidden the sun, the moon and the truth. And again, that’s from Buddha. And now that I said that I’m sure that some of it had to do with the whole sun and the moon and sleep wake cycle and all that, that I was thinking about and going through, and I’ve also been diving more into philosophy lately and looking into. What I would say are maybe three kind of find it foundational or fundamental philosophies. And those are objectivism, relativism and motive, ism, and they all have some, I mean, they’re all kind of, they all interrelate somehow in some ways, And one of those ways is the objective portion of it. And that’s kind of where I’m coming at this, or that’s kind of where this quote kind of stood out to me, I think is that it relates the truth to things that are true in nature and the sun, the moon, obviously, and the truth is. Going to come out some way or another. And whether that’s going to be recognized by you or not, it’s still there. Like, it kind of goes along with the saying that science is going to be true, whether you believe it or not. And so I think that’s kind of why it’s stuck to me. But do you have any comments on that quote? Pam: Um, not necessarily on the quote, but on why you picked it CK: Yeah. Pam: today. The transiting moon is in aspect to your sun, to your natal sun. So they’re both very active in your awareness right now. CK: Oh, wow. Interesting. Okay. So let’s see if we can relate that anymore to the session, but in another thought that I’m having right now is before we started the session. I was having all these technical problems with my computer. And these are problems that I never had before. I would try clicking on some system stuff in it. I couldn’t even click on it. And I tried to bring up a browser and it wouldn’t click, but I could right. Click on the desktop. And so I couldn’t get to the programs I needed to get to. And I had never experienced that before on this machine. And. Couldn’t figure out what was going on. Not even control the wheat would bring up the test manager. So Pam was saying before we started that mercury is in retrograde and that has to do with, or that could affect technology. And she warned me not to get frustrated if I was having issues with tech. For, as we were getting ready to record, and of course it happens. Like I like, yeah. So that was weird and crazy and frustrating. And I don’t know if it’s coincidental or mercury is really messing up my systems or Pam: We’ll see, you got three more weeks of it. CK: But yeah, I, that was pretty interesting. So I guess we can move on to our progress, progress our progress with podcasting. I think that’s actually what kicked off. That was the night that I. Got knocked out of my, like, uh, was that, uh, that I can’t even think or talk. So the person I’ve had advice episode is what I’m talking about. And I think was that the night that I stayed up until two or something really late. Do you remember Pam: Um, I don’t know. You got it done before CK: Oh, that’s right. No, it was the week before. Yeah. So it was a week before and that kind of knocked me off my schedule and that carried on through. And then, yeah, so not that vice went fine this past week. I had to deal with a lot of audio issues because that, I think that was the first episode that Pam was using the SM seven being. And I was using the ni team B and I think we were really close to the mix because there was a lot of mouth noise that I had to take out. And that took a long time. Pam: Okay. CK: I didn’t tell Pam any of that after she listened to in the car, she said, it sounded great. So I was really glad that it came out good. So that, uh, so that ended up well, but yeah, I’m still having issues with banking episodes. Although this next one I have about half done, so hopefully I can get that done tomorrow and then I don’t have to worry about it. And. Have it affect my sleep or anything like that. And hopefully I can my cycle, my sleep cycle and get to bed early in and earlier, and hopefully get that fixed. And yeah, I guess in other news, just I’ve really got the studio and music years situated really well. I still have some connections to figure out between the sense. Since synthesizers and other mini controllers, but the flow that I have going on right now is really coming together and it’s really fun and exciting. So hoping to have more music stuff coming out soon and also working on some other stuff. But I’ll keep that under wraps for now and see where that. It takes me and when I want to talk about it. So yeah, I think that’s all I wanted to talk about in terms of podcasting. Do you have any thoughts on that? Pam: No, I don’t think so. Just, uh, we’re starting to get really good feedback. We’re getting, um, you know, more listeners every week and people are sharing to go back and catch up on old episodes of not bad advice. So really appreciate all the people that are tuning in and, um, sending us feedback on social media. So thanks for that. CK: Yeah, definitely. And so let’s move on to our next segment and this is the weekly ForceCast and we’ll start off with Podspo where we recommend podcasts that stood out to us over the past week. And I think I forgot to do this again. I can’t think of what Pam: I’ve got one. If you know, CK: Yeah. Perfect. I’m going to turn it over to you. Pam: I caught up on an episode of heavyweight from Gimlet. Um, it was actually their like holiday special that CK: Yeah. Like check-in specials or Pam: Yeah, which I usually kind of think of those as like kind of throw away. They’re like something I just put on in the background, but, um, I just listened to it this week and there is a really great story in there about, um, a gravestone of all things and a misunderstanding. And it’s just. Uh, a really delightful story that was funny and sweet. And, um, I dunno, I think everyone should listen to it cause it was really endearing and, um, uh, just really brought out how connected everyone is, whether it’s in meaningful ways or kind of silly ways. So CK: I actually put that on the other night when I was trying to fall asleep and I ended up falling asleep to it. So I don’t remember that. Segment that you’re talking about, but yeah, I do like heavyweight, it’s a cool, like human behavior narrative And the host is that Jonathan Goldstein is just really, his demeanor is really funny. It’s interesting. Like it’s not. I don’t know how to describe it. He’s just like, man, whatever. And Pam: He’s a weirdo. CK: yeah, it’s funny. It’s fun. It’s I mean, it’s not like a comedic podcast per se, but it does have light moments in. Yeah, I would recommend that as well. So yeah. Thanks for that recommendation, Pam. So let’s move on to the next portion of the weekly ForceCast and this is Linchpinspo where Pam provides us with some inspiration from the planets or the stars or the car Pam: All right. So, um, in the last two episodes, we talked about mercury being retrograde for the next few weeks and about that, creating an opportunity for rethinking. And also about how this half of the moon cycle that we’re in is really good for letting things go. So over the next couple of weeks, we’re really in this period of review and release. So I wanted to bring those two things together and I want to give you something to focus on in that review and release process by talking about, uh, the Empress tarot card. So the emperor’s card asks you to think about how you receive or take in anything like money, friendships, pleasure, food, anything that you can receive. And I picked this card because we have so much abundance. Like we’re surrounded by cheap stuff. Um, in high quantities you can buy 3000 calories for $2, or you can have, you know, a large group of people that you call friends that don’t actually know anything about you. Going back to what we were talking about, about social interaction earlier, um, or you can have, you know, a closet full of cheap clothes that don’t last, but can be replaced easily. So we’re in this like abundant throwaway culture. CK: Yeah. Pam: And we take all of this stuff for granted, precisely because it’s cheap and meaningless, and that comes at a lot of costs, but one of them is that most people have a disconnect between what they have and what they want. They try to fill their needs with this pursuit of more meaning meaningless stuff, instead of having the confidence and the self worth to actually receive. Or ask for what they want. So you can have abundance and you can take more without actually receiving it or without feeling fulfilled, you can accumulate without appreciating, but once you start to really look at what you’re accumulating and see it for what it is, You can shift your attention to attracting what you really want, what you actually need. So with the Empress card, I want you to think this week about what you are accepting, where, where you’re accepting things, that aren’t what you really want and things that you’re settling for and how that’s affecting your life. What are you taking that? Isn’t what you want. And what do you want that you’re not asking for from yourself or from others, believe that you deserve and are worthy of receiving abundance and quality, CK: I like that. Yeah. Thank you. Thank you for that. And that brings us to the end of the session. Oh yeah. That went pretty well. I think I like these segments and the structure and organization and feel like I’m reigning in these practice sessions. And I know before we kept it agile and kind of did things on the fly, but I’m organizing things and structuring things a little more now and it’s. Easier on my mind for while and for it to, I’m hoping to become more regular, I guess, per se, with these episodes. So listeners can know more or have a better idea of what to expect. And so I hope you guys are enjoying these new segments and give me some feedback. And I noticed that. Some of my episodes are getting like 20 or so listeners, which I was totally surprised about because I haven’t done really much of anything in terms of promoting the podcast. And I didn’t really care, you know, it was more for me. And of course I want these ideas to spread and, you know, I want to share what I’m thinking, but. The first priority was for me to practice and gain some self-confidence and figure out how to assert myself. But yeah, I mean, if you’re listening should be a message. I’ll get back on Twitter and yeah. Let me know what you think. Give me some feedback and I may start promoting things a little more and tie some other things and kind of start. Putting together, all these other things that I’ve been working on and start releasing more content. So that’s kind of the idea. And before we leave off, I also want to mention that I kind of wanted to differentiate my status today versus over the past week, because or the past week I’ve been dealing with, uh, hints of insomnia and lack of sleep. And my sleep cycle has been out of whack. But today I feel awesome. I feel great. Most likely because I started getting my sleep cycle back on track overnight. And also I’ve been testing out a new supplement called energy. And I know I’ve talked about quality of mind before, and that was quality of mind is one of the only supplements that I’ve taken that I can actually feel effects from. And Callie, mine’s a nootropic, so it’s a cognitive supplement to help your brain functioning. And so, yeah, I love quality of mind. I use it once a week and I’ve been using it before these podcast sessions and now I’m testing quality of energy and it, I, I feel that. More than I feel quality of mind even. And I’ve today was my fourth day of testing it. And even though I’ve been sleeping less, I’ve been really alert. Like my brain has felt alert and it’s also suppressed my appetite. It seems like I’ve been doing one meal a day, the past two days. And not even getting hungry. Whereas, I mean, before I could do that as well, but I’d have some hunger pains and then, you know, if I waited it out, I would get over them, but I didn’t have any hunger pains at all, like the past two days. So it’s really interesting, but yeah, I feel the energy and I feel like I feel even more today because I got a good night of sleep last night. So I’m interested to see how it’s going to make me feel tomorrow. Tomorrow is my last day of the test. It’s a five day test and it actually it’s a full week test, but the protocol is five days on two days off. And that’s actually the same protocol with quality of mind, but I’m only taking that once a week. And I only take supplements when I feel like I need to, or they actually supplement something that I need it for because. Like I said, I don’t really feel effects like direct effects from most supplements. I do trust the science and that’s why I take some supplements, but yeah. Other than Qualia and maybe ketones and cannabis. Yeah. I don’t really feel effects from supplements in one speculation of that is that my. Nutrition is very, very good. So I’m thinking that I may not need a lot of supplementation or if I do take it, it’s not going to be as effective for someone like me versus someone who’s deficient in a lot of those supplements. So that’s just a hypothesis I have, but yeah, I never really felt anything from any supplements until I tried Qualia and also ketones and of course cannabis, but. Yeah. So actually what I, why I got into all of that is because I wanted to say that today, mentally, I feel like a nine physically, I feel say eight socially still low. I still haven’t gotten to any of that yet, but yeah, today I feel great. And hopefully I can keep this going and get back on track this week. So yeah. So Pam, anything more to say before you leave us? Pam: Nope. All right. Uh, so yeah. Thank you for joining me as always, of course, where can people find you? You can find me on Twitter, where I am at Pamela underscored London. CK: you can find me on Twitter at CK disco and thanks for joining us. And I hope you come back next week. Should I forget something? I thought you made a face. Pam: Get ready for keep on practicing. CK: You just said it, so yeah. Hope you come back. Nice to meet you and keep on practicing. Toodaloo

Practice Session #48 Welcome to my show notes for this week’s session of Practice! We record these sessions every Sunday. I try to publish the audio on the same day of recording, but I may get delayed now and then due to various reasons. Also, I will usually have the AI-generated transcript and my initial notes published on the same day of recording as well. On Fridays, I’ll (try to) go back through and proof the transcript while I add all of my notes. I’ll be utilizing this opportunity to clarify and elaborate on points that I may not have conveyed as well as I would’ve liked to. I’ll also provide links to further information and resources. So, on Friday, I’ll intersperse all my notes with the transcription from the audio below (unless I don’t ). Intro. [00:00] CK: There we go. Heyo! I’m CK, and you’re listening to Practice. I’m your functional systems integrator, and this is my podcast where practice is not just the theme of the show, but the whole purpose behind it. What started out as a practice of podcasting, as well as speaking in general, has evolved into a practice of self-coaching and self-reflection while espousing half-thoughts and providing unsolicited advice. As always, I’m fortunate to be joined by my Practice partner and partner in life: Pam. Pam: Hey, that’s me. CK: Pam is also my pattern awareness manager, and every Sunday we reflect on the past week and my progress with this practice, along with other lifestyle practices, as well as theories and ideas behind the virtues of practice itself. We’re doing this on the fly, and our dialogue here is unedited, so don’t hold me responsible for what I say here. Make sure to check out my show notes where I’ll provide some fact-checking, self-psychoanalysis and commentary on things I could have done better. You may find this and more information about this project at ForcesOfEqual.com/Practice. Catch up with the Anomaly and the Linchpin. CK: We’re recording today on January 24th of 2021. And this is practice session number 48, everything okay. With everything. Pam: Yeah. So you just got really loud for some reason in the middle. CK: Yeah. Interesting. Pam: yeah, I don’t know. CK: Okay. Well, we are trying a couple of different things today and we are looking at each other through zoom. Now we’ve been using Google meet. And before that we were using whereby I believe Pam: yes. Yeah. Yeah. CK: And before that we were using squad cast, I believe so we’re unsealed and the video quality seems to be better. Seems to be the best out of what we’ve used so far. So let’s see how that goes. And how about we take a quick temperature of your week in terms of mood and mindset, progress, momentum. Pam: Um, okay. I wasn’t really ready for that. Um, my week was good. It, um, You know, I go through these flows where I’m like, really, like, I have tons of ideas and really want to move fast on stuff. And then I kind of cycle back into a slower mode where I’m more into planning and not quite so much into action. Um, so this was more of a planning and not forward progressing week, which is fine. Um, you can’t be moving forward all the time. So other than that, I had a good week. It was, um, Uh, yeah, it was a little cold, which always makes me a little bit grumpy, but other than that, it was good. How about you? CK: I had a pretty trying week, I guess you could say in terms of my schedule and routines and primarily my sleep cycle. So my sleep wake cycle has been off for the past, but past two weeks, and I’m really starting to feel it right now. Out of all the time that I could have felt it. So yesterday I only got like four, four and a half hours of sleep. And today I only got about five, so running really low on sleep. But yesterday I was trying to, well, I mean the whole week or so that I’ve been experiencing this, I’ve been just kind of going with the flow and I’ve been a little less worried about sticking to my sleep cycle because it’s been so good lately. Or over like the past two or so years since I got it fixed. And especially the last few months, I feel like it’s been really good. So I’ve just kind of been, not focusing or obsessing about it as much and just kind of letting things go and listening to my body. But this past week and a half or two, I just haven’t been able to get back on my. Typical cycles that I’ve been on and it’s been fine until like yesterday, I would say. And so yesterday I only got about four, four and a half hours of sleep and I didn’t want to get up, uh, you know, I just want to stay in bed, but it was already like nine o’clock or so, and I just didn’t want to be in bed all morning. So I ended up thinking that. If I’m tired and need more sleep, I’ll take a nap in the afternoon. And I was pretty sure that I would need to after only four, four and a half hours of sleep, but I ended up just doing stuff and working on stuff and not needing the nets. So I thought I would power through that and I be sleepy. Then it. Earlier than I was getting sleepy throughout the past week or two, but that didn’t happen either. So I ended up staying up till like midnight or so, and then only getting about five hours of sleep last night. So I’m not sure what’s going on. I may have some sleep banked up, so, because I’ve been sleeping so well previously, but. Right now, I feel like I really want to get back on my cycle and it’s been throwing everything else off too. So my routines are pushed back and I’m miss. I feel like I’m missing out on time during the day. So when they try to focus on that this coming week. Pam: And you mentioned that, um, I had a few mornings this week where you were still in bed because you had had a rough night asleep and it was like, you know, 10 30 in the morning when you were still laying in bed and. It was bringing back those memories of the years when you had insomnia and you would be in bed until one o’clock in the afternoon. And I would be trying to live my life and trying to work and, um, trying to work around your insomnia. So that was a little bit of like, Minor PTSD, bringing up all those old feelings. And it’s really easy for me to go into like, feeling like you were purposely staying up or that you were being irresponsible or, you know, all those judgments that I had before we knew that it was actually like a, a medical issue that, that needed fixing. Um, it’s so I have to remind myself that that’s, that it’s not on purpose, you know? CK: Yeah, definitely not. And I had some inklings of that PTSD per se come up as well as, um, being mindful of the cycle. And the, the tough part about all this is that even though I’ve fixed my sleep pretty much, for the most part, when I wake up in the morning, I never feel like I I’m like energized and fresh and ready to wake up. Like still, even though. About two or three years ago. I fixed my sleep. Even after that, I just feel like I could sleep more in the morning when I wake up. And so it’s tough to distinguish whether or not I’ve had, you know, sleep. I don’t know if that makes sense, just because I feel the same, no matter what, when I get up and then as I’m progressing throughout the day, I feel like I can get myself to a point where I’m awake and I can get stuff done and be productive. And then if I get momentum behind that, then it’ll like, I won’t even. Realize or notice what my sleep quality was like the day before. So I don’t know if this is something that I developed out of habit and in the insomnia I had previously, you know, in terms of just having to get through the day, all the time without sleep. And so, yeah, I dunno if it’s that. Feeling is something that I, that I developed that, you know, I can just get myself up and going regardless. So, yeah, it’s, it’s tough to discern for me if I got enough sleep or not, but now I’m right now, I’m feeling that I’m not getting enough. So I do want to start focusing more on my, uh, sleep, sleep wake cycle. So, yeah, that’s kind of what I’ve been dealing with and I’m just really tired right now. And as we were starting to, I was like, I lost all my routines and. All my processes and we didn’t even start recording. And I just started the podcast. Basically. I just started talking like we were recording. So yeah, we’ll see if we can get through today’s session. And I do want to try to keep it close to half an hour. We’ve been going a bit over the past couple of weeks and I’m tired today. So let’s try to keep it. For time. So let’s get into our new segment that we just started last week and I’ve come up with a name for it. And this is our segment where we each name and object for the other person. So I’ll pick an object for Pam and within 10 seconds, Pam all have to come up with however many different ways she can think of using this object for. So last week Pam gave me, um, come on brain. Do you remember duck tick? No, I gave you duct Pam: jar, CK: Oh yeah. So last, last week Pam gave me Mason jar and I said something like cup and instrument in STEM. Yeah. That didn’t make sense. And, uh, Trying to get in soft tissue, Sandra and I gave Pam duct tape and she said something like doorstop bracelet, door buffer or something. Pam: Like the thing, nothing behind the door to stop it from hurting the wall. CK: Yeah. So this comes from the alternative uses test and it’s an exercise for creativity. So this’ll be interesting. Because I’m so tired and my brain’s not functioning very well right now. So it should be pretty interesting. So I’m going to call this segment. Well, the thing is, when we’re doing this exercise, we’re taking objects and kind of breaking them down to its fundamental parts. In order to use them differently than what they’re typically used for, or have more creative uses. I mean, we could say typical uses as well, but that only gets us so far. And so when we break down or when you break down. Stuff like this into it’s foundations or fundamentals, you’re practicing something called first principles. And this comes from physics and Elon Musk is a huge proponent of first principles. And I I’m sure I talked about first principles a lot, but I don’t know if we’ve actually gone into it, but it’s basically breaking down something to its most fundamental foundational parts. And taking those parts and being mindful of the foundation and using that to build up something different or better or more efficient and kind of maybe disrupt a product line or market, or for instance, like with musters Tesla, obviously, and Elon Musk is developing more. Affordable ways to make batteries and taking first principles of energy and batteries and using that to build his batteries, or I think a better example. Uh, so, um, Oh, come on brain. Okay. So I think a better example might be space sex with the rockets. So, you know, my Musk is reusing the rockets in order to save costs instead of spending however, millions of dollars to build a rocket every time it launches. So instead of building it every time he’s reusing the same rocket bye. Winding the rocket so that it can be reused. So, yeah. So that’s kind of an idea of first principles. I hope I articulated that well enough. Um, considering how my brain is right now, but did I even, uh, Pam: You haven’t said the name yet. CK: okay, so we’re naming. The segment, forced principles. How do you like that? Pam: I like it. CK: Okay. Pam: where I thought you were going. I thought it was going to be something with like object Tivity CK: Yeah. Oh, interesting. I bet it could have been a fun brainstorming session. Okay. So let’s see. Do you want to start this time? I think I went first, last time. So. So we’ll give Pam 10 seconds and I’m going to name an object and she’s going to try to name as many uses for that object as she can in 10 seconds. Pam: Get the timer ready. CK: Yup. No, I’ll have to think of an interesting I’m doing okay. I got it. Are you ready? Okay, 10 seconds. And your object is, Oh, shoot. Oh, no. Okay. In your object is a baseball cap. Pam: Can you say a baseball cap for a cereal bowl, a plant pot, a really bad Frisbee. CK: so he got, you had a baseball camp and you use it as a cereal bowl. A pot in the Frisbee. It’s not bad. I like it. It works. I think actually I’m using it as a pot. I don’t know. We kind of like that. That’d be interesting to see. Pam: Yeah, we might have to try that. CK: All right. So right. Turn Pam: All right. You ready? CK: has ever. Pam: Your object is your tennis ball. CK: Tennis ball as a weapon, as a throwing object is a foot roller fool massager as a dunk toy. Yeah. Pam: pretty good. CK: Yeah, not bad. I think so. Interestingly enough, and made me think about focused versus diffused thinking. And I think because my mind is just kind of scattered and humming at a low level right now that I’m more in a diffused mode. And so, um, my mind’s kinda more open to more creative or different ideas. Pam: Chaos invites chaos. CK: Yeah. So I don’t know. It’s just some speculative. Assessing in the moment. Okay. So we got forced principles, first principles, all the way. Let’s move on to our progress with podcasting. And I’ll go ahead and say that I. Did not make very good progress over the past week, especially considering that I was eager to publish practice on the same day. And we were excited about the new preempt that we’re using for Pam and her SM seven being. And what, so something happened with the new preempt, the PreSonus two pre V2 that we were using to boost the gain to pans SM seven B, to see if I could lower the noise floor even more and not have to do as much. Post-processing. And it seemed to work fairly well. I don’t know if it was worth. The trade-off, you know, I haven’t really listened to it too analytical yet, or too critically yet because of the other issue that happened, it seemed like something lost power during the recording. Like some, like there was power loss to one of the preamps or something in the game. Just cut like a third of the way through the episode. So we couldn’t figure out what it was. And I was just about to ask Pam if it’s still on, but we’re actually not using it today. Cause before we started recording, I started testing stuff out and I let the preempt the new preempt run for an hour while I was playing music in the studio. And it seemed to be fine. So. I have no idea what happened, so it could have been the other, so it could have been Pam’s audio in your face, which is , which I didn’t use. I use my own audio interface, but it didn’t seem like it was the PreSonus preamp. So I don’t know why it would have been the zoom H five or I don’t know. There’s that’s the thing when it comes to. There’s audio gear in the signal flow is that there’s so many different variables and there’s so many different options to choose from. So we’re running Pam through what we been running her through with the SM seven B and the fed head and the zoom H five. So we’re back to that today. And then I’m going to keep looking into the PreSonus preamp and other possible solutions. But, yeah, that was weird last week. It doesn’t make sense to me why the game would just cut after a third of the way through. But otherwise the audio felt fine. I just had to normalize it and match the volume. But yeah, I ended up having to do more than usual because we add some new things in and had to troubleshoot in some issues occurred, but yeah, I mean, still having fun with it. Um, In terms of not bad advice, ran into some issues there as well. Cause we’re still publishing those earlier episodes where we had the earlier audio quality. And so it’s, it’s interesting going through that because every week it seems like it’s up and down, up and down and it’s always different and there’s always something else to consider and figure out. So, yeah, it’s been trying, but we’ve been progressing. So that’s where we’re at with that. Any updates on your end, Pam? Pam: No, I was just going to add to that, that, um, on top of that, you know, are using descript for transcription and text editing CK: Oh yeah. Pam: like that. And I know there was an issue. Um, with exporting less too, not bad advice episodes ago where like put in a seven second pause or something like CK: Oh, yeah, Pam: some of the music wasn’t lined up correctly, and then I’ve been having issues with it as well. I’m not transcribing videos. So we’re running into tech issues with descript, kind of all over the place, which is a little frustrating. CK: I’m a little disappointed with descript lately because of all these bugs that we’ve been experiencing and their support is not very good. I’m still waiting for a support answer from a request that I put in like three months ago, I think. And so they started a discord channel. And so I got in there and it seems like they’re a little more responsive to support there as well, but not a hundred percent responsive to everyone’s questions. And it’s not that busy in there either. So, I don’t know what’s going on there. If they have dedicated support reps that are what it doesn’t seem like it. And so I would warn users of descript about that, about the bugginess. Um, at this point, the features are of descript are still so awesome to me that it’s worth the usage, but I would not count on descript. In terms of getting something published at a certain time or having some kind of time-sensitive project. So yeah. You want to make sure that you’re working ahead was descript in case of running into issues and bugs and stuff like that. So, yeah, that’s the deal with that. And. Yeah, I guess we can move on. Did you have anything else that you wanted to add? Okay, let’s move on to the weekly ForceCast and the first segment of the weekly ForceCast is Podspo where we recommend a podcast that stood out to us over the past week or so, and I am totally not ready for this. I haven’t. Come up. I didn’t jot one down. And now that we’re doing it, I can’t think of one. Can, did you have any this week, man? Pam: um, you know, mostly I caught up on reply all and, um, There’s a few others. Radiolab did three episodes. I think that all related to the Capitol attacks and, um, they were really well done and really, um, thought provoking, not just, you know, re repeating or parroting news that was available anywhere else. I thought they did a really nice job of presenting it in a thoughtful way. CK: Hmm, cool. Yeah. And those are two of my favorite podcasts reply, all and radio land. And I may go into them in the future. ForceCast but yeah, those are definitely two. Of like my top five podcasts. And now that you mentioned that, I think I tried to stay away from all that political in news stuff over the past week. You know, it was a little more since I. Been short on sleep and not functioning at a hundred percent. I’ve been a little more relaxed and listening to like true crime and stuff like that. So that’s probably why I didn’t have a podcast stand out last week. Pam: Yeah. Manage your mental health when you’re not sleeping well. And taking in too much of a current events can definitely have an impact on that. CK: Yeah, definitely. And of course I’ve been listening to podcasts that I’ve already recommended, and those are the daily stoic and shortwave in Ted talks, daily listening, listen to those all week as well. So. Well, and Podspo there. And next up is Linchpinspo where Pam gives us some inspiration from planets. So are the stars or the cards? Pam: So this week, we have a full moon coming at you on Thursday. The 28th CK: Oh Pam: and full moons are actually the middle of the lunar cycle. So they’re, they’re the ones that get everybody’s focused because they’re the big, bright ones in sky. And so we, we, we focus on that a lot, but it’s actually the middle of the lunar cycle, which starts with the new moon. About two weeks prior to that, the new moon is when we have the least amount of light reflected, like the moon is, is dark. And then the light grows over the two weeks after that, until we hit the full moon. And then we have the most light reflected with the full moon. And then it decreases again until we reach another new moon in a couple of weeks. So that’s like the monthly cycle of the moon. So since full moons are in the middle of that cycle, when the most light is being reflected, this is a time for review and reflection. So it’s a great time to let things go to make amends or to do whatever you need to do to release things that are holding you back. So that you can improve in the next cycle. So you can kind of like use the next two weeks to let stuff go so that when we hit that new moon again, you can start fresh. CK: Interesting. Pam: And this full moon is in Leo, which is a sign that wants to be seen. It wants to express itself and be appreciated for what it does. So if you need some direction for what to focus on for this full moon, you could focus on where you feel like you’re not being seen for who you are or who you want to be. And how your beliefs about yourself and what you deserve are blocking people from seeing you that way. So what beliefs are you ready to change? So you can get ready for that next new moon. And even if you don’t believe that the lunar cycle can have any impact on your life. You can still use it in a totally rational way. We go through cycles everyday. Anyway, like sleep cycles like CK was talking about. And the more you fight that the worst off you are. So working with natural cycles and having a regular one that you use to plan review and adjust can help you grow with less effort. So, if you use that lunar cycle, you don’t need to come up with your own schedule. Like it’s already there and you can see it as a reminder when the moon is dark, use it as a reminder to plant what you want to grow as the lightning increases. And when the moon is bright, use that time to reflect, review and release as the light decreases. CK: Awesome. I like that. That’s cool. Thank you. Pam: You’re welcome. CK: So I just realized that I didn’t say a quote for the week. Pam: I thought maybe you had decided to skip that CK: Yeah, I almost did because I didn’t have one before we started. So I was kind of struggling around for one and I remembered one from smart and check the guard. Who’s a Danish philosopher from the 18 hundreds and he was. Very big into Socratic philosophy. And I’m in the last week of a college course on sworn trigger guards philosophy. So this is why he’s top of my mind right now. And I didn’t know much of anything about Chika guard before starting this course about seven weeks ago. And I. Was immediately attracted to his philosophy because of his fascination with Socrates, but like it’s re it was really interesting learning about Kierkegaard because he’s like, if he was. Around now in present day and philosophizing, what he was the way he did it, I would probably think he was some crazy person and not really pay attention, but no, after the passage of all this time and studying of his texts, like the stuff, like a lot of it still seems crazy to me. And I’m. Still wrapping my head around some of it, but a lot of it is very descriptive of a lot of accounts, concepts that I’ve come up with and a lot of concepts that I’ve synergized and synthesized. So yeah, I’m just really into kick a guy right now. I don’t, I don’t know if I agree with everything he says, but. Going through this course was interesting because they went through Keuka guard’s process of his philosophy and his ratings and his progression in development. So I found all that really interesting, but here’s the quote, and this is my sparring trick, your garden. And you go, it goes, life can only be understood backwards, but it must be lived forwards. And so I really liked that because of the aspect of time. And of course it incorporates reflection and proactiveness or proaction and did goes into philosophy in general. I mean, philosophy is basically a process of self-reflection. In how we behave in the world in our moral values and stuff like that. And so, yeah, I don’t even know what I’m saying now. I’m just looking at the timer in word over 31 minutes. No. So thinking about ending this, but yeah. Pam: let me just say it like that quote totally goes along with what I was saying about the. The reflection and the cycle of the CK: Yeah, exactly. That’s why it reminded me Pam: And yeah, you were talking about his, that his ideas kind of matching a lot of your philosophies and Jupiter is the planet of philosophy. And like, you know, we talk about it being your planet. And Kierkegaard has Jupiter in Leo, which is where this new, whether this full moon is happening and he’s a Leo ascendant. So, um, I think it’s very synergistic that you brought him up. CK: Awesome. That’s a perfect place to end it. All right. Well, thanks for that town. And of course, thanks for joining me this week as always, where can people find you? Pam: You can find me on Twitter, where I am at Pamela underscored land. CK: And you might be able to find me on Twitter at CK disco. And I have a lot of things in the works. We’ll see how they come about this coming week and hopefully I can get my cycles lined up. So, yeah, thanks for joining me is always, and I hope you come back next week and keep on practicing to loom

Practice Session #47 Welcome to my show notes for this week’s session of Practice! We record these sessions every Sunday. I try to publish the audio on the same day of recording, but I may get delayed now and then due to various reasons. Also, I will usually have the AI-generated transcript and my initial notes published on the same day of recording as well. On Fridays, I’ll (try to) go back through and proof the transcript while I add all of my notes. I’ll be utilizing this opportunity to clarify and elaborate on points that I may not have conveyed as well as I would’ve liked to. I’ll also provide links to further information and resources. So, on Friday, I’ll intersperse all my notes with the transcription from the audio below (unless I don’t ). Intro. [00:00] CK: Check, check. Test, test. Oh yeah… Heyo! I’m CK, and you’re listening to Practice. I’m your functional systems integrator, and this is my podcast where practice is not just the theme of the show, but the whole purpose behind it. What started out as a practice of podcasting, as well as speaking in general, has evolved into a practice of self-coaching and self-reflection while espousing half-thoughts and providing unsolicited advice. As always, I’m fortunate to be joined by my Practice partner and partner in life: Pam. Pam: Hey, that’s me. CK: Pam is also my pattern awareness manager, and every Sunday we reflect on the past week and my progress with this practice, along with other lifestyle practices, as well as theories and ideas behind the virtues of practice itself. We’re doing this on the fly, so don’t hold me responsible for what I say here. Make sure to check out my show notes where I’ll provide some fact-checking, self-psychoanalysis and commentary on things I could have done better. You may find this and more information about this project at ForcesOfEqual.com/Practice. Catch up with the Anomaly and the Linchpin. CK: We’re recording today on January 17th, 2021. And this is practice session number 47. And I’m going to give him a choice here, because I guess before I even you, I’m not even sure if I’m ready for this yet. Cause it’s all kind of came up. As I was thinking about this episode just before we’re getting started, but would you like me to introduce yet another new segment where we kind of start out our session here with a creative exercise or we can hold it off until next week. Pam: I’m down for creative exercises. CK: Okay. So what. We’re going to do here is each of us is going to maim an object. And the other person we’ll try to come up with things that you can use that object for or what other uses that that object could be used for. And it could be. Like typical use or creative use or just whatever you come up with. And I think we should limit this exercise to say like 10 seconds. I know that’s not a lot of time, but we don’t want to keep this long and we just kind of want to get our minds firing. Like I’m already getting a little anxious as I’m describing this. Because it’s probably going to be pretty difficult and we might not come up with anything, but I mean, it’s an exercise. So Pam: It’s like the like Collin shows, like on the radio, you can call in and win something. If you can answer, like give five examples of, uh, Like a car make and manufacturer or something within 10 seconds and everybody blows it CK: Yeah, Pam: the time limit, CK: Yeah, totally. So, because I’m kind of springing this on you. Do you want to come up with an object first for me? Terrific off of, Pam: how, how hard do you want the object to be? Do you want me to go with something like. CK: I mean, this is our first one, so let’s, I mean, let’s start off fairly simple. I mean, you can throw. Pam: I’ll give you the first thing that go. The second CK: Well, hold on before you say anything of where you’re going to say the object. Pam: No, not yet. Not until you tell me too, I was going to say the first thing that came to mind when you told me the game was a pine tree, and then you started explaining the game and I was like, well, a pine tree is something that can technically be used for like literally anything made out of wood. CK: right. But it’s still, I mean, in that sense, it’s still a good exercise within 10 seconds to come up with different things. So, yeah, I mean, that would have been fine in my mind. So this comes from something called the alternative uses test, or I’m not sure what, I’m sorry. I’m a little distracted. Something’s rattling in the studio here. Can you hear it over there? Okay. I think the closet door is shaking a little bit, Pam: her neighbors are probably gaming and CK: yeah. Yeah. Let me see. Hold on one second. Let me see if I can fix this. Pam: really entertaining radio here. So I apologize for this. CK: Okay. What are you saying? Something. Pam: I was just commenting about how this was really entertaining radio. CK: Yeah, so, okay. I think that fixed it. Okay. So let’s see. Do you have a timer you can use? Pam: I guess I’ve got a million clocks here. It, CK: Yep. So we’ll do 10 seconds and I don’t know. Do we want to. Keep little notes of what we say or what we come up with, Pam: Um, okay. Like, CK: like jot down. Pam: okay. I will try and jot down your ideas and time you at the same time. CK: Okay. So yeah, whenever you’re ready. Oh my God. I’m so anxious now. Pam: I don’t know how to set this up 10 seconds. I’m going to well, okay. So I’m going to set it to 13 so that I have time to give you the anther thing and then, okay. Ready? CK: Yep. Pam: Mason jar. CK: Mason jar could be used as a cup as a percussion instrument as a. Step as, Oh, I was going to say like a foam roller kind of thing. Daily is it you’re Pam: that’s the time, right? So you got cup, instrument and step CK: Yeah. I’m not sure about stuff that was trying to cuff was easy. Percussion. I mean, I could use anything as a percussion instrument, but. And what was my last one before or right after the bone. Oh, like a soft tissue massage thingy. Pam: little sketchy. CK: Okay. That was fun. I did a little better than I thought I would. Okay. So yeah, I’m not sure what. How, like, how are we going to evaluate this or even competing or whatnot, I guess we, yeah, we could just provide commentary or whatever we feel like at the moment. So are you ready? Pam: Are you, are you running a timer for me or do I have to CK: No, I’ll time you, and I’ll also take notes for you. You don’t have to do it. Okay. So let’s see. I’m going to say a roll of duct tape. Pam: Okay. A roll of duct tape could be used as a toy. It could be used as a doorstop. It could be used as a buffer behind the door. It could be used as a bracelet. It could. CK: Wow. Doorstop pretty much anything Pam: Yeah, I was actually, I don’t think it’s heavy enough to really be a good doorstop, CK: Yeah, I guess it depends on the door. Although, I guess you could tape the door. So that was that. One’s an interesting one because. If you told me duct tape. Pam: you would have used the tape itself. CK: Yeah. I’m not sure like what I have used just like the object as it is, or actually use the object as you can use it. So, Pam: a second to consider that. And then it was just like, Nope, no time for wandering. Just go with whatever comes to mind. CK: Nice. Nice. Yeah. So I kind of threw a wrench in your object there, so yeah, that was fun. Do you have any commentary? Pam: Uh, no, it was just terrible bracelet, but CK: but it works. Pam: you could, CK: Yeah. All right. Well, that was fun. I don’t know if I’ve come up with a name for that segment yet, but I think that might be something fun we could do moving forward. Maybe I’ll come up with something else who knows. So let’s move on and I will recite the quote for this week. And I think I’ll do a little something different with this quote because there’s a portion of the quote that I like and is very pertinent. And then it comes out of our longer quotes. So I’m going to say the portion that’s pertinent first. And then I’ll say the entire quote and then maybe repeat that portion again. So this is the portion and it comes from Epictetus stoic philosopher who I’ve quoted many times before. And the quote is. It is the action of an uninstrumented person to reproach others for his own misfortunes of one entering upon instruction to reproach himself and have one perfectly instructed to reproach either neither. Uh, I’m sorry to, uh, shoot. Okay. I think I’m gonna start over. Pam: that’s a hard quote to read. CK: Yeah, because it, it, it all, it does make more sense with the whole quote, but here we go again, it is the action of an uninstrumented person to reproach others for his own misfortunes of one entering upon instruction to reproach himself. And have one perfectly instructed to approach neither others or himself. Okay. So here’s the entire quote, then it also includes that portion. Men are disturbed, not by things, but by the views, which they take of things. Thus death is nothing terrible else. It would have appeared so to Socrates, but the terror consists in our notion of death. That it is terrible when therefore we are hindered or disturbed or greed, let us never impute it to others. But to ourselves, That is to our own views. It is the action of an uninstrumented person to approach others for his own misfortunes of one, entering upon instruction to approach himself and have one perfectly instructed to reproach neither others or himself. So, does it make a little more sense with the whole quote? Pam: it made sense with just the portion. I was saying that it was hard to read because of the actual words that are in it CK: True, true. Pam: that it’s actually hard to CK: Yeah. And the way that they translate these quotes is. A little herky jerky as well. It’s not like smooth grammatically well constructed. Not that, that, that I just said wasn’t even well constructed yet. I can’t talk today. Pam: So I get why you took the death part out and made that less important. But I think that if you, um, pose that part of the quote as not necessarily about death itself, like a physical death, but more about, um, transformation and about, um, things changing. CK: Ooh, nice. Pam: you know, death, as it occurs as a cycle every day, all day things, and CK: Yeah. Pam: it doesn’t have to be a death. So you can think of that, that part of the quote, more as something ending and, um, and not being afraid of that. CK: right? Yeah. I like that. That makes a lot of sense. And the quote in general stood out to me because of course it relates to complex systems and. Integration, which I tried to articulate last week, but, and actually, you know, I just listened back to that episode before starting this one. And I feel like I did a better job than I thought I did in the moment. And I guess that’s a typical reaction anyway. I, you know, I’m more self-critical. During the moment or, I mean afterwards, but yeah, reflecting back and listening back, I I’m pretty pleased with how it came out and I’ve continued along that same line of thinking with my vast awareness framework. And I’ve been evolving in over the past week and I thought I was gonna talk a little more about it and elaborate upon it. Today, but something threw a wrench. Another thought threw a wrench into it this morning, right before I started. And as I was going through my morning routine, but well, screw it. Let’s lean into it. threw a wrench into it was my vectors or spectrums of. The vector between diversity and conformity and the vector between individualism and collectivism, because obviously there, those two are related in terms of relating the human system to the super system. So in terms of. you know, last week I was talking about how, uh, society is more healthy, the more diverse it is or any economy or ecology is more healthy, the more diverse it is. And yet, so this is kinda what threw the wrench into my thinking is that there is a. Conflict between diversity and collectivism, or there could be a conflict or, you know, you could perceive a conflict. And, um, so I was going through a thought process of working that conflict out because I was kind of relating diversity in conformity to. Individual LT and collectivism where diversity was to individuality as conformity was to collectivism. But the thing is those vectors aren’t perfectly related or synchronized, or they don’t they’re they’re different vectors. So those. Characteristics of those vectors. Those spectrums are not exactly related. I mean, you could relate them like I just did, but there’s also differences cause it’s just, it’s just something totally different. So you can still be diverse and collective and you can still be, you can still conform and be individualistic. And so that’s kinda what was throwing a wrench into my model or framework, but yeah, I mean, now, even just now, as I’m talking about it, I realized that they’re just different vectors and I don’t need to relate them, or, I mean, if I do relate them, there are still differences to be pointed out. So yeah, that was all, I don’t know. I just got, I just worked my way through that, so. That was cool, but yeah, I’m going to leave it at that for now because I’m still thinking about a lot of stuff. And, uh, I will just mention an extension of my vast orderness framework that I I’m calling fast. Fast reasoning. So it’s related and maybe next week I’ll be ready to talk about it Pam: Right. CK: you can look forward to that. So let’s get into our progress with podcasting, and I’m going to go ahead and start and say that we are using some new gear today. And well more specifically, Pam is using some new game and I don’t even know have knows what it is or what it Pam: No idea what it looks like a, like a router. CK: So we got yet another preamp for pans, Mick, and she’s been using the Shure SM seven B. Which is a very popular broadcast in even vocal music microphone. The original SM seven was used by Michael Jackson in thriller and a lot of music artists and the SM seven being it’s being used by Joe Rogan and lots of popular podcasts. It’s one of the most commonly recommended mikes. And it sounds really great, but the issue with it is that it’s really quiet. So you need a lot of equipment to pump up the gain so that we can hear Pam more clearly and there’s equipment that can raise gain like preamps and audio interfaces. But some of those have loud preamps. And so as you raise the game, the noise floor also goes up. And so you get more of that noise and that static noise or electric noise. If you have some feedback or electricity going through, um, whatever electrical noise that’s going through your signal chain. So we’ve been using a fat head inline preempt. So Pam’s been using that with the mic for. The past few months actually, and it helped with the game, but I’m still, so with my mic, I’m using a condenser mic, the neat King bee with the motu on four audio interface. And I’m getting really clean, focal signal through my signal chain and all my gear. So I’m trying to get Pam’s to my level because. I’m almost not like I can, I would be comfortable not post-processing my vocal at all, even though I do. And it, it, it is improved when I do, but at this point, the quality that’s coming out of my signal chain is really good. Like I’m really pleased with it and I’d be fine with just publishing this raw audio theme. So I’m trying to get pans close to that level. Pam: So as someone who knows absolutely nothing about all of this equipment, we did a lot of testing on mikes and settled on the SMB seven because my voice on its own sounded the best with this mic out of the seven or eight that we tested. Right. CK: Right? Pam: So is it worthwhile to get. This mic that my voice sounds the best with and then have to layer on these two preamps and do all of this stuff to make it clean, or would it have, like, in hindsight now been better to pick one, like the King be that you’re using that as a cleaner sound and then adjust how my voice sounds CK: Yeah, those are all great questions. And those are all going to be kind of individual. And it’s going to be, it’s going to come down to personal preference. And maybe a couple of other things, you know, like you mentioned all the, you know, we have to add additional equipment, but the thing is your voice didn’t sound as good as on, on the King B and your room treatment is also different. So. The room that I’m in is pretty well treated. And so I can use the King bee, which is a condenser mic and a lot more sensitive, and it would pick up a lot more noise if the room wasn’t treated as well. So in your situation, it probably wouldn’t work as well. And so, yeah, there’s a lot of different things to consider and there’s so many variables, so it’s difficult to. Recommend a specific, a specific gear bundle or whatnot. A specific setup. Pam: Yeah. Or a specific strategy for your sound or CK: Yeah. Yeah. And there’s a lot of testing and you know, the more it, what I’m finding out is that you get, you have to like, Train your ear. And it just comes down to repetition and experience and knowing what you want and figuring out how to get there. So I. Pam: have a podcast if it wasn’t for you, because I would just go, Nope, not interested in all that. CK: I mean, you know, I’m sure there’s a lot of podcasts out there that probably don’t go through all this stuff. And aren’t as concerned about the audio quality and, you know, most listeners may not even hear a lot of the differences. And like we were talking about before with form and function, you know, The function of podcasts is the content and the message and the form is the quality and how it comes out and how you hear it. So, you know, there’s has to be a balance between the form and function. And so, yeah, I, you know, in this sense I’ve been pretty cognizant or pretty, I’ve been diving deep into the form. But yeah. You know, it’s, it’s individual, it comes down to personal preference and yeah, there’s just so much and what it is, it would be useful because the SM seven B is so popular and a lot of people just buy it because you know, people recommend it and then they find out that it doesn’t sound as good or, you know, they can’t get good audio out of it. And it’s because it’s so quiet and you need a lot of boosting to the game to get quality audio out of it. So it’s something to consider. It’s definitely something you want to consider when you’re getting the SM seven B. Pam: So the second preamp that we have is the PreSonus tube pro V two. Is that right? Two free CK: PreSonus two pre V2 version two. Pam: Okay. CK: And it gives us, I think about 80 decibels of gain. Uh, we don’t pump it up that high because we obviously do gain staging and all that stuff. And I don’t know if that’s obvious, I guess, but Pam: I don’t even know what that is. CK: that’s what we do. That’s what I was doing when I was testing out the levels. So, yeah, I’ll put a link to gain staging. Uh, that’s a bit much to get into right now, but yeah, so that’s, what’s going on right now with our audio quality and stuff like that. And Pam, you want to talk about not bad advice, anything new going on with it? Pam: Um, it’s getting good reception so far. Right. And it, uh, you know, we recorded those episodes back in the middle of 2020, and didn’t really have a plan for specifically when they would get launched, because CK was learning about how to do all the audio editing and music production and everything that went into it. So we kind of launched when it was ready. It wasn’t, we didn’t have a launch date planned. It wasn’t, it wasn’t anything specific like that. And yet, All of the episodes are lining up perfectly with the week that they come out. So that’s been really, really fun to watch and, um, to see that, that the information that we put together, uh, came out exactly when it needed to come out. So, um, yeah, really excited about that and looking forward to, um, getting into our money episodes in about another month and a half. CK: Yeah, sure. Yeah. So on my end with producing that bad advice, I have kind of. I’m not sure what’s going on, but like, I’ve been trying to bank in episode a week ahead and I ended up, I still ended up not finishing it completely until like the day before. The episode’s supposed to come up. So I’m still working on that and trying to make an episode. So I’m ahead right now by about a half. So I’ll still need to get that done. And so hopefully I’m hoping this coming week, I’ll be out of the bank one and not have to worry about the timing or the deadline as much. And with practice with this podcast, uh it’s you know, it’s been pretty smooth. I’ve been able to publish the next day. And so now I think, you know, as I was saying with my audio quality, I don’t have to do as much post-processing with it. And now with Pam’s new pre-AP, I won’t have to do as much with hers. So I’m going to try to process it as fast as possible and get it out the same day. So that’s my goal for that. And on that note, we listened back to last week’s session in the car yesterday. And that’s always an interesting listening session for me because the car, the audio quality and the car is always different. But at the same time, I feel like that is like the, like, I want to aim to get good audio quality in a car. And that will be my base for audio quality everywhere else. Like that’s like my target is the car because like right now through my studio monitors and also through my Bluetooth earphones, uh, earbuds that I use when I listen to podcasts in general and also through my studio headphones, I feel like the audio for practice sounds great. And then we get in the car and the last step is, so it sounded bright. Like the, I think I added a little too much brightness to it. Uh, I’ve been trying to get that NPR type of sound quality. So yeah, I think like the listening in the car is like that lowest common denominator denominator per se. Pam: It will be in like a year when people are in their cars. Again, CK: True. True. True. But at the same time, like what I’m thinking is if it sounds good in the car, it’ll sound good everywhere else. So, I mean, the thing is, you know, the more places or the more different sources that you can listen to the audio from the better, in terms of judging your quality and trying to determine your mix. And trying to relate how that compares to how it sounds out of your monitors is the best strategy, you know, trying to get that reference from all different sources. So right now, for me, I’m kind of concerned with the car audio quality. So that’s where I’m at with that. All right. So moving on, let’s move on to the weekly force cast and this’ll be the pod SPO portion of the weekly force case where we recommend podcasts that stood out to us over the past week. And for me, this one’s pretty easy and I knew this was going to be one of the first podcasts that I would recommend. And that is Ted talks. And. Now that I’m thinking about it. I don’t know like the exact title. I think it’s Ted talks daily and that one, as the title says, comes out every day or almost every day, I think on the weekends they take a break and sometimes they don’t have any, so most days of the week, there’s a Ted talk daily that comes out and it’s. A lot of these are Ted talks that are online in video and they just redo it in podcast format, or just put out the audio in podcast format. And they last anywhere from five to 15 or 20. And I I’ve listened to probably 99% of all Ted talks. So I personally love the content and all the material that comes out of that. And so I would definitely recommend Ted talks daily. And now that I’m saying it, I don’t even read, uh, I can’t even recall the episode that enticed me to do this, but on that note there, Ted also has a lot of different, a lot of other podcasts. Uh, one of them is the Ted radio hour. Where they take a specific topic or category and kind of combine excerpts from multiple Ted talks under that same category and talk about it and kind of moderate over it for about an hour. And then there’s also the Ted interview where they may take a Ted talk and interview a speaker. And go into more depth and ask questions about the subject. So yeah, Ted talks, all the Ted talks podcasts I would recommend. And Ted talks daily is a good one because it’s shorter and lots of different subjects you can learn about. So, Pam, do you have any recommendations for this week? Pam: I do. So one of my favorite podcasts is 99% invisible and they do stories that are about. You know, everyday things that are are around you, but that you never think about. And at the end of every year, they do an episode or two that are mini stories that they couldn’t flush out into full episodes. So they’ll do four or five short little stories in one episode. And one of the stories on the. Last episode was about something that everybody has probably heard, which is this like joke about the space program, which is that in the eighties, you know, NASA spent millions of dollars trying to make a pen that would write in space. And the Russians just used a pencil, right? It’s like this snide little, um, commentary on like the U S government and wasted money and all that. But you can’t use a pencil in space. You can’t sharpen it. Cause you’ll have little shards of wood floating around, like there’s all kinds of problems with using a pencil in space. So they actually then go into the story about how the anti-gravity pen was created by an individual, not the government. And then he sold it to the government for use in space and how it actually was something that you need. So it’s a really great, um, shift in perspective about how it’s really easy to judge something that you know, absolutely nothing about. And once you learn about it, you learn that it’s actually nothing like what you thought CK: Yeah, interesting. I like that. Uh, that also goes into complex systems and illusion of explanatory depth. So yeah, I, I’m also a fan of 99% invisible. I don’t listen to it very often. I don’t listen to all of them. Because there’s just so many podcasts to listen to, but that is definitely one that I’m subscribed to. And I listened to every once in a while and I enjoy so great recommendation. Pam: Thanks. All right, moving on to the next part of the weekly forecast. And this is linchpins though, where Pam provides some inspiration from the planets or the stars or the cards. Yeah. So today I wanted to, um, bring in what we spoke about last week with mercury mercury, going into its retrograde period in February and tie that in with a Terrell card. CK: cool. Pam: So, this is a card that I pulled this morning and it’s the tower card. And the visual representation is of a tower, basically in destruction, burning down, there’s a person falling out of it. It looks like a very, very traumatic card. So the idea that I want to convey here is that the structures that support our life are all relationships. They are our relationships with others and our relationship to ourself. They create the foundation that everything else is built on. And those relationships are always changing. They’re either getting stronger or breaking down. They’re never stagnant. So being conscious and mindful of this gives you the awareness to reinforce the structures that make you more stable and either repair or replace those that don’t. The alternative is to build your life on a cracked foundation, which will always result in instability and problems when you try to build more onto that broken foundation. So as we’re heading into a mercury retrograde period in the first half of February, With mercury being the planet of information exchange. So thoughts and communication, when it’s retrograde, it’s a time to review and consider your thoughts, which are your relationship to yourself and your communication, which is your relationship to others. So use the next few weeks to consider what aspects of your relationship to yourself need to be repaired or where you need to communicate to repair a relationship so that you can be ready to move forward again. When mercury comes out of retrograde in mid February, so you can build on stable stress. CK: Hmm. Sounds good. And it’s loosely related to our cook for the Pam: Yup. It does. CK: So yeah, that worked out pretty well. So that looks like it’s it for this week. Do you have anything else that you want to say? Pam: Nope. I’m good. CK: All right, we’ll wrap it up there then. So thank you everybody for listening. Thank you, Pam, for joining us always, where can people find you? Pam: You can find me on Twitter where I am at Pamela underscore. CK: And you can find me on Twitter at CK disco and we’ll end it there for this week. So I hope you all come back next week and keep on practicing to Lou.

Practice Session #46 Welcome to my show notes for this week’s session of Practice! We record these sessions every Sunday. I try to publish the audio on the same day of recording, but once in a while, I may get delayed due to various reasons. Also, I will usually have the AI-generated transcript and my initial notes published on the same day of recording as well. On Fridays, I’ll (try to) go back through and proof the transcript while I add all of my notes. I’ll be utilizing this opportunity to clarify and elaborate on points that I may not have conveyed as well as I would’ve liked to. I’ll also provide links to further information and resources. So, on Friday, I’ll intersperse all my notes with the transcription from the audio below (unless I don’t ). Intro. [00:00] CK: Alrighty. Ready? Here we go. Heyo! I’m CK, and you’re listening to Practice. I’m your functional systems integrator, and this is my podcast where practice is not just the theme of the show, but the whole purpose behind it. What started out as a practice of podcasting, as well as speaking in general, has evolved into a practice of self-coaching and self-reflection while espousing half-thoughts and providing unsolicited advice. As always, I’m- I am fortunate to be joined by… Pam: Did you almost say “unfortunate?” CK: I did… My Practice partner and partner in life: Pam. Pam: Hey, that’s me. CK: Pam is also my pattern awareness manager, and every Sunday we reflect on the past week and my progress with this practice, along with other lifestyle practices, as well as theories and ideas behind the virtues of practice itself. We’re doing this on the fly, and our dialogue here is unedited, so don’t hold me responsible for what I say here. Make sure to check out my show notes where I’ll provide some fact-checking, self-psychoanalysis and commentary on things I could have done better. You may find this and more information about this project at ForcesOfEqual.com/Practice. Catch up with the Anomaly and the Linchpin. CK: Almost slipped up there. I think I caught myself in time. Pam: Now we know how you really feel. CK: So we’re recording today on Sunday, January 10th, 2021. And this is practice session number 46, and you may be hearing our neighbor’s dog. Quite whining barky when the neighbors leave. So it must have some kind of separation anxiety or something, and the sun seems to be leaking through. So it’s the dog and we’ll get into the quote for this week. And it comes from Seneca who I’ve quoted many times before stoic philosopher from ancient times. And I think I. Probably quoted Seneca more than anyone else so far. So dude’s pretty wise. So the quote goes like this, nothing is burdensome if taken lightly and nothing neat around is one’s irritation so long as one, doesn’t make it bigger than it is by getting irritated. And it’s pretty straightforward and it’s very similar to a lot of other quotes that I’ve recited before. And of course it has a lot to do with mindset and your perspective and how you frame things. And it’s. Pretty pertinent for this week because things are pretty crazy in a marriage. And I really don’t want to get into that stuff too much. You know, there’s a lot of it, the media and I don’t like, I really don’t know how to wrap my head around it just yet. And in a lot of ways I’ve been distracting myself from it, but in a lot of other ways, I’ve been learning a lot from it. So there’s a duality there, but let’s see where this takes us. Um, I don’t know. I just, this past week it feels like it’s been so long. There’s Pam: the last three weeks have really like, every time we recorded, like it’s only been a week. And, but like in a good way, like, I don’t know. I like it when time doesn’t fly by. I like it when things feel slow and long, CK: yeah, that’s true. And in some respects, it feels that way to me, because I got a lot of stuff done. And in other respects it feels that way to me, because a lot of stuff has happened in the world. Pam: Yeah. That’s true. CK: Yeah. And so, yeah, it’s just, it’s, it’s felt like a long week and a lot of stuff is going on and. A lot of it has to do with just human behavior and society in general. And so the stuff I want to talk about or try to talk about would be in that realm in terms of human behavior and systems and what I kind of been learning from all the stuff that’s been happening on that end. So. Okay. So I, I’m kind of hesitant to talk about this stuff because I still haven’t developed it completely yet, but it’s around my own functional systems integration and my vast awareness framework. And I’ve made a lot of progress in. Developing it this past week because of everything that’s been going on and what that’s kind of spurred on in my mind and got my cognition going in relation to that stuff. And it’s interesting because this whole, I guess, era of the pandemic in general has. Enlightened me to human behavior and the collective society in how the collective system is not exactly where I thought it was at. You know, there’s a lot of things coming up out of all this stuff going on. And a lot of things that have kind of been tamped down or hidden or not as apparent. And the kind of stuff I’m talking about is like the structural racism and these antiquated notions of individualism and privilege and entitlement. That’s just kind of coming up and it all kind of comes down to individualism versus collectivism. And, you know, I’m just thinking like in ancestral times there wasn’t really much individualism going on. You know, you needed the collective of the tribe to survive and prosper and individualism is more of a modern. Development such times as like, uh, uh, uh, I’m getting a little mixed up in history here, but like the German romantics kind of focused on individualism and the self and expressing the self. And, you know, since that time, and of course. Industrialization, we’ve kind of developed more of our individualism and self-assertion, and we don’t need the collective, you know, it seems like we don’t need the collective in order to prosper individually. And I think like in more modern times, we’ve kind of fallen into that line of thinking like we are, we’re starting to lose the notion of the collective and the. The like the system and how, you know, if the whole system is improved, that improves, everybody improves everything within the system versus, you know, if a part of that systems improved, then, you know, there’s. Different ways that that could affect the whole system. You know, it could be beneficial or it could be detrimental, you know, that, that just that part of the system has less effect on the whole system. Um, shoot on that. So this is why I was hesitant about talking about this stuff, cause I don’t have it completely. Figured it out yet. All right. I don’t know how I want to talk about it yet, but I’m coming at it from a lot of different perspectives and I’m kind of cross associating a lot of different disciplines and philosophies, and this is kind of where everything’s been coming. Coming out for me this past week where all these different things that I’ve been studying and learning about has all started to kind of converge. And I’m kind of, I’ve been able to make these associations that I think I was trying to figure out before. And like I thought there were associations, but I just couldn’t connect them, but I’m starting to connect those now. And a lot of it comes down to. Dissonance in general and maybe more specifically cognitive dissonance and how, you know, from my perspective, the stuff that’s going on in more specifically, the stuff that happened at the Capitol, like I think I’m coming from the perspective that, you know, like, I can’t believe that that’s happening and there’s definitely. A disparity between what happened at the Capitol. And for instance, what happened with the black lives matter movement there, you know, there’s definitely a contrast between similar type of events. And this is another thing like. Pam: not similar at all. CK: Well, what I’m saying? Yeah. Well, that’s the thing, like it is, it’s not similar at all, but like you can kind of compare and contrast the responses too. Um, so yeah, Pam: I understand what you’re saying. I just want to make sure that no one thinks that you’re saying that BLM protests or in any way, domestic terror, because that’s what the attack on the Capitol was. That was domestic terror. CK: Right. And that’s the thing, like, of course we’re talking about complex systems and these things aren’t the same, but there’s similar aspects that we can compare and contrast. But the bottom line is that they’re not the same. So at the end of the day, you can’t. Compare them as one to one, but just the concepts and notions that are coming out and like the differences in police response and, you know, opposing responses and stuff like that. There’s definitely a disparity and a dissonance in, so yeah. I’ve always been about trying to understand the other side and trying to find a space or like a place of common ground where we can try to understand each other. In order to resolve our differences. And that’s the thing with dissonance, like dissonance is not comfortable. It’s not, there’s something not right about it. It means that there’s something off, you know, it’s not lining up. And when you have cognitive dissonance, that’s when your beliefs don’t line up with the. Objective reality, like your subjective reality doesn’t line up with the objective reality or, or your subjective reality. Doesn’t line up with someone else’s subjective reality, and there’s a dissonance there there’s like a uncomfortable or something that’s bothersome. And in order to resolve that, You need to find some kind of harmony between the two sides. And so I kind of relate this to music, you know, when you have two notes that clash that’s dissonance, and it’s a strategy used in music to create. Uncomfortable, you know, a level of uncomfortability uncomfortable. Uh, what’s the word I’m looking for there? Is that a word? Okay. A level of uncomfortability, uh, what, you know, whatever that word is. Yeah. Okay. And once that, those clashing notes are resolved, that’s when. You feel good? Like that’s the portion of the music where you feel good and like uplifting and somethings, you know, it’s the resolution of the dissonance and there’s like an uplifting feeling. And so we’re coming at this, you know, one side is one note and the other side is another note and those two notes are clashing. And we don’t necessarily need to find the same note. Obviously the stay notes harmonize with each other are not harmonized, but they resolve, but you can also harmonize with different notes that line up in, so a methodical fashion for lack of a better term. So you don’t really. Pam: how do you harmonize with Nazis? CK: Well, that’s the thing you have to find. You have to figure that out. Like you can’t just continue the conflict and continue to dissonance because that’ll never resolve. And the differences that you have, like you like, so, you know, one side. Thinks the other side is crazy or stupid or makes no sense or incompetent, but the other side thinks the same way about your side. And so if you guys, if you think there’s like that divide there, there’s no way we can create harmony. And so, first of all, you have to have the mindset that whatever you’re thinking and is much as you think you’re right. The other side thinks that way about their perspective. Pam: Sure. But in this case, one side wants to kill people. And the other side does it, like, how do you, how do you middle-ground that? CK: You have to find a place where you like have common ground or you can relate because when it comes down to it, there, you know, both sides have certain values that are rooted in. Human values. Like we’re all human and we all have certain needs and we ha we all have certain needs in terms of functioning in life. Period. Uh, not period, but, uh, so I don’t know how to explain this, but there’s fundamentals of life for every human and we all have as, as a human race, there’s fundamental values and there’s fundamentals in order for us to survive. And there’s fundamentals for us to prosper. And so the way we all go through life, we all have our own values. And in some respects, those are rooted in fundamental values. So if we can find those fundamental values in, see where we can relate to each other with them and go from there. That’s where we’ll make progress. Like I, you know, I don’t know how, or I don’t know where or what they are. I mean, I think I do. But, and I’m working on kind of articulating it and figuring out and creating a model for it. But I don’t know how to say it right now, but we have to find that that’s the only way we have to find a place where we can agree first, because if we don’t, then we’ll never resolve anything. So. We have to figure out the values and this kind of goes into my best awareness framework and I’ve kind of changed the V to stand for value or vectors, and I’m kind of leaning back toward vectors. So vast standing for. Vectors of awareness across systems in time. And with vectors, I’m referring to spectral potentiality. So spectral, potentiality, meaning that, you know, there’s no, Y rather than binary. Reasons or binary solutions that, you know, there’s a spectrum of reasons or effects. So it’s not just black and white. Yes or no, there’s maybes. And there’s the grays and stuff in between and all across the spectrum. And so with the vectors, there’s certain vectors within that spectrum. And these can be seen as like different dimensions or different. Lines across the spectrum. So for instance, one vector could be like the artificial versus natural vector. And this is one of the most prominent vectors in my mind, the artificial versus natural vector. So on one side there’s artificial and on the other side of the spectrum, there’s natural. And you know, in ancestral times it’s. Been mostly toward the natural and of the vector because, you know, we hadn’t developed all these technologies and we lived by nature, but now we have all this technology and we’re kind of getting away from natural order. With obviously internet and media and stuff. That’s kind of taken out as a sort of natural societal stuff. And there’s a trend going. Away from nature toward artificial constructs. And by doing that, we’re losing sight of humanity. So we’re obviously, I mean, diets a pretty easy example. We’re moving away from natural foods, more artificial foods and processed foods. And you can see what’s going on in America. What more than two thirds of us citizens are considered obese and. That has, is largely due to the standard American diet, which is, which consists of lots of artificially processed foods. And if you move back more toward natural foods, there’s a natural macro nutrient profile, you know, naturally there’s a natural mix of nutrients that is. More balanced or synergistic with our bodies. It’s how our bodies evolved to eat. So by getting away from that, we’re getting away from progress. We’re kind of devolving in getting obese and unfit and unhealthy and sick and dying earlier. So we have to. Find the balance there. And, um, so in talking about functional systems integration, we have to integrate the, and of the vectors, the opposite sides of the spectrum. So there, we need to find a balance between the artificial and natural and you know, I’m not gonna say we have to be. All natural or go extreme poor debt side of the spectrum because there’s a lot of good that’s come out of technology and artificial aspects of life. So we have to find the balance somewhere closer around the middle to balance the artificial and natural and integrate those two to optimize or create a more optimal progression. So, you know, rather than having an extreme artificial progression versus an extreme natural progression, you know, both sides are you’re going to, it are not optimal, obviously artificial, you know, Like I talked about, you’re going to run into health issues and obesity and all that stuff. And if you stay natural, you know, you’ll probably be healthy and all that stuff, but you won’t benefit from all the technology and advancements that we’ve developed that can help you out even more so in integration of the two is the optimal point. So we need to find a balance there. And the thing is if you’re lost or if you’re. Sub optimal in some manner, the kind of North star of that vector is the natural end. So. If you’re starting to feel dissonance in order to resolve that dissonance, you want to start going towards the natural end. And I don’t know if this is coming out as nicely as I want it to, but does that make sense? Like yeah. Pam: I 100% get what you’re saying. I just don’t know that you can apply that to people in the case that we’re CK: Well, you know, I can’t apply it directly. And that’s the thing like I’m trying to develop a model and a framework here, and this is just one little slice of it, but we need to find harmony from dissonance. We need to become more natural in light of all these artificial constructs and we need to consider. And balance objective reality with subjective reality and rationality with our emotions that, so that’s another vector, you know, the emotional versus rational factor where you can even associate emotional with. Subjectivity and rational with objectivity. So this could be the subjectivity to objectivity vector. And in order to progress, you want an integration of the two, you know, you can’t be just all subjective and you don’t want to be all objective because if you’re all objective, then there’s no self assertion. There’s no creativity. And that thus there’s no progress or innovation. But if you’re all subjective, then there’s no regard to the super systems or the collective, and it’s just all ego. So you need to have a balance and an integration of those, but in order to progress, there’s a side of those vectors that you want to use as your North star. And so between subjective and objective, the North star should be an objective reality, which is part of the super system. And of course, like I said, between artificial and natural, the North star should be natural and between, okay. Oh, so another big one is diversity versus conformity. And with diversity, you can also relate diversity to self assertion in conformity to the super system. And, yeah. Uh, that’s an interesting one. I think about that a little more, but yeah, I’m just kinda rambling on here and I don’t know. I don’t think I did a very good job of actually. Saying something that’ll make progress, but I’m still working on this and there’s something I I’m finding something here and I apologize for just rambling on and having. Nothing kind of prepared our outline and maybe this is all nonsensical, who knows, but I’m just kind of reflecting on what I’ve been thinking about this past week. And I know that there’s a solution and I know that we can get there. We just have to come together and we can’t be so divisive. We have to accept. I mean, that’s an interesting word divide. Well, Those are interesting words, um, divisive and diversity, because I would think they come from the same root, but they’re very different in meaning. And we need diversity in most everything that I’ve studied in research, the more diversity that we have, the more progress in evolution that comes about. Uh, you know, we can talk about the microbiome, which has been observed to be more what’s the word robust, but no, that’s a synonym, uh, more healthy and effective. If it’s more diverse, if you have a more diverse microbiome and ecology with animals, or is that animals, ecology, whatever, the more diversity of species that you have. The more lively and the more growth and progress the, there is in the environment in that ecology. And so, you know, the more diversity we have with people, the more knowledge and understanding we can have in order to grow and progress and evolve. You know, if we have. More conformity and everybody’s the same, or thinking about the same things, then there’s, you know, how are we going to make progress if we just keep doing the same things over and over, or if everybody’s the same or, you know, we try to do, we try to get everybody on a similar mindset or similar background or similar experience. Uh, Pam: counterpoint though, with your microbiome, if you have the wrong bacteria, it kills all of your bacteria. With animals. If you have an invasive species that is killing the natural species, you lose your diversity. CK: Yeah, but if you have more diversity, wouldn’t it be less likely to affect you as much? Pam: sure. Unless you have a large majority of the invasive species. CK: Right, but I can only get that way because you don’t have a balance or there’s no, you know, when you lose, you know, you start losing the diversity. So yeah. I mean, I kind of get what you’re getting at and obviously there’s. There may be instances where you have to kind of recognize what, you know, when there’s an invasive species or whatnot and take artificial measures to stamp that out. So, you know, again, we’d go back to the artificial versus natural vector. So this is where we can balance and integrate artificial side. And so, yeah, I dunno, I’m just kind of coming up with this on the fly, but, but I don’t know, I’ll leave it at that. And I talked way too long and rambled about all that stuff that I didn’t really have. Constructed properly in my mind yet, but you know, that’s what this is about. It’s about me reflecting and trying to get this organized. And this is what makes me grow. And this is what’s going to help me progress yes. With my philosophies. So hopefully I can get something out of this and no one else wants to comment or has any constructive criticism I’m open to that. And that’ll only help me. So please feel free to give me a shout out or tell me I’m stupid. Don’t tell me I’m stupid. Pam: I think that you’re an idealist and I’m a pessimist. Well, not always. I like to say that I’m an optimist who worries a lot. But I will always argue with you on your obsessive optimism. CK: Well, I, I mean, maybe that’s, uh, the balance between us that’s that we’re integrating together with the forces of equal. So. Yeah, I went too long on that. The Weekly ForceCast. CK: So I want to get into our other segments. So let’s get into the weekly forecast where we have our pod SPO and our linchpin SPO. So this is kind of. We’re kind of wrapping this all into the weekly forecast and we’re going to have the pod SPO about podcasts. We recommend and linchpins bone, which I refer to Pam as the linchpin and combine that with inspo, which I really wasn’t exactly sure what it meant, but I assumed it meant inspiration. So Pam: If you haven’t noticed CK likes to name things. CK: I like words. I like language. CK’s Podspo: CK: So, yeah, so this week’s weekly forced cast and the pods bone for me, it goes out to the short wave by NPR. And this podcast comes out every day of the week, I believe. And it’s pretty short bite size, 10 to 15 minutes. Podcast and it’s hosted by Maddie’s to fire. And this past week, they had a really interesting episode, which is what enticed me to feature it on the. Weekly force cast pods Bo this week. And the guest was just Wade, who is a professor, or she is in, I believe experimental physics at Imperial college in London. I hope I have this right, but she also writes in Wikipedia. And she’s, she’s been creating articles in Wikipedia every day for like the last three years for women and people of color in science. And so she’s been creating like an article a day for these people to balance out the disparity in science and the breakdown demographic breakdown, because obviously. As with everything else, you know, the structure around the world has prioritized, you know, white men basically in science and everything else. So just the way it’s kind of trying to balance that out and create. These articles and all this knowledge around people of color and women in science. So I thought that was really fascinating and amazing. And I mean, she’s been doing it every day for the past three years. So she has like over a thousand different scientists that she’s put up on Wikipedia. So I th I thought, you know, I’m sure that’s a really influential thing, impactful thing that she’s doing. So I find that really interesting. And I use the shortwave is one of the models that I use for our own podcasting and not bad advice. And they, you know, they’re short format and they’re really good quality audio, and they have good banter back and forth. They feature different guests, uh, on a lot of different episodes and it’s a really good bite size science podcasts. They cover a lot of different things. So I highly recommend shortwave. From NPR. Pam: Cool. Pam’s Podspo: CK: So Pam, do you have any podcasts that popped up to you this week? Pam: So while we were talking, I was thinking about the most recent episode of reveal from the center for investigative CK: uh, yeah. Pam: Yeah. So the second half of their episode this week was actually a replay, but it’s still a totally relevant story. And it was about. How? Well, it was about a lot of things, but the part that popped up in my head today was how they, how white newspaper owners, basically white men owning the media, were able to insight lynchings and basically use the media to. Craft the narrative that they wanted to tell and drive black people out of their homes and basically resulted in the mass loss of property and wealth that any black people in the area had developed, uh, post slavery. And, um, I thought it was really interesting juxtaposition with what we’re going through right now with the media CK: Yeah. Bill is such a great podcast. It’s from the center for investigative reporting. Yes. So it’s investigative journalism and they. Go hard into their investigations. It’s really, really cool what they do. And they spend a lot of time and the podcasts are really, really quality. And I think they mentioned when they were soliciting for donations or fundraising that they spend like a hundred thousand dollars an episode or something like that. Pam: Something like CK: Do you remember that? Yeah. So they’re high quality episodes and that, yeah. Reveal is definitely one of my top favorite podcasts, so great recommendation there. Linchpinspo: So let’s move on to the linchpin SPO part of the weekly force cast. And this is where Pam will provide some inspiration from the planets or the stars or the cards. Pam: All right, this one’s going to be a little bit longer than they will usually be. Cause there’s something really interesting happening right now. So on January eight, mercury moved into Aquarius. The mercury is the planet of information exchange and Aquarius is the sign of forward-thinking inventive ideas and humanitarian idealism. And it’s also heavily related to technology, which we’ll get back to in a second. So mercury will be in Aquarius until March 15th, with a retrograde period from January 30th until February 20th. So on a personal level, this will have an impact on how you communicate the ideas you have and your overall mental processes from January 8th, until January 30th. Up until that retrograde, you might find that you think of things in new ways. Maybe you change how you think about a social issue. Or that you’re changing the way you communicate CK: So that already started in January. Oh, I think that’s when all my crazy thinking started. Pam: There you go. So enjoy it for now because when the retrograde hits on January 30th, instead of that forward thinking, um, feeling that you’ve been having, you’re going to be asked to review unresolved things that maybe you haven’t fully dealt with, or that have kind of been lingering. And we’re going to get into that a little bit more once we’re actually in the retrograde period, but just know that it’s coming because everything is a cycle. So you’re going to be really forward-thinking for a few weeks and it will feel like you’re making tons of progress, but then the energy will shift into looking backwards. And this is a good thing. So you can resolve issues and apply what you learn to the forward motion that you’ll feel again in late February. So if you know anything about your natal chart and you know, what house Aquarius is in, that’s the area of your life that will primarily be affected. So for me, it’s my sixth house, which is work health and kind of the day-to-day grind. So I will have a change in communication or thought processes around work, or my day to day and CK for you. It’s your fourth house of home and family and specifically parents. So look out for ways that you think about your home family and parents changing over the next couple of months. Now, the, the really interesting thing though, is that on a national and global scale, this is going to be a really interesting period. So on January 8th, the day that mercury the planet of communication entered Aquarius, the sign of technology and social ideals was the same day that Trump and many of the right wing extremists were D platform after years of no oversight. And then on January 20th, which is the day that Aquarius season starts. It’s the day of Biden’s inauguration, which aligns with it being a humanitarian focus site. Aquarius is also a sign that can be temperamental and uncompromising, which means we could be in for more conflict and even violence. CK: yeah. Thanks for reading. That’s a stop to think about the last part for a little while. It kind of scared me, but hopefully it’s for the better, but yeah, that was all interesting. And what to think about. Pam: I think the de platforming thing is really crazy, but after years of nothing, then on that CK: Yeah, it’s crazy how the, this stuff correlates sometimes, Pam: Figured that out. I was like, that was so cool. CK: that is cool. And yeah, I love the self-reflective nature of this stuff, so yeah. Hopefully our listeners enjoy that. Outtro. And I guess that’s all for this week. We went a little longer than I wanted to. I rambled on a little more than I thought I would. And hopefully next week I’ll have a little more, a little more. I don’t know what I’m trying to say. I don’t know. Hopefully next week. I don’t know. We’ll see what happens next week. I don’t know what, um, Oh, I did want to mention that I. Ended up leaning into my creativity this past week and created some wall art for the studio. And I’m really happy with that. And so maybe I’ll post some pictures on social media, so yeah, I mean, we’ll end it there and. So, yeah, we’ll find it there for now. Yeah. We’re going on? I don’t know. I’m just rambling. My mind’s really weird right now. I think the coffee is getting to me, but, so yeah. Thank you everyone for listening. And of course, thank you, Pam is always where can people find you? Pam: So you can find me on Twitter, where I am at Pamela underscore Lund. CK: Dan, you can find me on Twitter at CK disco, and I hope you guys are enjoying this newer format and I’m going to try to reel it in a little more, a little more of these next coming weeks. So yeah, I hope you all come back next week and keep on practicing to loo

Practice Session #45 Welcome to my show notes for this week’s session of Practice! We record these sessions every Sunday. I try to publish the audio on the same day of recording, but once in a while, I may get delayed due to various reasons. Also, I will usually have the AI-generated transcript and my initial notes published on the same day of recording as well. On Fridays, I’ll (try to) go back through and proof the transcript while I add all of my notes. I’ll be utilizing this opportunity to clarify and elaborate on points that I may not have conveyed as well as I would’ve liked to. I’ll also provide links to further information and resources. So, on Friday, I’ll intersperse all my notes with the transcription from the audio below (unless I don’t ). Intro. [00:00] CK: Alrighty. Ready? Here we go. Heyo! I’m CK, and you’re listening to Practice. I’m your functional systems integrator, and this is my podcast where practice is not just the theme of the show, but the whole purpose behind it. What started out as a practice of podcasting, as well as speaking in general, has evolved into a practice of self-coaching and self-reflection while espousing half-thoughts and providing unsolicited advice. As always, I’m fortunate to be joined by my Practice partner and partner in life: Pam. Pam: Hey, that’s me. CK: Pam is also my pattern awareness manager, and every Sunday we reflect on the past week and my progress with this practice, along with other lifestyle practices, as well as theories and ideas behind the virtues of practice itself. We’re doing this on the fly, so don’t hold me responsible for what I say here. Make sure to check out my show notes where I’ll provide some fact-checking, self-psychoanalysis and commentary on things I could have done better. You may find this and more information about this project at ForcesOfEqual.com/Practice. Catch up with the Anomaly and the Linchpin. [01:20] CK: We’re recording today on January 3rd, 2021, and this is our 45th practice session. 2021! Crazy. It’s a new year, first practice session of the new year and the quote for this week. I actually didn’t have one ready until, well, I didn’t have one ready at all until right before the session. And I generally tend to get my quotes from an app called stoic. I think it’s called stoic app and that I’m not really sharing and they keep changing the app icon. So I’m not even sure if they know their own branding yet, but I really liked the app. I think it’s developed by an individual in there. Just doing it themselves. It’s their own little project. I’m not exactly certain, but that’s what it seems like. But the app is really cool and it takes you through a lot of self-reflective processes and stoic philosophy, as well as Taoism. They have some ism stuff in there and also. Buddhism stuff. And the thing is I didn’t really pay much attention to the Buddhism part of it. You can kind of select which philosophies are more important to you. And I just kind of neglected Buddhism, but I recently added that back in and I previously rejected it because it had like a religious aspect. And I wasn’t necessarily into the religious part of it, but I’ve been developing my perspective on religion as of late. And I’m seeing it more as a Avenue for self reflection. And so in that sense, I’m more interested or getting more interested in some aspects of religion. And so I’ve always had some kind of connection with Buddhism. Of course it’s an Eastern religion and philosophy. And so I thought I’d had that back in. And so I started getting some quotes about Buddhism popping up and this one popped up today and it seemed to be perfect for the time. So this one comes from Buddha and he goes like this. Let us rise up and be thankful for if we didn’t learn a lot, 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. So I am definitely thankful that I’m alive. And pretty pertinent because we just got over COVID-19 and I think I am fully recovered. Now I’m a hundred percent recovered. As we discussed last week, I felt like I was pretty close to being a hundred percent. And I thought that by Monday I would have been a hundred percent and that’s kind of what I predicted through my self-reflection and calculations that I made. And, uh, it’s pretty close, but I still had some lingering effects and lingering systems symptoms throughout the week. In terms of like congestion still have like a small percentage and maybe I still have like a percentage or two of congestion left. I still there’s a little bit like at night when I’m trying to go to bed, I feel a little bit more congested than usual. And. I can feel that I’m not breathing is clearly as I usually do. So there’s still a little bit of that left, but otherwise I feel like I’m a hundred percent Pam: And to be clear, that’s nasal congestion. Uh, neither of us had chest symptoms. CK: Yeah, definitely. I actually felt like maybe I. Was experiencing some respiratory symptoms because I do a lot of breathing exercises and I have a lot of breathing practices. So a lot of them, I do daily. And I think I have like three or four exercises that I do daily and then several others that I do whenever I need to, or whenever I feel like it. So I’ve been kind of monitoring my breathing during these practices. And I did feel a little limited at some points and I felt like my breathing capacity wasn’t as full as it normally is. So that could have been due to the cold, like symptoms that I was experiencing. And of course, because of COVID-19, but now I feel okay. And I actually got around to doing a third of a mile, little jug this morning and that felt okay. I actually aim for two, but I didn’t want to push it. And after the first one, I felt really good and I could feel that I was. Fatigued. I definitely could have done a second, but I felt really good. And I just want to stay in that feeling and not chance things. And you know, it’s been a while since I’ve gone out for a run and I’m just getting over this illness, so left it at a third a mile and it felt great. And my breathing felt great. So everything feels good. I had a great morning routine session. And so my. First Sunday of the year and my first practice session in the year, it’s all coming along very well. And so, yeah, the quote is very pertinent because we were say quiz COVID-19 for the past week or two and we didn’t die. So definitely thankful. Yeah. Yeah, for sure. So can you add to. Summarize any food I say, Pam: Gotcha. CK: summarize your week or your experience with COVID-19. Pam: Yeah. Um, I am on day eight of not being able to taste or smell anything. And, um, it’s been a really interesting experience because I. I keep forgetting that I can’t smell. So I will smell things or I’ll think like, Oh, you know, I haven’t taken a shower in two days and I don’t stink. And then I realized that I absolutely do, and I just can’t smell it. Um, CK: I haven’t really noticed. Pam: Luckily, um, cooking has been really difficult, um, because I can’t taste how I’m seasoning anything. So CK has been very patient with a couple of meals that were extremely salty and probably some that were not seasoned enough because I was erring on the side of caution. CK: Yeah, it’s been all right. It’s still been good. Pam: Um, I almost burned toast and bacon because I couldn’t smell them cooking. Um, and I’m really learning to rely on textures for food enjoyment since I can’t taste anything. So, um, and my, my tip for anyone, if you also lose your sense of taste is that you will still be able to sense saltiness and sweetness. So extreme saltiness and extreme sweetness will both come through, even though you can’t taste the actual flavor of it. So if you really need something, um, honey will come through. So you could do like a cup of tea with honey in it, or there’s this brand called Prince of peace, which makes ginger candies that we. Eat far too many of, and they also make crystallized ginger and honey, which you can just add hot water to. And the ginger in there is spicy enough that you can get a little sensation from that. And the honey is sweet enough that you can get a little sensation. So at least you can experience the taste of something. CK: Yeah. We had a little interesting conversation this morning during our morning work. And it was about our senses and how we prioritize them and which ones that we, if we had to lose a sense, which one it would be. And so for Pam you’re. So I asked you if you would rather lose, or I asked you which sense you would want to lose if you had to lose one. Pam: Yeah, I think I prioritize that I would lose sent first, like primarily that would be the first one that I would want to lose. And, um, part of that is because I have a super sniffer, I am ridiculously sensitive to smells. I’m constantly complaining about the garbage and people spelling bad and the neighbor’s cooking things. And like, I it’s, it’s a problem for me. So it’s actually been nice to not smell anything for the last week. So, um, that’s been a little bit of a reprieve, so I would say. Scent would be the first one that I would want to lose and then taste and then hearing and then sight. I think that that was, those were my four and I excluded the sense of touch from my decision, because I couldn’t think of anything that would cause you to entirely lose all bodily sensation, CK: Yeah. I’d have to, it’d be some kind of neurological dysfunction or something. Pam: I’m sure there are people out there that have it, but it’s for the purposes of our game, which I feel a little bit bad calling it a game because there are people that legitimately have lost senses. CK: Our thought experiment and it’s not Pam: yeah, our, our thought experiment, um, this is in no way is meant to be like abelist or like. Saying anything about people who actually have lost senses. So anyway, CK: so, Pam: what did you pick? K? CK: so I was actually actually, did I say anything about smell? Pam: I don’t think so. You were really focused on site. CK: Yeah, because you, well, you were focused on site too. Like that was the one thing that you really didn’t want to lose or couldn’t see yourself losing. Pam: Yeah. CK: And for me, I wasn’t as worried about site. So I guess I’d be fine with losing smell. And then I’d be fine with losing taste and then it’d be sight before hearing and touch, because I feel like, again, like Tim was saying, this is this w w we don’t want to. Minimize, you know, people who dealing with without some of these senses, but my thing is like, Oh, go ahead. Pam: I was gonna say, not only so on the other side of it, so we don’t want to minimize it on one side, but we also, then on the other side, don’t want to say anything about what their experience is. CK: Right. Right. Of course. Pam: people live perfectly full and happy lives without sentences. CK: Right, right. And that was kind of my thing with sight because I, right now I’m very much into music and audio and Sonics and podcast production, obviously. So I’m a lot more focused or I’m using my hearing a lot more lately. And of course, you know, getting a, you know, until all this music stuff and electronic music and sound design, uh, need my hearing for that. And with sight, I’ve actually been kind of. Um, I been having a different relationship with my site lately, especially through my experience of the headless way and becoming a sear or kind of developing the aspect of the stage of the sphere in the headless way and how vision can be decoupled from sight. So, yeah, I don’t know how much I want to get into this, but I’m much less attached to my vision. I mean, of course it’d be devastating for me to lose it. Pam: Yeah, I think you’re underestimating how much losing your vision would affect what you do with your hearing, because all of the sound production that you’re doing requires you seeing your monitors. CK: is very true. That is very true. Yes. So I may want to be, I want to, might want to rethink all that, but yeah, I guess, yeah, I don’t know. It’s a, it’s just a fun exercise, but yeah, it also goes into kind of. Showing you how grateful you should be to have all your senses. So I think, yeah, I think that’s the kind of the message, the home message at the end is that, you know, if you have all your senses, you, you should be grateful. And I guess it goes along with our coat for the week, you know, at least we didn’t die. So let’s all be thankful. At least I didn’t lose my sight, Lucy sentence senses. Um, although Pam lost her sense of smell. But she’s still alive. Pam: Slowly losing interest in food. And I think, uh, I just realized that I’m dehydrated yesterday. I had one glass of water because I’m not eating or like having the urge to. Drink things throughout the day. So I’m still having coffee because it’s just like my habit and it’s a warm beverage and it’s cold. So I’m still drinking that. But I realized when I eat too, went to eat dinner that I hadn’t had a glass of water at all. So, and my throat feels like dry and cliquey. So I think I’m yeah. CK: like water. I mean, it’s not the taste of it that, Pam: No, but because I’m not eating as frequently, I’m not having water with my meals or cause I’m just kind of eating out of utility CK: Yeah. Pam: So CK: So we generally drink sparkling water. Does that mouthfeel help much Pam: absolutely. It definitely does. If I was drinking flat water, I think I would eat drinking. CK: interesting. Interesting. Well, if any of our listeners want to play along and. Shoot us a message about what sense that they would be okay with losing or how they would prioritize their sentences. Pam: Send us your reasoning. CK: yeah. Shoot us over a note on Twitter. I am at CK disco and Pam’s at Pamela under scoreline and see if we can get a little more social. Our progress with podcasting. So moving on, let’s get to our progress with podcasting. And talk about that and our process with not bad advice. So that’s been going well, and I’m still kind of, not in my proper rhythm yet. Although this past week I’ve been getting more and more into the rhythm, but I been kind of slow to get into the rhythm because I was sick with COVID and it’s been holiday week. So things are feeling a little different and. My schedule and routine is a little more, a little different. I’ve been lecturing a little more, but we’ve been rolling along, rolling right along with not bad advice and releasing our episodes on Wednesdays and everything’s coming out on time. And, uh, so for me right now, my big. Issue, uh, or I don’t know issue, but my big, like, uh, the thing I’m focusing on is the audio quality. And that shouldn’t be a surprise because I’ve kind of been focusing on it for awhile with, even with this practice podcast and our progression with our audio quality has just been. Trending up. And it’s like from where we started to, where we are now is just really crazy to me. And it’s like, the difference is crazy. And. The amount that I can still improve our audio quality is still pretty crazy to me. But the interesting thing with not bad advice is that we’ve banked about 20 episodes. Yeah. And some of them, I think a five or eight of those are shorter, like little bite-sized episodes. But nevertheless, we have about 20 banks before we even got the first one released. So the difference in audio call you between the first one and the later ones is very drastic in the raw audio, but fortunately I’ve been able to, to learn and experiment and become better with processing the audio. So. The audio quality, like the poor audio quality that we recorded within the first episodes isn’t as noticeable because I’ve been able to edit and post-process it with everything that I’ve learned throughout creating this podcast with practice. So it’s been interesting, but you know, the really interesting part is like working with those. First episodes with poor quality and contrasting that with like these episodes of practice. And also the later episodes would not bet advice because the fourth episode of not bad advice, we ended up recording that. And I think that was the first one we did with the SM seven B the Shure SM seven V. Mike for Pam. And at that time, we were just using that straight into the zoom, I think. Pam: or we are still CK: I think we’re, I think we had it through the zoom recorder and we had the recorder connected to your laptop and we were recording through audacity or Ableton. Whereas now we’re recording directly to the zoom recorder and that’s it. We’re just recording it on the card and. We also are using a fat head in line preempt with the Shure SM seven B now, so we can drive noise floor down and deal with the noise and all that electrical static and everything around that. But like the first time I wasn’t aware of all this stuff and the noise coming from the mic was. It was unbearable. So we ended up rerecording that episode and that ended up being like our 19th recording. Whereas the original was like our fourth. And so as I was processing last weeks, we kind of got those sessions mixed up or I got them mixed up in because you know, there was a recording and there was an original recording. And then. It actually ended up not being the next episode that we were going to publish anyway. So I ended up working on the rerecording with the really good audio quality. And then I had to work on go back to the fifth episode with the quality that we were recording left back then, you know, about 14, 15 episodes ago. And. Like it was so much easier working with the newer recording than the older recording. So it was really interesting to be able to compare and contrast the difference of the recording quality and the whole process and all the growth that I’ve been through. So it was it’s, it’s just really nice or just really interesting to kind of go through the process and observe that. And. Also realize and reflect on the progress that we’ve made and everything that I’ve learned and how much better things have gotten. So, yeah, it’s just, it’s been a really interesting process for me and I just, I really can’t wait until we get these better quality audio quality podcasts out, but at the same time, I’m. Happy with how I’ve been able to process the previous audio and the old recording with that old quality that we’d been working with. So it’s kind of just a whole reflective experience where I’m glad that we got out, not bad advice and started publishing. And at first I always. Still anxious about releasing that audio in the quality that I was able to get it in. You know, it’s, it’s pretty good and I’m satisfied with it, but still it’s, it’s, you know, it’s not as good as the latest ones that we’ve recorded, but I know that I’m, uh, Hyper critical of my own stuff. And I’m also more aware and I’m listening for certain things. So I would imagine that general listeners aren’t as critical and probably can’t even hear what I’m talking about in terms of, you know, sub par audio quality. So, yeah. So what about your experience so far, Pam? Pam: It’s been really good. We’ve gotten some really good feedback. And I would say right now we get about 20 people a week that listened to it, which I think is fantastic. I mean, if five people listened to it out the gate, I would have been happy. So 20 is, is great. And, um, my mom actually has been listening, which I think is really sweet. And, um, you know, she’s not our target audience. She’s 70 year old. Woman. And she messaged me yesterday and said that she really enjoyed the, how to deal with people episode, which has also been my favorite one that we’ve released so far. And she told me that since listening to that, she has been more, um, Present and attentive when communicating with people. And like that makes me like tear up a little bit, just thinking about the fact that if, you know, if she is getting something out of it and we’re helping her in her interactions with other people are better because of it, then that’s the goal. That’s exactly what I want out of the show. And if she can benefit from it, like literally anyone can, so. CK: Didn’t you also have another experience this past week where you were listening to the show yourself Pam: Yeah, this happens every week, which, um, you know, before the episode goes out, I get really nervous and I think, Oh, this, you know, no one wants to hear me tell them how to live their lives. And I start to get really self critical and really down on the project. And then I listened to the episode, which is the hardest thing in the world, listening to that episode. I fight it all morning and I like, I don’t want to do it. Yeah. It’s really hard for me. And then I listened to it and by the end I’m like, it was so good. That advice is so good pumped and I’m, I’m more motivated and more excited. And like I’m getting myself pumped up with the advice that I’m getting. So by the end of listening to it, I’m super excited to promote it and, um, and really, um, excited about the project again. So yeah, it’s really funny. CK: That’s cool. Yeah. I’m grateful for the podcast and the fact that I’m able to produce it because. In doing so I have to listen to the podcast so many times and still I’m hearing the message over and over and again, and the message is good and it’s pertinent and it makes sense. And it’s, you know, well constructed and well laid out. And so I get to listen to it repaired repetitively just through the process. And so, you know, just through the process, I get to listen to this advice and, you know, get that benefit as well. So Pam: So, what I’m hearing is if I want you to do something, we have to record a podcast episode about CK: that might be true. Pam: like, uh, I don’t know. I don’t know if inception is the right word fall, like plant the idea in your head and get you to do it through producing the podcast. The Weekly ForceCast. CK: Yeah, you might have something there. So moving on, I’d like to actually introduce a new segment to the podcast new year, a new segment, and this is actually something. That I’ve been mulling about for awhile as its own standalone podcast, but I don’t want to get ahead of myself and do too many new things just yet. There’s a lot of other things that I want to do. So I, I, I’m thinking I’ll just kind of roll this into practice for now. And this segment is going to be called the weekly force cast. And I didn’t say that wrong. It’s forced cast like the forces of equal and a play on forecast. And it’s the force cast because we are the forces of equal and it’s going to be about podcasting or podcast podcasts. And I want to kind of talk about, or highlight a podcast that kind of. Stood out to me over the past week or that, you know, I think people would enjoy or benefit from. And of course, Pam, you can do the same. I know I’m kind of springing this on you Pam: Yeah. CK: as I do, but you know, we’re keeping it gentle and adapting on the fly. And so for this week’s weekly forecast. The podcast. Um, I want to highlight is actually it’s one that I listened to pretty much every day and it’s called the daily stoic. And so this is very pertinent because I talk a lot about stoicism on this podcast, but the reason this podcast stood out to me, Today is because it actually has pretty terrible audio quality. Yeah. And I don’t like, uh, I don’t want to be too critical because it’s the material and the content is great, but that’s kind, kinda why I want to talk about this because I’ve been very. Critical about myself in how I’m producing our podcasts and the audio quality that comes out of them. And this podcast that I listened to every day and that I like, and I enjoy, and that I take a lot away from has terrible audio quality. And to be fair, I can tell that they’ve been working on it lately, but. Yeah, the audio quality is not very good and it’s kind of surprising to me, but at the same time, it also shows that there’s, you know, of course I’ve talked before about the balance between form and function and the function of these podcasts is the content in what the content can deliver and what you can get out of the content. And the form is. The quality of the delivery and you know, of course the audio quality, maybe the speech quality, et cetera. So I, with our podcasts, I’ve been very conscious about the form and how it comes off, but, and, you know, with practice, um, Much less worried about the content because it’s practicing. And, you know, the point of it is for me to practice speaking and practice with the quality of the audio. But it’s just interesting to think about these other podcasts that I listened to. And I’m not as critical about the audio quality because the contents good. And it’s not going to stop me from listening. To the material. So I just wanted to point that out and highlight the D daily stoic for this week’s weekly forced cast. And it’s a great podcast put out by Ryan holiday and. It comes out every day of the week. And during the week, it’s usually a short little excerpt, or it’s not next to her, but it’s a bit about stoicism and it may be a quote and a little explanation or commentary around the quote or something like that. But it’s like three or four minutes long during the week. And then on the weekends, or occasionally he’ll do an interview with someone and base it around stoicism. Or on Sundays, I believe it’s a little bit more of an extended podcast, maybe 10 minutes or so long, 10 minutes or so. And it’s just kind of an expanded version of the weekly podcast. And he goes into a little bit more of maybe the history or the philosophy and how that relates to modern times. So the daily stoic, I would highly recommend that podcast. Especially if you’re in a stoicism and or philosophy and want to better yourself. So I would recommend checking that out. So I know I surprised, or I sprung this on you pan, but do you have anything that pops up to you that stands out to you that you listened to this past week? Pam: Um, the only thing I think I really listened to that stands out this week is, um, just because of the time of the year, uh, there’s a podcast called the astrology podcast and they do a forecast for the year where they’ll give you kind of like auspicious dates, so pay attention to and things where, you know, it might be good if you’re starting a new business to launch it on a certain day or where there are kind of, um, important things happening that you can kind of live your life by throughout the year. So you can look up your sign and they have on YouTube or as a podcast, and you can just get some guidance for the year ahead. CK: Okay. That’s cool. What was it called again? Pam: The astrology podcast, CK: The astrology podcast, simple enough. The Linchpinspo. CK: And so that takes us right into the next segment. And this is another new segment that I’m introducing. And this one I warned Pam about, but Pam: like half an hour ago. CK: yeah, right before we started, Pam: This was like a tornado warning. I was like, Oh, it’s coming. Okay. CK: but it is related to what you were just talking about. So it’s very apt for this part of the podcast. And this is a, just a weekly, weekly, I don’t know, commentary on the stars or Taylor reading or whatever Pam wants to talk about. I haven’t really come up with the name for the segment or anything yet, but. Pam: No, like CK said, he us, uh, just sprung this on me. So, um, what I’m thinking, my goal is going to be is to give you something that will be, um, applicable to the week ahead. So something either planetarily that is happening, that it’s affecting everyone, or if there’s nothing big going on, which usually there’s at least something. Um, but if there’s nothing big going on or if I’m just not feeling it, then I will. Do a tarot card for the week to, um, give people some insight and inspiration of something to keep in mind. So this week, um, what we have is that, um, mercury moved into Capricorn on December 20th and we’ll be there until January 8th. So it’s in effect all week. And mercury is, um, well in, in w it was mercury in Roman mythology and Hermes in Greek mythology. So it’s the same God that we’re talking about here. Um, so this was the, um, Only God that could travel between heaven, heavens and the underworld. So he was the messenger. He could bring information from anywhere to anywhere. And he was the only God that was allowed to do that. And so, uh, mercury is the planet that gathers and disperses information. And it’s, so it’s the planet of communication, thoughts, and also commerce because commerce is exchange it’s information exchange. Even though there’s money and goods involved. It’s you’re exchanging information. So it’s kind of, he’s the planet of exchanging everything. Okay. And Capricorn is the sign associated with ambition and long-term success. So you can think of like a goat climbing up a mountain. Like that’s Capricorn, it’s like slow and plotting and it’s going to get to the top. And it’s also what we call a Cardinal sign. So it means like starting things. It’s really a good sign of, for, for starting new things. So with mercury in Capricorn for the rest of the week, I want you to pay attention to conversations that plant seeds that could grow into material success, consider new business ideas that seem to suddenly come out of nowhere. And pay attention to information that seems fortuitous and coincidentally, when those things happen, when they, um, when you’re like, Oh, you know, I just had a conversation about someone with someone about that. And, and it like brings up a business idea, really pay attention to those things. They’re not accidents they’re coming up right now for a reason. CK: okay. Sounds good. Thanks for that. Pam: Cool. CK: And so that brings us to the end of the session for the week. So I hope. The listeners enjoyed this new kind of sort of format. Let’s see how we can move forward. I liked it. I had fun with it and it gives me a little more direction every week in a little more organization. So think, well, build on this moving forward. So of course I want to thank Pam for joining me as always. And thank you to the listeners for joining me. And Dan, where can people find you? Pam: You can find me on Twitter, where I am at Pamela underscore land. CK: And if you’re interested in taro readings, Pam writes up her daily readings every Pam: I do, I do. It’s the reading that I do for myself, but I write it in a way that it can benefit anyone. So you can find those@pamelalund.me. CK: And of course, make sure to check out that bad advice@forcesofvehicle.com slash advice. And you can find me on Twitter at CK disco. I’m getting a little more into social media here and there. So you’ll, you might be able to find me on there. And so, yeah. Thanks for listening. And I hope you come back next weekend. Keep on practicing. To loo

Practice Session #44 Welcome to my show notes for this week’s session of Practice! We record these sessions every Sunday. I try to publish the audio on the same day of recording, but once in a while, I may get delayed due to various reasons. Also, I will usually have the AI-generated transcript and my initial notes published on the same day of recording as well. On Fridays, I’ll (try to) go back through and proof the transcript while I add all of my notes. I’ll be utilizing this opportunity to clarify and elaborate on points that I may not have conveyed as well as I would’ve liked to. I’ll also provide links to further information and resources. So, on Friday, I’ll intersperse all my notes with the transcription from the audio below (unless I don’t ). Intro. [00:00] CK: Alrighty. Ready? Here we go. Heyo! I’m CK, and you’re listening to Practice. I’m your functional systems integrator, and this is my podcast where practice is not just the theme of the show, but the whole purpose behind it. What started out as a practice of podcasting, as well as speaking in general, has evolved into a practice of self-coaching and self-reflection while espousing half-thoughts and providing unsolicited advice. As always, I’m fortunate to be joined by my Practice partner and partner in life: Pam. Pam: Hey, that’s me. CK: Pam is also my pattern awareness manager, and every Sunday we reflect on the past week and my progress with this practice, along with other lifestyle practices, as well as theories and ideas behind the virtues of practice itself. We’re doing this on the fly, so don’t hold me responsible for what I say here. Make sure to check out my show notes where I’ll provide some fact-checking, self-psychoanalysis and commentary on things I could have done better. You may find this and more information about this project at ForcesOfEqual.com/Practice. Catch up with the Anomaly and the Linchpin. [01:20] CK: We’re recording today on December 27th of 2020. And this is practice session number 44. Pam: in the final session for 2020. CK: Well that’s right. Well, it’s in the year on a good note. I didn’t know what to say there, but I don’t know, you know, it’s 2020, so yeah. So let’s go ahead and get into the quote for this week. And this quote comes from stoke philosopher, Marcus Aurelius, but I’ve called him many times before. And this quote popped up yesterday, I believe. And I also had a interesting one pop up this morning from Marcus Aurelius as well. So his word is seeming to be very pertinent lately, for whatever reason. So the quote goes like this, whatever happens to you has been waiting to happen since the beginning of time, the twining of strands of fate. Well, both of them together. Oh, sorry. It’s totally edit over there. Let me try that again. Whatever happens to you has been waiting to happen since the beginning of time, the twining strands of fate. Well, both of them together. Um, sorry, I’m kind of confusing myself. That last line isn’t sounding right. For some reason, Pam: Yeah, there’s something missing. Cause what, what are being woven together? CK: the Twinings strands of fate wove, both of them together. I’m pretty sure. I just copied and paste in that. Is that not making sense to you there? Pam: Okay. I don’t understand what the two things are that are being wove together. Woven together. CK: Okay. I just looked it up real quick in, this is what I’m finding. Okay, whatever happens to you has been waiting to happen since the beginning of time, the twining strands of fate will both of them together, your own existence and the things that happen to you. So, Pam: You were missing the end of the quote. CK: yeah, and I kinda think, like, I don’t remember the end when I jotted that down and the court made sense to me without it for some reason, but the past week has been kind of. Well, it’s been very confusing for me for a myriad of reasons. So you’re getting into that. So anyway, so here’s the quote, and I don’t know what’s going to come out of this or how I’m going to relate this week’s session to it because it’s, uh, I got my, brain’s not working Pam: Right. CK: at a hundred percent today or this whole week. So anyway, this is the quote again, and this is. Both for myself and for the audience. So here we go, comes from Marcus Aurelius, whatever happens to you has been waiting to happen since the beginning of time, the twining strands of fate. Well, both of them together, your own existence and the things that happen to you. Okay. So that makes a little more sense. Anyway. Let’s reflect on the past week because it’s been quite the week for us want to go back to last week’s session of practice. And I forgot to mention that I woke up there morning, feeling a little off, although. Once we got rolling with the session, I felt, okay. I felt fine. And we got through the, the session just mine. And I forgot to mention what I was going through and what that was was I woke up with a little bit of a sore throat and I felt a little more tired than I have. I have been considering that I got a really good night of sleep. And so I felt like I was coming down with a cold. And so I was dealing with that through last week session, but I got through that and, you know, got caught up with whatever we were talking about. And actually I just listened back to the session before we started today and really enjoyed what we were talking about. So I would urge listeners to go back and check that out. If you haven’t yet, we talk about. Our experience with really seeing that bad advice and our mindset around working together and coming together and synergizing our talents and knowledge to bring about something greater than what each of us could do individually. And so, yeah, it was a really interesting episode. Listen back to you and I’m a little more enticed or a little more motivated now to start sharing these practice episodes. So that’s another thing that came out of releasing that bad advice. So that’s a positive for sure. But anyway, so I was feeling a little sick, some symptoms of a cold, and then got through that and otherwise felt fine. Maybe a little bit of fatigue, didn’t think anything of it. And usually, I mean, I talked about my health and my meticulousness with my. Nutrition and routines and all that stuff around health. And so, I don’t know. The last time I’ve been really sick. Pam: I can’t remember. CK: Yeah. And if I do get sick, it’s, you know, I have some symptoms of a cold, like maybe a little bit of a sore throat, some congestion. And it goes away in a day. Like I’ll wake up the next morning and I’ll be fine. And if not, it’ll be the second day. And I can’t remember if I’ve had a sickness last three days within the last, I don’t know, two or three years. So. Pam: because I know, I remember the last time I had a cold when we were in Connecticut, um, was that a year or two ago, and I was really sick for a few days and you were around me sharing a hotel room and you’d never got it. And we were commenting then on how that was the first time that either of us had been sick in years, like CK: And I think that was two years ago. Pam: Yeah, I think so, too. So it’s been years CK: And so I, of course we have the coronavirus pandemic going on now, so that popped up into my mind, but I, my symptoms didn’t really reflect that of what. The main symptoms of coronavirus seem to be, they seem to match that of a cold, a common cold, and so thought I’d be fine by Monday, but come Monday, I felt worse and I was like, Holy cow. Okay. So this is for real. And then I believe by Tuesday I was feeling much better. Like the sore throat was going away. And so I was like, okay, so, you know, it’s come called, I’ve dealt with this before. And this time it took two days to recover. You know, by the third day I’ll be a hundred percent. But by the third day, I didn’t feel that much better. Like maybe by 5%. So, uh, I looked back through my journal throughout the week this morning, and I noticed that. On like Wednesday or Thursday, I kind of reflected back on Monday and Tuesday and I proceeded on Monday and Tuesday. Like they were normal days, pretty much like normal work days. I kind of try to get through my routines and stuff. Although I noticed that I was more fatigued and my brain wasn’t functioning at a hundred percent. It took me a little longer to do stuff than normal. And. I think my motivation was still there. Like all my motivations were still there, but it, like, I just couldn’t get into the flow is as much as I usually could. And so I, you know, I, I knew that I had some cold symptoms and I was dealing with that. So I wasn’t too worried and I knew I was feeling better and I was recovering and. So when I was looking back on Wednesday or Thursday to Monday and Tuesday, I thought that maybe I was functioning around 60% of my normal capacity on Monday. And then I thought much better on Tuesday. So I kind of jotted down maybe 75% and then on Wednesday when I thought, you know, okay. So my typical pattern on this day, I P P B. Back to pretty close to a hundred percent, but I didn’t feel that much better. I felt maybe 5% better. So the jump from Monday to Tuesday was much bigger than from Tuesday to Wednesday. And then from Wednesday to Thursday, I still didn’t feel that much better. Again, maybe another 5%. So from Monday I went to 60% to Tuesday to 75% to Wednesday, I went up to 80%. Then Thursday, maybe 85%. And I’ve been slowly increasing by 5% each day since then. And so by those calculations, I figured by tomorrow, by Monday, I’ll be at a hundred percent and that’s kind of what it feels like now, like today I feel pretty close to a hundred percent and maybe some fatigue and I’m sure there’s some residual effects. And usually when it gets. Later in the afternoon, I start feeling that fatigue again. So I, you know, when I wake up, it’s when I woke up throughout the past week, it’s been interesting because I’ve been getting good sleep. And, uh, at some nights I actually, haven’t been getting as much deep sleep as I usually do. But in terms of the total time I’ve been getting good sleep in terms of the timing. My cycles have been on point, so. In general, my sleep has been good, but when I wake up, I don’t feel like I got as good a night asleep as the metrics tell me, as I usually would have, you know, if I wasn’t sick. So there was that, and I’m totally losing track of where I’m going with this. So anyway. Oh, so I guess I didn’t. Pam: Kind of buried the lead here. CK: Yeah. So the punchline of all of this was that I got my test deck yesterday. Uh, my coronavirus test yesterday morning and I tested positive. And so it wasn’t become cold. It was coronavirus Pam: And I kind of laughed at you when you ordered the test. Cause I was like, come on, it’s like, it’s a cold, you’re fine. Like, I mean, on one hand it was, it was the right thing to do to get the test. But I was also kind of like, you don’t have it cause we don’t leave the house. Right. You, you don’t. Yeah. CK: And that’s the thing, like I got the test back positive and I was just stunned, like on one hand, I’m like, Okay. That makes sense. That I’ve felt this way for more than two or three days. Like I know it gives me some validation of why I’ve been sick for a week and, but on the other end and I was like, how could I possibly gotten infected? Because I haven’t had any close contacts. Excuse me. I haven’t had any close contacts by the definition of being within six feet for more than 15 minutes cumulatively. I haven’t had any close, close contact with anyone for over two months. And that last close contact was with my family, my parents, and my brother and his wife. Who has, who have been part of our social bottle or social bubble of, I believe like our social bubble has been seven since the beginning of the pandemic. And like for the past, maybe six months or more, it’s actually been five. And so like considering all that Pretty much as close to minimal risk as you can possibly get with, you know, two people living in the same household. Pam: Yeah, I go to the grocery store. CK: Right, Pam: only thing we don’t do is we don’t do the grocery delivery. I actually go and get it, but we don’t interact with people. We don’t touch other people. We’re not in the same room with other people. And we’re masked when we are, or at least, you know, I am when I go to the grocery store. CK: Right. And so even that fact alone confused me of how I could have gotten a cold or the flu or whatever it was when I didn’t know what it was. And so, yeah, so I, you know, I also had an inkling that it might be the flu instead of a coming phone because it was lasting stolen and it being. Virus or a COVID-19 or Starbucks coffee too, was like the last possibility that, you know, we thought it could have been. So, yeah, like just considering all of that, how we’ve been isolating ourselves and we haven’t had any close contact and I still got infected somehow. Just goes to show how easily you can get an infected without even knowing. And, and then even when you are like, my symptoms didn’t really reflect that of the major COVID-19 symptoms. So even though I was feeling sick, I still didn’t think I had COVID-19. So. You know, that’s just my experience. And I just happened to be unlucky enough that even though I took all the precautions and lowered my risk as much as possible, I still ended up getting infected. And fortunately I’m young, relatively young. I’m 41 to be exact. Pam: young at heart. CK: Yeah, definitely. And I’m healthy. So I was able to get through it. Although, you know, I also had some confusions or, you know, I, when all this started, I was like, you know, I’m not really worried about. Getting infected because I know I’m healthy and I know it won’t really affect me that much. And seeing all these reports of asymptomatic infections and all that stuff, I was like, okay. Yeah. You know, if I, I, I, I, I thought I’ve already had it. So in, you know, I didn’t have any symptoms or anything, or I did have like some little mild minor symptoms pop up here and there that I thought might’ve had something to do with it. And I’ve gotten tested before and they ended up being negative, but I thought, you know, as healthy that I try to be, I thought, you know, I wouldn’t have felt much of any symptoms at all. But I’ve been feeling these symptoms of the sore throat and congestion and fatigue for a week. And so that kind of surprised me that someone of my health could still be effected that much. And, you know, that just goes to show or goes to illustrate the uncertainty of this virus and the effects. And we’re still finding out stuff about it and different people are responding to it differently. So, yeah, I mean, it’s just still so uncertain. And especially with this, with this. New strain in particular that is causing issues in the UK. And they’re speculating that it’s more infectious. Maybe that’s how I ended up getting it. Maybe not, you know, who knows? That’s the thing like we don’t know. And there’s so many variables, so yeah. I don’t know whatever it is. It’s really scary to think that if I can get it and I’ve been taking all these precautions. you know, all these other people who aren’t taking precautions, it’s just scary to think that, you know, that’s why it’s spreading. That’s why it’s infecting more and more people is there’s so, yeah, so and, okay, so, and the other weird thing is that, you know, we’re thinking that since pans. The one who has a little bit more of a risk of being infected, because she’s going to the grocery store. We’re thinking that it would have been most likely for her to have gotten infected and then her to bring it home to me. her symptoms, 10 symptoms. Do you want to talk about what you’ve been going through? Pam: Um, yeah, so, um, CK started having symptoms on last weekend and whenever I’m around someone that’s sick. I start getting like psychosomatic sometimes. Like I think that I’m getting sick because I’ve been around someone who sick. So I spent all week thinking like, Oh, I think I feel a sore throat. I think I feel a sore throat and I never did. Um, But by, um, Christmas Eve, my eyes hurt, like, um, if you’ve ever had a sinus infection, the pressure behind your eyes that like headache pain, I have that, but I don’t have the sinus pressure or anything else. It’s just that my eyes ache and are really painful. If I look, um, Like an extreme in any direction. that has been my symptoms for the last four days that my eyes are killing me. And so that started, um, what for four days or so after. You started getting symptomatic. So that’s why we’re so confused about where it could have come from, because it would have been natural for me to have gotten sick and then, you know, passed it to you before we knew that I was sick. So we’re trying to figure out how you could have become symptomatic. And then me, so many days later, CK: Right. Pam: uh, CK: And is it, has that been noted as a symptom when you’re experiencing, Pam: So I looked it up and it’s the most common symptom in children, yeah, exactly. Um, so I don’t know if this is what, uh, cause a headache is really common, a really common symptoms. So I don’t know if this is what people would be calling a headache. It’s certainly not. My head doesn’t hurt. It’s just behind my eyes. Um, so I guess it could be classified as a headache, but CK: Just to be clear, Pam hasn’t been tested yet. Pam: I’m CK: Her test is coming. Yeah, we’re doing at home tests. And so mine was confirmed yesterday and we’re just assuming Pam has it because she has that symptom in Pam: I’ve been in your bubble for the last week. CK: Yeah. So it’s pretty much a given, but I mean, if that comes back negative, that’s going to be really confusing. Yeah. I mean, that would be so confusing, but you know, there’s also the possibility that. I got a false positive, and maybe this is the common cold or flu or something else, but Pam: You’ve never been this sick though. You’re so tired. CK: But fortunately I feel okay now maybe a little bit of a fatigue, but going through my morning routine today felt a lot different than the whole past week. Like I, it took me so long to get through my morning routine this past week. I just. I mean on one hand, uh, I guess I’m fortunate that I have these routines in place, so I don’t really have to think about what I need to do or even what I want to do. Like it’s just stuff that I do. And so I just start doing this stuff and it took me probably, uh, almost. Twice as long to get through my morning routine, which is usually about an hour and a half to two hours. So yeah, but, but at the same time, I kind of took a more relaxed approach to it and, you know, I wasn’t in a hurry to get through it and I knew that I should be relaxing and trying to recover. And so. I didn’t really even have stuff that I needed to do those days. So it wasn’t like I was in a hurry to get to anything and get through the morning routine and all that stuff. So, yeah, I took it easy, but. Yeah, it took a while to get through my routines, but today, you know, I was almost back to normal and I felt good going through it. And it kind of felt weird getting back to normal. I’m not sure why, and I don’t know how to explain it, but it’s weird. Cause it didn’t feel like a normal Sunday. Cause my morning routine on Sundays have like this certain color to them. It seems like, and it felt different today. And I don’t know if it was just cause it was Christmas week or, you know, it was Pam: Because we’ve had four Sundays in a row. CK: yeah. And you know it, or, you know, of course I was, it was a different week for me dealing with the coronavirus. So, yeah, whatever it is, I feel a lot better today. And I think tomorrow I should be pretty close to a hundred percent, which is good. So, you know, I can get back to my stuff and do what I want to do. And, you know, fortunately it’s probably the best time to have gotten sick Pam: Yeah. CK: when, you know, I didn’t really have much in, was gonna a lot anyway. So yeah, that, that was fortunate. But anyway, yeah, I mean, it’s just really weird and it’s really weird to experience it. And I still haven’t really wrapped my head around it yet, and I’m just really baffled about how I could have been infected. And so just still trying to process all that, but yeah, I mean, things aren’t really getting better, especially here in California. So it’s really worrying, worrying to see that I was able to get infected somehow and, you know, in spite of being so isolated. So Pam: Well, and we’re really fortunate in the sense that it’s just us in this house. You know, if we lived with your parents CK: yeah. Pam: all of these precautions and you still got sick, that would be a really scary, um, situation. Or if we. Had gotten together with them before you became symptomatic. And one of us was a carrier. I think those are all things that are really scary to think about adding in the layer of the fact that we have been so safe and you still got her, we still got it. So like all these people, like thinking that they’re being safe because like, Oh, I’m only seeing my parents or I’m only seeing my friends or we’re eating in a restroom out on the patio with where there’s air. Like, whatever. Like all of that I think is. Is so irresponsible and we’re fooling ourselves. CK: Yeah. I mean, there is the notion of reducing the risk level as low as possible and calculating the costs and benefits between that. So, yeah, you’ve got to decide for yourself, you know, what the costs, what your costs and what your benefits are and how much risk you’re willing to sacrifice. But yeah, it’s just, uh, hopefully this is a, an experience that can help inform your decisions and yeah, I would just urge everybody to be careful and be mindful and. Yeah. I mean, this is a scary, it’s that it’s the whole invisible nature of this is just crazy and it’s a lot to think about, but yeah. Um, fortunately I, I feel okay. And, um, you know, there’s that notion of worry for my parents because they’re probably. A little, they’re probably taking a little more risk than we are even like, uh, they’re pretty much quarantining now or self isolating. Now I think my mom, or I think maybe both parents are still going to the grocery store, but that’s pretty much it, but yeah, even that, like, you know, of course I’d, rather than that go out, but. Yeah. I mean, even the most minuscule risk of exposure could end up being the point of exposure. So yeah, I guess, I mean, yeah, I don’t know what else to say, but just be careful and yeah, I think, uh, let me go back to this call real quick. Oh shit. I deleted the actual. Okay. So whatever happens to you has been waiting to happen since the beginning of time, the twining strands of fate. Well, both of them together, your own existence and the things that happened to you. So I think this stood out to me because, you know, like I was saying, we’ve been taking all these precautions and. Pretty much reducing risk as close to zero as possible. And we still ended up getting infected. So, you know, this quote kind of goes on to say that this on one hand, it seems like the quote says like your Destiny’s kind of already mapped out for you. Um, but I think that’s a little too. Mm, mysterious in my mind. I think it’s a little too metaphorical. Um, but, uh, you know, I’m not sure how to say it more objectively, but it’s kind of almost the domestic stick perspective that, you know, what’s going to happen too, is going to happen or, or what happened to you happened. And. no, you can’t it’s it’s um, Oh man, I’m running this so many different thoughts, like predetermination and Um, yeah, I’m getting way too mixed up, but the thing is like, I’m trying to, on one hand, Calculate or figure out or solve how I got infected, there’s so many variables in it’s a complex system, and sometimes you just have to accept things for what they are and how they are and move on from there. And. Kind of determine the meaning out of that. And it’s like, it’s already happened and I can’t like go back and figure it out because there are, there are too many variables and I can’t really isolate these things. So I just want to move forward from here and tell people my experience and kind of hopefully spread the awareness of how. This virus can spread and yeah, I think know I’m kind of out of mental energy now. Pam: can I add a non virus take to it? CK: Yeah. Please. Pam: So what it made me think of is that. You can’t get so attached to the outcome of what you’re doing, that, um, you have to spend your days doing what is fulfilling and what makes you happy and what is working towards what you think that you want and not get so tied up in whether what, what the outcome actually is, or, you know what this, this, uh, Fate is that you think that you’re towards because it’s going to change. And, um, if you’re not happy with what you’re doing today, then you’re kind of missing the point. So, um, you know, figure out how to be happy today and, and work towards what you, what you want, but don’t get so wrapped up in the outcome because things are going to change and you don’t have any control over those outside forces. CK: Yeah. I love that. Thank you for that. That could go to exemplify how we compliment each other and work well together. How, you know, you’re able to come up with that perspective, which I totally agree with. And I would think that I would have come up with it if I was able to think about this for awhile, but, you know, fortunately we have Tim here to help and provide these reflections and. Ah, man, I totally blanked on what else I was going to say. I think it was going to be really good, but yeah, I lost it. So I’m going to blame coronavirus and yeah. So I’m looking forward to getting back to a normal week and yeah, I mean, this sickness was really. And knowing because usually I would know. Pretty much get halfway better in a day and then be fully better the next day. And just not getting better day after day was really frustrating. And yeah, like this, I started feeling some lethargy and yeah, it wasn’t fun. Fortunately, it wasn’t too serious for me, but. Yeah. I mean, it still wasn’t fun, but yeah. Uh, before we leave off, is there anything cool going on with the stars? Pam: I’ve got nothing for you this week. I have let my self go. Taking the holidays off. CK: Well, that’s fine. I remember looking at the moon yesterday. Uh, like really cool. There was a pretty cloudy night last night with the moon pocket. It’s like really cool. Think a, there might be a full moon coming soon. Pam: there is a full moon coming soon. Yes. CK: So, yeah, we’ll wait a minute, Dan. And, uh, yeah, this is the last episode before the new year. So. Pam: Year. CK: Yeah, happy new year, everybody. And hopefully 20, 21 will bring in some better news for us. We can use our 2020 experience to progress. So yeah, before we leave off Pam, where can people find you? Pam: You can find me on Twitter, where I’m at Pamela underscored Lund. CK: And you can find me on Twitter where I’m at CK disco and I’ve actually been on social media, a pretty good amount this past week. I’m also Instagramming at disco bleep. And so you can check out those channels and connect with me there. And so, yeah. Thanks for joining me, Pam. Thanks for joining me as always and hope you all come back next week. And keep on practicing to Lou

Practice Session #43 Welcome to my show notes for this week’s session of Practice! We record these sessions every Sunday. I try to publish the audio on the same day of recording, but once in a while, I may get delayed due to various reasons. Also, I will usually have the AI-generated transcript and my initial notes published on the same day of recording as well. On Fridays, I’ll (try to) go back through and proof the transcript while I add all of my notes. I’ll be utilizing this opportunity to clarify and elaborate on points that I may not have conveyed as well as I would’ve liked to. I’ll also provide links to further information and resources. So, on Friday, I’ll intersperse all my notes with the transcription from the audio below (unless I don’t ). Intro. [00:00] CK: Alrighty. Ready? Here we go. Heyo! I’m CK, and you’re listening to Practice. I’m your functional systems integrator, and this is my podcast where practice is not just the theme of the show, but the whole purpose behind it. What started out as a practice of podcasting, as well as speaking in general, has evolved into a practice of self-coaching and self-reflection while espousing half-thoughts and providing unsolicited advice. As always, I’m fortunate to be joined by my Practice partner and partner in life: Pam. Pam: Hey, that’s me. CK: Pam is also my pattern awareness manager, and every Sunday we reflect on the past week and my progress with this practice, along with other lifestyle practices, as well as theories and ideas behind the virtues of practice itself. We’re doing this on the fly, so don’t hold me responsible for what I say here. Make sure to check out my show notes where I’ll provide some fact-checking, self-psychoanalysis and commentary on things I could have done better. You may find this and more information about this project at ForcesOfEqual.com/Practice. Catch up with the Anomaly and the Linchpin. [01:20] We’re recording today, on December 20th of 2020, and this is practice session number 43. And the quote for this week comes from stoic philosopher, Epictetus. And I’ve quoted Epictetus many times before in the quote goes like this, take a liar player. He’s relaxed when he performs alone. But put them in front of an audience and it’s a different story, no matter how beautiful his voice or how well he plays the instrument. Why? Because he not only wants to perform well. He wants to be well-received in the latter, lies outside his control. And again, that comes from Epictetus. So before we go into things, I should mention that we are dog sitting. This weekend. And we had a surprise dog sitting visitor this morning, and I think we’ve had Leila here before, and she’s very squeaky. So. Pam: hopefully she’ll calm down, but if you hear weird noises in the background, it’s a dog. CK: Yeah, we had a little trouble getting started because she was being very squeaky. Yeah. So, yeah. Let’s get this over with so we can get back to playing with Leila. Pam: So I was confused when you started that quote, when you said liar player, because I was thinking L I a R like a player, like a person who Bluffs, not a, not an instrument player. So just to like clear that up in case anyone’s not familiar with what that instrument is. CK: Yeah, we’re not talking about poker here talking about a harp Lake instrument. Pam: I actually thought it was kind of a good quote in that perspective that someone can be disingenuous and untruthful on their own. But as soon as they start interacting with other people, their, um, lives would be exposed and they wouldn’t be as effective. And then once I realized that you were talking about music, I was like, Oh, okay. That has, that’s not the connotation. CK: So let me, yeah, let me go through the quote real quick again with that in mind. So it goes like this take a liar player. He’s relaxed when he performs alone, like put them in front of an audience and it’s a different story. No matter how beautiful his voice or how well he plays the instrument. Why? Because he not only wants to perform well. He wants to be well-received and the ladder lies outside his control. And this actually came up this morning during my morning routine. And I don’t know what the deal is these past two weeks, but I haven’t had a quote ready on the day of recording before I had, I was having like multiple codes speak out to me, but. Yeah, I’m not sure what’s going on. Maybe it’s just, I don’t know what it is, but anyway, this one came up today this morning and it, I, I mean, I really liked it. It’s interesting. Maybe because it kind of fits in with a lot of the things that I’ve been thinking about this past week and that has to do with interactions and communication between. Two people or two different groups. And like the quote States that, you know, when you’re alone, you can pretty much act however you want and perform without any notions or anxieties. In terms of other people observing you, but then when you get in a scenario where there’s other people there and you’re being observed, the circumstances change, things are different and you can’t perform the same way. And I mean, this kind of brings up a lot of different things in my mind and hopefully I can keep things organized, but yeah, it’s all kind of connecting right now in this moment. So we’ll get into our reflections and see what I can do with this coat. So. I want to start out by saying, it feels like it’s been a long time since we recorded last. Like, it feels weird to think that last weekend was my birthday weekend. Pam: I was thinking the same thing this morning. I said to myself that we had been home for two weeks, but it’s only been a week, right? CK: Yeah, it’s crazy. And I think a lot of that has to do with my productivity this past week. That was legal and I, I was super productive over the past week and I think I talked about my productivity and scheduling tendencies and how I was looking to. Kind of get my routines settled a little more in terms of how I think my schedule would go. What would be better? In terms of fitting in my creative endeavors versus strategic or more objective endeavors. And so I tried a couple different things over the past week and some of these things are strategies that I’ve been considering. And so I kind of started implementing them. So the main thing is before. And I mentioned this before. I used to be very regimented with my daily routines and my daily schedule. And I’m still pretty regimented with my routines, but I had become less regimented with my schedule. And before it was based around a Pomodoro, um, what’s it called? Pomodoro technique. Yeah. And I was doing twenty-five minutes sessions with a five minute break and I was basically cycling through that. Throughout the entire day. And I would stick to that as much as I could. And usually I would stick to that pretty well. And I was going through that cycle and it was good for my strategic endeavors and to keep me in a focus mode during that 25 minute session and to give my brain that opportunity to get in the diffuse mode during that five minute break. And then as I took that and. Went into creative work. I kind of kept that same scheduling and I came to realize that I wasn’t able to get into the creative flow that I wanted to get into. And so I started switching things up with my schedule and kind of got relaxed from the Pomodoro technique. And then I kind of. Got off track completely with my schedule and just, it was just kind of free-flowing and, you know, I lost track of my exercise breaks. So I usually do some sort of exercise during that five minute break. While I’m thinking about whatever other things or consolidating whatever I was doing during the 25 minute work period. But yeah, it just kind of all that kind of fell off. And I was just kind of doing things on the fly and in some respects that was beneficial. But in other respects, I felt like I was kind of getting away from the organ organization that I was used to and the rhythm that I was in before. And so I feel like I need to get, or I felt like I needed to get back into some sort of rhythm and have some kind of strategy and some kind of template to follow every week. And so what I’ve been doing is kind of. Going every other day in terms of having more focused mode periods. So like on, like I mentioned, I think last week, you know, you, Pam was saying how you, you were saying how Thursdays were a good day for Sagittarius is because they’re Jupiter Jupiter’s day. And. And then that led me to think how, you know, I, I do have productive Thursdays. And so what I did last week, or this past week was on Tuesday and Thursday, I made those my focus days and did my Pomodoro, um, Kept my Pomodoro cycles on those days. And I was super productive on both of those days. And then the other days, Monday, Wednesday, Friday, I let off that and kind of let my brain be a little more free flowing and more creative and spend more time in that diffuse mode and enjoyed time in that state. And that seemed to work really well for me over the past week. And I got a ton of stuff done and things are going really well on the not bad advice front. So let’s talk about that a little bit. So yeah, I, I, so I think, you know, this podcast with practice, we started it out as something where I could practice talking and get better with speaking. And also practice podcasting and also. Dispose, you know, the virtues of practice itself. And so I kind of want to get back into, you know, talking about podcasting and stuff like that because I’m still learning a lot. And, um, I’ve been doing a lot of stuff with audio and post-processing lately. And especially with that bad advice. You know, coming out now we’re, uh, the third episode will be coming up this coming week. So we’re getting in a good flow with that. So I kind of want to get back to talking about podcasting a little bit more, and I think we can use this opportunity to maybe provide some commentary about the process with not bad advice and things that we might be encountering and discovering. do you want to start, do you want to mention anything about your experience with publishing? Not bad advice so far? Pam: Um, I would just say that the biggest lesson. Something that comes up anytime you’re doing something new, but it’s that everything takes longer than you think it’s going to, like when, you know, from every little thing, like creating graphics for the YouTube channel or, um, figuring out how to export an audiogram or like promoting on social, like everything that you do when it’s new is going to take. Four to 10 times longer than you think that it actually should. So like, don’t get frustrated with that and just build in a lot of time and keep your expectations loose. CK: That’s great. Great advice. And I, Oh man, what am I? What was I thinking about? I just totally blanked. Pam: I can fill in while you’re thinking. CK: Yeah, go ahead. Pam: Another thing is that whatever your expectations are of your work there, way higher than what everyone else. Is expecting from you. So don’t limit yourself or not release something because you think that it’s not perfect. You know, all of the feedback that we’ve gotten from the first couple of episodes has been fantastic and people love the content. And no one has said anything about sound quality or, you know, any of the things that we were worried about. Or I was worried about the fact that I take so many deep breaths because I was nervous or that I sound nervous and no one cares, like, just get it out there. CK: Yeah. Yeah. You’re definitely much more critical about your own work than others are of it. Pam: Also don’t let someone who has never done what you’re doing. Criticize your work. CK: Yeah, great point. And that, uh, that’s great because now I remember what I was thinking about. So yeah. So the thing that’s interesting for me throughout this process is that before. I would have wanted the whole strategy, you know, laid out and a plan of what we’re going to be doing once we published with like the marketing and everything around that. Especially since you know, we’re marketers, we come from marketing and I’m familiar with working with clients and setting out a strategy and having a plan and everything set, you know, You have schedules for when everything’s going to happen, but we used a more agile approach with this and we got the web, we got the episodes published and we didn’t really have a marketing plan. It was kind of more on the fly and I don’t necessarily mind doing it that way because it. Allows us to get stuff out more quickly. I mean, it’s the whole agile methodology, know, we’re able to get episode published instead of waiting to have our entire strategy created, however long that would have taken and, you know, having everything perfectly in place before we launched. And that, you know, that probably would have taken longer not to mention. We probably wouldn’t have gotten everything incorporated. Like we will probably wouldn’t have thought of everything. Pam: Well, and let me relate this back to the quote. Because when you were saying the quote, one of the things that I was thinking about is that, um, some of the best advice that I’ve ever gotten for creating things for, for doing anything, whether it’s a business or, um, or making art or anything, is to just start doing it without an audience, because you’re going to need to practice. And if you, if you built up your audience first, somehow, and then you put out your creation, there’s so much more pressure. Then, if you just start with your 10 friends that listen or see it. So this slow rollout makes me more comfortable putting myself out there than I think I would have been if we did some sort of like huge. Launch, especially cause the first few episodes are going to be our worst ones because they’re the first ones that we did. So I think that it makes me have less performance, anxiety and less concerned about how I am received. CK: Yeah. That’s a great point. And. I love how you connected that back to the quote that fits perfectly. And it goes to speak to how we’re affected by our super systems. Okay. To add on to that notion. Another reason that that quote stood out to me this morning is. Because of something else that Pam brought up this morning in terms of how we work together. And I want to mention that last week, Pam, or was it last week? I was mentioning how I I’m trying to adopt the agile methodology more because I see the benefits of it. And especially the more I do it. But after recording that session last week, I like immediately after recording, I thought about it a little more. Right then I was like, Pam is like, In agile methodologist. Is that word, is it like you do like you, a lot of things like your tendency is to be agile. So I’ve, I feel like we work well together that way, because I’m trying to become more agile, but I still have a lot of strategic and. Analytical processes. So that part of me helps with, you know, being more strategic, strategic to your more agile tendencies. Pam: I CK: But at the same time, yeah. Like. Pam: you were saying that you wanted a marketing plan. I w like you said, that my immediate reaction was like, even though I’m in marketing, that’s just not how I work. I’m very like on the fly, which, you know, I think is kind of crazy for how organized I am in other ways. But when it comes to this kind of stuff, like I hate strategic planning. Absolutely hate it. Love it with money. But when it comes to marketing, hate it. Like, I love to do things on the fly or create on the fly. So I had never considered myself agile until you said that. And I realized, yeah, he’s really strategic and I’m the exact opposite. So that’s really funny to just like, have that awareness and that you also had it. CK: Yeah, totally. And that’s why we were able to get not bad advice released. And, you know, it took us longer to release it because of my more strategic and analytic tendencies, but we got it released quicker than we typically would have because Pam is more agile. Like you have, you’re able to develop all these, uh, and this is another kind of slice. Where you seem to be more of a conceptual, creative, where you come up with something and you just put it out versus what we’ve talked about before with my tendencies being a more experimental creative, where I just want to keep trying and trying and try out every variable and iterate and iterate until it’s perfect. Pam: And what’s funny about that is my perception. My entire life was that that was because I was lazy, right. That I didn’t want to work hard at something. So I would just throw it out there. And I saw you as someone who was a really hard worker, like I never saw you as lazy. Like I saw myself as lazy, but now I’m seeing it not as lazy as. More agile, like you’re saying, and that, you know, it’s just because I get, I get frustrated if I have to work too hard at something, but that doesn’t mean I’m lazy. Like I worked my tail off just in a different way. So having that shift CK: right. Pam: pretty, pretty cool. CK: Yeah, it’s just a different way of thinking. And it’s crazy that we’re just kind of realizing this now after almost 12 years of being together. Pam: Well, I, well, I also wanted to comment and say that the final product is better because of your meticulousness and your work at it. Like what I would have put out if it was on my own would have been. it, but like the content would have been the same, but the product, the Polish would not have been there. So we need both sides there. CK: Yeah. And that’s the exact point that I want to reiterate here is that now. We understand that with the both of us. Uh, so I was actually trying to relate this to the quote, but it actually kind of goes further than that. So the quote to me, another reason that stood out to me this morning was that, you know, there’s the notion that. When you’re alone and doing something, you don’t have that pressure of observers on you and, Oh man. Now I’m thinking of the particle wave duality and the Heisenberg effect. Uh, uh, yeah, I don’t know Pam: Get back on CK: to get into it, but. But, uh, where was I? Oh, okay. So that notion of being observed versus being alone also can be expanded to just an interaction. So, you know, when two people interact with each other, it’s not just one side plus another side. There’s a third space. There’s like a third force or a third thing that comes out of it. And this could be related to just all psychology or complex systems and emergent phenomenon. Where basically, you know, if we’re talking about something like first principles where you want to boil something down to the foundational elements, a lot of times, especially with complex systems, when you boil something down to its constituent parts and you look at those, like, for example, let’s take music. For example, I’ve been. Doing a lot of music stuff lately. So I think this is a good metaphor. When you take like a musical piece, obviously it’s made up of a bunch of different notes and if you boil it down, like music boil down into first principles is notes. And if you look at each note individually, You’re going to have no idea what that whole musical piece sounds like in the end. You just know the sounds of the notes. You know, there’s no, it’s not all put together. There’s no composition. It’s just a sound, it’s not music, but when you put all those notes together in a way that’s harmonic or whatever way, It’s different than those notes individually. So, you know, you can’t put, I mean, so let’s, you can take a style and boil it down to the notes. And when you look at the notes, you can’t, you won’t necessarily be able to see the song, like the notes can be put together a whole bunch of different ways. And so it’s the specific way that they’re put together that makes the song, and it creates this emergent phenomena out of all these constituent parts. So the sum is greater than the whole of its parts. And that’s, that goes to speak towards just thought psychology, which is basically the same concept. And so it’s this, we can also talk about communication science, where before the theory was between sender and receiver, you know, there’s a person that sends a message and a person that receives the message and that was interaction, but there’s also context. So a message can change depending on the context. And that context could be the third. That third space or that emergent phenomena. And so, you know, if the context is different, The sender could be sending something, whatever the senators sending it’s the same thing, but the receiver could be receiving it differently depending on the context. So, yeah, I’m kind of rambling on and on here, but it just goes to show that when. So like with me and Pam, this, this is where I was, this is what I’m trying to get to with me and Pam, you know? So we’re two people and we have our own knowledge and tendencies and intelligence and Pam: And hangups and problems and CK: Yeah. W we’re two individuals and we’re good at what we do. And we do what we do, but when we come together and put our powers, I don’t know it I’m trying to come up with, but yeah, when we put our powers together, it’s not just this, it doesn’t add up to just my stuff and Pam stuff. It adds up to something greater. Then just our stuff. And so it’s not, you know, CK plus Pam equals C can P uh, sorry. It’s not just, I can’t even say our names. Pam: It’s not CK and Pam plus CK. It’s not CK. Plus Pam equals K plus Pam it’s CK. Plus Pam equals forces of equal. CK: There you go. Nice. Nice. I love that. So yeah, I think, uh, that’s I think I got across what I want to get across. Does that make sense? Pam: Yeah. So let’s relate it for other people who maybe don’t have a CK or a Pam, which is that, um, if you’re creating something, um, and you’re alone that maybe putting. What you’re doing out there could attract people who could help you make it bigger and better. Like don’t, don’t hide what you’re creating out of, um, fear or, you know, whatever, whatever it is, that’s preventing you from sharing. It starts sharing it where it’s at, and you could make connections that make it bigger and better, you know? And you don’t know until you start sharing it. CK: Yeah, it’s all about the feedback. So the feedback is that the second part of the equation. So if there’s you and you being the first part of the equation, then there’s the feedback being the second part. Whether it’s, you know, whether it’s a Pam or whether it’s someone else that someone else out in the world that sees your work and that feedback can create that third element. So, yeah. Great point. It’s all about feedback. So yeah, I think that’s what I want to get across this week. Do you have anything you want to talk about? Anything going on with the Pam: We do have a very big, um, astronomical event happening, which is that Jupiter and Saturn are the closest that they have been to each other for 200 years. So, um, They are in the sign of Aquarius, which is like invention and new ideas. It’s a, it’s a sign that’s really about thought and thinking about things in new ways. So we have Aquarius invention thinking about things in new ways. We have Jupiter, which is positivity and expansion, and we have Saturn, which is responsibility. And long-term lessons. So those things kind of feel like maybe they don’t really jive together, like expansion. What does that have to do with responsibility and boundaries? And like, it feels like they don’t really fit together, but they, they do in the way that, um, those three things come together to make the other, the bigger thing. Right. Um, new ideas that manifest. Into concrete accomplishments. So right now is a really good time to take your new ideas and put them out there because they are primed for long-term success. CK: Hmm. Yeah, that sounds good. To me. It sounds very pertinent. So yeah, that’s all we got for this week. So thank you listeners for joining me as always. Thank you, Pam, for joining me as always. And where can people find you? Pam: You can find me on Twitter, where I am at Pamela underscore lung, and maybe in the show notes, we could include the YouTube channel for not bad advice. Cause we need to get some subscribers there so we can get the customer. CK: okay. Yeah, we started a new YouTube channel and we’re just putting the nut bed advice episodes on there with the audio gram and yeah, make sure to check that out. Check out that bad advice. Forces of equal.com/advice. Also check out practice forces of equal.com/practice. And that’s it. So thanks for joining me as always. And I hope you come back next week. Oh wait. You can also find me on Twitter at CK disco and I’m getting a little more and more social lately on social media. So we’ll see how that goes. But yeah. Thanks for joining me as always. And I hope you come back next week and keep on practicing.

Practice Session #42 Welcome to my show notes for this week’s session of Practice! We record these sessions every Sunday. I try to publish the audio on the same day of recording, but once in a while, I may get delayed due to various reasons. Also, I will usually have the AI-generated transcript and my initial notes published on the same day of recording as well. On Fridays, I’ll (try to) go back through and proof the transcript while I add all of my notes. I’ll be utilizing this opportunity to clarify and elaborate on points that I may not have conveyed as well as I would’ve liked to. I’ll also provide links to further information and resources. So, on Friday, I’ll intersperse all my notes with the transcription from the audio below (unless I don’t ). Intro. [00:00] CK: Alrighty. Ready? Here we go. Heyo! I’m CK, and you’re listening to Practice. I’m your functional systems integrator, and this is my podcast where practice is not just the theme of the show, but the whole purpose behind it. What started out as a practice of podcasting, as well as speaking in general, has evolved into a practice of self-coaching and self-reflection while espousing half-thoughts and providing unsolicited advice. As always, I’m fortunate to be joined by my Practice partner and partner in life: Pam. Pam: Hey, that’s me. CK: Pam is also my pattern awareness manager, and every Sunday we reflect on the past week and my progress with this practice, along with other lifestyle practices, as well as theories and ideas behind the virtues of practice itself. We’re doing this on the fly, so don’t hold me responsible for what I say here. Make sure to check out my show notes where I’ll provide some fact-checking, self-psychoanalysis and commentary on things I could have done better. You may find this and more information about this project at ForcesOfEqual.com/Practice. Catch up with the Anomaly and the Linchpin. [01:20] We’re recording today on December 12th or December 13th of 2020. [00:01:28] And this is practice session number 42. And I think I said December 12th, just because I’m used to saying my birthday. [00:01:39] Pam: you just wanted to extend your birthday. [00:01:41] CK: Yeah. I can still do that. I think. [00:01:44] Pam: Birthday weekend as a thing. [00:01:46] CK: Yep. So my 41st birthday was yesterday on December 12th and we had returned from a little getaway yesterday. And spent the rest of the day at home. Nice and relaxing, a little bit of a changer. [00:02:06] Maybe we’ll get into it a little bit during their session today. And so let’s get right into the quote for the week. Today’s quote comes from stoic philosopher, Seneca, who I’ve quoted many times before. And this was interesting, cause I didn’t have a quote today. It was my birthday week. So I kind of got a little off track with some things and didn’t have all my typical routines in place and the stuff got away from me a little bit. [00:02:39] So this one just actually popped up this morning. During my morning routine. And it was kind of perfect for something that I experienced yesterday on my birthday. So this is how the quote goes. Nothing is burdensome if taken lightly and nothing neat arouse one’s irritation so long as one, doesn’t make it bigger than it is by getting irritated. And that comes from Seneca and. I love the quote. I mean, it goes along with the whole stoic philosophy of how your thoughts affect your feelings or how your thoughts affect your mindset obviously, but how you perceive your life, your, the quality of your mind pretty much reflects the quality of your life. So, The first part of the quote says nothing is burdensome. If taken lightly, obviously that’s a mindset. You know, something that happens to you or some sort of experience is the experience or the reality, or how you perceive that reality in itself. And depending on your mindset, it colors how that reality is perceived or how you perceive that reality. [00:04:07] And so if you have. A mindset that’s colored by irritation and you encounter some sort of irritation or something that typically induces irritation. having a mindset that exacerbates that just leads you on to becoming more irritated. So that irritation is. Cycled through your mindset, but if you had a different mindset and you could look at that irritation in a different way, of course, we’d like to talk about spectral, potentiality and duality and plurality and how the same thing could be many different things at the same time. [00:04:51] So if you look at the irritation is, uh, maybe like a challenge per se or a learning experience. Then you can immediately turn it from something that affects your negative negatively to something that affects you positively. So, yeah, it just goes along with a lot of other quotes that I recited before and the whole stoic philosophy. [00:05:13] So I really liked that popped up to me or stood out to me today this morning because of a circumstance that arose yesterday. On my birthday. So I’ll probably get into that. But before I do Pam, do you have any thoughts on that quote, [00:05:30]Pam: Um, not other than what you, I think you’re going to bring up with the situation that happened yesterday. I think it does fit perfectly. Um, I think, uh, when you were talking about what the quote means, you were saying, you can turn a negative into a positive, and I was thinking about that. You can turn, you can almost turn a negative, not even necessarily into a positive, but into nothing like. [00:05:57] CK: a neutral. [00:05:57] Pam: Yeah, you can neutralize it by not responding to it. And so it doesn’t have to be like, Oh, this terrible thing happened. And I made lemonade out of lemons. You can be [00:06:08] CK: Uh, it’s just a thing that [00:06:10] Pam: it’s just a thing. Yeah. [00:06:11] CK: Right. Right. [00:06:12] Pam: And I don’t have to get mad about it or annoyed by it or react to it at all. Like I can just be okay with something that happened and it doesn’t have to have any impact at all. [00:06:23] CK: at all. Yeah. Great point. I like that. And that actually goes more into the Taoist philosophy, which I’ve been trying to adopt a little more in my own life. [00:06:35] So I liked that point for sure. So yeah, this thing, my birthday week or the tail end of my birthday week. Things were a little different over the past week. I didn’t, uh, well, I actually, this past week was very eventful for us. We released our first episode of not bad advice podcast this past Wednesday. [00:07:03] And it launched without a hitch. I think everything went pretty smoothly. And I was able to finish up what I wanted to finish up and get it out and get a thing, tied it up and everything looking really good. I think in terms of the agile methodology, I, um, I went way past being agile. And I got a little way more strategic, but I don’t know. [00:07:33] I just, I still have those tendencies and that’s how I’ve been working for decades. So it’s going to be, it’s going to take me a while to get totally agile. And I don’t know if I want to maybe I’ll I do want to a little more in terms of getting stuff published or launched, but yeah, I am. Uh, I really enjoy the agile process and the concept, and it’s definitely helping me getting, get this stuff out. [00:08:04] And it’s interesting because I had everything ready on. Probably by Monday. I really had everything ready to go. And like I mentioned, last week, I actually had. Something ready last week, but I just wasn’t really comfortable releasing that to the public. And so by Monday I was. Working on some stuff and tweaking some other, other things. [00:08:32] And it was, I was making really good progress and I was even happier with what I had and I would have been fine with releasing that what I had on Monday, but then come Tuesday. I was, my mind was really working on all cylinders, cylinders, and I was just pumping stuff out and getting stuff done and kind of. I was in a place and I’m not sure if it was because of the pans making a lot of noise over there. [00:09:07] Pam: my hand caught on my headphone cable. [00:09:11] CK: But anyway, I, I don’t know if it was because of the point in the process that I was at. And. Oh, sorry. So we have our neighbors, new neighbors moving in downstairs. So you might hear some other weird noises, [00:09:29] Pam: And [00:09:29] CK: or pounding. [00:09:31] Pam: the neighbor with the charger just started his car too. So everyone’s making lots of notes all at once. [00:09:37] CK: We’ll see how much of that I can get out. But anyway, the point I was at in the process, I had, you know, something ready and ready to yell. And at that point I’m just kind of tweaking and optimizing and eking out. Those last percentage points. And I really liked that part of the process because I pretty much have everything wrapped up and I’m just kind of tidying up loose ends and maybe even optimizing things even further and further than I need to. [00:10:09] But for some reason at that point, maybe at that 90 to 95% completion point, like. My productivity just ramps up. I don’t know if it’s, because I’m just able to finally connect everything and everything’s kind of coming together and I can just knock everything out. Maybe, maybe because I’ve done so much to get everything where it’s at at that point, at that 90 to 95% completion point, but I don’t know whatever it is. [00:10:47] I’m thinking that. It goes along with my desire to incorporate the agile methodology more because if I can get more agile and get to that 90% completion points sooner, then I can get to that period of extreme productivity. Even sooner and work with that. So, yeah. Uh, that’s kind of where my mind’s at now and the processes that I’m thinking of in terms of production and strategy behind my new creative endeavors. So yeah. Well, what are your thoughts on that town? If you have any [00:11:30] Pam: really interesting to me, cause I’m exactly the opposite. When something gets to 90 to 95% complete, I’m like, just get it done. And like, I actually skimp at the end cause I’m like, I just don’t want to do this anymore. So we’re totally opposite in that sense. Like, I have no problem getting it to 90%, but then I’m like, Ugh, I’m done with this. [00:11:48] CK: Yeah. So the reason I, one of the reasons that. I brought that up is because on Tuesday. So I said on Monday, I pretty much had something ready to go with. That was that 90, 95%. And on Tuesday I was working, I kept working on that episode pretty much all day long. And then I kept working on it all through the night. [00:12:09] And then I was working on the website stuff and getting all that title up around the podcast. And I. Just, I don’t know, I just wanted to keep going and I ended up staying up way past my typical bedtime and I got to bed around like one, one 30 in the morning, whereas I’d been getting to bed around nine 30 or 10, uh, as of late. [00:12:35] So yeah, I just wanted to keep going and. I dunno, it was just this weird thing. And I wasn’t even tired. Otherwise I would have tried to get myself to bed, but I was like, I’m not even tired, you know, I’ll just wait until I feel a little more sleepy. And I was, I just kept going. I just kept knocking stuff out and it was this, I don’t know. [00:12:58] Some sometimes I feel like I’m, I work better at night and before when I was an insomniac. I would just work through the night and, you know, maybe play techno music and just kind of knock stuff out. And I kind of had that kind of feeling again. [00:13:22] Pam: Do you think that it’s, that you work better under pressure? Because part of the problem has been that we didn’t like we had deadlines, but I’m not good at forcing you to stick to them. And I’m been kind of like, Oh yeah, whatever. And we had pushed this so many times that you knew you had to get it done. [00:13:38] CK: Right. Yeah. There’s definitely an element of pressure. And I do tend to work well under pressure, but like I said, I already had what I needed to get done done. So there wasn’t that pressure too. You know, reach hit, hit a deadline or anything because everything was all done. I just, I don’t know. I was just in this mode where I wanted to keep going, but yeah, that’s a good point on the time pressure element, because. Yeah, the w I mean, we’re working for ourselves, so we determined a lot of our own deadlines. And like you said, you’ve become a lot more fluid or just kind of, I don’t know how you would describe it. [00:14:28] Pam: I have stopped having expectations. [00:14:35] CK: And that’s probably mostly a function of my. Optimism bias, [00:14:40] Pam: Yes, [00:14:42] CK: but yeah, I’m still working on that. And, uh, I think a lot of the big hurdles in the big mountains have been climbed. Like I’m at the top, we’re pretty close to the top of most of those mountains. So now I just get the coast a little more and ride that. [00:15:04] Middle of the momentum wave. And so, yeah, I mean, we’ll see how things go. But I also, on that note, I’ve been thinking about my schedule and my routines and stuff like that. And how those have been evolving over time as I’ve been getting into these creative endeavors and you had mentioned something about. [00:15:31] My star sign or my natal chart, uh, having some kind of success with Thursdays because of Jupiter. [00:15:43] Pam: Yeah, your, your sun sign is Sagittarius, which is ruled by Jupiter and Thursday is Jupiter’s day of the week. [00:15:51] CK: Okay. But yeah, I was. So you asked me if I had a favorite day of the week or a most productive day of the week or something like that. And my first thought was. That Sundays were my most productive days or one of my favorite days. And they are so today being Sunday, it’s our podcasting practice podcasting day. [00:16:16] And you know, it’s a session of self-reflection and practice obviously. And so, you know, I we’ve developed this routine of doing this on Sundays and kind of built a routine around it. For the rest of our Sundays in, I mean, our, our Sundays are filled with this podcast of practice and self-reflection as well as PAMs that bad advice podcast on some Sundays. [00:16:48] Pam: Whenever I get around to writing it up. [00:16:51] CK: And then we have our routines of rest and relaxation and recuperation and regeneration. And so it’s a pretty well-rounded day and we have the routine down, like the schedule. I mean, it’s not super. [00:17:09] Pam: regimented. [00:17:10] CK: Yeah, exactly. It’s not all locked in, but you know, it’s pretty loose and we’ve been following. Uh, pretty similar schedule for now. [00:17:19] I mean, this is episode 42, so like the past 41 weeks. So yeah, I mean, it’s, uh, for me coming from being very regimented with my schedule, this, I guess this kind of appeases that and having that regularity, but at the same time, It’s loose enough. And, you know, we kind of go with the flow enough and I think maybe the timing of everything works out well that, you know, we can move things around a little bit here and there. [00:17:54] And it’s just a well rounded day, you know? So I do like Sundays, but on the point of Thursday’s being, uh, my day for Sagittarius. Yeah. That, so I started thinking that. That also makes sense because it’s not Friday where I’m thinking of the weekend and getting away from work or something regimen and like that per se. [00:18:25] So, and it’s also, yeah, yet it’s also towards the end of the week. So I’m kind of in the momentum from the previous days. So, you know, it’s not Monday at the beginning of the week, but you know, I’ve had Tuesday and Wednesday to get into a flow and stuff. Thursday, I’m kind of at a max output. So I do like the Thursdays and I don’t know why I’m talking about this. [00:18:50] I think I started talking about my schedule because I’m still kind of wrapping my head around the how to go about switching from, you know, creative modes of thinking versus strategic modes of thinking. You know, I’ve talked about focus mode and diffuse mode of learning. And so I feel like I’m going back to strategizing my schedule and the reason that I want to look into this a little more and kind of systematize it a little more instead of kind of winning things and trying to figure out where my creative. Times or sessions fit in is because. One going away for my birthday. So we actually went camping or glamping to be technically accurate. [00:19:55] Pam: there was a heated blanket involved in a mattress and a bathroom. So it wasn’t full on camping. [00:20:00] CK: Yeah. We had running water and heat and water and power. So, and we had phone service. So. Uh, but we were in a tent and it was called. [00:20:16] Pam: It was 43 degrees overnight. [00:20:19] CK: Yeah, I think it got below 40, [00:20:21] Pam: Yeah. [00:20:22] CK: I think so. But. Yeah. And to those that aren’t in Southern California might think that’s nothing like free complaining about 40 degrees and that’s the coldest that we get. But anyway, uh, you know, I mean, we’re used to a nice warm vacation type weather year round, basically. So yeah, that’s cold for us. [00:20:45] And, you know, we’ve talked about before the importance of discomfort. At times, and this was kind of like a intentional discomfort for us, kind of like, uh, it was definitely a pattern interrupt and thanks to my pattern awareness manager. Pam. She constructed this nice weekend getaway for us to go clamping and also a cast iron lasagna in Maine lobster rolls in a phone. [00:21:21] Pam: Yeah. It was a very bougie glamping [00:21:24] CK: Clem chatter. And what was that? Coffee? Ice cream thing. I forgot. [00:21:28] Pam: but we, I forgot. Oh, for breakfast. Yeah. We had coffee cake. [00:21:33] CK: So, [00:21:34] Pam: yeah, we were those people. [00:21:36] CK: yeah, but yeah, that kind of got me to realize being away like that, that I still need to. Get away in my mind and have these periods away from my normal processes so that I can get my mind in a place where I can be more out of the box and more creative and more imaginative and whatnot. And so I kind of have to figure out, maybe it’s like on a certain day that I need to just. [00:22:16] Turn off and unplug and get in my creative mode or maybe parts of multiple days or something like that. But like, you know, when we went glamping, we really didn’t change our routines very much. Our days were still pretty similar I still, I was able to have different. Thoughts. Like, I felt like I was in a different mode of thinking, of course we didn’t have wifi and we didn’t have a TV and stuff like that. [00:22:52] So I just couldn’t go online and get to my work or, you know, whatever I do on the computer. So there were instances where we were just kind of sitting around and trying to figure out what to do. we don’t really have times like that. You know, we always have something to do or something that we’re usually doing at certain times of the day, but it was nice to kind of sit there and not do anything, you know, we were just doing [00:23:28] Pam: so long, like Friday was a long day. [00:23:35] CK: well, is it not for me? [00:23:37] Pam: Just felt, I mean, not, not in a bad way. It just felt like there was so much time. Like I would look at the clock and be like, it’s 10:30 AM. We’ve been up for four hours and have done everything. [00:23:52] CK: Yeah. But at the same time, it’s like, uh, like I was saying, you know, we have a different mindset or you’re just kind of forced into a different way of thinking and, you know, without having. Certain things around you that you’re habitually reaching for or doing it, you know, that forces you to have to think differently. [00:24:21] So it’s something like that that I want to incorporate into my routine a little more so I can get into that mode and force myself into that mode per se. Yeah. [00:24:37] Pam: do you want to tell the story that relates to the quote since you teased the bat, just to close [00:24:41] CK: Yeah. Great point. Thank you. Thanks. Yeah, that’s a great idea. So yeah, let’s uh, recite the quote once more. It’s from Seneca, it says, he says nothing is burdensome if taken lightly and nothing needed arouse one’s irritation so long as one, doesn’t make it bigger than it is by getting irritated. So what happened yesterday? [00:25:04] On my. Actually on my actual birth date is that, you know, we had a plan to check out of our glamping experience and make our way back up to Huntington beach, where one of my favorite restaurants is, and they have this grilled cheese spaghetti sandwich that. I’ve been getting on my birthday for, I don’t know how long, maybe four or five years. Yeah, I missed last year because we were in Chicago for my birthday, but they offer you a free sandwich on your birthday. So they texted me about that and we worked it out. So we would check out and mosey on back up the coast and have lunch. So I could end my favorite sandwich on my birthday. And so everything was working out perfectly and the timing was perfect. [00:26:04] And we were having a great day and we get to the place for lunch and they were closed and I had an inkling that that would have happened, At the same time, you know, they texted me the offer and I accepted the offer and I looked on their web properties in their social media and everything looked to be up and running and they had posted something on Instagram that day. [00:26:39] So, you know, obviously I assumed they were open, so it was pretty disappointing [00:26:46] Pam: And to be, to be clear, they have three locations and they decided because of COVID to close down one of them, it just wasn’t sustainable for them to keep all three open. And the one that we go to is the one that was closed. [00:27:00] CK: right, exactly. So, yeah, I was disappointed and. Maybe even more so, because I starved myself to that point during the day. And so I was really hungry. I was ready to eat and they ended up being closed. And so my thing, like I said, my, you know, I’m very strategic with my routines and schedule and the timing of stuff. [00:27:25] And I had everything lined up perfectly for that. And if it was open, you know, it would have been perfect. It would have been the perfect time for you to eat. And we would have been able to enjoy a meal outside by the beach and they happened to be closed. And so, you know, my initial reaction was disappointment and [00:27:48] Pam: You were starting to get pretty frustrated there while we were trying to figure out what else to eat. [00:27:53] CK: I stood in it for a while, because I was starving and. Uh, you know, it just kind of threw a wrench in everything and everything was going so well. Like the timing for everything was perfect and everything else with the whole glamping experience was perfect before that. And so, yeah, I mean, this quote is perfect because. It says, you know, nothing need arise. [00:28:20] One’s irritation so long as one, doesn’t make it bigger than it is by getting irritated. And, you know, I stood in it in the disappointment for a little while and as I thought about it, you know, I kind of thought, you know, I didn’t, you know, I wanted my birthday to go smoothly, but at the same time, I’ve never really been big on birthdays in general. [00:28:48] Just, I don’t like, I mean, before I didn’t like the attention or, you know, having all the attention on me and I also never thought, you know, I mean, it’s just the day you were born or what not, but lately I’ve been thinking, you know, it’s good to celebrate your own life and it’s a good. Ding, and it’s a good marker or milestone to consider in terms of reflection and stuff like that. [00:29:18] So I’ve kind of tried taking that more into consideration and, you know, then I started thinking it’s okay for me to be irritated, that it’s an irritating circumstance. And at the same time, it can allow me perspective and. You know, not only do I have to just be irritated at the time, but I could also consider that, you know, it’s unfortunate to be irritated about being, you know, pissed off about not getting a sandwich that I want. [00:30:03] Pam: like this is your biggest COVID problem. [00:30:06] CK: Yeah. So that’s why that quote. Stood out to me when I saw it this morning and I’m like, Oh, that’s just perfect. And to keep going along that theme while we were at glamping, I was thinking, you know, there was a period in my life where I would’ve thought that this would have been the opposite of a happy birthday experience for me, like going out, you know, out of the home and somewhere. That you know, somewhere new in a new experience, like we’re, we don’t really camp. And I don’t know if I’ve ever been camping. I mean, I’ve passed out in nature overnight before through my colleges, but Tim used to go camping when she was a toddler. But yeah, we never really camped in our adult lives in never kind of exposed ourselves to nature overnight. [00:31:02] Harsh weather, all that stuff or harsh is for us. But so, you know, I was thinking that it’s a good practice or experienced in terms of practicing some discomfort and you know, something new and, you know, going into it. We didn’t really think about it as something that. Was challenging or, I mean, I guess we kind of did. [00:31:31] I don’t know, but it was like just an experience for us. Like we like going on trips for experiences, but as I was thinking about it, you know, it’s, even though we were camping per se, Like, we still had all these resources available to us. And this experience was set up really nicely by the host and that there was an enclosed area for the bathroom. [00:32:03] So we were blocked from the wind and they had like a rough on it as well. And, you know, like I said, we had warm running water and we had all the amenities that we needed other than central heat. [00:32:21] Pam: Yeah, there’s a grill. We cooked everything on the grill. Everything except except heat, which we didn’t expect. People can. If they want to see photos, they can go on Instagram to bonds, all bell glamping. [00:32:35] CK: There you go, I’ll link to that in the show notes. And yeah, it just got me to realize that we really don’t need much. And it got me to consider the abundance that we have in our lives. And like I was saying, our days were pretty much how they usually go when we’re at home and we didn’t really have to change a lot of stuff up. [00:33:01] Other than, you know, wearing more clothes and being bundled up and leaning up a little more and spending more time under the blankets on a heated bed. But yeah, it’s just, I mean, especially during this time in the pandemic, it’s really, eye-opening in, I’m just very grateful and I feel very fortunate to be able to consider, you know, This camping experience and the abundance that we have, you know, it kind of helped bring about that, that perspective, I guess you could say. So. Yeah, I’m just kinda rambling here. I don’t really have much else that I can think of right now. Do you have anything else you want to talk about Tim? [00:33:50] Pam: Um, there is solar eclipse happening on Monday the 14th. We won’t be able to see it here in, uh, in North America. People will be able to see it in South America, but yeah, so it’s kind of a, an infrequent event. So it’s happening in Sagittarius, which is all about, um, expansion and growth and, um, optimism. So it’s a good time to. [00:34:14] Think about what you want to grow over the next six months, what you want to achieve and where you want to expand. [00:34:22] CK: Nice. Interesting. And is that on Selena’s birthday? [00:34:25] Pam: It is on Salinas birthday. [00:34:27] CK: Yeah. She’ll love that. She was, I remember her being jealous of my birthday last year. I think the, there was like a cold moon or a blue moon or something that was at its fullest at 12, 12 o’clock in the morning. On 12, 12 the day or something like that, which was my birthday. [00:34:53] [00:34:53] So anyway, I’m glad that she gets something like that on her birthday this year. So happy early birthday to Selena and that’s all I have for this week. So yeah. Make sure to check out not bad advice first episodes up and we’ll get the second episode of this week. Where are you going to be? Publishing on Wednesdays every week. [00:35:19] So check that out if you haven’t checked it out yet. And so Pam, where can people find you? [00:35:24] Pam: You can find me on Twitter, where I am at Pamela underscore Lund. [00:35:28] CK: And you can find me on Twitter at CK disco. I’ve been posting a little bit here and there lately and have some other things in the works, uh, play with some video actually the past couple of days while we are away. So not sure what’s going to come out of that, but playing around with it, seeing what we can do. [00:35:46] So yeah, check all that out. And. Uh, thank you guys for listening and Pam. Thanks for joining me as always. And I hope you come back next week and keep on practicing to lose

Practice Session #41 Welcome to my show notes for this week’s session of Practice! We record these sessions every Sunday. I try to publish the audio on the same day of recording, but once in a while, I may get delayed due to various reasons. Also, I will usually have the AI-generated transcript and my initial notes published on the same day of recording as well. On Fridays, I’ll (try to) go back through and proof the transcript while I add all of my notes. I’ll be utilizing this opportunity to clarify and elaborate on points that I may not have conveyed as well as I would’ve liked to. I’ll also provide links to further information and resources. So, on Friday, I’ll intersperse all my notes with the transcription from the audio below (unless I don’t ). Intro. [00:00] Pam: Did my stomach gurgles come out on last week’s recording? CK: I don’t think so… unless you, like, really pay attention… but I think I got most of it out. Pam: Okay. It’s not doing it right now. So won’t yeah. CK: Alrighty. Ready? Here we go. Heyo! I’m CK, and you’re listening to Practice. I’m your functional systems integrator, and this is my podcast where practice is not just the theme of the show, but the whole purpose behind it. What started out as a practice of podcasting, as well as speaking in general, has evolved into a practice of self-coaching and self-reflection while espousing half-thoughts and providing unsolicited advice. As always, I’m fortunate to be joined by my Practice partner and partner in life: Pam. Pam: Hey, that’s me. CK: Pam is also my pattern awareness manager, and every Sunday we reflect on the past week and my progress with this practice, along with other lifestyle practices, as well as theories and ideas behind the virtues of practice itself. We’re doing this on the fly, so don’t hold me responsible for what I say here. Make sure to check out my show notes where I’ll provide some fact-checking, self-psychoanalysis and commentary on things I could have done better. You may find this and more information about this project at ForcesOfEqual.com/Practice. Catch up with the Anomaly and the Linchpin. [01:20] We’re recording today on Sunday, December 6th of 2020. And this is practice session number 41 December 6th, already. Pam: That’s funny that it’s the 41st session. And when we record the next session, you will have turned 41. CK: interesting. I didn’t realize that can’t believe it’s going to be buying birthday Presley already. So, yeah, this is going to be my birthday week turning 41 on the 12th, 12, 12. Yeah. That’s crazy to think about it. Yeah, I’ll go ahead and restate the quote for the week. And this one comes from load zoo who I’ve quoted many times before. The founder, or I think he’s considered the founder of Daoism. Anyway, the quote goes like this. If you realize that all things change, there is nothing you will try to hold on to. If you are not afraid of dying, there is nothing you cannot achieve. If you realize that our things change there is nothing you will try to hold on to. If you are not afraid of dying, there’s nothing you cannot achieve. And again, that’s by law soon. And I’m trying to remember why that stuck out to me this week. I jotted it down a couple of days ago, but any thoughts from you offhand? Pam: um, it feels like two quotes that were stuck together. Like they feel like two valid, but different statements. CK: I guess that kind of goes along with the whole Taoism idea with the yin and yang coming together. Maybe the concept of dualism, right. But yeah, I do. So let’s take it line by line. The first line is if you realize that all things change, there is nothing you will try to hold on to. So that one’s pretty, self-explanatory life and complex systems are dynamic and always changing. Oftentimes we as humans tend to hold on to various ideas or patterns or habits or routines These are things that as humans, we incorporate to make life easier. Because if we do, if we repeat similar things, we don’t want to have to relearn what we have to do each time we do it. So there’s that idea of habits and routines and pattern recognition. But in reality, things are dynamic and always changing. So. Okay. I mean, it goes along with a lot of things, a lot of the stuff that we talk about often in terms of how things are dynamic and things are Accountex system. So, Pam: It actually goes right along with what I wrote from my terrible spread this morning. CK: Oh really? Pam: Yeah. So the first card that I pulled was the death card, which doesn’t mean death in the literal sense. It means change and transformation. So, um, You know, we’re often afraid of change because change can mean the end of something and, or, um, change is scary in any sense, really. So I wrote this morning, um, That death itself, isn’t finality. It’s the end of the current state of being and an initiation into the next one. When someone dies, we keep them alive. In our memories, they don’t cease being a part of our lives because they aren’t physically here anymore. Their influence continues to shape us as long as we keep them alive by telling their stories. And the same is true for thoughts and beliefs. They don’t simply disappear because you’ve decided to let them die. The longer a belief has been with you the longer it will linger. Letting go of that old identity and those old fears and living in the old skin will take time, be patient with yourself. So just the idea that, but changes is a constant and, and you need to embrace change. And that even when things do change, They’re not done that work. We’re kind of in this constant state of transformation. CK: that was something that you wrote Pam: Yeah. I just wrote it this morning. Yeah. Um, CK: Interesting. And then, so you related that to the first line, but then it’s interesting that the second line actually talks about death. Pam: yeah, certainly I hadn’t put that together yet, but yes, that’s very interesting. CK: And the second line again, it says, if you are not afraid of dying, there is nothing you cannot achieve. And that’s actually interesting because that goes along with a big tenant of stoic philosophy. I believe the Latin phrase is momentum Mori, Pam: Okay. CK: which means wait. Oh shoot. So it’s been a while since I’ve been. Learning Latin. Uh, so momentum, Mori, I think it’s life, basically life is fleeting, or like, remember to remember death and it’s the notion of it kind of sounds, I don’t know if the district’s the right term, but it kind of stones. Pam: Fatalistic CK: Yeah. In terms of thinking about death all the time, but in thinking about death, you’re thinking about life. So there’s that dualism there. And one of the stoic concepts is that you are dying a little bit every day, all the time, but we don’t really frame it like that in our own minds. As we go along in our daily lives. And so we kind of lose sight of the concept of death and we kind of maybe have different ideas and we’ve sort of developed this different idea of death and in turn life because of the different ways we think about death now, for example, in. Ancient times or even a hundred or so years ago, humans were around death all the time, whether they’re out hunting and killing and making food from whatever’s hunted and killing to being on a farm and raising animals and seeing animals die and maybe. You know, slaughtering animals for food and whatnot. So before we’d be around life and death all the time, obviously we’re on life all the time, but we’d be more exposed to death and dying, but these days were almost more shielded from it and tell. The time comes for death to happen to, uh, someone who’s close to us, whether it’s a loved one or a relative or a friend or whatnot. And so it kind of hits us harder at that time in terms of the death and how we react to it. Whereas before when we were around it all the time, it’s more a part of life. And we’re not as, or we weren’t as devastated or surprised for lack of a better term. One death came around. Pam: Yeah, I think it was probably different. Like it’s still just as sad and you are still just as affected by losing someone that you love. But it is, I think it was almost more honored. CK: Yeah, I, I could say that that’s a good way to put it. And it just wasn’t as like severe, I guess you could say, or it wasn’t as big of a shock in terms of trauma and whatnot, because we were more used to it. We were more adapted to it. So, yeah. Um, again, the quote is, if you realize that all things change, there is nothing you will try to hold on to. If you are not afraid of dying, there is nothing you cannot achieve. So it just kind of encompasses the whole flow and the dynamism of life and things are always changing. And. Things are always being born and things are always dying. And so there’s this cycle and a flow that goes on and we have to kind of remember all that. And there’s this spectrum. I always talk about spectrums and spectral potentiality. And so there’s always all these different things going on. So if you just kind of open your eyes and open your mind and provide a space to see. All these things happening, you’ll be more apt or have less of a tendency to focus or have tunnel vision tunnel vision on some, a single thing or a single event or a single emotion and have more perspective. So, yeah, I think, uh, I was able to get around to what I got out of the quote. So maybe will I be able to tie it into some of the things, Oh shoot. I forgot to stop or start the stop watch. So. Uh, okay. So yeah, I’m going to try to keep things to around half an hour. It’s still been going long. I think I was around 40 minutes last week, but keep this shorter and more succinct because that’ll help me in. Post-processing spend less time in post-processing yeah. Uh, let’s see. How about your how’s your mood over the past week? Pam: good. I’ve been a really good, especially for the first week of a month, which is usually full of client reports and still was full of client reports right after black Friday, which is a big but I’ve really been working on, um, separating my worst from my production, knowing that what I produce is not. The same as what I’m worth and what my value is as a human. So that allowed me to, um, have some more mental and creative space. So I decided to launch another site because what I need is one more thing to maintain. But, um, I decided to launch another site, which is@pamelalund.me. And it is my Derek. My daily tarot spreads that I do for myself, that I thought I would start sharing with the world with anyone who may need a little perspective outside of all of our audio perspective. So it’s there and I’m also, um, Doing a little posts on Pinterest to get it out there. And, um, yeah, that was, that was fun. CK: Cool. So that’s up and going now people can check it out. Pam: there are three days worth up there. CK: Nice. I’ll have to check it out too. And that’s at Pamela and.me Pam: Yep. That’s right. Yeah. It’ll be a little Rocky at the beginning because I’m transitioning from, I’m trying to not get into the mindset of writing them for other people. I’m trying to stay in the mindset of writing them for myself. And then, um, it’s, it’s been difficult though. Cause I find myself editing for an audience, so, CK: Yeah, that’s interesting. I totally get that feeling because that’s kind of where I’m going with this podcast with practice. I’m really doing it for myself and to practice and yeah. For others in terms of providing an example. But in the beginning I find myself, you know, thinking what others are going to think and thinking how I can kind of tailor it to the audience. But yeah, I’ve been getting more and more used to the idea of, you know, this is my thing, and this is my self-reflection. And. I can talk about myself and what I know, because I know those things and kind of confident with those things, although I’m not always so confident putting together all the thoughts that are scattered and floating around in my head, but still these are things that are in my heads, Pam: It’s your head. CK: but yeah. But yeah, I totally get that, that mindset. yeah, my week was very interesting and this will kind of tie up a lot of the things that I’ve been considering talking about. And so my week was kind of split in half before Wednesday and after Wednesday. So I guess I mentioned last week that we were getting in launched the first episode of not bad advice on Wednesday. So this past Wednesday, And I thought I gave myself enough time. You know, we gave ourselves two weeks lead times since we released the trailer and I thought that’d be plenty of time. And of course it wasn’t. And I was kind of getting to crunch time and I did end up finishing the first episode on Wednesday, but I wasn’t. Completely comfortable with it and it’s probably fine. It’s yeah. I mean, I don’t want it to my own home, but it’s probably good and it’s Def definitely good enough to publish, but I just, I just knew that I can make it better and it took me. Now looking back, it took me too long to get where I wanted to get on by Wednesday. So it’s kind of led me to look more into my tendencies around working and, you know, between creative work and strategic work. And this is stuff that I’ve talked about in weeks past, and I’ve tried to. Figure out and develop and cultivate. But I think this past week kind of really showed me how I go about these kinds of things. And so I do, so I’m realizing that I still need to try to tap into that agile. Process or that agile philosophy, a little more, or a lot more where I get the minimum viable product developed as quickly as possible, which is. Basically what I tried doing with practice in the beginning where, you know, it’s simply a podcast, we’re just recording audio. And we were nowhere near where we are now in terms of our room setup and our mic setups and our mic technique and our audio processing and our post-processing and editing and all that stuff, which now that I’m thinking about all that stuff, like it’s crazy where we are now from where we started. But when we started, I didn’t know that we were going to get into all these things. And I knew that I wanted to produce something of quality, but I didn’t know what went into all that quality. And I was able to produce something that was available and viable, but of course, looking back now, you know, the quality is nowhere near where it is now. But still I was able to get it started. And now we’re on episode 42 or 41 and Pam: now wouldn’t be where it is. Had we not gone through all of that? Like you had to go through it in CK: exactly. Who knows, you know, if I didn’t. Kind of incorporate that agile process to begin with. Who knows if we’d have anything at all right now, like I might still be tweaking and fiddling around with all this gear and all the software and stuff. So yeah, in when, so with the not bad advice episode, I was trying to incorporate that concept, but. Now looking back, I know that I wasn’t able to, and I kind of, I can see where I can incorporate a little more. So basically I’m trying to use all. So I I’ve been, I’m still learning a lot of stuff around post-processing audio and podcasting in general, and even just storytelling and editing and. The formatting process and everything like that. So it’s, um, I still have a lot of learning going on and of course I’m learning each time that I’m processing one of these podcasts. And so each podcast is basically better or I’ve added something new that I’ve learned to it. And it’s tough. When I’m in that process because of course I want it to be, I want it to end up being the best I possibly can, but you know, if I’m still learning, it’s, you know, the, the bar is always gonna rise or the bar is always going to be higher. So. I’m discovering now that I, it would really benefit me to adopt that agile philosophy a little more. So what I could have done differently last week was instead of, you know, doing everything I could to make the podcast the best I possibly could, I should have. Just produce it as fast as possible with what I already knew so that I could have something done. And I know I kind of try to explain this whole concept to you earlier this week 10, Pam: It’s making a lot more sense now. CK: okay, good. So I am hoping that I can make even more sense as I go about it here. And so, you know, if I had something done quick, so, I mean, I could have probably processed it within a day, maybe two tops with what I know and have it good enough to publish and have it ready to go. But instead it took me two weeks to get something ready to go, and it might be better than. What I could have done in a day or two, but if I did, if I took the agile, if I use the agile process and did it within a day or two, and then took the rest of those two weeks, uh, you know, 12 more days to work on it from there. I think I’d be at a much better place or, you know, it may have taken me only three or four more days to get to where I got to in two weeks. So, yeah. So that’s why I think, uh, um, adopting the agile methodology would be beneficial for me and wrapping my head around my process last week. And kind of reviewing and reflecting on it is making me see that a little better. And yeah. Do you have any response to that? Pam: No other than that, I think that it’s really easy to look back now and say, Oh, it’s so obvious that that’s what you should have done. And I would have loved for it to only take two days. But I think you probably had to go through this to know that this is how your process needs to be going forward. So. CK: Yeah, exactly. And I’m glad it happened. And so then the rest of my week went so well. So we decided to postpone the release of the first episode until next coming Wednesday or this coming Pam: tell that you were stressed out and you were at nine o’clock at night, getting to go back to work on it. And we’ve been in that cycle before. CK: And so, yeah, the, the thing is like with my typical cycle, I would just get into this mode and I just really kind of focus in on the process, which I love doing. I’ll get really tied into the process and I’ll just fiddle around and fiddle around and tweak and tweak. And I just love trying out. Every variable possible because I want to know all the possibilities and then develop the strategy and synergize the processes from there, but that could just take forever and ever, and there could be no end because you know, there’s always something that you could. Probably add to the process. So that’s another reason why I think the agile, agile method, the hedge Hill methodology is beneficial because you get the product out of the way first, and then you can work on the process. Whereas I used to work on the process and just kept working on the process and the product would just take forever to come out. So I think this kind of also relates to the learner, uh, modes of learning that I mentioned before in terms of focus, thinking versus diffuse thinking. And I’m finding that, like I’ve said before, I have a very strategic mind and I get into these phases where. I am very focused in even my daily routine. My mornings are used to get my mind ready for the day and I have my Pomodoro sessions set up so that I could get into a flow state and do deep work as much as possible throughout the day. But with all this creative stuff that I’m doing. It’s a diff it’s just a different way of thinking. So I can’t really use that process or I’m finding that, you know, that process isn’t really fit for the stuff that I’m trying to do because yeah, because I’m in that focus mode all the time. And so that’s kind of what I was in the beginning of last week before Wednesday, I was in that focus mode, trying to. Produced in complete the first episode of not bad advice, but when I’m in that focus mode, I can’t be creative because I’m focused in, you know, all my working memories tied up in the process of producing that first episode. And then after we decided that we’re going to postpone it a week, I was automatically out of that focus mode and I was able to get in that diffuse mode and incorporate more different concepts and ideas that I’ve gathered along the way. And I’ve kind of, I was able to basically open up my mind more and I mean, this wasn’t like done intentionally or. Consciously, it just kind of happened because, you know, we decided to postpone it. So on Wednesday, when after Wednesday, when we decided to postpone, I just felt like a sense of relief, I guess. And I was just able to kinda get in that state. And my brain was able to, was able to become more diffuse and I just had more thoughts and concepts getting connected and. Then my Thursday and Friday, like I was able to do a lot of other things and I was super productive actually on Thursday, I switched to doing website work because I wanted to get away from the audio production and I was super productive with that. And a lot of stuff came together. And then on Friday I worked on, I actually went back and worked on the trailer because I just kind of still fiddling around with the new stuff that I’m learning. And I incorporated that into the trailer. And so it was kind of fun working on that. And of course the trailer’s done, but. I’m able to basically open up my mind a little more creatively, create creatively and incorporate all these other kinds of steps back into the trailer. And then of course I’ll be able to use that, um, in episodes and other processing work moving forward. So, yeah, it’s just a, it’s interesting thinking about all these different. Ways that my brain functions in reflecting on that and kind of coming up with a plan and a strategy in order to work more productively and efficiently in terms of the different projects in the different types of projects that I’m working on now, um, namely between strategic and creative processes. Pam: It also sounds like you were, um, having some, some time scarcity and that once that was relieved, you were able to. Be more abundant in creativity because you didn’t feel that pressure of, of even though, you know, deadlines are great and everything, uh, when you’re in panic mode or like rush mode, you can’t be creative because you’re just in, get it done, get it done. And that is time scarcity. CK: Yeah, definitely. And that’s another reason why I think that agile, man. Why can’t I say that today? Pam: Your brain’s moving too fast. CK: Do you say agile or agile? Pam: I think I say agile. CK: Okay. So another reason why I think the agile methodology. Pam: You say what you want to say? CK: I don’t know. I want to say it’s just coming out wrong or not. Right. But anyway, another reason that I think the agile methodology would benefit me is because I wouldn’t have so much time scarcity if I got that product out and completed initially. And so I don’t know if I’m going to be able to articulate this the way I want to, but the. I mean, I guess I already mentioned it before where, you know, if I started out with the agile process and develop the episode within the first day or two, I would have all that rest of the time to tweak it and work on the process or whatever, versus using all two weeks to process. Go through the tweaks and all that stuff and maybe having the product done at the end. So, yeah, so I I’m totally all in on this agile process and I still, I’m still trying to incorporate it a little more and develop my, my own processes within it. Pam: I’m laughing as you’re saying this, because I pulled, I went to pull a card for today and when I was shuffling a card jumped out and sometimes when cards jump out, it’s like, that’s the message that you’re supposed to get. So the card that jumped out was the Knight of Pentacles. And one of the meanings for this card is that you can’t plan for every possible thing. You just have to start moving. And if you get stuck on planning and prepping, you’ll never do anything. So I think that is pretty funny, given that you’re talking about needing to have an agile process and not be stuck in the process. And the other one, the one that I actually did pull is temperance, which is the card right after death, which we just talked about at the beginning. And this is the rebirth after death. So this is leaving the Chrysalis and it’s, um, like letting go of your ego and trusting that what you do is what. Is meant to be done. So I think that that was, um, that was pretty funny. CK: Yeah, totally. Temperance is a, one of the stuck for on, in the big four virtues of stoic philosophy too, in terms of like moderation and humility, maybe more moderation. Pam: Yeah. In a taro, it’s a little less about moderation and more about, um, like just letting things be okay. And the alchemy that can occur when things that you wouldn’t think go together, come together, basically like letting, letting magic happen on its own. CK: Well, I think that’s a good way to close out the session for today then. And so I think we’re right about half an hour, maybe a little, maybe a minute or two more. So that’s good. And I think we had a nice flow going today. Pam: Yeah, CK: So yeah, I’d like to thank the listeners for joining me this week. And Pam for joining me as always Pam, where can people find you? Pam: you can find me on Twitter where I am at Pamela underscore Lund. CK: And you might be able to find me on Twitter at CK disco. I think I tweeted it a couple of times this week, actually, and go check out Penn’s new podcast or our new podcast at not bad advice. I’ll go ahead and append the trailer to this episode. So if you keep listening past the end, you can hear the trailer go subscribe and you can check out the. Website for not bad advice that forces a pico.com/nut bad advice. And so, yeah, that’s it for this week. So thank you listeners for joining me as always, and I hope you come back next week and keep on practicing to loo

Practice Session #40 Welcome to my show notes for this week’s session of Practice! We record these sessions every Sunday. I try to publish the audio on the same day of recording, but once in a while, I may get delayed due to various reasons. Also, I will usually have the AI-generated transcript and my initial notes published on the same day of recording as well. On Fridays, I’ll (try to) go back through and proof the transcript while I add all of my notes. I’ll be utilizing this opportunity to clarify and elaborate on points that I may not have conveyed as well as I would’ve liked to. I’ll also provide links to further information and resources. So, on Friday, I’ll intersperse all my notes with the transcription from the audio below (unless I don’t ). Intro. [00:00] CK: Alrighty. Ready? Here we go. Heyo! I’m CK, and you’re listening to Practice. I’m your functional systems integrator, and this is my podcast where practice is not just the theme of the show, but the whole purpose behind it. What started out as a practice of podcasting, as well as speaking in general, has evolved into a practice of self-coaching and self-reflection while espousing half-thoughts and providing unsolicited advice. As always, I’m fortunate to be joined by my Practice partner and partner in life: Pam. Pam: Hey, that’s me. CK: Pam is also my pattern awareness manager, and every Sunday we reflect on the past week and my progress with this practice, along with other lifestyle practices, as well as theories and ideas behind the virtues of practice itself. We’re doing this on the fly, so don’t hold me responsible for what I say here. Make sure to check out my show notes where I’ll provide some fact-checking, self-psychoanalysis and commentary on things I could have done better. You may find this and more information about this project at ForcesOfEqual.com/Practice. Catch up with the Anomaly and the Linchpin. [01:20] CK: We’re recording today on November 29tPam: 2020. And this is ouPam:th practice session. Pam: Congratulations. CK: Yeah, 40 nice big round number there. And let’s go ahead and I’ll recite the quote for this week and this one just kind of popped up today. I happened to see this and I love the quote. It comes from stoic philosopher, Epictetus, who I’ve quoted several times before. And the quote goes like this. To accuse others for one’s own misfortune is a sign of want of education to accuse oneself shows that one’s education has begun to accuse neither oneself nor others shows that one’s education is complete. So it’s. Kind of a readily said a word it’s kind of riddle, like, which is interesting. So you have to think about it a little bit, but. I I’m still thinking about it a little bit too, so I’m not sure how well I’ll be able to fit this in with what we’re going to be talking about today, but let’s just kind of go over it line by line. So the first line is to accuse others for one’s own misfortune is a sign of one of education. So I like this because it kind of. Talks about the, I want to say reflective process, but that I’m kind of diving into it deeply here. So when you blame someone else for your own wrongdoings or misfortunes, it’s saying that that is you kind of crying out or needing. To be educated. So I kind of relate that to, I think I’ve heard it called as a marriage or a mirror imaging effect in terms of cognitive biases. So a lot of times it’s stuff that we project is the stuff that we. Actually need to work on, or it’s a deficiency or some sort of malfunction for lack of a better term within ourselves. And we tend to project that in a reactionary way. Whenever we kind of encounter something that might. Make us kind of react, uh, most likely emotionally, because we have this notion and we have this feeling inside of us. That’s most likely subconscious and we just kind of end up projecting that out. And most of the time, not knowing that that’s something that is coming from inside of us and that. Is actually a reflection on ourselves. So that’s kind of how I take the first line or kind of what I like where that first line is meeting, leading me again. It saysPam:accuse others for one’s own misfortune is a siPam:f want of education. So does that make sense? Pam: It does. I think when I first heard it, what struck me was the choice of the word want instead of need. But I, after thinking about it a little bit more, I think it’s less of want in like a conscious, like I desire this way and more of want in a. Like in a neat kind of way, or it’s not something you’re desiring, it’s something you need, even though it’s like, want a neater are opposite. I think that that was probably the intended Pam:K: Yeah, it’s kind of like you’re trying out for it subconsciousPam:So I’m getting distracted. Is there stuffing thinking a lot of noises? <spanPam:ss=”pam”>Pam: Oh, it might be, I just had a snack. CK: The way wePam:e your microphone set up. We have the mic I’m hearing you out of, right at your stomach, right? Pam: It just wants to get in on the, on the podcasting action. CK: So listeners probably won’t hear it cause, uh, what we’re actually using for Pam’s recording is by her mouth. But what I’m hearing her from is that microphones by her stomach. So I’m just hearing a lot of interesting noises. Okay. So anyway, the second line is to Hughes. Oneself shows that one’s education has begun. So this goes on advancing from the first line. When you realize that. It’s actually you projecting your own thoughts and feelings and emotions onto someone else or something else. And when you realize that that’s when your education starts and that’s when you can start learning, whether it’s through self-reflection or probably through self-reflection and through the awareness. Of knowing that you’re doing this, and this is a projection and this is something inside of you. And this actually goes along with one of my, uh, favorite for lack of a better term, cognitive biases called fundamental attribution error, fundamental attribution error, where. We as humans are biased as 10, 10, our biases tend to lead us toward blaming others for their actions. Whereas when we performed the same or similar types of actions, We also blame others instead of ourselves. when we’re doing it, we blame others. But when someone else is doing it, you blame them instead of the others around them or the situation they were put in. So this kind of, kind of aligns with that Pam:y mind, in terms of when you realize that your attributing, the error. To the wrong person or that wrong thing. And, you Pam:, instead of blaming others, you look inside yourself, this is where your edge of education begins. Or so the quote says Pam: Nope. Like current example of that fundamental attribution error that I like to use, because it’s one of my things that I judge other people for. But I think maybe it’ll help people, um, understand the bias a little bit. So if you are in traffic and someone cuts you off, you think like, God, that person’s such a jerk. But if you’re the one that cut someone else off, you’re like, Oh, I’m so sorry. Like, it was just an accident, but you don’t, you don’t assign blame to yourself for cutting someone off, but it, when someone cuts you off, you always assign blame to them. CK:</spPam:right, exactly. And to take that even further. The notion that you don’t think about the other things that may have caused that person to cut you Pam: whether they’re late for work or maybe there’s some sort of medical emergency or, you know, maybe someone’s having a baby in Pam:back of the car Pam: Or they just weren’t paying attention. Exactly. Like you just weren’t paying attention, CK: exactly. Pam:tly. Yeah. It could be so many different. Possibilities, but you just focus on it being their fault and them cutting you off on purpose or, you know, for whatever reason. Pam: It was intentional on their part, but when you do it, Oh, I’m sorry. It was an accident. CK: Right. Exactly. Exactly. And then the third line of the quote is two cues, neither oneself, nor others shows that one’s education is complete and I’m having a hard. Time? Well, I mean, so the way this line speaks to me is more along the lines of a mystic philosophy where you just kind of let things be and things just are the way they are and this. So, I mean, this line doesn’t relate. Completely or specifically with that, but it’s kind of like the point that you want to get to in my mind and just realize in, you know, in terms of realizing that things happen and things happen in different ways and a lot of things you can’t control, uh, and a lot of things. You can control how you think about them. And so again, it’s us to accuse neither oneself nor others show Pam: one’s education is complete. So it’s almost an integration between how you think about. You and your actions and also how different things go into you and your actions and other people people’s aPam:ns and what other people do. So, yeah, that, uh, I’m still kind of trying to figure stuff out along the lines of that last sentence, but yeah, that’s just kind of where my mind’s going right now. Pam: Um, well, I think the last sentence brings up a lot of different thoughts. First, the choice of the word accuse leaves it open to saying that you can still take responsibility for your actions on the outcomes without it being blamed. So you can still look at it and say, I chose to do X and Y happened. Okay. Without it being blame or accusatory or like, or that you did something wrong, you can still accept responsibility for the outcome. And then I think also that there may be a little bit of that, like that it is kind of an unachievable state. That you’re constantly striving for that, and you’ll never get there, but that balance of understanding, like this is just the flow of the universe. It’s unattainable Pam:et to that Zen point, but keep it in mind, basically. Yeah. CK: Yeah, no, I like that. And yeah. Thanks for clarifying that up. And it kind of goes along with something else that I’ve been thinkingPam:ut. And I don’t remember if we’ve talked about this on the podcast before. I kind of feel like I might’ve tried, but I know I talked to you about it. The. Basically the super coherence in terms of quantum physics, where, Pam: This is when my eyes start to glaze over. CK: um, but this has to do with like the Heisenberg uncertainty principle, where if you measure the, if you try to measure the exact. I think exact location of a particle, you can’t get an accurate measure of the momentum and vice versa. If you try to measure the momentum accurately, you can’t measure the location and the whole particle versus wave duality. And. the particle is like a point in time and that’s, it might be what you’re trying to reach, or a point of like bliss or, you know, that point, which is like the goal or whatnot. And then the wave is kind of the spectrum along all the different point parts, uh, on the, around that point. And so, you know, we might try to reach that point, There’s all these other variables and all thisPam:er, you know, there’s momentum around it. That it’s difficult to stay within that point. And so, you know, you kind of want to try to be around that point. As much as possible to achieve like an optimal status, but you’re never really gonna stay Pam:hat point. Like it there’s always that duality and I’m not sure why I’m talking about it. It just kind of came to mind, but kind of fits in with that concept in my mind. Um, so I probably just confused people, even more kind of confusing myself. Pam: No, I think it makes sense that something that I’ve been thinking about a lot over, just over the last few days, which is that when you’re striving to achieve something, whether it is work-related or a mindset or anything that you’re, you’re trying to get to, you’re trying to achieve. You’re going to have days where you do, you hit that goal and you’re gonna have days where you don’t and those days where you don’t, you can’t get stuck in. I should be further than this. I should be able to do this by now. I should consistently like you can’t should all over yourself. Or, or you, um, you, you take away from the days when you are achieving that goal and you have to understand that you, you know, it’s, it’s kinda, it is the wave and it’s also like a constant upward trend. And as long as you’re working towards being closer to that point on a more consistent basis, you can’t get stuck in the days when you’re not at that point. Cause it’s not CK: Right, right. Yeah. The point is like a guidepost per se, that you’re trying to reach, but you’re not going to be hitting that guide post. Exactly. At that point all the time. So yeah, you want to be around it as much as possible, but you havPam: realize that there’s fluctuations and it’s the system’s dynamic and things are always changing. So yeah, I think we can move on from there, but yeah, I do like that quote, the more and more I think about it and look at it. But, um, in other news, I do want to keep this Pam:ter than I have in the past couple of weeks, just cause we’ve been going long and I’ve had a lot of stuff that I wanted to get off my chest the past couple of weeks. And I’m glad that I did that, but yeah, uh, one, uh, Go through and reflect real quick on her past week. Pam: Do you want to start? CK: Yeah, I’ll start. It’s been a pretty chill and relaxing week for me. I think for us in general, obviously it was Thanksgiving week and. As I was talking about last week, I was pretty anxious about everything around the pandemic and people getting together and stuff like that. And I was able to get a lot of that out of my mind and chill and stay in a pretty creative mindset and pretty reflective mindset, I guess. Um, and I kind of. Distracting myself from a lot of stuff too. And we basically ended up lounging around a lot more than usual in the past couple of days, um, Thursday and Friday. So we took a, like a long weekend and I’m kind of realizing that I haven’t really been taking my breaks or getting breaks. Like before, when I really felt that I needed to, but I haven’t been going out to the trails and I haven’t been going out to the beach. Uh, and that kind of stemmed from me, injuring myself and not being able to get out there and then just got into a daily flow and get started getting some other creative endeavors and kind of got into that mode. So without really realizing I haven’t been. Getting out and taking breaks. So we actually got to the trails on Thursday, which was nice and did a little hiking and jogging and felt great to be out there super windy though. But yeah, it was great to get out there, get out in nature and enjoy the weather. It’s been really nice out here in Southern California lately, especially for thPam:ime of the year. And so it’s been good to do that. We went on a little run around the block today. I did a. Two thirds of a mile to get back into the swing of things. And I felt good with that. And Pam could talk about hers when it’s her turn. But yeah, it’s been a really good week for me, very Pam:-reflective and I’m starting to connect a lot of things again and have all these different theories again and have other theories come back up. And so maybe I could touch on one of those things a little later. But yeah, that was my week. It’s been good. Nice and relaxing. How about your family? Pam: Um, yeah, also nice and relaxing. I am fortunate that even though a lot of my clients are e-commerce clients, I did not have a huge black Friday. Push this year. I only have two, well, three clients that are doing sales, but they’re, it’s not the craziness. Like a lot of my peers are going through right now. So that was nice. Um, other than that, yeah, just pretty chill. Um, I kept thinking that today Pam:Monday because it does feel like we’ve had so many days off and I’m using air quotes there because even when we have days off, um, we’re still, you know, Working in, on the computer, you know, writing or creating or whatever. Um, so yeah, um, I ran a mile when CK, um, he did his two laps and that was all I was planning Pam:oing, but I went for a third and felt good, which is really, really good news. Cause I’ve been fighting a hip injury for months. Yes. I went for the third lap for a full mile. Um, yeah, that is that’s about it. I think. CK: Yeah. So actually back on Monday, you went back to your new chiropractor Pam: Yeah, he did, uh, an adjustment on my scapula that he had just learned at a seminar that weekend. And, um, apparently thPam:is one piece of like ligament or tissue that the scapula is held in place by. And if you get adhesions in that, Piece of tissue. Your scapula can get stuck in the wrong position. So he did this kind of aggressive adjustment on it, and it like snapped all of the adhesions and my shoulder went back in place so I can lift my arm over my head againPam:ich I haven’t been able to do for like six months. Um, I still have some pain and some nerve stuff going on there, but I’ll see him again on Monday and hopefully we’ll fix that. CK: that’s still crazy to me. That just one little, it just mint can undo all that stuff that you’ve been dealing with for the past six months. Pam: Yeah. I think that that is a, a good perspective on anything that one little adjustment can undo or correct. A lot of stuff. It just has to be the right adjustment. CK: Yeah, exactly. So, yeah, that was our week. And I guess we can move on. So something else that I’ve been thinking about, uh, this is kind of like a new theory I’ve been coming out with. Coming up with, and it just kind of came up this past week as we’ve been chilling a little more and I’ve been able to reflect a little more. I was thinking about like the whole introversion versus extroversion concept and how in weeks past, I’ve talked about my. Tendency to consider or over consider my super system. And I, and because of that in the past, I kind of been tapping down my self assertiveness in my own system. And, um, you know, throughout the past several months I’ve been working on developing myself assertion and in forcing my own system. Or, um, enforcing, that’s not the right word, but starting my own system, I guess, keep using that word. But I was thinking about how, you know, even in light of this whole pandemic and how we’ve been staying in place, and we’ve been pretty much self quarantining this entire time, other than. Going to the trails every now and then, or Pam going to the grocery store. But that’s pretty much all that we do in terms of going out into the public. And even still, like I realized I was still, you know, kind of, depending on. The super system or what I thought about the super system, which led me to all this anxiety about the pandemic, you know, like how everybody else is behaving and how this pandemic is getting out of control. And that caused all this anxiety for me over or last week. And so, and then I realized this past week, You know, I was able to tamp down that anxiety. I didn’t really have as much of that, this, uh, this most recent week. And you know, maybe some of that had to do with me getting all that off my chest last week and the podcast and asserting myself and saying what’s on my mind, but I’m also wondering if it had to do with me just. Being at home and being isolated and being isolated from the outside world and not looking at social media or any news or any PR I pretty much didn’t look at any outside information this past week. And so I’m wondering if that kind of helped me get the super system out of my mind. So on that note, I’m wondering about the whole concept of introversion and how that relates to the super system and how these outside forces impact us. And before all the technology. That we have today, it was much harder for an individual to get outside information other than their direct contacts or their tribe or the people around them, you know, their social. Circle or their neighborhood per se. But these days we have all this social media and all this information. So when we do kind of go off, you know, as. Uh, you know, if we, if we are introverted and having introverted tendencies and we do go off on our own or kind of close ourselves off, close ourselves off to the outside world, we still have that Avenue to the outside world through social media. And so. Uh, I’m not, so I’m not exactly sure where I’m going with this. This is kind of new something that I’ve been theorizing, but I feel like that there. Um, so let me back up a little bit and go over introversion versus extroversion and how I think that Needs to be a balance between the two for people in general to be, I mean, this is just my whole kind of thing with functional systems integration and everything else, you know, everything’s on a spectrum and there’s different sides to spectrum and there’s benefits to different sides. But in the end, we want to meet somewhere in the middle. And integrate all these different things to have the most optimal experience. So like when it comes to introversion and extroversion, you want to have some of each and. This is kind of how I see myself. I see myself more of an ambivert, which is kind of a mix of the two you’re kind of in the middle and you can, you’d be fine and extroverted situations, and you’d also be fine in introverted situations. And so I, I feel like that’s kind of like the optimal place to be, have a balance and be integrated, but I feel like. These days, we’re not allowed to have as much of a balance of that introverted side, because when we do, you know, maybe we want to, for lack of a better term, close ourselves to the outside world and kind of go within ourselves and do whatever, whether that’s self-reflect or just relax and be, but yeah. For those of us who are unable to get ourselves away from the technology and social media, we’re not able to do that. Get into that introverted mode completely because then we’re still inundated by the super system and outside world through social media, not to mention that that’s, uh, an adulterous form of. Socializing, you know, it’s not as beneficial as socializing naturally, you know, face to face and whatnot. There’s all these different nuances and different signals and signals can get mixed up because there’s that lack of human to human interaction. So. I feel like that there’s an imbalance between the extroversion and introversion concepts. And I mean, now that I’m thinking about it, it kind of makes sense. Like I’ve, we’ve been touting self-reflection all this time and mindfulness and awareness and. Were unable to get into those modes. Um, something else that just popped up before a couple of weeks ago, I was talking about the focus versus the few smokes of learning and where, you know, not able to get into that diffuse mode or we’re not able to use or utilize that diffuse mode enough because of all these distractions where the diffuse mode is this kind of more. Creative mode where you’re less focused, but you’re allowed to think more outside the box and think of a bunch of other different concePam:and make connections. You know, we’re not able to get into this mode because of all these distractions, whether it’s from social media or technology and other things. That have developed in the modern society. And so there’s that and how that relates to scarcity the scarcity mode versus the abundance mode and how, because of these distractions, we’re we think, you knowPam:re lacking. Certain things or, you know, we’re entitled to certain things and we just don’t have that mode of self-reflection and awareness and in chose section within ourselves that we should normally be able to get in a natural introspective or introverted per se mode. So, yeah, I don’t know, just kind of spotting. Things off the top of my head. Does that make sense Pam: It does. Um, I was sort of thinking of something similar last night when we were watching passengers. The, was it Chris Pratt? I don’t know. One of the Chris’s, um, And I was thinking how I could spend 90 years on a spaceship with you and no one else like that, that didn’t seem traumatic to me because we’ve built this life where we are mostly alone and are alone together, I guess, in a good way. Um, but. That, you know, six, seven Pam:s ago, we had basically the exact same life that we have now, but it was full of a lot more TV and distractions and not as much time journaling or doing taro or astrology, or, um, sometimes I just sit and shuffle a deck of cards and let my mind wander. So even though our life is exactly the same now, as it was. Eight years ago in the sense of that, it’s just the two of us and we’re, you know, Pam:e here and we’ve got, you know, obviously a little bit different because of the pandemic, but, um, not much in our day to day is different. Except the level of distraction before we were a lot more distracted, there was a lot more TV, a lot more everything else. And now there’s a lot more, what’s like an intro section, I guess, instead of distraction. CK: right, right. Pam: Um, it’s a much different life, even though it’s not CK: Yeah. And I think the, so the reason that I’m getting into this concept or notion through introversion versus extroversion is that I think a lot of people who may identify themselves as being introverted are in this. Time now where they’re self isolated. And you would think that this would be a great scenario for introverts, but because we’re being distracted and we’re inundated with all this social media and all this other stuff that we’re not actually able to tap into the. Powers of the practices that we would normally be getting into when we isolate in terms of like what I mentioned before, likPam:e self-reflection and the introspection and stuff like that. So we’re having issues, a lot of issues with mental health and, you know, basically, I mean, just to reiterate that you would think that introverts. Being able to be more alone and isolated during this time would thrive. But if your still being influenced and distracted by this outside media and social media, which again is, uh, you know, bastardized or Pam:Pam:ies for lack of better terms, um, a form of socializing. Then that kind of gives you some perspective of why introverts might be running into issues during this time of isolation. So, yeah, just stuff. This is what goes on in my head. So I think we’re getting up on time here. We might have gone over already. So did you have anything else that you wanted to share or anything going on with the cards or the stars todPam:Pam:>Pam: You know, it’s been a very quiet week for, uh, your natal chart. You do, you have the moon in opposition to mercury, which means that, um, you are able to access and express what you actually feel. Um, your thoughts may be more emotionally enhanced and you have access to emotions that maybe aren’t usually available to you. So that’s really all that’s going on for you today. CK: All right. Pam: We do have aPam:ar eclipse happening tomorrow, though. So, um, I won’t, you know, a lot of people use that for manifesting, but it’s actually not really what they are good for. It’sPam:e about reflecting because the moon reflects light. So you want to, um, you want to think about like reflecting and looking at what you need to, um, let go and overcome versus what you need to move forward and achieve. So people can do that on the thing. CK: Sounds good to me. Pam: Yeah. CK: So, yeah, let’s end things there and. I will go ahead and remind people that the not bad advice trailer is out. So check that outPam: subscribe on Apple podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. And we’re planning on releasing the first episode this coming week. I think so. I’m still on track. I think I, yeah, I got to get you the information, but yeah, it shouldn’t be much. Shouldn’t have to do much, so yeah. Have look out for that. Keep a look out for that. And maybe I’ll append the trailer to the end of this episode. So yeah. Keep listening to the end, if you want to hear that. And so Pam, where can people find you? Pam: You can find me on Twitter where I am. Pamela underscore Ireland. CK: Oh, and I did tweet last week and I Facebooked, I basically just shared the practice session from last week. So that’s out there and hopefully you get more into doing little things like that here and there. So you might be able to find me on Twitter at CK disco. And so, yeah, that’s it. Thank you for joining me this week. Thank you for Pam. Thank you to Pam for joining me as always. And thank you for Pam. So I hope you come back next week and keep on practicing to loo

Vital COVID-19 Information Johns Hopkins: Coronavirus Resource Center Bloomberg: Covid Resilience Rankings CDC: Travel during the COVID-19 Pandemic NYTimes: Are Covid-19 Vaccines Really 95% Effective? STAT: ‘People are going to die’: Hospitals in half the states are facing a massive staffing shortage as Covid-19 surges Practice Session #39 Welcome to my show notes for this week’s session of Practice! We record these sessions every Sunday. I try to publish the audio on the same day of recording, but once in a while, I may get delayed due to various reasons. Also, I will usually have the AI-generated transcript and my initial notes published on the same day of recording as well. On Fridays, I’ll (try to) go back through and proof the transcript while I add all of my notes. I’ll be utilizing this opportunity to clarify and elaborate on points that I may not have conveyed as well as I would’ve liked to. I’ll also provide links to further information and resources. So, on Friday, I’ll intersperse all my notes with the transcription from the audio below (unless I don’t ). Intro. [00:00] CK: Alrighty. Ready? Here we go. Heyo! I’m CK, and you’re listening to Practice. I’m your functional systems integrator, and this is my podcast where practice is not just the theme of the show, but the whole purpose behind it. What started out as a practice of podcasting, as well as speaking in general, has evolved into a practice of self-coaching and self-reflection while espousing half-thoughts and providing unsolicited advice. As always, I’m fortunate to be joined by my Practice partner and partner in life: Pam. Pam: Hey, that’s me. CK: Pam is also my pattern awareness manager, and every Sunday we reflect on the past week and my progress with this practice, along with other lifestyle practices, as well as theories and ideas behind the virtues of practice itself. We’re doing this on the fly, so don’t hold me responsible for what I say here. Make sure to check out my show notes where I’ll provide some fact-checking, self-psychoanalysis and commentary on things I could have done better. You may find this and more information about this project at ForcesOfEqual.com/Practice. Catch up with the Anomaly and the Linchpin. [01:20] CK: We’re recording today on Sunday, November 22nd, 2020. It’s 11-22… one-one-two-to 2020, lots of Dublin going on today today, we are recording practice session number 39. Pam: Yeah. I was hoping for a doubling there. CK: Oh, yeah. Aw, that stinks. Pam: You blew it. CK: Yeah. Oh, well. So let’s see. What can we talk about today? Should- ah, let’s go ahead and recite the quote for the day. The quote… I think I’m still saying “coat.” Today’s quote comes from stoic philosopher. Seneca. I’ve quoted Seneca many times before. Here’s the quote: But life is very short and anxious for those who forget the past, neglect the present, and fear the future. Short and sweet, but it’s pretty loaded. There’s a lot. I mean, it’s pretty simple, but at the same time, it says a lot, which is what I like about it. And I enjoy the time dimension of it – of course, there’s the past present future. And I’m- I’ve been thinking a lot about the past present and future in how our minds function. And of course we talk about mindfulness a lot, and how that has to do with being present in the moment. And so I think I may be able to weave this in with, uh, the topics that I’m going to go over today. I’m not sure. Felt a little nervous and anxious while I was saying that. Uh, my mind’s in a lot of places. There’s I have a lot of thoughts going on, but kind of continuing on from stuff that we’ve talked about in weeks prior. And we’ll see what we can do. So let’s see. Before we get into things, how was your week, Pam? Pam: Um, it was good. I finished the third of my classes in my astrology university degree program. So pretty excited about that. Um, did not get a hundred percent on my final. There was one trick question, so I got one wrong. But I’m trying to let that go. Um, and I started taking an NLP class, which – uh, neuro-linguistic programming, I think is what that stands for. Um, so it is, um, sort of, uh, uh, coaching and behavioral modification practice. And it came up when you read that quote, because one of the. Um, like tenets of NLP is basically that you take the person or yourself as you are now without considering the past, which can be a little bit sticky because obviously we are who we are now because of the past. But in your quote, you said, um, that, what was it? Life is short and anxious, CK: Yep. “…for those who forget the past, neglect the present and fear the future” Pam: Right. So, um, forgetting the past is what brought up the idea of that tenet for NLP, because, um, they talk about how cognitive behavioral therapy really digs into what happened in the past. Whereas NLP is just like, this is where you are now, how do we change your patterns to move forward? And you don’t really get into where your patterns came from so much as you just work on changing them. So I thought that was an interesting kind of juxtaposition to that quote. CK: Yeah, that is interesting. And that kind of goes against a lot of the thoughts I’ve been having around this kind of stuff. I’m definitely interested in the NLP and I’ll probably take that course or look into it or take pieces from it or something. But yeah, that’s very interesting, and now my mind is going in a lot of crazy directions. Pam: Yeah, I get that. CK: So, yeah… So we’ll see what I can do w ith that. Pam: Yeah, and I may be totally butchering it because I just started the class. So there may be other pieces that I’m leaving out. But- but yeah, it really does seem like they just say, this is who you are now. Let’s figure out how to get you from current state to desired state. That’s the entire goal with NLP is current state desired state and how you get from a to B. So you don’t spend a lot of time digging into how you got to the current state. CK: Yeah. I mean, I think I can see the benefit of that. But, yeah, I’ll have to think about that somewhere. So, yeah, I don’t even remember my week. Really. I think it went pretty well. I’ve been in a pretty good flow lately and getting into a routine and I’ve gotten back to website work. So that’s been fun. I haven’t been doing too much of that since I started. Doing other stuff around the music and the sound and working on the nut, bad advice trailer and all that stuff. So on that note, the not bad advice trailer has been published and it’s available in Apple podcasts and Spotify. And I’m not sure if it popped up anywhere else yet. I think I saw it in Google podcasts or whatever their podcasting is. And so you can check that out, go look for search for not bad advice. And if that search doesn’t work, try forces of equal. I don’t know. These podcasts search engines are finicky. It seems like. So, yeah, that’s available and check it out. That’s what I’ve been working on. Pam: Please subscribe. You will get some not bad advice that will help you improve your life. CK: Yep. There you go. And we’ll be releasing the first episode in about two weeks. So yeah. That to look forward to. And so yeah, things have been going well on the website. It’s uh, I, you know, it’s nice to go back to something that I know how to do and I’m comfortable with doing so. Not as much troubleshooting, although with live stuff, there’s always troubleshooting as well, but that’s. Expected, and I, I know to expect that. So, yeah, it’s been fun. It’s been a good week and I think, well, I’ve been pretty anxious, I guess, ever since last week and well, I mean, just the whole pandemic. Um, I don’t know if this will come through to listeners, but our neighbors revving his motorcycle or something. Stupid should be able to clean that up. But anyway, I’m still really anxious about what’s going to happen with the pandemic during this week with Thanksgiving, especially with the us leading the world in infections and deaths, which is not such a great thing to be winning yet. And now Thanksgiving being an American holiday and an American concept, that’s just going to, it’ll really show what’s going to happen when people get together, because we’ll be able to compare with other countries that don’t have this kind of concept. Pam: I saw that a million people flew on Friday. Yeah. Which is about a third of the usual. That fly that day. So that’s that’s bad. Yeah. And so they were just packed in airports and airplanes, traveling all over the country and I’ve been tracking what happened after the Sturgis motorcycle rally. Cause they’re doing as much contract contact tracing with that as possible. And that was about a hun, a couple of hundred thousand people that got together over the course of four or five days. And that was bad. So. What happens after this weekend, it’s going to be catastrophic. I think for after this week. CK: Yeah, it’s scary. It’s very scary. And I, yeah, I don’t know how to relate how. Scary. This is like, I, you know, I keep trying to emphasize the risk of a whole bunch of people getting together, like the whole country getting together for Thanksgiving. I mean, not the whole country getting together, but people getting together throughout the whole country and yeah. So. I’m coming from the perspective. So my perspective comes from reading and researching and studying sources like Johns Hopkins and Gid J idea from London and do university sources and, you know, So science really, and I, I don’t really pay attention much to mainstream news. So I get a lot of news and numbers. Like Pam’s telling me through Pam and as scared as anxious as I am from the research, the scientific research that I do. I like, I don’t want to sound like I’m a scientist, but like, these are the sources that I look at and then hearing like these numbers that parents telling me, like, I cannot believe it’s gotten to this point. And you know, like I mentioned before, it has a lot to do with human behavior. And just mindfulness and how we’ve gotten caught into this cycle of, you know, having other people in other corporations, telling us this information and just taking that information. And I don’t even know if the mainstream media is even. Exemplifying the seriousness of all this stuff. Like Pam: don’t feel like they are because they don’t want to alienate half of their listeners, CK: Yeah, yeah, Pam: got to make, they’ve got to make money, but I, CK: see that. Pam: I think that we have a misguided sense of, um, like what our personal freedoms are. CK: Oh Pam: That is driving this cause there was a protest in Huntington beach last night, we live near Huntington beach and there’s a strong, um, right-wing faction there. And there was a protest last night against Newsome’s governor Newsome’s, um, curfew, which in California just says you have to stay home from 10:00 PM to 5:00 AM, which is like when most people should be sleeping anyway. And they’re protesting that is as against their personal freedoms. So, like, I don’t know how we’re ever going to get out of this. CK: I mean, I understand that you’re losing some freedoms and liberties, but it’s such a short, sighted and narrow minded perspective because that the reason that this kind of stuff has to be stipulated by governments. Is because people can’t think passive past their own little personal thoughts or, you know, personal feelings or personal, what’s the word entitlements Pam: Hm. CK: and realize that we like the government, like someone. In charge or some authority has to put in these regulations because people basically are too stupid to think of the bigger picture. Like we talk about complex systems and these systems are dynamic and a change all the time. So a lot of the things that I see. Are very static viewpoints and singular viewpoints. So like someone might rail against one thing like the curfew or something like that and not, you know, consider all these other things going on in the whole system. You know, like people are dying, people are getting sick, we don’t even know. All of the effects of this virus and we don’t know the long-term effects. Okay. We don’t like, I like. I, the things that I’ve been seeing in mainstream media, whenever, uh, it pops up in my vision, you know, I might happen to be doing something else on Facebook or researching something on Twitter or whatnot. And I’ll see like the big headlines and lately it’s been around the vaccines like Pfizer and Medina, I believe. And Russia has this, uh, Sputnik. I think they’re calling it. And the, it sounds like they’re making great progress in there over like 90, 94, 95% efficacy, which is awesome. But I don’t know if people are considering or realizing, or even have any idea that the vaccine. Development process usually takes like 10 or 20 years, like one or two decades. And we’ve gotten around to developing this vaccine in less than a year, which is monumental. That’s crazy. And it’s awesome. And it’s, it’s, it’s really amazing that our scientists have been able to do that. But the thing is. Doing something that fast, you know, like let’s say five to 10% of the time. It usually takes, you know, like what happens when you do something really fast? It usually takes a long time. Right? Pam: out very well. CK: Right. So, I mean, I’m not saying that that’s, what’s going to happen with this vaccine, but we’re still uncertain. And these trials that they basically, it usually goes through like three phases and they basically had to combine some phases. And so, you know, the trials aren’t as thorough as they usually are. So these efficacy numbers are high, but we still don’t really even know the effectiveness because efficacy doesn’t equal effectiveness. And what I’m hearing is that a year from now we’ll have maybe one to 2 billion, we’ll have treatments for about one to 2 billion people. That’s what the projection is. The world population is something like 8 billion. So even a year from now, we may be able to treat a quarter of the world’s population. And if you think about that, who’s going to get those treatments, Pam: Who do you think? CK: right? So there’s going to be some kind of fight for people getting the treatments and. Obviously we want to give treatments to more susceptible or what’s the word more the Pam: Like the immunocompromised people CK: right, right. And so, yeah, and that’s a year from now. And so. Yeah, it’s just stuff like that. Like I, people don’t, to me, it feels like people don’t feel the immediacy or the severity or the, like the actual level of risks that’s going on because there it’s like the whole, all these concepts are psychologically distant from them. You know, if you’re not affected personally, You’re still tending toward a more normalized reality where normalize, meaning, you know, before the pandemic, you know, you’re still kind of trending toward that kind of normalcy. Because, you know, if you’re not seeing it and if you’re not in it and if you’re not relating to it, then it’s easy to fall back to normal habits or, you know, uh, revert. What’s the redress, uh, economic turns. I I’m fumbling here, but the whole point is that. This is really serious. And if you actually look into the data, look into the science, it’s very scary and we need to be more serious about it. Um, maybe something that I could try to articulate here is the epidemiology of this virus. And this is something that I tried to articulate. Back when the pandemic started. Remember we did a thought experiment with the Lily pads in the Pam: Oh, yeah, we failed that. CK: Yeah. But, uh, I’ll try again here. So we were talking about the are not, are not number of the R sub zero, which is the basic reproduction number of the, the basic reproduction rate of the infection. Pam: Can you simplify that? So like, it’s the number that if one person has the virus, they give it to this many people. CK: Right. Right. And the are not is if everybody is susceptible to the virus, so there’s no immunity yet. So this, you know, this number is calculated at the beginning of the pandemic. And then as we get more data and we can. Get more accurate calculations of the spread of infection. They use a different value called R sub E and I’ve also seen it at our sub T, which I’m not sure what that stands for, but the sub the E in our sub E stands for effective reproduction rate. And that’s a more accurate representation of the reproduction rate. Uh, at that point in time. So, you know, as the pandemic goes on and we’re taking some measures or not in, we are developing some treatments or not, or people are becoming immune to it or not through, you know, um, getting the virus and then overcoming it and whatnot. The R sub E number will fluctuate. So, you know, if we’re not taking precautions and not masking up and the virus is spreading more rampantly, the R sub E number will rise. But if we’re taking precautions and flattening the curve, the R Subi will lower go down. Yeah. And so. If you remember. Well, I don’t know. So Pam: I heard it. CK: So the thing with the AR number is that if it goes past the one, that means the rate will increase exponentially. So versus if it is one or lower. It won’t spread as fast. So for example, if it’s one, then one person will only pass it to one other person and that one other person can only spread it to one other person. So it’s much more manageable that way, but once it starts going up past one, even 1.1, that means one person will spread it to 1.1 people which doesn’t sound like a lot. But let’s take two, as an example, actually, at the beginning of the pandemic, the, our not number that was predicted and calculated was, uh, between two and three, depending on the science that you’re looking at. So let’s say it’s our of two, which means our sub two, which are, are not of two, which means that. One person can pass it to two people, basically meaning that the rates doubling. So one person passes it to two people and those two people can pass it to four people and the four people pass it to eight people. And so you can see how it easily gains exponentially and logarithmically. And so I was trying to. Except the exemplify this using the Louie pond in a pond example. And I was playing around with this in my head. And hopefully I can recite this, uh, accurately because as I was doing this, I even, I couldn’t believe like the, the, this concept. So what I’m trying to articulate here is how fast this. Virus can spread. And so if we use the example of our, so our sub E being two, and just a quick side note here in New York, when it was going crazy and the, uh, infect infections were spreading like wildfire, they hadn’t our Subi of five or something around five. Yeah. So that’s just to exemplify how. Crazy. This can get, so, uh, what I’m seeing now, I think something like 30 or so States are, are between one and 1.5 or something Pam: there’s only a couple that are below one. CK: Yeah. So that’s, that’s already been, and this is before Thanksgiving and all these people are going to get together. And so the, the exponentiality is already starting. And so let’s, for example, say that our, our study is to, so it’s spreading twice, you know, twice as fast or two times. Um, so one person can spread to two people Pam: yeah. CK: and so. Using the Louie pods, Lily pads. And upon example, the thought exercise is to determine if the loop, if the pond is full a hundred percent full, let’s say in a hundred days, it’s a hundred percent full. How long does it take to get half full. So if, you know, if the Louie pads multiply by two, and if it doubles every day and it’s full in a hundred days, how long would it take to have been half full 99 days? Because the next day it’d be, if you double it the next day, it’d be 100. Does that make sense? Am I articulating this right? Pam: Um, can you just say the answer again? Like it, it would take 99. CK: So if it takes a hundred days, okay. So if, so we have a pond and Louie, Louie pads grow in this pond. So the pond starts empty and although we’ve had starts growing and. Did the Louis pads double every day. Pam: Okay. CK: And it will take a hundred days for the pond to fill. And let’s say it takes a hundred Louie pads to fill the pond. How many days would it have taken for the pond to be helpful? Pam: and that’s the 99. CK: Right. Pam: So CK: So, so we’re, we’re kind of working backwards here in this thought exercise, so well, so we’ll go ahead. Pam: So it takes 99 days to get to that like half full threshold. And then one day, boom, overnight it’s full. CK: Right. So, yeah. Right. So working backwards from that. It would take 98 days for it to be a quarter full. So 25 Lily pads in the pond on the 98th day on the 97th day would be half of that. So 12.5 on the 97th day. And then on a 96 day, it would be like 6.2, five 95th day. It’d be 3.12, five 94th day. It’d be like 1.5. 65. And then on an 93rd day, it’d be below one. So starting from day zero to day 93, between day 93 and 94, you get one movie pen in the pond. So it takes 93 to 94 days for one Lily pad to form. And then as it keeps doubling. Just six or seven days later, it reaches a hundred percent full with a hundred Louie pads. Pam: Okay. So we’re not starting with one, we’re starting with zero and it takes 93 days or whatever to get to one. And then it becomes explosive. Okay. CK: So taking that example, let’s say, let’s say it takes a thousand Lily pads to fill the pond in a hundred days. So then on the 99th day, there’d be 500 Lily pads and then working on down. So let’s see, 93 I said is when we get to one in the a hundred example. So then with 1,093, it would be at 10 and then 92 would be at five and then 91 would be at two and a half. And then. 90 would be around one in the quarter. So around 90 days it would take to have one Louie pad up here, one full that we Pedro. And then by 10 days later, there’ll be a thousand. So that’s how. Crazy. I mean, that’s just, I hope that kind of exemplifies this exponential growth. And before considering now that the R sub E is just over one, we may be at that point, you know, we’re already seeing increases in. The rates of infection and the death rates. Well, actually, I mean, the death rates are kind of decreasing in comparison to the rates of infection, because we’re getting more knowledge about what to do with the hospitalized and better medications and, you know, better information around that stuff. But the rate of infection is increasing and, Pam: And once our hospitals get full, we won’t have that positive change to the death rate. CK: Exactly. Exactly. So that’s one of the other things that I was getting too. And they were saying, you know, once the RCB gets over some point between one and 1.5, that the hospitals will be full and we won’t be able to manage hospitalizations and, you know, it’ll just go crazy. And so we’re at that point now. We’re hearing about hospitals being falling and people having to travel to different hospitals and all that stuff. And that’s before Thanksgiving weekend and these numbers are lagging indicators. So, you know, we’re not getting this data in real time, this a data from a few days ago or a week ago or a week or two ago. So it’s. One probably worse than we know it is now. And two, if that our Sabine number rises anymore, we are pretty screwed like the numbers. So in my example, of a hundred days, um, with the Lily pad in the pond example, you know, we’re still in. The days before we hit like 90. So we haven’t hit that exploding, exponential growth yet. And once that happens, you know, from, you know, from the example with a thousand, when we pads on a hundred day, starting with, you know, it, one forming on day 90 in, it took 10 days. For it to reproduce a thousand times. And so, yeah, I don’t know. I hope this helps kind of illustrate the severity of the exponential growth in the potential of how this is going to spread. Pam: I have a different visual that might help that came. So if anyone has ever done, um, their ancestry, like on ancestry.com or any of those sites, you get this like family tree that starts, and it’s the smallest at the top. Because those are, you know, your, your ancient, ancient ancestors. And then they had five kids. And then each of those five kids had like three kids and then each of those had two. Then we get to this point where we’re here now. And you know, everybody’s having, you know, one or none, but you can see the families that had more kids get bigger, right. And very quickly, and your tree starts really small and then it gets huge at the bottom and you can’t even keep it on the screen. And that’s that reproduction number. Literally it’s children. It’s your reproduction number, but it’s the same with viruses. So if you picture that in your head, what that looks like, and if you imagine that each of those children down the line is someone getting infected, you can see very quickly how that virus spreads and how big that number can get. CK: yeah. Great visual. And thank you for that. The other crazy thing is that the, I don’t know. If people understand the whole super spreaders concept because, you know, it’s, it sounds like a crazy word, but I feel like people think that, you know, some people just shed more of the virus or something like that. So are, do you know what the super spreader, um, Pam: I’ve heard of super spreader events and things like that. But, um, I guess I hadn’t considered an individual being a super spreader. CK: Okay. W uh, they’re not necessarily, it doesn’t have to do with the individual. It has to do more with like the circumstance and. You know, it, the whole, the whole thing about this pandemic and the virus is that it’s so invisible and a lot of people are asymptomatic. And so, you know, they may be more lax with the guidelines and the precautions and the preventative measures and all that stuff. And because of that, You could be out somewhere or interacting somewhere and unknowingly spread the virus and what they found with what they’ve calculated with COVID is that about 10 to 20 people or 10 to 20% of people are responsible for 80% of the spread and yeah, and that’s not. Necessarily 10 to 20% of certain people or certain types of people or people that behave a certain way. It has more to do with the uncertainty or invisibility of this virus because people don’t know that they’re spreading it, but the unknowing spread is happening only with 10 to 20% of people. And so, yeah. And you can’t really know if you’re a part of that group, unless obviously you’re just not taking any precautions and just going out everywhere and doing your thing in spreading the virus. But that whole, the whole thing is like, it only takes 10 to 20% for 80% spread. You know, unless you’re testing before you interact or something like that, you Pam: that you could have, you could be asymptomatic and have been exposed two days ago CK: right. And that’s not even a hundred percent certain, so yeah, the thing, I think one of the big things is that the probability of spreading the virus. Two people personally may seem low, but it’s just very risky in terms of public health and the complex system in epidemiology. Like, you know, thinking about it, percentage wise, the percentage of, you know, Getting the virus seems low and it seems like, you know, you’re unlikely to get in and you’re therefore you’re unlikely to spread it. But the thing is you don’t know, and that’s the big thing. So you have to remove as much risk as possible. And obviously the best way to do that is to self quarantine. But also, you know, there’s a lot of other things that go into life and there’s other things that you have to do. So you still want to remove as much risk as possible. So follow guidelines and mask up and test if you can, and self quarantine, when you can, you know, pre and post interaction and. No, you have to do all these things to reduce the probability of spreading the virus. And you can look at things what I’ve been liking to do. What I’ve been, what I’ve liked to do lately is look at things from just basic, a basic economic standpoint, because there’s so much kind of being thrown at us and all these different. Concepts in guidelines that we have to consider and, you know, different people telling us different things. But if we look at things from a basic economic standpoint and economics, meaning, you know, a lot of people relate economics to money, but it has it functionally or fundamentally has to do with behavior. And how you spend something in. In return for something else. Pam: that’s just about resource management or resource usage. Doesn’t have to be money. CK: Exactly. So a simple principle is the cost benefit principle, and you can do a cost benefit analysis on your decision-making. And it’s almost kind of like a pros and cons list, but you know, is the cost is the benefit. Of what you’re going to do worth the cost. So, you know, is it worth the cost of potentially infecting someone and them dying? Is that worth the benefit of getting together, you know, with your family or going out or, you know, whatever you want to do. And, you know, it might be, you know, you may calculate it to be beneficial. Um, you know, the cost of like quarantining and testing and following all the guidelines, maybe worth the benefit of you getting together, you know, taking all those. Measures to lower the risk as much as possible might be a cost. That’s worth it for you to go and interact and socialize or whatever. But, you know, there’s, there’s still some risk there. So you kind of have to measure that. And you know, I’m not saying that people need to let themselves down in self quarantine. I mean, I I’m saying they should, and that’s the best case scenario and that’s the best way to. Prevent the spread, but I also understand, you know, there’s other things going on and there’s mental health and, you know, it’s socialization is a huge part of health and mental health. So there’s all these things we have to consider. So if you are going to get together with family and whatnot, reduce the risk as much as possible, you know, lower that cost as much as possible. So that. The benefit is worth it. I mean, still, I don’t know if it’s worth it to get someone infected and then dying. So, you know, you got to think about that, but yeah. Pam: me is that the million people that flew, did that and still came to the decision. That it was worth it CK: I don’t know if they did that though, Pam: subconsciously I think, you know, you, you think about it. Like they may not sit down and, you know, make a pros and cons chart. But I think that everyone is doing this mental calculation and at some level they thought about it and they still decided, yep. An airport is a good idea. CK: Yeah. Uh, yeah, I mean, That’s probably true in most respects, but I also think that they’re not really, they don’t have like the perspective of the actual severity of what could happen. And like I was saying before, they’re psychologically distant from this, you know, they’re not seeing it happened, you know, close to them and you know, it’s hard and therefore it’s harder to believe what’s going on in the news or all around the world. And, you know, the mainstream media, it gets, people hung up on single issues where there’s this whole dynamic complex system going on and all these different issues. And yeah, I mean, like we. Like we don’t even know the long-term effects of this virus. Like I’m seeing science, like, so, um, we’re going along here. So I apologize for that, but I just, I gotta get this out of my, out of my mind or I just, I got to speak my mind here. So there’s, you know, there’s the notion that children are kind of. Exempt from this whole thing, because they’re not really effective, although there’s been like over a hundred or so child deaths in the U S from Covin. Pam: And we don’t know the long-term effects. CK: Exactly. So I saw something around the nature of the virus and how it, uh, affects like, like it gets transferred through the MRN, the messenger RNA into the cytoplasm of yourself. So cytoplasm is kind of like the, to see the. Yeah, they do that kind of makes up the cell that the nucleus is, or, um, what, what’s the, is it the nucleus? No, that’s an Adam. Pam: No, when he places the inside of the CK: Oh yeah. Nucleus inside itself. So the nucleus is suspended in the cytoplasm within the cell. And so the MRAA gets into the cytoplasm and it. Disrupts or mutates certain genes so that it creates this virus and replicates it. And it, um, it changes something so that your protein structure changes. And, uh, I, I, I’m sorry, I might be mixing some of these things up, so I’ll try to post some actual. Information, some scientific resources, but the cytoplasm is where your mitochondria live, which is like the energy powerhouse for yourselves. And it’s like the fundamental metabolic system or metabolic process, you know, for your body to function. And this virus is affecting that, which is why we’ve seen effects throughout the entire body. You know, people are having effects on their brain. People are having effects in different systems and it gets into your circulatory system. And obviously that goes throughout your body and there could be multi-systemic effects and. So we, we don’t know how this is going to affect us. Long-term and I think I saw that it’s affecting some children in terms of, um, causing vasculitis, which is like an inflammation of your blood vessels. And that can cause tons of problems throughout your body, throughout your systems and lead to like auto-immune issues and Kawasaki’s disease and stuff like that. And so this is like really crazy dangerous stuff that we could be dealing with that we don’t know. And we don’t even know how it might mutate, like we’re seeing stories from Denmark, I think, where it’s already mutated in a mink. Pam: Oh, yeah, that’s right. CK: Yeah. So like, we need to. Hunker down. And like, we need to realize the dangers of what we’re doing here and the potential risks and you know, all that stuff. And, you know, we, we can’t just act like everything’s normal. And so, yeah, I don’t know what else to say. Pam: Well, I wanted to add real quick, just for some perspective on what getting sick as a child can do for you do to you as an adult. I don’t know if people realize that shingles, which became a really popular topic because they came out with medication that, um, deals with it. So of course it’s on commercials all over the place cause they can make money on it. But. Shingles is an extremely painful condition that people get as adults. And that is from the chicken pox virus. So you get that when you’re a kid and then 50 years later, you have your skin on fire. And that’s something that like we know about and it happens. And it’s a harmless, you know, quote unquote, harmless, childhood virus. Obviously some people have worse effects from it, but that’s something that’s already happening. And we know that and it’s still. Something that happens in it’s very painful. So we don’t know what’s going to happen in 50 years when these kids that are getting it. CK: Yeah. And I mean, the thing is I hope I’m wrong and I hope, you know, this isn’t as serious as the science is showing that it could be. And the thing is all, all these scientists probably hope they’re wrong too. Like they don’t want. This huge pandemic getting out of control and all these people dying, but we have to look at the facts and the numbers that we have in the data that we’re getting and the observations that we can make now. And we have all this information now and we can see what’s going on in different countries and in areas that have instituted different. Guidelines and, you know, we can see how different things are affecting how this is going. Like we have that information. We can see what’s going on. So yeah, I think, uh, I think that’s enough. I can get off my soapbox now. Pam: do you want to end on a quick magic note? CK: please. Pam: So, um, your communication today was very, um, I would say aggressive for you. Like you were very emotionally charged. Um, so you have your moon or the transiting moon right now. Th the actual moon that we can see is in opposition to where Mars was when you were born. So the moon is like feelings and emotions, and Mars is like outwardly aggressive and action, and like, Forceful. So you had, um, forceful and aggressive emotional things going on today with that aspect. And mercury is sextile your Venus, which means that you think and communicate about values, like what we value as a society, or as you personally. So everything that you talked about today was like, what are you, what are you valuing? And it was very aggressive and, um, I also pulled the Terrell card real quick before we started talking. And I wasn’t sure that it was going to work, but it’s the six of swords, which is basically saying that the only way to get out of a bad situation is to help each other help is available. Ask for it, give it work together, and you can get out of the bad situation. CK: Yes. Yeah. That’s great. Thank you for that. So I have hope and yeah, I hope. We can finally get over this. It’s crazy to me that it’s gone this long. I don’t think it should have gone this long. Um, it’s other places that have done a lot better and it’s, it’s pretty sad to be honest where we’re at. Pam: Embarrassing. CK: Uh, yeah, yeah, yeah, totally. So, and on that note, I guess, so yeah, people, you know, I know this is hard, but you know, at least get perspective on actually what’s going on and do your best to lower the risk as much as possible. That’s all I ask. So hope. That, uh, told me last, how I close out, but anyway, um, yeah, I think, uh, I don’t know. We’ll just send it there. Pam: Thanks for joining us. CK: Yeah. So thanks for joining us as always. And I hope that wasn’t too. Um, what’s the word? Pam: So boxy CK: Well, not only soapboxy but like doomsday. Pam: that’s where we are. CK: I know. Yeah. Like you have, like, that’s the thing, like you have to know the seriousness and the severity of what’s going on. And if we don’t consider that, if we just block that out, it’s gonna just creep up on us and hit us, like, you know, like a ton of bricks. So, yep. Well, we didn’t sit there and see how things go. So I hope everyone has a happy Thanksgiving, Pam, where can people find you? Pam: You can find me on Twitter, where I am at Pamela underscored Lund. CK: And you might be able to find me on Twitter at CK disco? Uh, I’m not sure. I kind of feel like I need to spread. This information more so maybe I’ll get on Twitter, but yeah, we’ll see what happens and thanks for joining me as always. Thank you to Pam for joining me as always and hope you come back next week and keep on practicing to loo stop on three one, two, three.

Practice Session #38 Welcome to my show notes for this week’s session of Practice! We record these sessions every Sunday. I try to publish the audio on the same day of recording, but once in a while, I may get delayed due to various reasons. Also, I will usually have the AI-generated transcript and my initial notes published on the same day of recording as well. On Fridays, I’ll (try to) go back through and proof the transcript while I add all of my notes. I’ll be utilizing this opportunity to clarify and elaborate on points that I may not have conveyed as well as I would’ve liked to. I’ll also provide links to further information and resources. So, on Friday, I’ll intersperse all my notes with the transcription from the audio below (unless I don’t ). Intro. [00:00] CK: Start the timer this time. Here we go. Heyo! I’m CK, and you’re listening to Practice. I’m your functional systems integrator, and this is my podcast where practice is not just the theme of the show, but the whole purpose behind it. What started out as a practice of podcasting, as well as speaking in general, has evolved into a practice of self-coaching and self-reflection while espousing half-thoughts and providing unsolicited advice. As always, I’m fortunate to be joined by my Practice partner and partner in life: Pam. Pam: Hey, that’s me. CK: Pam is also my pattern awareness manager, and every Sunday we reflect on the past week and my progress with this practice, along with other lifestyle practices, as well as theories and ideas behind the virtues of practice itself. We’re doing this on the fly, so don’t hold me responsible for what I say here. Make sure to check out my show notes where I’ll provide some fact-checking, self-psychoanalysis and commentary on things I could have done better. You may find this and more information about this project at ForcesOfEqual.com/Practice. Catch up with the Anomaly and the Linchpin. [01:19] CK: We are recording today on November 15th of 2020, and this is our 38th practice session. And let’s get right into the quote for this week. And, uh, I’m not sure which one to pick. I have three listed again, and these are actually three that I listed in weeks prior that I didn’t get to. Let’s see, I think we’ll keep it simple. So this one comes from Luxy once again, founder of Daoism or one of the main founders, and it goes like this, the truth is not always beautiful, nor beautiful words, the truth, and that’s filed suit. And it’s as simple as that. And. It relates to a lot of what we’ve spoken about before, and you can relate it to how we’ve been talking about language and the fluidity of language and openness of language and the other side, how language can be illimited and bounding in foot. Constraints on certain concepts and whatnot. So it’s just kind of a balanced quote that allows you to look at things from two different sides. And, you know, it’s pretty simple. It’s pretty self-explanatory in my mind. Pam: It’s simple, but it could also be nuanced if you think about the layers that are in that quote, going back to what you just said with language, having meaning and how you can change things by simply changing the words. And in that quote, whatever perspective you use for beautiful will change the meaning of the quote. CK: Hm. Pam: what you think of as beautiful. Is going to change what words you’re thinking of. So something that I think is beautiful is something that someone says that I think is right or good, or that I want to believe in. Someone else is going to see as the opposite. CK: Right, right. Yeah, exactly. So that even goes into a lot of the things we’ve been espousing over the weeks past, even further in terms of the dualism of everything and really essentially the pluralism of everything, you know, we try not to look at things in a. Oh, my God. I’m totally blanking on George by like, like two different aspects. Um Pam: I’m not sure what you’re trying to say. We try to look at things, not in singular terms CK: right. Or, or yes or no, or black or white. What’s that word? Pam: a binary. CK: Yeah. Vinery Oh my gosh. Thank you. Holy cow, come on brain. What is going on? So yeah, so I, Oh yeah. So I was just saying how this goes into what we like to say about, you know, things being on a spectrum. And the plurality of things rather than the duality, which we’ve been speaking about before. But in essence, we’re talking about the plurality and how, like you said, language can be limiting and it all goes into perspective and how you perceive certain things in how your perception might be different from someone else’s. So. Pam: It also made me think about, um, communication in relationships or friendships and how, uh, saying the thing that’s beautiful isn’t necessarily. The the right thing to say that sometimes you need to have conflict to make things better. And then also that it made me think of, um, charlatans or people who will tell you what you want to hear, just to get something out of you and that you really need to be aware of CK: yeah, exactly. That lends me to, or that leads me to think about just marketing in general. And you can even think about marketing as simply beautifying things in a way that consumers will be attracted to it. So it’s not necessarily rooted in a value of truth or facts. It’s more rooted in a value of attention or some sort of persuasion. Pam: Manipulation. CK: Right. I don’t want to go that far, but that’s what I was thinking. So, yeah, we’ll see if we can relate our session today to that quote. And I don’t think it’ll be very difficult because it’s pretty all encompassing, but do you want to get into our week and reflect on our week? Pam: um, sure. Do you want to go first? You CK: Sure. I’ll go first. Yeah, I, so I’m are already thinking back to Monday. When I was feeling a little, not necessarily sickness, but I had like a little bit of a scratchy throat and maybe a little bit of a sniffle. And I started smelling weird. Or like my scent was off, it felt like, and I’ve had instances in the past that I’ve recorded. And of course I used to be very diligent with self quantification. And so the past two years I’ve actually recorded when these kind of weird smelling instances occurred. And weirdly enough, I noticed a pattern starting to form and. I get these weird smells in March and then in September and the pattern repeated itself over two years, and this year I had something going on in March that made me think I might’ve had COVID, but we ended up finding out through antibody tests that we haven’t gotten to sickness. And so. I’m not sure if that was related to the smelling sensation that I’ve been noticing, but I don’t think I got that smelling sensation when I felt like I might’ve had COVID back back in March of this year. And then where the pattern usually repeated itself in September. It didn’t repeat itself until a week or so ago. So it’s maybe a month or so later than usual. So I thought it was all related, but then I actually found some information where COVID-19 was related or some people reported symptoms of having this weird smell. And I found a description of it that said something like burnt toast and perfume, which I could relate with. But like the smell, it’s not very easy to distinguish, but like when I would try to describe it to Pam, I said like, something like burnt, like maybe patootie or something like that. And so when I saw that burnt like burnt toast and perfume description, I was like, Oh, okay. That kinda makes sense. So I thought, you know, I might’ve. Been having symptoms of COVID. So I got tested on Monday and of all the counts I’ve been looking at through testing in orange County. It seemed like a pretty simple and quick process. So I thought I’d be maybe out of the home for like an hour. I, you know, I’d be back in time for dinner and everything. So I timed everything accordingly, come to find out that. I don’t know if it’s due to the rise in cases and the rise and symptoms and the rise, the increase of the spread of late, but the place was packed. Like I didn’t even end up in the parking lot until an hour after I got to the location. And then I ended up waiting another three hours, um, or about to. Two two and a half hours in the parking lot before I got tested. And so I was out of the house for like four hours. So that’s like four times longer than I thought it would take. And I couldn’t get out of the car. You know, I just sit in the car the entire time. So I. Kind of likened it to being on a flight to Chicago from Southern California, Pam: Least airplanes have bathrooms. CK: right. I couldn’t even get up and, you know, stretch out my legs or get any refreshments or anything. But on the other hand, I was fortunate to be in the car and had have that privacy. So I could. Do a lot of things like practice singing and speaking and exercising my voice and stuff like that, which was, which was nice to have that time to do that. But yeah, so that’s how my week started just sitting in the car for four hours. And fortunately I had my phone mobile device with me, so I could read and take online courses and listen to podcasts and watch TV. Do a lot of stuff. So it’s, I’m very grateful to have that technology available to me. And I know we kind of rail on technology a lot in terms of how it’s distracting and takes us away from natural processes. But. You know, if you’re mindful about technology, there’s also a lot of benefits that can come out of it. So that’s definitely one. So yeah, that’s how my week started, but I found out that I tested negative, so that’s good, but I am very anxious about what’s going on with the whole pandemic these days. So I don’t know if we’ll get into that further, but yeah, I’ve been thinking a lot about that and what’s going to happen now that. A lot of Americans will be getting together for Thanksgiving and the holidays. And so, yeah, it’s a little nerve wracking on that end, hopefully we can move forward and get, you know, hunker down, get over this thing because the solutions in the end are fairly simple. It’s more about. Our human behavior that we need to solve. So Pam: yeah. CK: yeah. Otherwise my week’s been very good. Pam: I’ve already seen, um, significantly more airplanes flying over just in the last two days than we have for months. So I think people are traveling for Thanksgiving and it’s not looking good. CK: Yeah, that’ll be interesting. So how should we go? Pam: I actually can’t think of anything memorable from my week. CK: It’s not a bad thing. Pam: Yeah, no, it was, it was a nice chill week. Um, got, you know, normal work done and, um, progressing through my astrology university classes and, um, yeah, this was supposed to be friends giving, but we decided to not do that because we couldn’t do it as safely as we felt we should have. So I ended up with a few more days to work and do things than I expected because we were supposed to be gone. So. CK: Yeah, it’s always this. Pam: And we have a dog with us. Yes, it would have been, it would have been nice, but CK: right. Yeah. We have a dog staying with us this weekend. Her name is pepper. She’s been a very good girl right now. Pam: she’s a good girl. CK: Yeah. But if you hear any kind of crawling or little barks, that’s not me. That’s Tupper Pam: It might be me. CK: might be found too. Then I was having some issues with her voice this morning, Pam: Yes. We well, we went out for our a little third of a mile run. And for some reason, right before he went out, I was doing my warmup and I started feeling really good, which I haven’t for a long time. And I’m the hip that has been bothering me, the warmups that I was doing. Helped it. So I started to get really jazzed for us to go out and run. And so we started and I was like, basically sprinting for, CK: it was pretty fast. Pam: for me, a sprint for me, STK, going to beat me. But, um, I ran out of gas at about a quarter of a mile and I ran the entire thing, but it was significantly faster than, uh, we’ve run before, or I have run before. So my, uh, lungs were burning and my throat is a little, uh, Ragged because of that? CK: Did you mean to start out that fast? Pam: No, I was just feeling good and I was like, okay, let’s run. Yeah. And then I, yeah, well, but I was feeling good and I was like, okay, well, and then I realized that you were a little bit behind me. And I was like, Oh, if he’s behind me, I’m going way too fast. So I slowed down a little bit and about halfway through, I was like, Oh crap, this is not, this is not good. But by then, I couldn’t do anything about it. CK: Yeah. Still learning how to face yourself. Pam: I don’t know if I’m ever going to know how to pace myself. CK: Good to get those faster, yet shorter distances in it’s a good exercise, especially since we can’t go for distance lately. It’s good to. Speed things up and get cardio work on that end, Pam: Great. CK: yeah. Yeah. And for me, is that I don’t think that’s the exact word, but yeah. I feel like my voice gets. More supported after these runs. And like, I get more air and more force behind my voice. So I don’t know. Maybe we have that contrast, obviously we’re at different levels of cardio, Pam: Yeah. CK: but yeah, but we both had to pull back on our. I know runs. So Pan’s having issues with their hip and, um, I feel a little twisted cause I had to sit in the car for four hours straight. I think I didn’t sleep. Uh, like after I slept and woke up the next morning, I felt a little twisted. So something happened during that period of sedentary, Venus. Um, I don’t know. I have so bad with words today, so, okay. Let’s move on. And I think what I wanna do this week is see if I can close some loops that have been running in my mind since the past few sessions. And I actually feel very good on that end today in terms of how my mind is running and how. My brain is functioning, except for those words. So maybe, maybe I should temp my expectations a little bit, but I guess in terms of my energy and my mood, I feel really good. So let’s see if I can close some of these loops. And we actually started talking about some of these, uh, just me and Pam earlier in the week. And so I’ve had, I’ve been thinking about some of these things, but other things have been coming up and, uh, let’s just get right into it. So a couple of weeks ago, Pam was asking me like, so we were going back and forth about the divide in the country and the divide between the politics and the bipartisanship. On the two, two sides of the politics. And we’re going into how there seems to be a divide between individualism and collectivism. And we were talking about how one side is, seems to be much more individualistic and just more closed minded in terms of thinking about themselves for other than the collective and the whole system. And how helping the whole system actually helps themselves. And I was asking Pam, you know, why are people feeling like that way? Or, you know, why do people get into that mode of thinking? And you said something like, because of fear and greed, and I was asking you, you know, why did they have that fear and greed? And you said something like, you know, because they have. This close mindset and they have a scarcity mindset. And so at the time I was kind of, first of all, I wasn’t at the top of my game, my brain wasn’t working at the top of his game, but I was also kind of diving off into different tangents. But now that I’ve had some time to Mol about. That I felt, you know, at the time I wish I would. I said that, you know, people get into these modes of thinking specifically the scarcity mindset because of fear. And as Pam related to it, you know, there’s this. Abundance of fear in green on one side, that’s causing this individualistic mindset and a lot of vets due to this scarcity mindset. So where does this come from and why? What I’m thinking is that these days, you know, we talk a lot about. The natural processes and how these days in modern society, we’ve kind of been distracted from these natural processes and we’ve developed all this technology and all these basically stories behind what’s going on these days. And this could go towards marketing and branding and corporate interests in. Politics obviously, but it’s all these artificial constructs in distractions. And as we were alluding to before, as we said before, in relation to the quote, the truth is not always beautiful, nor beautiful words, the truth. There’s some manipulation going on in persuasion behind the rhetoric of politics in marketing. And so we’ve been getting away from notion of abundance, which if you actually think about it, and if you’re listening to this now, and if you have a phone and you can get on the internet that right there to tell you that you have abundance and. You’re probably the top 10% of the world population. If not the top 1% of the world’s population, here’s something to think about. I don’t know the numbers exactly, but this is kind of a ballpark figure, but the top 1% of the world’s population in terms of income is something like $33,000. Annually. So if you make more than something, but it’s like 30 to 35,000. So if you make that or more, you’re in the top 1% of the world’s population and 99% of the population is below you. So yeah, I mean, just think about that and. Realize how much you have in comparison to the rest of the world. And I don’t know how well that’s going to go toward articulating my point here, but I mean, those numbers are just so huge and sometimes it’s kind of hard to relate with these numbers. Um, so something I’m trying to get better at is. Developing metaphors and stuff like that. I don’t have a good one at this time, but I’m working on that. But cause the whole thing is like people, some people have a tough time wrapping their heads around numbers and percentages in this is the issue. And going along again with binary thinking and more limited thinking, like we’re used to some. Hard numbers and relations. And sometimes it’s difficult for us to think in proportions or logarithmically or exponentially. And so that, I mean, that can go toward our quote again, whereas the truth is not always beautiful, nor beautiful words, the truth in how language affects our perceptions. So it’s. A lot to think about. And I think that may be an issue too. Like we don’t want to think that much. We don’t want to spend energy thinking about things if we don’t have to. And that’s another point that I can get into this whole thing with scarcity and abundance is what I was talking to last week about the different modes of learning. Between the focus mode and the diffuse mode and how you can only be in one mode at a time. And the diffuse mode when you’re not so focused on a task diffuse mode basically allows you to open up your minds so that you can relate different ideas and different concepts together. As opposed to the focus mode where you’re more focused on a specific idea or a concept. And so a lot of times in our modern lives, we’re very much in a focus mode and more of a one track mind of thinking or a one check way of thinking. And we’re not spending enough time in the diffuse mode with our. Brains our minds in the right mode. And the thing is if we are, if we are in the diffuse mode and were thinking, you know, we’re not so focused. A lot of times in this, in the modern society, we distract ourselves with social media and technology and the news or television or other media. So. Our diffuse mode, time is being distracted. So we’re still not getting that period of reflection in memory consolidation in connections and making, you know, different relations between various concepts. So we’re still not allowing our brains to benefit from that. Default mode network and the diffuse mode of thinking. So we’re basically never in the state of reflection. We’re either in focus mode or distracted mode and thus without the actual diffuse mode where we’re more reflective. We’re just distracted. And that I think is contributing to our fear response or our stress response, which is basically the same side of the nervous system, the sympathetic nervous system. And this is where the notion of scarcity creeps up because we’re in this stressful state and. I kind of want to clear up the stressful state terminology, because it sounds like, so when I’m talking about being distracted from the diffuse mode and looking at social media and stuff like that, you generally don’t perceive that as being stressful, but you’re still stressing your mind and your systems physiologically with, you know, these alarming. Messages or titles or stories or articles or, tweets. Pam: or, you know, what you have to keep up with and what other people know that you don’t know and what people bought that you can’t afford. And like it’s a constant fire hose of information that you may not even realize that you’re taking in, but it’s CK: Exactly. Exactly. So during these periods, when you’re supposedly taking a break and giving your mind a break, Your, your physiology, the neurobiology of your brain. Isn’t getting into the proper state to, you know, clean up or make connections or, you know, process things while it’s supposed to be in that diffuse mode, because it’s being distracted by all these different messages and technology and marketing. And what are beautiful words and whatnot. And so that keeps us in this scarcity mindset and engages that fear response. therefore, you know, we’re always acting from a point of fear That just exacerbates the scarcity mindset and it’s just a cycle. And so we’ve developed this cycle and then the pattern of being in a scarcity mindset and being in a stressful, stressful state all the time. And that’s what leads to chronic deceit, chronic disease, chronic diseases. And. You know, keeps us in this pattern of the scarcity mode or the scarcity mindset. Pam: This gets a little conspiracy theory, ish, but it also creates a population that is easier to control and easier to keep from noticing what’s really wrong. And what really matters where we’re distracted by things that don’t matter. So we don’t have the time energy. Or resources to focus on what’s actually happening. CK: Right. Exactly. And this can go toward the notion of immediate versus delayed gratification and it, so I wonder if listeners are familiar with the marshmallow test, are you familiar? Pam: Yes, I am. You would pass the marshmallow test and I would fail it. CK: So, yeah, basically the marshmallow test is, do you, uh, so there was a study. I don’t remember if it was Stanford or something like that, but there was a study way back when, and I believe it was in like the sixties or seventies where they tested a group of children and offered them one marshmallow now, or you can wait 15 minutes and get two marshmallows. And so they did the study and followed up years later and realized that the kids who delayed their gratification for more marshmallows later ended up. Scoring higher on tests and having, you know, higher income later in life and all these kinds of benefits. So it’s the notion of being able to delay gratification and that kind of mindset allows you to, I mean, it’s just a more mindful mindset in the end, and I think that’s what contributes to. More success later in life. Pam: And I want to say, I think that they’ve tried to repeat the marshmallow study results and they haven’t been able to repeat it with the same conclusion, but the principle is still there that if you can, um, develop commitment and, uh, think about the longterm than for anything financial or your relationship or your career or anything like that, that, that principle of, of not doing something that is going to affect. Have an immediate impact so that you can get a better impact in the long run is kind of an understood good principle. CK: right, right. It’s just the long term perspective on things. And going along with what Pam is saying about the study, not being able to be replicated, there’s been. A huge issue with replication in psychological studies over the past few years, that’s been discovered and continues to be discovered. And like Pam said, the marshmallow test couldn’t be re replicated replicated. And one of the interesting findings that comes from, I don’t know if it came from trying to replicate the test or it came from re analyzing these previous tests, but. What they found that what they found is that the difference between the children who could delay gratification versus the children who just wanted the one marshmallow right away had more to do with socioeconomic status Pam: Okay. CK: rather than the child’s personal mindset or, you know, personal upbringing or whatever influence. So. Children who were in a more lower income situation or more scarce situation wanted that marshmallow right away, because they didn’t know for sure if they were going to get more later. Yeah. Whereas the children who succeeded or, you know, did better with the marshmallow test, they were able to delay gratification. Fell into that weird category of study participants. So do you know which stands for Pam: no, I thought you were just calling them weird. CK: Oh yeah. It’s, it’s actually an acronym for Western educated, industrialized, rich and democratic. So it, you know, like first world nations. Some, uh, along those lines, they had an easier time delaying their gratification because they’ve have more abundance and they’re, you know, they don’t have to, if they take something now they understand that they’ll still have more later. Um, so there, it’s easier for them to delay their gratification because they know they’ll, they’ll always, there’ll always be a supply and if they can get more later, then you know, why not? So I feel like that’s kind of interesting and I’m not sure if I can wrap everything up nicely here. Uh, this is all just like we say, we do this on the fly. So this is all kind of floating around and trying to connect in my brain now. And I think I would do better if I was in a more diffuse mode, but, um, I mean that focus right now trying to, trying to connect these things. But the interesting thing is like, like I was trying to convey before we are in such a era of abundance that we should be easily able to delay our gratification. So like when it comes to something like a pandemic where wearing masks have been proven to lower the spread of the virus, and we just have to wear masks for a period of time so that we can get back to more, a more normal scenario in the near future, you know? It seems like a lot of us aren’t being able to do that because of this scarcity mindset that we’ve fallen into and this mindset that, you know, it seems like I need to be masculine now and I can’t, you know, deal with wearing a mask and it’s like, there’s no. Mindfulness around. What’s going to come about in the future, down the road, whether or not you wear a mask, you know how that’s affecting things down the line. And so, I don’t know, is this making sense, like, am I tying it up Pam: Yeah. Um, I’m not, I’m not sure that I believe that the lack of wearing a mask has to do with scarcity so much as it is identity that, that they think, or we’re not bullying, not believing in science, which is a whole other problem. CK: yeah, yeah. I think so. Yeah, not tying up the analogies, uh, as well as I’d like to, but I think in terms of the mask, I was thinking of scarcity of like, Scarcity of normalcy, maybe even, you know? Yeah. Pam: Sure. CK: like the people who protest against mass feel a scarcity of this normal, the normalcy that we were in before the pandemic and, you know, being free to not have to wear a mask and, you know, interact normally and all that. And there’s no thought toward the future and how, you know, if we all wore a mask throughout the first month that this pandemic was announced, we wouldn’t be dealing with the record number of infections and deaths happening now. And we’re like eight months into this whole thing. Like, that’s just so crazy to me. And. It’s uh, I mean, frustrating to think about from a systemic standpoint and a complex system standpoint and a standpoint of delayed gratification and broadened perspective and collectivism. So it all comes down to human behavior and how. Our natural processes. Like I keep saying I’ve been hijacked with the modern society and technology and how we’ve been led into this pattern of thinking mindlessly and. We just need more critical thinking. That’s something that I was trying to get across last week, but it’s all about critical thinking and it doesn’t have to do with how smart you are, how stupid you are, if you can just think better and we can be better. So, yeah, I don’t know if I completely close the loop, but I think I’m better, better off than I was before. Yeah. Pam: I’ve been laughing because you’ve been talking about, you know, restriction and like boundaries and like doing the hard thing right now for the benefit of the future. And you have a sun Saturn sextile happening right now, which means those two energies are, um, collaborating and working together. So your son is like your ego in your awareness and Saturn when properly expressed your expressed well is about self-discipline and doing the hard work now to benefit you later on. So you have this awareness of boundaries and discipline for, for hard work for later benefit. So I’ve been laughing as you’ve been basically giving a speech about this sun Saturn. Sextiles CK: Oh, that’s perfect. And I think we can just end things right there then. Pam: cool. CK: So thank you to the listeners for joining me this week. And thank you to Pam has always Dan, where can people find you? Pam: You can find me on Twitter where I am at Pamela underscore Lund. CK: And you might be able to find me on Twitter this week at CK disco. And I think I might be sharing some stuff this week. We’ll see how that goes. So. Yeah, thanks again for joining me. And I hope you come back next week and keep on practicing. Too-da-loo!

Practice Session #37 Welcome to my show notes for this week’s session of Practice! We record these sessions every Sunday. I try to publish the audio on the same day of recording, but once in a while, I may get delayed due to various reasons. Also, I will usually have the AI-generated transcript and my initial notes published on the same day of recording as well. On Fridays, I’ll (try to) go back through and proof the transcript while I add all of my notes. I’ll be utilizing this opportunity to clarify and elaborate on points that I may not have conveyed as well as I would’ve liked to. I’ll also provide links to further information and resources. So, on Friday, I’ll intersperse all my notes with the transcription from the audio below (unless I don’t ). Intro. [00:00] CK: Okay… Actually. all right. Here we go. Ready? There we go. Okay, here we go. Heyo! I’m CK, and you’re listening to Practice. I’m your functional systems integrator, and this is my podcast where practice is not just the theme of the show, but the whole purpose behind it. What started out as a practice of podcasting, as well as speaking in general, has evolved into a practice of self-coaching and self-reflection while espousing half-thoughts and providing unsolicited advice. As always, I’m fortunate to be joined by my Practice partner and partner in life: Pam. Pam: Hey, that’s me. CK: Pam is also my pattern awareness manager, and every Sunday we reflect on the past week and my progress with this practice, along with other lifestyle practices, as well as theories and ideas behind the virtues of practice itself. We’re doing this on the fly, so don’t hold me responsible for what I say here. Make sure to check out my show notes where I’ll provide some fact-checking, self-psychoanalysis and commentary on things I could have done better. You may find this and more information about this project at ForcesOfEqual.com/Practice. Catch up with the Anomaly and the Linchpin. [01:28] CK: We’re recording today on November 8th of 2020. And this is episode number 37- Practice session number 37. And it has been quite the week. Pam: Yes it has. CK: It feels like it’s been a long week. I- it feels like our last session was so long ago. Pam: Yeah, it feels like so much has changed since then. CK: Yeah. Yeah. It’s been a crazy crazy week. This week’s quote to reflect on. [01:55] CK:And before we get into things, let me get right into the quote. I think I’ll be able to relate this to a lot of things. And Pam might be surprised about this quote that I’m using… And it is by Deepak Chopra. Pam: I know where this is going. CK: I’m actually not too familiar with Deepak Chopra’s work. I’ve read some excerpts here and there, but a lot of his stuff is certainly interesting and certainly something I want to look into further. And the quote from him is: “The best use of imagination is creativity. The worst use of imagination is anxiety.” And this quote came up because of something that Pam received earlier in the week. She received a package of tarot card holders, I guess you would call them. And those are. cool in themselves, but it came with this little postcard or, like, index card-sized thing with this quote on it. And I saw that and I just loved the quote. It made so much sense and it spoke to me, and it speaks to pretty much everything that I’ve been kind of talking about over the past several weeks. And it also reminds me of a quote from Stoic philosopher, Epictetus. I’m not sure if I used this quote before in an episode or not, but I’ve had it written down in different places. And I think we might have used it in our microphone testing. And the quote by Epictetus is: “Man is not worried by real problems so much as by, as imagined anxieties about real problems.” And so the second part of Deepak Chopra’s quote, “The worst use of use of imagination is anxiety” relates directly with that. And the first part I love, and how he just put these two together, “the best use of imagination is creativity.” And I feel like it provides kind of like a yin and yang with the whole feeling of the quote. And it almost in my mind puts together both the Taoist and Stoic philosophies, where I kind of relate Taoism a little more with creativity and being more with the flow and letting go of form per se. And then of course, the part about anxiety and how that’s pretty much all based on your imagination is very much tooted in the Stoic philosophy. So yeah, I really love that quote just because it kind of brings everything together, and it’s so simple and it makes a lot of sense. Pam: I’ve got a quote for you. CK: Okay. Pam: That ties exactly what you were just saying together, ’cause Epictetus was from the 1500s, right? CK: Epictetus? No, he’s from like the 0s. Pam: Okay. Well, a long time ago, anyway. Like, generations and generations ago. And then Deepak Chopra is obviously teaching right now. So, um, those are two quotes that are essentially saying the same thing from drastically different parts of history. So I have a quote from Albert Schweitzer. He’s a theologian and philosopher. And he says that: “The greatest discovery of any generation is that human beings can alter their lives by altering their attitudes of mind.” So it’s this idea that nothing is really new. We just keep coming up with the same ideas over and over again and- and presenting them in new ways that feel, um, rev- revelatory, I guess, and that all of this knowledge is available to us. It’s already there and we just keep forgetting it and- and relearning it. CK: Yeah. Yeah. I love that. And, yeah, like you said, it goes along with everything that we’ve been talking about. And I love the notion that everything’s already there. And this also goes into a lot of what we’re talking about and mindset, which is the basis of the quote that you just said. It’s- all has to do with what’s in our mind and how we perceive things. And, as you were saying, how everything’s always there. We just kind of have to notice it or realize it. And the reason that we aren’t able to a lot of times is because we’re so distracted with everything else that’s filling our minds and all these other artificial concepts or constructs that are hijacking our minds and the natural process and all that stuff that we’ve been talking about. So, yeah. Thanks for that. Pam: Yeah, no problem. CK: Cool. Creativity across thinking modes. Pam: There was another quick thing. I was listening to Broken Record, um, this morning. It’s um, what’s his name? Uh, Rick Rubin, his podcast. I was listening to his episode with Jason Isabel and, uh, Rick Ruben was asking him what his creative processes. And he said that he doesn’t have a creative process because he thinks that in order to be creative, you have to always be in the creative mode. So he says that he goes to the grocery store with the exact same mindset as he does writing a song – that you have to be present and interested all the time for creative to be channeled. So that idea of the best use of imagination being creativity, is that he’s constantly imagining things in a creative mindset, no matter what he’s doing from the mundane to creation. CK: Yeah, I wanted to focus a little more on that creative side because of course I’ve been trying to assert my creative side more. And I’ve been kind of having issues getting into the creative mode, just because I’ve been so much more objective and logical and strategic with all the things that I do. And so I kind of feel like I’ve had trouble tapping into the creativity, but the more and more that I do it, the more and more I realize that I’ve had it. Like, we’ve kind of said before, like, these things are there and they’ve always been there. But I’ve just been distracted with all these other things and all these other thoughts and all these other concepts that I’ve grown to incorporate or implement in my life, and just got into this pattern or cycle of being that way for so long that it’s kind of hard to switch gears. And so, yeah, all… yeah, all this stuff is so pertinent right now. It’s awesome. So the- well, the thing that- who is Jason Isabel? Who is that, anyway? Pam: Isbell, I-S-B-E-L-L he’s, um- he would be known as a country singer, but he’s very progressive and has been very outspoken politically, and gotten a lot of flack for that. And, um, so he’s really, um, kind of the forefront of the more progressive country music scene right now. Yeah, he’s got some really, really great songs. CK: Cool. I’m not sure if I’ve heard his music before, but I’ll have to look into that. So the thing that interests me about his perspective on having to be in that creative mode all the time… is interesting because along the lines of what I was saying before, when it comes to learning, there’s basically two modes that your brain can be in – which is the focus mode or the diffuse mode. And the focus mode is probably what I would relate to more with how I’ve been thinking or learning previously to try to build this creativity. So, when you’re in this focus mode, you’re getting into these brain patterns that are already set or more solidified. And so they’re the same patterns kind of being reinforced. And when you’re focused like this, you have more concentration on specific topics or subjects, and you have less capacity to think more outside of the box per se. Pam: It’s really specialized. CK: Right. And you can only be in one of these modes at a time. So the other side is the diffuse mode which relates to the default mode network… default mode network, DMN – which relates more to introspective thinking like self-reflection, even daydreaming… You are less focused, obviously, on specific things, but it gives you your. Eliza brain more capacity to think of more things at once and think of more concepts. And those obvious- those concepts are obviously not as focused or specific, but it gives your brain different signals and you get to think outside of whatever specific thing. And this- and that’s how you get like different ideas and get new ideas, versus the focus mode where those ideas are set. So that- that kind of- that’s interesting how he comes at it from that creative perspective and having to be in that creative mode all the time, which would- I would relate to the diffuse mode. So… I think like for me, I think I’m having issues or, um, I have to work on my flexibility between the two modes, because I’m so used to that focus mode. And even when I’m trying to be creative or whatnot, I’m very meticulous and strategic and perfectionistic. So I- I would think I drive myself into that more focused mode. And so I have to find more ways to be able to switch and be more flexible and also kind of cultivate that diffuse mode even more so that I can be more creative and be more free to think outside the box and think of all these different concepts. Pam: I think that you will probably find that through doing music and things that don’t have a right answer, that you’ll become more comfortable with that. Because I think that I definitely have through some of the more artistic mindset practices that I’ve been doing, like astrology and taro and things like that, where there’s not an answer and you can’t be right. Um, and music is art, so there’s really- you can’t be wrong doing it. It might not be someone’s taste, but it won’t be wrong. But I think about, um, when you’re talking about the diffuse mode network, I picture children and how as adults in order to be creative, we need to be more childlike. And I mean that in a good way, not in like, you know. But like, if you watch a kid when, like, their parent is trying to take them to the grocery store – like we were just talking about going to the grocery store – they’re not thinking about buying food and, you know, paying for things and like all of the adult stuff, because they don’t have that frame of reference. In their mind they’re like, you know, in a video game or, you know, some sort of crazy fantasy where like everything in their life is creative. And we lose that as we pile responsibilities on our lives. So we need to, like, look at things in a little more childlike way, because they’re so creative. When you ask a kid like what they’re thinking about, or if you just, like, listen to them play, they come up with the like most bizarre scenarios because they don’t have those restrictions on their mind. CK: Yeah. Yeah, that’s great. And that for some reason- that brings things back for- to me to The Headless Way, in terms of being able to see and integrate more childlike aspects or the notion of the baby, who has no head, and to be more free, I guess you could say, and to free your imagination. And this goes along with another point. – well, I mean, it goes right along with imagination and anxiety, and how- well, I mean, even for myself, I’ve been noticing that I’ve been becoming less and less anxious and I’ve had to self-medicate less and less since I started working on music and, you know, developing my music skills or whatever. And that… and that’s another reason that that quote spoke out to me so much, is because, like, it makes so much sense. I didn’t really think about it, but I was putting more into music and my own creativity and developing different sounds and melodies and harmonies… and that in itself kind of took my brain out of that anxious mode. And I didn’t need to consume cannabis or alcohol in order to not be anxious. It was the creativity. So yeah, that- that, I mean, it was- it’s pretty obvious now that I look back at it, but that quote spoke to me because it made so much sense and I didn’t actually realize it as clearly at the time. So yeah, that quote is awesome. I wish I came up with it. Pam: Do you want that stand in the quote for your office? CK: Yeah. If you’re offering, that’d be cool. Thank you. Reflecting on our week. CK: So let’s see. Should we go back to our week in how our weeks went? Do you want to reflect on that? Pam: I mean, I’d rather pretend like the- most of the week didn’t even happen. And then Saturday, we got fantastic news that Biden-Harris won, and now we’re… Um, so back to Jason Isabel, he had a funny tweet about the election. Um, he said that America just got dropped off at rehab. He was an alcoholic, he went to rehab. So, um, he can say that. Um, but I thought that was a pretty funny perspective on where we’re at right now. CK: Yeah, that is. Yeah, I, myself- I was so distracted throughout the week. Pam: It was rough. CK: Yeah, and I wanted to- like, I envisioned getting back into the flow of things, because I’m finishing up the big project that I’ve been working on… the big hill I’ve been climbing with the Not Bad Advice trailer. And, um, right now I’m in the process of submitting it to directories and stuff. So hopefully we’ll see that pop up in the next week or so, and then figure out a plan for releasing episodes. And so… have that going on. But, so I thought, you know, I’d get more in the flow, get more in the music, which I did a little bit here and there. But I was just so distracted, and it was a good time to practice a lot of the mindfulness stuff that I’ve been working on that- and that I’ve been touting. And I’ve had to distract myself from being distracted. So find ways to navigate that. But, for me, it’s been a really interesting four years. And to have it line up with the election cycle is really interesting because it’s kind of all coming into a head now or into fruition and just relating it to that time-space is interesting. Because four years ago… Pam: You mean personally. CK: Yeah yeah, personally. Yeah. And I would imagine a lot of other people might be in a similar boat, but I was in a pretty bad place four years ago at this time. And to see how much I’ve progressed – and even throughout the uncertainty of this past week, or the past several weeks, or the past four years, I guess – I’ve been improving my mindset and my mindfulnes, and I’ve been able to get through this. And no matter what happened, or even no matter what happens – it’s still kind of uncertain – I’m still prepared. Like whatever happens, I’m pre- prepared for it. And I have the tools and the knowledge and the know-how to get through things. And I- just kind of looking back at things now and seeing how far I’ve come… and that’s just really enlightening and it’s just such a positive feeling for me to reflect on that and realize that. So w- uh, I don’t know how much I want to get into it now, but we’ll definitely be getting into it a lot more with some of the projects that we’ve been working on – uh, specifically Equanimity, which is kind of how we started out this whole process of wanting to create a podcast. And now we have two other podcasts that are coming up before that one. So that’s interesting, but that one’s kind of our baby. We’ve been working on that… Pam: It’s gonna take a lot more work. CK: Yeah. We’ve been working on that for a while, and Pam’s been doing a lot with creating the content. And now I’m really excited with what I can do with the sound design and the soundtrack. So we have that to look forward to, but yeah, it’s just been an interesting journey and I’m coming out on top. And I’m coming out with so many great tools and knowledge and it’s a really enlightening experience for me. And this is what I want to pass along because I’ve experienced it, and I know it, and this is- and now I feel like I have my own story. And this is something that I’ve been struggling with before… I mentioned before that I’ve been developing this health- functional health program. And that’s been going on actually about the same amount of time, uh, four or five years. And my whole thing with that program was to take myself out of it. So the whole thing is written in second person. I don’t mention, “I, myself” at all. And I thought that was the way to go about doing that. And in some respects, maybe it is, but in terms of the whole thing with human behavior and human performance and improvement, humans are a lot more attached to personal stories when it comes to things like this and when it comes to anything, in fact. And so I realized now that, whereas before I was trying to affect the entire world and everybody, which is just impossible. Now, I realize that I have to start small – which is funny because that’s a main theme in my program… But I realize I need to start with my own circle and develop from there… and plant the seed and cultivate it from there. And the easiest way to influence people is to influence the people that are closest to you and have like-minds and similar concepts, and can understand where I’m coming from. And, you know, if something sticks with them, then they’ll want to share it or, you know, it’ll influence them somehow. And it’ll grow from there rather than me just trying to brute force it into every single person in the world. So yeah, that’s kind of where I’m at now. What are you- do you have anything to say about that? Pam: Um, I would just say that I encourage you to become the face and the story behind everything that you’re doing, because you have overcome a lot. And I know that your tendency is that you’re a much more private person. You don’t really tell people what’s going on with you at all. Um, but it is such a powerful story and you have overcome so much. And I think that through the process of sharing it and through the process of. Um, connecting to it yourself, you will have more realizations about what you really have overcome, because I think you also tend to minimize. So like, we’ll talk about something and you’ll be like, “yeah, yeah, yeah… that happened.” Like, it’s not like, “Holy crap. Yes, you know, four- four years ago on election night, I was breaking down.” Like you- you don’t, you’re not hyperbolic like that. Um, you tend to really minimize. So I think that it would be healthy for you to go through that process of really connecting with the story and putting it out there so that you can get the feedback of how powerful it really is. CK: Yeah. Yeah, exactly. And starting small with my own group will be, for one, more comfortable for me. And for two, there’ll be able to provide feedback or I’ll be able to get feedback starting from a small circle. So that as that gets bigger, I’ll be able to reinforce or, uh, make it better. Make my message better and make the program better and improve from the feedback. So, yeah, I’m definitely. Excited about that and very, just- I don’t know… happy, I guess…? Optimistic… Considering what I’ve been through and reflecting on all that. Pam: I want everybody to see how cool you are. CK: Don’t don’t talk to me too much! But I- so that reminds me, I also want to kind of reiterate what I was trying to articulate last week. That, you know, I’m sure you can probably tell which side of the political spectrum we’re on, but there’s also another side to it and we have to be mindful of these sides and, you know, it’s still- the thing that changed might be the presidency, but the people are still the same. So the country is obviously divided and it’s just- it’s crazy how even the election was. And even four years ago, it was very even. So there’s obviously a lot more work that needs to be done in order to bring people together. And people on the other side aren’t very different from you when it comes down to the core of things and the foundation of life and core values and stuff like that. So we have to find places of common ground and try to cooperate and get along. And, you know, we’re much stronger together than we are apart. So I just really hope that we can get past our differences or perceived differences and get through to our values and what we actually want. And start getting rid of these distractions and constructs that are just hammered into us by corporations and the rich. Pam: Religions… CK: Yeah… and realize that we’re all humans and we can evolve and we can think more critically. So that’s another point I want to make that. Critical thinking in intelligence, aren’t the same things. Like there’s a lot of intelligent people out there who can’t think critically about certain things. And I’m very aware of this because I’m in Mensa and. We it, you know, members of Mensa can demonstrate a high level of intelligence in terms of this IQ testing. But that doesn’t mean that we all think critically. And I witnessed that all the time. I’ve been the webmaster of orange County Mensa for maybe eight years now. And admittedly, I’m a reluctant Minson and the website is pretty much all I do other than, you know, we’ve attended a couple of talks and stuff like that over the years, but I’m reluctant in a couple. Senses one eye. And this goes to, uh, me minimizing things. Uh, like you were saying before, like I, when I took the test, I was like, I don’t think I even finished the test and that, so I was like, I didn’t make it an immense there or whatever. So I was surprised, you know, a couple of weeks later when I got notified that I did well on the test and better than 98% of the population. And so. I had, I have that. And then there’s, you know, I interacted with medicines through message boards or whatnot, and I see their letters to the editor and the magazines and, you know, there’s. A lack of critical thinking, going along with some, you know, I’m not going to generalize and say all medicines, cause obviously there’s a lot of smart people in there and a lot of great thinkers, but I’m just trying to say that, you know, intelligence and critical thinking, aren’t the same thing. And we need a lot more critical thinking these days, you know, you have to think for yourself and I’ve been. Espousing this over the past few weeks, if you don’t realize it, you know, if you’re unconsciously self transcendent, you’re not realizing how you’re being controlled by the message from the systems above you. So I, this is just kind of a call for more critical thinking and recognition of cognitive biases and. Broadening your perspective. And when it all comes down to it, it all comes down to perspective and having the perspective to realize that other people don’t think the same way that you think. And that goes along with empathy and theory of mind and understanding that other people feel differently about certain things. And. So you have to have compassion for this and kind of understand, like, I mean, I’ll, I’ll goes back to our quote, you know, the best use of imagination is creativity. The worst use of imagination is anxiety. So what are all these things that you’re thinking about the other side, per se, do you know them to be true? And this comes from the work of Byron Katie, who I just love. And her four questions are so useful. It’s such a beneficial tool. First question is, do you know this to be true? Yes or no. And the second question is, are you sure? Do you absolutely know this to be true? And so kind of what I, how I see it as the first question is kind of thrown out there and you might. React to it, maybe emotionally. So I liked that she repeats it with the second question. Cause then that kind of starts to get you into a more mindful mode and actually think about it and actually consider if what you’re thinking is actually true or not. If you can actually know for sure that to be true and. To relate this to what I’m trying to talk about, you know, do you know why the other side is thinking the way that they’re thinking and can you be absolutely sure of that and how can you be, unless you’re them, you know, Pam: And even they don’t know really CK: Yeah. And even. You know, you can’t necessarily even trust what they say, because that might be just trying to convey something that they want to convey. Or like Pam just said they might not even know what they’re saying or why they’re saying it. So those first two questions are so pertinent. Like, do you absolutely know them to be shown? And then the third question is, so, you know, if it is true, who are you with that thought. What does that thought make you feel? Um, if you think about how, you know, just picture yourself and pick yourself with that thought and how that makes you feel and what that thought brings about, and if it brings about any emotions or feelings or thoughts, and then the fourth question is who are you without that thought? So that kind of reminds me of mental contrasting in psychology, kind of flipping the thought and taking yourself out of it and imagining what life would be like if you didn’t think like that. And so this is just a practice of mindfulness in perspective, and it helps you get you out of yourself. And look at things from a more objective perspective, and I’m not sure why I got into all this, Pam: I think I can wrap it up and bring it back. Um, so the, the point there through that process, especially when we’re speaking about, um, understanding someone who has views that are different than yours, the point of that process is not to. Except their points and to believe them or to give them validity or anything, the point is to be able to have conversations that are productive and you can’t do that. If you’re battling the other person, if you’re saying you’re wrong, I know why you think X, Y, and Z. You have to come at them from a company. Passionate place or an empathetic place at least. And I say that being someone who gets very, very angry about these issues, you know, I have very close friends that are trans and gay and you know, a lot of, um, people that are, have been harmed. So this is a hard thing for me personally to say, but it is that you have to remove yourself from. The conversation, because once you get angry, once you get emotional, once you are combative, you cannot change the other person’s stance. You can only make change by having conversations and by, by, uh, baby stepping them from where they are to where. Hopefully they can get, and you can’t do that. If you’re telling them you’re wrong, CK: right. Pam: you have to start by spoon-feeding other CK: Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. And even before the conversation is your own, self-reflection like when you respond to things with emotion or anger, like Pam was saying, the thoughts in your head are coming from your imagination. So these are the thoughts that are rooted in reality. So you’re just imagining. Things in a past future tense, per se. So, you know, things that happened in the past, you project them into what might happen or what should happen or what ought to happen. And so you’re automatically out of the present moment and therefore not able to think clearly and rationally. And so that’s the great thing about Byron Katie’s four questions. Is it helps you. Get out of your imagination and get more into reality. The reality of what’s going on rather than what you’re imagining could happen or could be going on. Pam: Yeah. And you can use that with yourself and also with the other person, they, you know, if they make a statement, you can say, is that true? CK: Yeah, totally. Pam: and, and get them to, um, validate if it is actually true. So this is something you can use on yourself, but it’s also something that you can use in conversation with other people. CK: Yeah. Yeah. So I think we’re up on time already. They went fast. That blew by and my voice feels pretty good right now. Pam: You skipped coffee today, right? CK: yeah, I have a hypothesis, so I don’t know if it was cause I skipped coffee or whatnot. Just to be clear. I’m not a coffee drinker. Or, I mean, I know I do drink coffee, but I’m not. Uh, Pam: The daily drinker. CK: yeah. So I generally only drink coffee on Sundays. And I do that because before it was for performance enhancement for my soccer games and I was kinda missing that because I haven’t been playing soccer. So I decided to do that. To enhance my performance for these podcasts, but I dunno if that’s been hurting me or not, but I think what’s been hurting me the past couple of weeks is my warming up before doing the podcast. Yeah. Well, it’s a hypothesis. So I’m thinking like I don’t use my voice. We don’t talk for like half an hour at a time. You know, in our, well, in my daily life, I don’t talk for half an hour at a time, or even more than 10 minutes at a time, I guess. And so. Every Sunday, you know, I’m talking. So it’s kinda like I’m playing soccer once a week without practicing and expecting to do good, you know, Pam: More. CK: well, I might do the vocal exercises or what I do in my warmup more every day. So I feel like I’m tiring my voice, my vocal system. With the warmup. So, yeah, so I didn’t do all the warmup stuff today and now I might be kind of losing the voice a little bit, but it’s been miles better. I feel a lot better anyway. So there’s that. So I think we can wrap things up now and before we leave off Pam, where can people find you? Pam: You can find me on Twitter, where I am Pamela underscore. CK: And might be able to find me on Twitter at CK disco. We’ll see how things go this week. And so thank you to the listeners for joining me this week and thank you to Pam as always. I hope you come back next week and keep on practicing. Too-da-loo!

Practice Session #35 Welcome to my show notes for this week’s session of Practice! We record these sessions every Sunday. I try to publish the audio on the same day of recording, but once in a while, I may get delayed due to various reasons. Also, I will usually have the AI-generated transcript and my initial notes published on the same day of recording as well. On Fridays, I’ll (try to) go back through and proof the transcript while I add all of my notes. I’ll be utilizing this opportunity to clarify and elaborate on points that I may not have conveyed as well as I would’ve liked to. I’ll also provide links to further information and resources. So, on Friday, I’ll intersperse all my notes with the transcription from the audio below (unless I don’t ). Intro. [00:00] CK: Okay, I think we’re good… Pam: We are good. CK: Okay, here we go. Okay… Heyo! I’m CK, and you’re listening to Practice. I’m your functional systems integrator, and this is my podcast where practice is not just the theme of the show, but the whole purpose behind it. What started out as the practice of podcasting, as well as speaking in general, has evolved into a practice of self coaching and self-reflection while espousing half-thoughts and providing unsolicited advice. As always, I’m fortunate to be joined by my practice partner and partner in life, Pam. Pam: Hey, that’s me. CK: Pam is also my pattern awareness manager, and every Sunday we reflect on the past week and my progress with this practice, along with other lifestyle practices, as well as theories and ideas behind the virtues of practice itself. We’re doing this on the fly, so don’t hold me responsible for what I say here. Make sure to check out my show notes where I’ll provide some fact-checking, self-psychoanalysis and commentary on things I could have done better. You may find this and more information about this project at ForcesOfEqual.com/Practice. This week’s quote to reflect on. [01:19] CK: We’re recording today on Sunday, October 25th of 2020… and this is our 35th practice session. Pam: For sure? CK: And I believe I have that correct this week. And I’ll go right ahead and recite the quote for today. And I’m not sure if I’ll be able to loop this in throughout the theme of today’s session, because I jotted this down during the middle of the week, and I’ve had a lot of other thoughts towards the end of the week. So we’ll see how it goes. But this comes from the stoic philosopher, Marcus Aurelius, who we’ve quoted before. He was the… arguably the greatest Roman emperor of all time. And the quote goes like this: “[It is] like seeing roasted meat and other dishes in front of you and suddenly realizing: This is a dead fish. A dead bird. A dead pig. Or that this noble vintage [wine] is rotted grapes… perceptions like that… latching onto things and piercing through them, to see what they really are… to strip away the legend that encrusts them.” And again, that’s by Marcus Aurelius, and I think that quote spoke to me early in the week, because it goes along with a lot of what we’ve talked about in terms of how such things as language and our experiences shape our reality and our perceptions and how we as humans categorize and put boundaries on certain things. Whereas in reality, these things are not as structured or defined and, you know, certain people may define it or perceive one thing differently than other things (or perceive the same thing differently). So that’s basically how the quote spoke to me. Pam: I can see that, that the idea of everything being on a spectrum that we’ve talked about before and the duality of everything. Like, you could look at the roast and see it as a dead cow and be repulsed by that. Or you can look at it as a roast and see- look at the roast, see it as a dead cow, and then honor the cycle of life and be, like, um, appetized by that. CK: Right. Pam: And that- it’s the exact same thing, but which side you look at totally changes your perspective on it. On mindful eating. [04:06] CK: Totally. And on that same note, we as humans in our modern society, we’ve become very mindless about what we eat. So, I mean, in talking about our diets specifically, we, you know, just eat what’s in front of us. Or we- we’ve developed a pattern or habit of eating certain things in a certain way. And so we don’t really think about it. Oftentimes in our work lives, say during our lunchtime, we may hurry out and grab something to eat just for the sake of sustenance or to curb our hunger. Whereas, you know, these things that we eat come from somewhere and someone has procured them and there’s story and a history behind them, and so much more that we often just neglect and don’t even think about. So we’ve come to regard food as just this thing that we do that we eat. And, you know, we come to regard eating as this thing that we just do and we have to do. And it’s just something that is pretty much automatic in our lives. So yeah, that’s another perspective to take in terms of more mindful eating and paying more regard to where our food comes from, the work that is put into getting that food onto the plate on our tables. And, you know, just being mindful in that sense has cascading effects in terms of even our metabolism. And one of the things that I like to espouse is to take a huge sniff of your food before you eat it. And, you know, just doing that, prepares your body for digestion. And something along the lines of up to 30% or so of our digestion begins before we even start eating. So, yeah, there’s some studies that have, uh, exemplified that or prove that. And, you know, in terms of, uh, our the, uh, saliva… the chemicals that get produced in our saliva. Uh, I’m forgetting the name… Pam: Well, yeah, you got to get those enzymes go on the, um, like, is it like sucrase or something like that that starts the sugar digestion. CK: Yeah… Pam: Are we going to do this again?  Amylaze! So, I wasn’t even thinking about it and this just popped into my head right after we ended the recording session. Come on, brain! Anyway, here’s a study on the digestive effects of “minding” food prior to eating: [PDF] Role of Thought, Sight, Smell, and Taste of Food in the Cephalic Phase of Gastric Acid Secretion in Humans [07:05] CK: Yeah, let’s not, but I think, uh, I think I’ve given the general idea. But yeah, so it’s all- it all comes down to being mindful and, uh, having perspective and realizing that things are on a spectrum. And trying to get away from this binary thinking of this or that, or, I mean, in this case, it’s not even binary, it’s almost unit- unitary thinking. Or not even thinking it’s mindless. Pam: Or it’s- it’s micro versus macro. Like, you’re just thinking about, like, this bag of chips in front of you, and you’re not thinking about everything that goes- CK:The whole system. Pam: Yeah, the whole system. Or like, if we go back to talking about meat, like, you know, you’re talking- you’re buying a package of hamburger and having no idea where that came from, instead of thinking about the farmworkers and, you know, underpaid people. Or, you know, the entire system, the health of the animal. Like, there’s so much to think about that goes into that. CK: Yeah, exactly. And even further along those lines, it’s the separation of product and labor that we’ve come into in our modern society, where we pay for our food and we get our food. So we don’t really pay mind to what we’re paying for or where our money goes to in terms of how that translates from what we’re getting. And so, yeah, like you were saying, there’s farmers involved or the, uh, workers in the field or the whole production line in terms of even shipment and you know, all that stuff. So, yeah, I would challenge listeners to, you know, think about how much of that they’ve thought of every time they’ve sat down for a meal and just start out by taking a huge smell/sniff of your food before you eat. And just that will hopefully help you become more mindful. And if not, it’ll help you digest your food better. Pam: People who are religious would, um, probably find the action of saying grace before they eat… CK: There ya go… Pam: …as like a familiar thing to relate that, to. That, you’re taking a minute to appreciate the food on your table and where it came from. And we’re obviously not religious, but you can still use that moment before you eat. CK: Right. Yeah. And in fact, it’s- it comes down to reflecting on your food and it’s a process of reflection. So, as you know, we’re all about reflection and self-reflection and whether you’re religious or not, and you can use religion as some sort of reflective practice. So yeah, that’s how that quote spoke to me… Catch up with the Anomaly and the Linchpin. [10:18] CK: And let’s catch up on how we feel and how our week went. Uh, do you want to start? Pam: Um, sure. So my weekend pretty well, uh, I think I said last week that I was feeling, um, more creative energy and just kind of mentally more able to take on more than the, like, bare minimum. So that continued throughout the week. And, um, I had a final that I had kind of hanging over my head for the astrology class that I’m taking right now. And I finally, this week went and did it and had no idea how long it was going to be – the previous finals have been like 25 questions. So I logged in and went to take it and it was 76 questions. And I kind of panicked because as a perfectionist, I want to get a hundred percent, even though it totally does not matter. It’s like pass fail – you have to get 75% of the questions right. So I can totally do that and still pass the class. But I get, I definitely get test axiety. Yeah. So, um, I did it and I got a hundred percent CK: Nice. Pam: Pretty excited about that. Um, yeah, and we went for a run this morning. I went for two. CK: Yeah. So I- you went for a mile while I was going through my morning routine. And I extended my run from last weekend, my run of one-third of a mile, and I doubled that to two thirds today. And so you joined me for that as well. So you ran a total of one and two-thirds smiles. So how’d that feel? Pam: Good. Yeah. I’m not as tired as I expected to be because, you know, we kind of pushed pretty hard for me on the second run and… CK: Yeah, I was feeling pretty good, so I went- I went a pretty good sleep- speed. Pam: Um, and my hip did really well. So, um, I had a couple of twinges in there, but overall it did well. And I was able to find the right position, I think, to be in a much better stride and- and cadence and, um, positioning. So that’s good. How about you? CK: Yeah, I’m feeling great. And, uh, it’s just kind of adding on to last week and last week’s run and the great feeling I felt from that. And yeah, my body feels good. I did a little soft tissue work in my morning routine this morning and my body feels good and loose, and it feels straight and aligned. And I- I do feel a difference when I run. I feel like I’m using my body more efficiently, which is just crazy to me because I’ve been working on my stride for probably almost 10 years now. And, yeah, I mean, whenever I run, I’m always mindful of how I breathe and how my stride is and my footfall and all that. And it’s just crazy to me that after 10, about 10 years of doing that, that I’m still finding areas to improve. And I- it- it’s crazy. Like my- it’s crazy how I’m feeling- how good I feel. And it- I kind of, uh, I also started touching the soccer ball again this past week. And before I injured my toe and before the whole pandemic, I was very active with soccer and I would take about, uh, 2,500 touches a day on the soccer ball. And that was part of my pre dinner routine. And it sounds like a lot, but it just takes me about 15 minutes and I’m just doing drills and getting about 2,500 touches on the ball. And in like youth soccer systems, I believe they try to get their players touching the ball at least 10,000 times a day. And that, uh, if I kind of calculate that out from what I’m doing, it’s probably at least an hour, and I don’t have time to do that as much as I’d like to. But yeah, so I had the habit of doing that. And now I’m starting back into that. Although I’m not up to 2,500, I’m just doing a, about a minute or two to start out with, because I don’t want to be doing too much too soon. But I’m feeling good when I do it. And it’s kind of gotten me back into wanting to play soccer. Although I’m not, you know, I don’t feel like I have to go out and play, you know, while this pandemic is going on. Like, it’s not that enticing to me. I mean, of course I love to play and I would love to compete and interact with my teammates and all that stuff, but I don’t feel like it’s necessary for me to do that. But I’m kind of talking about this because, uh, I guess a couple months after the pandemic started and I was injured and, you know, I stopped playing and then there weren’t- you know, the league stopped and everything. So I kind of thought that this was my retirement. Like, I was getting comfortable with the fact that- you know, I’ll probably always play at a recreational level, but I was starting to get comfortable with the fact that I don’t need to compete so hard anymore. And at my age of 40, it’s not- it’s probably not as practical to be training so hard and trying to be on the level of 20-year-olds. But now with this newfound energy and alignment and integration that I’m feeling, I kind of feel like I have this like extra power to be better than I was before. And… Pam: And is that mental or is that from going back to the foundational movements that you’ve added in to get your body in shape? CK: I think it’s more about the foundational movements and how it’s making my body feel, and how it’s making me feel. Like I feel like I have all these new resources that I want to try out and see how far it takes me and how much better. I could be than I was before. Like one of the things is- uh, so what I’ve been finding out is that I feel like I haven’t integrated my posterior chain properly. And that’s kind of what I’m improving on right now. And I’m feeling so much more power in my glutes and my hamstrings. And I thought I pretty much maxed that out over the past couple of years because I’ve been working on that and I’ve been mindful of that. But with these latest alignment practices and movements and postures that I’ve been taking up, I feel like I’m engaging the posterior chain even more and I’m feeling more alignment and more integration and more power. And I feel like I’m finally using the right muscles at the right time. And it’s like my body’s just kind of falling into that proper movement system. And I’m- so I- I used to- if I’m- if I think back I used to have pretty good hops, like I was never like the- well, I don’t know. I mean, I feel like I was one of the best jumpers when I was in school and I did compete in the high jump when I was in junior high. And I loved that and I was- I was good at it. But, um, these, uh, let’s say like five or so years ago when I started competing in soccer again, very competitively, I found that I- my- my vertical was so weak. And it was like- I don’t think it was that noticeable to others, but to me being one of the tallest people on the field, usually at 6’2″, and, you know, supposing to have a height advantage, like, I felt like I couldn’t jump over people like I should’ve been able to. And now I’m kind of realizing that I don’t think I was connecting that posterior chain properly. And I feel like I have connection now. So that’s just kind of a proxy to illustrate how I’m feeling the connections happening. And that’s, you know, that cascades down to running and every other movement basically. So I have some inclination to get out there and compete and see how I- I compare to my peers or even the youngsters. So I don’t know I had that in the back of my mind, but at the same time, of course, with the pandemic, I’m not, you know, I don’t feel like I have to go out and do that. But I do feel like this, uh, new energy in terms of competing again. So yeah, there’s that. Pam: Well, we have an old video of you jumping up onto the picnic table at the park. So maybe we need to go back over there and have you jump on it again and see how you’ve improved. CK: Yeah, I mean, I still need to practice the movement a little more, but I feel like there’s structure and a functional foundation behind it now. Where I can actually improve properly. So yeah, I don’t know where that’ll take me, but that’s kind of where my mindset around that is at right now. And in other news, this past week has been a very experimental week for me. And I changed up a couple of things. And one of the major things is I abstained from cannabis. The entire week. So yeah, today would be a full week, which I probably. Vaped cannabis every single day for over a year now. And I’m, I’m pretty disciplined in terms of my usage of cannabis. And I do think it’s a wonder drug and it has a ton of benefits, but I also don’t want to fall into a habit of using it or depending on it. And so I do my best to regulate my usage of it, but I was finding that, uh, I. Wasn’t able to fall asleep. So that’s the main reason that I use it every day is before bed or before bedtime, I take a hit or two and it would allow me to fall asleep and have a good night of sleep, like, uh, like clockwork and, uh, um, I, you know, I’ve experimented with not using it and I’ve had issues and. You know, most of the time I’d be able to fall asleep, but sometimes I’d have yeah. Shoes. So I resorted to using it every night, just so, cause I knew it would work. And in the past couple of weeks it got to the point yeah. Where it wasn’t really working anymore. And I was still staying up. And I wasn’t getting to bed at the time that I wanted to, and I was having trouble falling asleep and I started getting into that cycle of using it more and more to try to get it. To be more effective. So I feel like I was gaining a high tolerance to it and it wasn’t as effective. So I decided to abstain from it for awhile. And I, I know what happens. So what happens when you use it regularly? Is that your receptors, you have the main receptors for cannabis is called CB one and CB two. And. I believe CB. One’s the main one for THC. And the more you use C regularly, the more you consume it regularly, the more tolerant you get to it. And your CB one receptor becomes desensitized and down-regulates. And it’s, you know, then the THC becomes less effective. So there’s studies that show that even just after a day or two of abstinence, your CB receptors start coming back and becoming more effective. And there’s. Varying lengths of time in terms of, uh, like a total I’ve seen anywhere from two to four weeks. And I’m sure it depends on the individual. So my I’m shooting for two weeks right now, but I thought I would have more trouble in terms of not. Using it in a, I did have, I probably did have some withdrawal symptoms. The first couple of days, I was a bit moody and especially the first night I feel like I, so the first night I, we have a massage chair that I like to use and I stand up all day. I have a standing workstation and. That first day, I felt like my body getting tight. So I feel like maybe not using it that first day, my body was kind of feeling it and it was maybe more anxious. Like it wasn’t as relaxed as usual Pam: Do you use it throughout the day, CK: sometimes. Um, yeah, I’ll use sometimes I’ll use. CBD during the day, if I’m feeling stressed or anxious or Pam: but that would be that wouldn’t be the same as what you’re talking about with the THC. CK: no, but in terms of like anxiety or, uh, like, you know, sympathetic reactions, Pam: So are you not using CPD right now? Either you’re CK: No. Yeah. Um, yeah, abstaining from everything. So I’m wondering if, for whatever reason my body was kind of feeling that and was just kind of tightening up or something subconsciously. So I felt really tired from standing up all day. And so I was looking forward to sitting in the massage chair and it didn’t work that night for whatever reason. And so I was like super. Pissed and got moody and yeah, I mean, uh, I probably haven’t gotten into that kind of mood in a while, so yeah. And I would most likely attribute that to withdrawal from the cannabis. So I do think I felt some withdrawal effects, but I improved throughout the week. And. No. I feel like, like, I don’t, I’m not craving it at all. Not that I really craved it the first couple of days, anyway, other than wanting my body to be relaxed, but I wasn’t necessarily necessarily craving the cannabis. I just wanted a massage Pam: Yeah, well, it’s not craving the cannabis as much as craving getting CK: the relaxation. Pam: Yeah. For like, yeah. Getting the result. CK: Right, right. And so, yeah, no, I don’t see a problem with abstaining from it another week and maybe I’ll go even further. But the interesting thing is that, like I said, I regulate my usage very tightly. So usually my usage of it is. Before my afternoon nap. And before I go to bed at night, and I kind of feel like that high feeling during those times, still, even after a week of not using it. So it’s like my endocannabinoid system, my internal Coonamble system is still. Activating during those times to fulfill that cycle or rhythm or? Yeah, I don’t, it’s weird because I do feel like, I feel like when I vape, but I don’t, I haven’t done it for the past week, but I kind of still do feel a similar feeling to what I do during the times that I usually do it. Uh, Pam: you’re just finally getting on my team of understanding how amazing sleep is and wanting to do it all the time. CK: well, no, I’m already on that team. But it’s just actually being able to do it that I’ve had struggles with in the past. But yeah, I find that interesting. And I look for some studies this morning to see if there’s anything around that based on abstinence after. A lot of continued usage, a lot of regular usage, but I haven’t really found anything. Not that I had a chance to look very deeply into it yet, but there I did skim through one study that was from like 2017 about cannabis withdrawal. And there was a line about something about cues from cannabis. After withdrawing from it. And I, I’m not, I couldn’t find what they meant by these cues. So I don’t know if they meant that they were, you know, like presenting pictures of cannabis to the participants or, you know, I dunno what they meant by it, but whatever the cues were, apparently the. Serum level of the THC Rose when the participants were given these cues. And it was just the QS. They weren’t using the THC or ingesting it. Pam: Pavlovian putt. CK: Yeah. So I wonder if that like, uh, maybe the time, some like the time is some sort of cue for my body system or something like that. So yeah. I find that really interesting. And even a week after I stopped using it, I’m feeling the effects. So it could be. In my mind, it could be placebo. I don’t know, but I just find that it’s interesting. So, yeah. Uh, I don’t know. I think that’s all I had to say about that. I just, it was a pretty experimental week on that front. And on that note, I’ve been. Very much on a creative kick and I’ve been able to let go of stuff and just kind of work on creating a lot more this past week. And, um, I feel like I’m kind of finally starting to transition into that creative. Um, what’s the word? I don’t know. Creative mindset, I guess more. And I’m having a lot of fun with what I’m doing with music and like gear that I have, and this stuff is just amazing. And I’m. Very close to releasing stuff. And I did some social media yesterday. Pam: Social media. CK: Yeah. Well, so I started a new account. I think it’s for my music stuff. And it’s under disco bleep and I’m on Instagram right now. And I believe I shared that Instagram to my personal Facebook, but I’m still. Off for Facebook. I like Facebook’s changed so much. I don’t even know what’s going on. So all I see are those red badges and my numbers are like get 50 and 16. I don’t even want to click on them to see what’s behind them. And I like it. I don’t even know how to navigate Facebook anymore. So I don’t even, I try not to even look at it unless I have to. And when I do, I don’t look at my newsfeed or anything or my notifications or anything. So I just kind of posted my disco, bleep, Instagram posts to my Facebook, just to let people know that I’m alive and doing stuff and there’s stuff going on. So I just kinda planted the seed. And it’s interesting because my discal bleep Instagram account. Is kind of bare, it’s empty and there’s nothing on it. I don’t think, I, I think I did put my name on there, but there’s no profile picture or anything, and which is quite a departure for me because as a marketer, I know that you want to have a complete profile and you want to have a good bio and all that stuff. And I. Surprisingly now I’m not so preoccupied with all that. And it’s more like I want to just assert myself and get my stuff out there and kind of share these new creative things that I’m doing. And so I’m less concerned with the objective marketing aspect. Of social media and now I’m more comfortable with just kind of putting stuff out there and expressing my creative self Pam: You don’t think that having your photo on there would be expressing yourself? It feels like not having a photo or identification on there is a way to hide. CK: I just haven’t had time. I don’t like, I don’t, it takes time to do all that stuff. Pam: So it, wasn’t an intentional decision of like, I’m not going to show people that this is me or brand it to myself. CK: no, no, no, no, no, not at all. It’s just, I mean, all I did was post a picture yesterday and it took me about an hour to do it, just to sign up for these accounts and. Like navigate, like Instagram looks different now and like the sharing sequence is different now. So I had to figure all that stuff out. So, Pam: You should have just gone to tick tock. CK: yeah. Uh, yeah, take talk. Looks fun. So, uh, um, I might try to figure that out soon, but yeah, it’s just kind of interesting. Think about how different my mindset is toward this kind of thing in sharing things on social media. Because before I was very, Oh, what’s the word? I, I was very meticulous in. Um, Pam: You were perfectionistic. You would, you would take hours to create a social post. CK: Yeah. And it’d be very curated and it would have to be exactly what I wanted to portray and I there’s so much thought put into it and. I didn’t want to deal with that kind of thing anymore. So, so yeah, we’ll see where that goes. And I am very close to finishing up my main priority. That’s kind of been. That I’ve kind of been preoccupied with over. I it’s been months now, I guess, but, uh, there’s a lot that has been going into it in terms of the new electronic music production that I’m learning and the podcasting and the audio processing and all that stuff. And a lot of it’s coming together and, uh, I think what I’m producing is very cool. I mean, I like it and it’s getting really awesome. And I just I’m. I just love that there’s all these tools out there now for creators to use and easily or more easily put out. Content and express themselves in, um, learning these tools and finding out how I can use utilize them. And the whole process is fun, but there’s a lot to learn. And of course I still have some inclinations to. Put out stuff that, you know, I want it to portray. I want you to portray what I want it to portray, but at the same time, as we’ve been talking about over the past weeks, I also understand that, you know, once I put something out there, I have no control over how it’s portrayed. So yeah, I’m kind of getting comfortable with all that in terms of, I guess, integrating the. Subjective and objective sides and the creative, and what’s the opposite of creative, like creative and objective signs, whatever. Yeah, sure. But yeah, you get the gist, but that’s where I’m at now. And yeah. Hopefully once I get over once I, so what I’m talking about in terms of my priority is the not bad advice podcast and the trailer. And. Yeah, that’s very, very close. I see the end now and I’m comfortable with, with what I have now. So it’s very close to being finished. And then I think once that’s finished, it’s just going to cascade from there and, you know, I’ll have all this knowledge and skills to do what. I want to do with all the other stuff. And so, yeah, I’m kind of at that transitional phase right now, and I guess that’s that. Pam: Cool. I’m excited to hear it. CK: Yeah. I’m excited to share it. And so, yeah. Do we have anything else you want to talk about? What’s going on with the stars? Pam: so something that I’ve been learning about is, um, is Hellenistic astrology. And there’s this idea of, um, what’s called perfection years. So every year of your life has like a theme and. Uh, it’s based on your age, but it’s different for everyone based on, uh, where the planets were when they were born, basically like what sign, what sun sign you’re born under your, where your ascendant is? Um, it changes. So, um, you and I are both currently in, what’s called a fifth house perfection year, but. And the fifth house is about creativity. CK: Hm. Pam: we’re both going through creative processes right now, but in very different ways because you have Jupiter that rules your fifth house. So, um, in your chart, Jupiter. Uh, so the, the line that I have here is that Jupiter promises to produce self-esteem worth and value for you through creation and fun. In collaboration. So over the last year you’ve been building self-esteem and, you know, kind of like building up your feelings of worth through the creation that you’re doing with music and podcasting with me. So I think that’s really interesting, but what’s more interesting, I think is looking ahead to next year when. That moves into your sixth house, which is the house of like work and what you do every day. So, um, in the next year, what I have written down is that, um, you will be going to the wrong page for the next year. I have written down, uh, this is when Mars will rule your year. So it will be the Mars promises to deliver selfish self-assertion and identity. And skill and competence through collaboration and aspirations. So it’s like that we were going to continue building all of this stuff together. As we both move into the sixth house, Europe work where like right now we’re doing all of this, this creation and like building new stuff, and then we’re gonna transition in this period of it work, being work and like in a good way though. And, and that we build, um, You’re going to build self-assertion and identity through that work. So I’m actually really excited to see what comes out of the next year. CK: yeah, I like that. It seems pretty accurate with the pest that we’re on. Pam: Yeah. Well, see what happens in, uh, in three years when we move into the eighth house perfection year, which has to do with inheritance death and other people’s money. So, yeah. Yeah. So it’s an interesting concept. I’m just starting to learn about it, but it’s really fun. CK: Yeah, I like it and it’s very cool in terms of a reflective process. So yeah, I find it fascinating in that regard, so. Cool. Well, yeah, let’s uh, close it there this week and Pam, where can people find you? Pam: You can find me on Twitter, where I am at Pamela underscore Lund. CK: And you might be able to find me on Twitter at CK disco, and you might be able to find me on Instagram at disco bleep, and yeah, we’ll see where it goes from there. So Pam: I’m going to go follow you. CK: thanks for everyone for listening this week and thank you to Pam for joining me as always. And I hope you all come back next week and keep on practicing.

Practice Session #36 Welcome to my show notes for this week’s session of Practice! We record these sessions every Sunday. I try to publish the audio on the same day of recording, but once in a while, I may get delayed due to various reasons. Also, I will usually have the AI-generated transcript and my initial notes published on the same day of recording as well. On Fridays, I’ll (try to) go back through and proof the transcript while I add all of my notes. I’ll be utilizing this opportunity to clarify and elaborate on points that I may not have conveyed as well as I would’ve liked to. I’ll also provide links to further information and resources. So, on Friday, I’ll intersperse all my notes with the transcription from the audio below (unless I don’t ). Intro. [00:00] Pam: So much more than I expected or could have done myself. So, I really appreciate it. You did a really good job. CK: Thanks! Pam: Thank you! CK: Alright. Ready? Check. Here we go. Heyo! I’m CK, and you’re listening to Practice. I’m your functional systems integrator, and this is my podcast where practice is not just the theme of the show, but the whole purpose behind it. What started out as a practice of podcasting, as well as speaking in general, has evolved into a practice of self-coaching and self-reflection while espousing half-thoughts and providing unsolicited advice. As always, I’m fortunate to be joined by my Practice partner and partner in life: Pam. Pam: Hey, that’s me. CK: Pam is also my pattern awareness manager, and every Sunday we reflect on the past week and my progress with this practice, along with other lifestyle practices, as well as theories and ideas behind the virtues of practice itself. We’re doing this on the fly, so don’t hold me responsible for what I say here. Make sure to check out my show notes where I’ll provide some fact-checking, self-psychoanalysis and commentary on things I could have done better. You may find this and more information about this project at ForcesOfEqual.com/Practice. Catch up with the Anomaly and the Linchpin. [01:28] CK: We’re recording today on November 1st of 2020. This is our 36th practice session. Already having issues with my voice. [01:36] CK: And I’m having some issues with my voice today. Pam: Again? CK: Yeah, I thought I felt really good while I was warming up, and I started a couple of new practices- or I’ve been researching some vocal stuff over the past week after listening to, uh, someone on a podcast. Um, I don’t want to mention it yet, cause I’m not sure how it’s going along, but I did find out that there was, uh- So there’s tips that he provided in terms of- so… excuse me. So he mentions that caffeine is bad, which we’ve discussed, and I didn’t really know why I- I tried looking into it before and there were some speculations about caffeine inducing maybe some anxiety or something, and that kind of effecting your- maybe your sympathetic nervous system or something which may affect your voice or something like that. And then we kind of speculated on the heat of coffee, maybe inflaming your vocal cords or something like that. But apparently, caffeine produces mucus or it upregulates mucus production. So that prob- that makes sense to me because that’s- cause I feel like stuff building up in my throat and I get this like gravely and raspy voice thing going on. So I did drink caffeine this morning, but I- it was like two hours ago since I’ve had it. And so I thought that’d be okay, and I felt good warming up, and I thought, you know, everything was going well. And then right as I get into the intro, my voice starts getting recipe. So not sure what’s going on. Maybe I still need to exercise it. Maybe I just need to cut out the caffeine. Pam: do you think that you had anxiety about what we were doing right before we started recording? CK: Um… possibly, but I- yeah, I don’t know. I don’t- I don’t see how that would affect my voice and my throat so much, but it very well could be. Pam: I get that when we’re recording Not Bad Advice. Like we- I talk all morning and it’s perfectly fine. And then as soon as we start recording, I’m like, brraauughh… CK: Yeah. It’s so weird. And also I saw that you took a spoonful of honey right before we started. And apparently that also causes some mucosal build up in the throat. So I didn’t use any honey, but I don’t know. I feel like It- my throat feels better with honey, but I don’t know. I’ll keep experimenting and hopefully improve. Pam: If it’s good enough for Christina Aguilara, it’s good enough for me. We learned in her Masterclass that she uses honey. CK: Yeah. Did she also mention lemon? Or tea or something? Pam: She just said that she’ll, like, use her hands to shove honey in her mouth in between songs ’cause she doesn’t have any time. CK: Yeah, ’cause apparently lemon can also cause issues and tea, obviously, because of the heat, if that does cause inflammation. But yeah, I’m looking more into the vocal stuff, so hopefully you’ll hear some improvements on that front. ‍ Update on Not Bad Advice. [05:27] CK: And before – right before we started recording – I had Pam listen to the Not Bad Advice trailer that I’ve been working on this whole time. And I got some notes from her. And finally- I mean, it’s pretty much complete. There’s just a couple of very little things, and I got some notes from her, and just need to tweak some things. And there’s- I mean, these are really small things. And it’s kind of annoying because I can’t figure out how to fix them or do them. And they’re, like, super-minor. So, I mean, it probably doesn’t even matter in the end, Pam: I don’t even know what you’re talking about. So… CK: Yeah, just, uh, just some effects and some mixing and stuff like that. But yeah, it’s, uh, it’s- it’s there. So I’m expecting that we’ll be able to publish it or start uploading it this coming week. And, um, yeah, I guess we’ll have to talk about that, but we’ll see. Um, either way I’m thinking we can upload, you know, even what we have and just get it up there. Even if we don’t promote it, just so we can have it up and know that it’s up in- in the directories and people can find it. So when we do want to promote it, that it’s there. And even if I want to edit it further, I can just re-upload it- or re-upload the edited version. So, I- so what I have now, I’m comfortable with publishing that. So, that’s where we’re at with that. Pam: Very exciting! CK: Yeah. So, yeah, it’s exciting for me too, because it’s a huge hill I’ve been climbing for a few months now, I guess. And yeah, I- I see the top and I’m so close. I’m right there. And I’m excited to start taking that momentum, and running downhill with it. So… Pam: Well, I am very, very grateful for all the work that you’ve put into it. And I’m so happy with that, with the outcome. So, thank you. CK: Cool. Yeah. I’m glad- I’m glad you’re happy with it. And yeah, I probably did way more with it than I needed to. And I’ve also stripped a lot from it as well. And yeah, I mean, I- I tend to do- I tend to overdo things like that. But it was a very interesting learning process. And very useful. And I’ll be able to use a lot of the stuff that I learned for the stuff that I want to be doing. And so, excited- excited for things to come. Pam: Me too. This week’s quote to reflect on. [08:16] CK: So let’s, uh, get right into the quote for the week. And I actually jotted down like four quotes this week. It was quite- quite a… I don’t know what word I would use to describe the week. I would say very, um, I don’t know. I mean, um, th- there’s a lot of things going on and… And, uh, it’s a very- It was a very challenging week in terms of me doing things with the trailer. And then of course the political climate going on. And, uh, the fires that are going on here in Southern California. We probably had the worst smoke that I’ve seen since I’ve lived out here. Pam: It was pretty bad. CK: Yeah, what… I’ve been out here for like, I don’t even know now 15, over 15 years. Like 16, 17 years. And we’ve had fires, but these might be some of the closest fires that we’ve had to our home. And the smoke was just terrible. That- the first day of the fires, it was just nasty. And the- what is it? The air quality index was, like, over 300? Pam: Yeah, it was close to 350 that first day. CK: Yeah, which I’ve never seen it over 200 before, I don’t think. Pam: No. CK: Yeah, so fortunately that’s clearing up and they have a handle on the fires now. And, yeah, the winds are what was the big issues. The winds were- they got up to like 70 miles per hour or something? Pam: Yeah, the Santa Anas. CK: Yeah, it was nuts. But anyway, yeah, lots of things going on, so lots of things on my mind and that’s why I kind of, uh, had a lot of quotes speak to me over the past week. But this is the one that I ended up with, and I actually jotted this one down before and it came up again. And before it spoke to me, but then there was another one that came up and it spoke to me more at that time. But this one, uh, came up again. And, um, and this one speaks to me most this week. So this is how it goes. It’s actually from Lao Tzu, who I’ve quoted before – the founder of Taoism. And three out of the four quotes that I jotted down are from Lao Tzu actually. So, I’m very much on a Taoism bent this week. So, here’s the quote: “Simplicity, patience, compassion. These three are your greatest treasures. Simple in actions and thoughts, you return to the source of being. Patient with both friends and enemies, you accord with the way things are. Compassionate toward yourself, you reconcile all beings in the world.” So it’s. Very kind of overall all encompassing, which is what I like about it. And the first line, it kind of sums it up with simplicity, patience, compassion… I would hope that everybody would agree that those are three very important virtues. And it’s- this spoke to me, I think mainly because of the political climate, lately – and obviously the elections coming up in a few days. And I don’t want to talk about politics specifically too much, but just the attitude and the feelings that people are having. And I- you know, I ended up getting caught up in Facebook last night before I went to bed, which was… uh, and- and this, this is what happens with social media. You just get caught up. And I- so the reason I was on Facebook was because I was on the Marketplace and I was looking for music gear. I like looking in the Facebook Marketplace for music gear, as well as eBay and, uh, Reverb.com is a great source for used music gear. And so I was looking at the Marketplace and just happened to catch a post from a friend. And it was politically based, and I could not tell if they were being serious or not. And I ended up going through the comments and I ended up clicking through, like, other friends, and like… And I haven’t been on Facebook going through these kinds of posts at all until last night, and I was just dumbfounded at how I really couldn’t tell if they were being sarcastic or serious because the messages were just so, I mean, outlandish on one hand in relation to what I know of my friends, but on the other hand, like it was realistic and- and even the comments were mixed, they were like supportive or not. And like, even through the comments, I can tell if they’re being serious or not. And so yeah, it’s just- yeah, it was just- I was just totally befuddled. And so I liked this quote because the second part. So there’s simplicity and then there’s the patience. And it says “patient with both friends and enemies, you accord with the way things are.” And I just want to espouse how we need diversity of thought, diversity of life, diversity of people… and this is all what makes everything so great, and that’s how we get- you know, we- we need to have some- I mean, there’s opposing- I’m totally getting wrapped up in this, but we’ve talked about the duality of things before and how there’s good and bad, and the same thing can be good and bad. And there’s good thing- you know, there’s good in the thing and there’s bad in the thing. And it has to do- there’s a lot that has to do with perspective, and how you look at things, and how you consider things. And there has to be bad for there to be good. And, you know, there has to be darkness for there to be light and all- all this dualistic concepts. And I just want people to understand this and realize that. Um, I’m totally blanking now. I’m totally getting caught up in a different thought cycle, but I, um… Oh, shoot, I’m totally lost now. I, yeah, I just want to say that whatever happens in the election, one side’s going to lose. And the other side- that, you know, there has to be winners and losers. But the thing is at the end of the day, we all basically want the same things. And there is common ground that we can find and, you know, find a place of understanding. And, you know, we all have basic needs and you know- yeah, I dunno. I dunno what I’m trying to say here. Pam: I think I disagree with you on that, that we all want the same thing. CK: Okay. Pam: I think that there is a faction of people in this country that want minorities gone. That would not have allowed your parents in this country. That are okay with children in cages. That want to pad their own pockets at the expense of the poor, CK: Sure. Yeah, I understand that, but why do they want that. Pam: Because of fear and greed. CK: And why do they have that fear and greed? Pam: Because they are small-minded, short-sighted people who are living in a scarcity mindset. CK: So, yeah, I totally agree with that. And that kind of gets to the bottom of what I’m trying to articulate here, I think. And like you said, you know, these people are in a scarcity mindset, and a lot of the division that I’m seeing is due to the individualistic versus collectivistic mindset. And this also relates to the open hierarchical system that I espouse in terms of subsystems and super systems and self-assertion and self-transcendence. And there’s- it seems like there’s a preponderance of individualism going on these days, obviously. And so what I’m trying to say here, I think is that. A lot of people are stuck in their own individual views, and they’re not thinking of the supersystem and the collective and how that affects the complex systems going on. And there’s- it’s a short-sighted view because at the end of the day, in the long-term, if you think of the supersystem, and if you take a more collectivistic mindset, that helps the individual more than just being a greedy individualistic person who only thinks of themselves or their immediate circle. And so does that make sense? Pam: It does, except that we have an entire party that is basing everything that they do on creating division and, you know, like they- they put together a tax plan that has tax increases on everyone that makes under $75,000 a year, for every year starting in 2021, purposely. So that if Biden wins, it will appear as though the Democrats are increasing taxes on poor people. I mean, this is an entire party that is purely built on reinforcing division. So how do we have a collective mindset when there’s a very small group of people that really do benefit from not having a collective mindset, and they’re in power? CK: Right. Yeah, and that’s the thing. Like, ther- the- that- that. So there’s a party that may be based on division and there- the other side may be more unifying. But the thing is, like, I see division occurring on both sides, and that’s not going to solve anything. And you know, it- the side that understands that we need to unite and be more unifying can’t be divisive as well because that’s not going to solve anything. And so, yeah, I don’t know. And go ahead. Pam: I know we fundamentally disagree on this because of our neighbors that are flying a Trump flag, and I refuse to look at them, and you still say “hi” to them. And we disagree on that. But I’m on team shame them until they get their crap together. And you’re on team be nice to them, no matter what CK: Well, I’m on team humans and I… Pam: I am too, but they want to hurt humans. CK: Yeah, I understand that. But I also look at it from the standpoint of the unconscious and conscious self-assertion versus self-transcendence and fundamental attribution error as well. And I, from my perspective, I feel like these people who are more individualistic and trying to assert themselves unconsciously, or are also unconsciously self transcendent – and what I mean by that, we’ve been talking about this over the past couple of weeks, but I know it’s probably confusing or esoteric, but you know, when you’re self transcendent, you’re thinking, or you’re trying to be outside of yourself and more about the super system and the collective, but there’s a difference of being unconsciously and consciously self transcendent. And when you’re unconsciously self transcendent, which I would relate to being, you know, identifying as part of a political group and having that as part of your identity – you know, identity politics, your unconsciously self-transcendent, and you’re being controlled. You’re dependent on the system outside you and you lose your autonomy. You’re not enforcing your free will. And so you might think you are, but if you are not considering other perspectives and taking the word of your group and following, you know, all the things that your group says, you’re being controlled. And you’re being controlled by people who know how to manipulate your group and manipulate you for their gain. So, yeah, I don’t, uh, I shouldn’t have gotten into this. I I’m too distracted with what we were doing before and my thoughts aren’t super clear and… yeah. Pam: Well, I’m going to continue to use my free will to not smile at Nazis. CK: Yeah. So… I’m- so where I’m coming from is I’m trying to find a place of common ground and see where the actual values are at, and try to unify people and try to make people understand each other on both sides. Because as much as you think what you think is right, the other side thinks that they’re right. Just as much as you think you’re right. So if you guys- if you don’t understand that there’s different perspectives, you don’t have empathy or theory of mind or compassion, then we’re not going to get anywhere. And, you know, we’re just gonna keep making the divide even wider. And yeah, I don’t need- you know, who knows where things would go from there. Pam: But you have to engage in conversation with them to have that impact. CK: Right. Pam: Do you do that? Do you talk to people on the other side of the political spectrum and try to find where they’re coming from? CK: Okay, so… that’s the other thing. So, this past week, I’ve been thinking a lot about ego and how that relates to self-assertion. And, you know, you hear all the time how ego is bad and it’s bad to have ego and ego is the enemy. And the thing is, it’s a spectrum and there’s another side to that. And there’s this part where ego is good. And as it relates to self-assertion, you have to have a balance of ego. You know, if we’re talking about Freud’s model here, we have the id, the ego, and the super-ego and where the ego and the super ego relate to my framework is, you know, the ego is the subsystem or you. And the super-ego is the supersystem and the systems outside you, or the social system. And you have to have a balance of that. And for me, I’ve- I feel like I haven’t been enforcing or asserting myself. And, you know, I’ve been mentioning that over the past few weeks, and I feel like in a way that I haven’t- I haven’t had, you know, I don’t have the ego. My ego is not in balance with my super-ego. And so I need to increase or boost my ego and assert myself more. And I feel like in terms of the collectivistic mindset, which would relate more to the super-ego or the supersystem. Might lose some sight of the ego in terms of asserting themselves. So yes, I do need to assert myself more, and I’m realizing that more and more. And, uh, so to answer your question, no, I haven’t been, you know, participating in these kinds of conversations. And I’ve been working on myself and I’m trying to figure myself out, and I’m realizing that I do need to assert myself more and put more of my ideas out there. And it kind of seems like it- this is maybe a trend in the side that’s more collectivistic. They’re not really asserting their egos or their individualism enough in terms of creating a balance of both sides. And so one side is much more assertive in their messaging and what they’re doing and what they’re putting out there and what they want to do. And the other side is very, you know, they come off as weak and quiet and, you know, non-confrontational and just, you know, let the other side roll over them. So yeah, I think both sides need to get in more balance in terms of integrating these aspects of individualism versus collectivism or ego versus super-ego. So that’s what I have to say about that. Pam: Okay. I appreciate that because my point was that love and light is not going to make things better. We have to have difficult conversations. And if you’re on the right side, you need to be active in conversations. CK: Yeah, I agree with that. And you know, of course I’m just generalizing here and this is just my perspective, but I would hope that everyone can agree there could be a lot more balance between the two sides in terms of how things are being asserted and how things are being considered. So, yeah. Um, yeah, I think I finally got around to what I wanted to convey. Pam: Okay. Pam’s twin might be trying to come out of her shoulder. [28:39] CK: Um, so I have no idea how long we’ve been going. My timer’s- I didn’t start it at the right time. Do you have any idea? Pam: Um, it’s probably been pretty close to half an hour ’cause we started the trailer a little bit after 12:15, 12:20? Somewhere in that area? CK: So, I mean, let’s talk about something else. I don’t know. How did you- do you have anything you want to talk about or anything more light? Pam: Yeah, I can talk about my weird chiropractor experience this week, if… CK: Okay. Pam: Um, so I went to a new chiropractor for my nagging shoulder issue that’s been going on almost through the entire pandemic. And, um, he deals with energy healing in as well as, um, physical healing. But his whole idea is that you, um, hold emotional trauma in your body and that that has to be released, or it comes out through, um, chronic injury. So, he was doing a lot of, um, tests, uh, going through potential areas of trauma. And he brought up one, which was, um, that he- he felt very strongly that I had trauma from when I was six years old and it involved my father. And I- I immediately had a memory of it, but I am not the type of person as open as I am, and as much as I will tell you anything and everything that’s going on with my mind, psyche body, whatever, it takes me a little bit to open up to people. So being that this was a stranger, even though I immediately had a memory about it, I was like, no, my childhood was completely fine. There’s absolutely nothing wrong. Um, but afterwards I came home and, and spent the next couple of days kind of mulling it over and journaling about it and meditating on it. And I ended up putting together the memory that I had with a few other instances throughout my childhood that involved being injured and not getting the treatment that I wanted or the emotional support that I wanted. So there’s a potential that I carry injury that’s related to emotional trauma there. Um, but the really weird one was that he feels that I may have had a twin. CK: Oh yeah. Pam: And that I ate all of the nutrients and starved my twin. So my twin died in the womb. And that is a very strong possibility because twins are very strong in my dad’s family. He had twin sisters. There was a lot of them. So there’s a very strong possibility that I had a twin. And my entire life, I wanted a twin. Like I talked about it all the time. I was like obsessed with the idea of being a twin, and I have twin cousins, and I was, like, mad that they got to be twins. Like, this was a kind of a big thing in my life. Um, so there’s the idea that I have, um, like worthiness issues and guilt associated with- with taking all of the nutrients and thereby starving my twin. So like, I now feel like I don’t deserve what I have, or I’m unable to receive – whether that is monetary or care or love or anything like that. So that was my weird week. CK: How can you know that? How can you like find out for sure? Pam: You- you can’t. Cause it could have been like cellular, right? It could have never come to fruition. And I don’t think that ultrasounds were a thing when our moms were pregnant. So I- and there’s never been any story about, you know, me having a twin. But I kind of feel like it was probably true because like, were you obsessed? Did you want a twin when you were a kid? CK: No. Not really. Pam: I know. Yeah. So I don’t think that’s a normal thing. I think I just really wanted another one of me. So I thought that I- I just thought I was so cool that there should be two of me, but now it kind of like makes sense that maybe there was, CK: Huh. So a couple weeks ago, we actually talked about this a little bit in terms of going to- you going to our sports doctor and him saying your issue is emotional and you were totally- you totally rejected that. Pam: Yeah. And I don’t know that I, that I actually think that my physical issue is emotional. And I’ll get back to your point here in a second. Um, I am going all in and buying into everything this guy is saying, because I, at this point I will do anything to get this pain to go away. So I’m totally on board with whatever he’s telling me. Like if he told me to go stand in a lightning storm with a fork on my head, I would probably do it to get rid of the pain. But, um, I think this comes back to your point about how words have power, and how we label things, and how the way you say things changes them. And the way our sports doctor told me “your problem is emotional” goes back to my need for care. I went to him to have to be cared for. And his response was, “I’m not going to care for you because your problem is emotional.” And he basically rejected me. And I have a really hard time asking for what I need. So for me to go and say, “I need help” and to not get it was rejection. So rejection on top of telling a woman, “your problem is emotional” with no context is problematic. So I think that had he done it differently, or had better bedside manner, it would have been received much differently. CK: Yeah. Okay. Yeah. I mean, yeah, we went over that a couple of weeks ago when you mentioned that, so yeah. Yeah. That’s all- that’s all pretty interesting. I’m interested. You’re going back tomorrow, right. So, yeah, that’ll be interesting. Maybe we can talk about it next week. Pam: Yeah. We’ll see. If anything more weird comes up. Update on my cannabis abstinence experiment. [34:43] CK: So, yeah, I guess we could start wrapping things up now. And I do want to mention that I did not get a lot of sleep last night. So, my brain’s not functioning at the top of its game. And I also want to up provide an update of my cannabis abstinence experiment. And, uh, so it’s two weeks today that I’ve been abstaining, and I feel like the last two days I’ve been struggling. And I feel more anxiety creeping up over the last two days. And… Pam: I could feel that. CK: Really? Pam: Yeah. CK: And me, I’m just so, uh, I don’t want to toot my own horn, but I’m very disciplined when it comes to my health. So if I said two weeks, I’m going to do it all two weeks. But you know, now that I think about it, it’s just an arbitrary amount of time that I set for myself. And I, you know, looking back, I- there’s no good reason I couldn’t have taking a hit of CBD yesterday or something like that. But I don’t know at the same time it’s, uh, enforcing my own freewill (I meant to say “willpower”) and discipline. So, I’m over that and I feel it- so I- I’m- I’m going to start- start back up little by little. I know now that I don’t need it as much, and I still feel like my circadian rhythm is, uh, very much… very well synced. Excuse me, my voice. We should start wrapping this up soon. But, um, the other thing is my blood pressure has been going up. So, I know the one thing that I can count on to lower my blood pressure is cannabis. Pam: We know that for a fact. CK: Yeah. Um, maybe we’ll tell the story some other time, but yeah, it’s been an interesting experiment and I’m glad I did it. And I feel like the timing was awesome because I got my circadian rhythm sinked up. Right when we’re changing the time back to standard time. And I’m so glad we’re back to standard time, because now solar noon is much closer to actual noon. And yeah, the daylight savings is just stupid. So, uh, hopefully we get rid of that soon. Outro. [37:18] CK: So yeah, we’ll leave it there for now. And of course I want to thank Pam for joining me as always. Pam, where can people find you? Pam: You can find me on Twitter, where I am @Pamela_Lund. CK: And thank you to the listeners for joining me as always. And yeah, I don’t know if I’ll be on Twitter yet this week. Uh, this up probably be off it this week. I don’t want to touch social media this week, but if you want to check out my past tweets, I’m @cKdisco. Pam: If you want to check out tweets from 2018. CK: Yeah, and I’m very much looking forward to getting more into the music stuff this coming week, and riging this momentum of the Not Bed Advice trailer. So we’ll see what comes from that. And so thank you for joining in tuning in, and I hope you come back next week and keep on practicing. Too-da-loo!

Practice Session #34 Welcome to my show notes for this week’s session of Practice! We record these sessions every Sunday. I try to publish the audio on the same day of recording, but once in a while, I may get delayed due to various reasons. Also, I will usually have the AI-generated transcript and my initial notes published on the same day of recording as well. On Fridays, I’ll go back through and proof the transcript while I add all of my notes. I’ll be utilizing this opportunity to clarify and elaborate on points that I may not have conveyed as well as I would’ve liked to. I’ll also provide links to further information and resources. So, on Friday, I’ll intersperse all my notes with the transcription from the audio below (unless I don’t ). [00:00] Pam: Here we go Pam: Car next door. There’s three of them in the neighborhood. I think we’re good though. CK:okay, here we go. Check. Check. Okay. Okay. Hey, yo, I’m CK and you’re listening to practice. I’m your functional systems integrator. And this is my podcast where practice is not just the theme of the show, but the whole purpose behind it. What started out as a practice of podcasting, as well as speaking in general, has evolved into a practice of self-coaching and self-reflection while espousing half-thoughts and providing unsolicited advice. As always, I’m fortunate to be joined by my practice partner and partner in life, Pam. Pam: Hey, that’s me. Pam: Pam is also my pattern awareness manager. And every Sunday we reflect on the past week and my progress with this practice along with other lifestyle practices, as well as theories and ideas behind the virtues of practice itself, we’re doing this on the fly. So don’t hold me responsible for what I say here. Make sure to check out my show notes where I’ll provide some fact checking, self psychoanalysis and commentary on things I could have done better. You may find this in more information about this project@forcesofequal.com slash practice. We’re recording today on October 18th, 2020, of course, it’s Sunday as always. And this is our 33rd practice session and we’re rolling along. We’re on a little bit of a time crunch today because we’re meeting up with my parents for lunch and my brother and his wife. And so try to keep this to half an hour, like I’ve always been wanting to, and I actually feel really good right now. And, uh, I’m noticing how good my voice sounds to me. I don’t know. Do you notice any difference? Pam: So far, it sounds the same to me, but I’ll pay more attention now. Pam: it feels like a it’s more smooth or I don’t know. I’m not sure what it is. I feel like I have more, more, some more breadth behind it or some more power. It’s more stable. I don’t know. We’ll see how it comes out, but we just. Went for a third of a mile run right before recording. And for me, it’s the first time I ran in. I don’t know how long it’s been now. At least two months. Maybe even three. Yeah. It feels like it’s been awhile, but I’m finally feeling like I can get back to running after injuring my toe and didn’t want to. Start out with too much too soon, which is a common error with a lot of athletes or want to be athletes. So just did a third of a mile and thought great. And maybe that’s helping me with the power behind my voice. I don’t know. I’m also progressing with. The integration, I guess, per se of my body systems or my like muscular myofascial system. Like my body is feeling really good. And I’ve been doing a lot in terms of posture and alignment over the past several weeks after injuring my toe, because I’ve been feeling twisted and some areas have been feeling tight and. It may also be downstream from my rib dislocation from however many months ago. Six or so. Yeah. So yeah, I’ve been working a lot on my posture and alignment, and I’ve also had shoulder issues, shoulder issues for a years and I’m finding new. Stretches and exercises in positions to getting to, to try to alleviate or fix that issue. And it feels like a lot of things in my body are kind of just kind of falling into place and lining up and it’s all coming together and the systems are synchronizing and I feel. Like, I feel like I see a difference in my body structure and like my musculature, like my upper torso looks different and like my lats look different. So I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but it’s probably super subtle. I just noticed stuff like this, but all in all, I just feel really good. So, yeah. So how about you, Pam? Pam: um, I’m feeling also hopeful and good about, uh, fixing injuries. I went to the chiropractor this week to have them look at the problem that I’ve been having with my shoulder. And, um, he told me that it wasn’t physical. It was emotional, which. Look, I’m super into intuitive practices and the way that your mental state can affect your body. But, uh, that, that kind of made me mad and made me like double down on fixing it, uh, physically, because I know my body and I know that it’s something physical and not a manifestation of an emotion. So I spent a lot of time with dr. YouTube and found, um, Some tutorials on scapular placement. And that has been really helpful because I was unknowingly dropping my scapula. So I couldn’t use my shoulder correctly. So, um, just in the two days that I’ve been working on that is making a huge difference. So pretty excited about that. Pam: Yeah, I want to ask you maybe that. Emotional terminology is a little off putting, what if, what if you said something like neurological or visceral? Pam: Uh, I think that that would have been better than telling a woman that she is being emotional about her pain. Yeah, Pam: Yeah. Cause I mean, I can see, well, I don’t know. I don’t, I don’t want to put words into our doctor’s mouth, but like I can kind of understand where they’re coming from. Because, yeah, I mean, there’s there, uh, art sports doctors are very well practiced in very enthusiastic about both Eastern and Western practices. And I’m, I’ve dove, dive dived. I’ve dived. I’ve dove in into how do you say I, I I’ve. I’ve dived into, do you know? Pam: I would say I’ve I’ve dived, I guess, but I don’t think that’s right. You have taken a deep dive Pam: Yeah. Okay. Thank you. We can use that. I’ve taken a deep dive into more esoteric practices and theories about physical issues and kinetic issues. And a lot of this runs along the lines of, uh, well, even neurological issues in neural myofascial. I don’t even know if that’s a term, but. Like brain, body connection basically. And so I can kind of see how. We may be susceptible to some kind of visceral or neuro neurological issues in terms of how our body reacts to different things. And, uh, I mean, the reason why this is kind of, um, I get maybe my Pam: for talking about your voice? Pam: Yeah. Right. So, I mean, I’m just kind of getting excited here, but I’m kind of thinking about these things now, because like I was saying, I’ve been. Working on lining up my posture, especially with my shoulder issue. And I been meditating a lot on it as well. And kind of trying to tap into that, this circle and emotional aspect, I guess. And I I’ve been feeling some really weird and new things. With my shoulder and my lat, like that whole complex, when I’m doing these alignment meditations, and I’ve been able to kind of go into like the feeling more deeply and kind of feel more minute minuscule things like. Stimulations and reactions and stuff and how like my shoulders changing. So it, yeah, I mean, it’s, I don’t know how well I’m doing at articulating this, but like the more I kind of relax into the posture. And the more I realize how I’m reacting to certain feelings that I’m getting from my shoulder. And then once I recognize those feelings and try to relax into those, well, maybe kind of even lean into them. And then in turn, as I focus on them, I relaxed into them more and feel the change. And I’m not even moving during this time, but. I can feel the area changing. So yeah, it’s really weird and it’s interesting. And my shoulder the way, so when I, what I do is I lay flat on my back with my shoulders out, like my elbows out to my sides, my arms up at like 90 degrees, kind of like in a field goal position. And I try to line up as at 90 degrees as much as possible and keep it even, and then keep my back flat. Wow. My legs are up at a 90 degree angle bend at the knees up on the couch. So I’ll post the link to this in the show notes, but it’s called static back in guys in the Egoscue method. But as I lay there, uh, why was I getting into this? Do you remember? Pam: Because of my emotional reaction to my shoulder. Pam: Um, yeah, sorry. So I’m kind of getting off course and just getting into my thing, but yeah, I don’t even remember why I was getting into this. Um, Yeah. Like, uh, I don’t know. It’s just interesting because I just lay there in that position and things are changing and I can feel it. And it’s, I don’t know. I ha I enjoy meditating like that and getting those changes happening. Oh, and the reason I was kind of elaborating on this process is that I’ve been doing that for about three or four for about three or four days now. And my. Shoulder’s totally changed. Like before my arm would start coming up as I relaxed because my shoulder position was still not lining up and it wasn’t settling with the gravity or anything. So my left hand, which is, uh, downstream from that left shoulder, which is the one having issues, it would come up off the ground and where, you know, I’d start with both hands on the ground. All lined up and as I relaxed into it, my left hand and would come up off the ground. And because that’s the position that it’s used to, but as I’ve been doing the past couple of weeks, it’s been staying more and more closer to the ground, so changes are happening and I can kind of feel the difference in my shoulder and in turn I’m feeling the differences throughout my body. And so, yeah, it’s just a whole long roundabout way of saying how, why I’m feeling so good. And maybe touching on the neurological visceral aspect of physical issues. Pam: Well, to be clear, there were three options that it was physical, emotional, or mental, and he picked emotional. So mental was a third option, which is more like what you’re saying. And he, he chose emotional. So I think that that was, um, really. Yeah, that was not the right word to use. Also when you didn’t even do a physical examination Pam: Yeah, I get that. Okay. Well, let’s get into the quote for this week and I actually jotted this down earlier this week. And, uh, as I think about it right now, I’m not exactly sure why, but I’ll just go ahead and recite it and see what we can do with it. So this one comes from Lao Tzu again, and of course Lotsu is in, is the author of the doubt of Ching, which is the main Taoism textbook. And the quote goes like this colors blind. The eye sounds definitely. Oh, was this Pam: That was last week. Pam: Oh, what? Okay. So I have the wrong notes up. And so this episode, this is session 34, then on the session off and Oh, okay. There we go. I labeled the episode wrong. Okay. Here’s the code? Okay. What are you going back to Seneca? I think he was the first stoic philosopher. We quoted way back when I started this. Okay. So here’s the cut with trying to your, let me start over. Pam: Are you drinking coffee? Pam: Yeah, you think that’s it. Pam: Yup. I know. That’s it. Pam: Okay. Maybe I need to rethink that. Actually today I’m drinking a cold brew straight up, whereas the past couple of weeks I’ve been drinking it in my smoothie. Pam: You just drank more of it. Pam: Yeah. Okay. So let’s see if I can do this. Here’s the quote Pam: Okay. Pam: withdrawing two years. Oh man. Freaking coughing. Pam: Do you have water? Pam: No, but let’s see if I can get through this. Take a deep breath, withdrawing to yourself as far as you can. Associate with those who will make you a better man of you who will make it better. Okay. Let me start over, Pam: Take 17. Pam: man. I’m having so many problems with this today. Okay, let’s go again. Let me enlarge this. Okay. Okay. This is the quote from Seneca withdrawing into yourself. As far as you can associate with those who will make a better man of you. Welcome those whom you yourself can improve the processes mutual for men learn while they teach. Okay. So I remember why I jotted that down. So I’ve been having a lot of thoughts in terms of putting myself forward and asserting myself and trying to pass along my knowledge. And a lot of the stuff like I’ve talked about, you know, pretty much every week is that, you know, a lot of stuff that I think about is kind of abstract and I’m making like new associations between different subjects and topics and disciplines and. So a lot of what I espouse is kind of new and sometimes it might be viewed as out there and woo, and esoteric and because of its newness and it’s, you know, it’s different from other things and it’s new concepts, new ideas, and it’s not commonplace or mainstream. So. I’ve had like issues and reluctances and hesitations about. Saying these kinds of things and saying what’s on my mind and revealing these theories and all that stuff. So of course I’m practicing doing that with this podcast and I been getting better and better and more comfortable with it. And so I’m, I have the mindset now that I’m ready to move forward and yes. Responsibility on, and I’m not afraid of it anymore. Maybe there’s a little bit of anxiousness or nervousness or Pam: that’s normal. Pam: Right. But of course that helps me and it informs me and, uh, you know, it gives me signals of how I can get past it or improve. So. And not there is that we had met up with our friends on Thursday. I believe it was. And, uh, we handed off their dog because we were watching, we were dog sitting for them. Well, they were. Out of state for two weeks. And so we met up to hand off the dog and have a quick little meal outside by the beach. And it just kind of reinforced the notion to me that, you know, we have some really awesome friends. And not to mention, I talked to another one of our friends, uh, over the last weekend and our conversations are just so productive and very informative to me. Uh, definitely. And hopefully her too, but the, uh, I think this quote spoke to me because the second line, it says associate with those who will make a better man of you. And of course, you know, there’s the sayings that, you know, surround yourself with, or you, you are the product of the five people, five people that are closest to you or something like that. So, you know, you, you want to surround yourself with good people and that will in turn, uh, help you. And. Uh, of course the first line withdrawn to yourself, as far as you can also is pertinent to me in terms of me wanting to assert myself and tap into my own intuitive feelings and kind of let go, like I’ve been saying before over the past couple of weeks. So just all kind of, all of those things kind of came together in that one quote. And I think that’s what spoke to me and I think zooming out. In the bigger picture. Uh, I guess I’ve been talking about this the past couple of weeks too, about the synchronicity and things kind of falling into place, and it seems like everything’s happening at the right time. And that kind of goes along with this quote where, you know, it seems to be the right quote for this time. And you know, every sentence kind of is pertinent to what I’m feeling right now. So that’s why I picked it. Pam: It was right along with a, uh, an aspect that’s happening with your chart today? Yep. So the moon is in the same place, basically right now that Uranus is in your natal chart. So you’re in is the planet of like transformation and change and, um, like shock of the new is kind of the. The thing that goes along there and the moon is like your emotional needs. So your natal chart. Yeah. So zodiacal chart natal chart, same thing like when you were born. So when, so with the moon conjunct, which means like at the same place as Uranus, um, You are likely to have spiritual insights and notice that your will to be different is more powerful right now. So like you’re emotionally able to accept and embrace that will to be different and not hide from it. And like put yourself out there as having different ideas. Pam: Interesting. Yeah. I mean, that stuff is so interesting and yeah, that’s cool. So, yeah. Uh, so I’m not really sure what else to talk about. Didn’t have really anything planned, I guess we can talk about my progress with podcasting and I’ve been having, well, I guess we can talk about my progress in general with all these things, because. You know, oddly enough, the past couple of weeks I’ve been going through just as much troubleshooting, if not more than I was like a month or so ago when I was really kind of getting into the weeds and getting frustrated. But I don’t really, I don’t know if you’ve noticed any frustration or any difference coming into me in the past week or two. Pam: other than this morning. No. Pam: What happened since morning? Pam: I felt like when we were recording, not bad advice, you were a little like grumpy. Pam: Yeah. I don’t remember why. Pam: You were like fidgeting around with stuff a lot. And you Pam: Oh, the fricking light tab turning on and off. Uh, okay. So what were you just talking about? Pam: About, um, I assume that you’re going into how you’re more able to, um, handle all of this troubleshooting now and that your mindset practices have Pam: Yeah. Yeah, definitely. Like I’m much less frustrated with the troubleshooting and it’s been a lot, like I’ve been trying to finish up the trailer for not bad advice. And the issue that I’m having with that is I have to put together clips from several. Recording sessions. And as we’ve been recording those sessions for not bad advice, we’ve been really improving the audio quality and changing things up week to week, basically to find how to improve. So every week the audio quality is different. So I’ve kind of have, have to match those up, not to mention. We’ve been recording at different sample rates and bit rates. So, and we’ve been using different digital audio workstations, and. Software that we’re recording into. Pam: And like four different mics. Pam: Yeah. So I’ve all these episodes that are all different that I have to put together and make it sound cohesive. So that was a pretty big challenge. And then now that I have them all together and kind of trying to finish it up, There’s like all these little things in terms of trying to figure out the bit rates and matching up the sample rates and all that stuff. And it’s a lot of logic to keep in my head or, I mean, just keep track of, and. It’s a lot of trial and error. I mean, it’s all trial and error and just trying all these different things and, you know, and then, you know, if one thing works and something else doesn’t work, so I have to do trial and error with debt. So it’s a lot of stuff, but. I haven’t really been getting that frustrated within, I just kind of been going along with the process and I’ve been getting a lot done. And I think a lot of it has to do with me finding a better workflow with all this stuff that I’m doing, getting more used to the gear that I have, and I’m getting more used to doing. The stuff with podcasting and audio. So I think a lot of it has to do with the flow and I’m just kind of having fun with things. And I have some really awesome, well Oh really awesome synthesizer that I’ve been making a lot of crazy noises out of that is just super fun to play with. So I think, you know, all these things are coming along and I’m starting again. Into a better flow. And I now understand that troubleshooting’s a part of this. And so, yeah, it’s not really affecting my mindset as much in I’m able to move forward and just keep producing and things are moving along on that note, I’ve been having trouble publishing this practice podcast because I’m having issues with. The script, which is the transcription service that I’ve been using. And the thing with the script is I’ve also been basically mastering these practice podcasts through D script instead of audacity or Ableton, because that’s just kind of the flow that I got into initially. And the scripts offering is good enough that. I’m pleased with how the track comes out or how the podcast comes out with the tools that they offer. And so, and it’s really easy and intuitive and user friendly. And so I’ve been mastering the practice sessions through descript, and I haven’t been able to do that because it like skips. When I listened back on D script, it skips like every three seconds. And so I haven’t been able to basically finish these podcast episodes and publish them. I mean, I could, if I didn’t do it in the script and, you know, did the push all the post-processing in Ableton or audacity, but I didn’t want to go through that whole process in, and, you know, it’s a whole nother new process that I kind of have to figure out. And I’ve, I have all these other things on my plate that I are more of a priority. And so I somehow just fall in the mindset of, you know, instead of troubleshooting the script, which, you know, I, I sent messages off to support and they’re not that responsive, unfortunately. So I D I just tabled it and worked on just moved on, in, worked on my priorities. So I think that’s kind of something new for me instead of getting hung up into a cycle. Pam: Yeah. definitely something that you’ve had problems with before that you like, and I mean, not that it’s a problem to want to finish something, but you would definitely get, like, I Pam: I get stuck. Yeah. And the thing is it would always be in the back of my mind. So even if I tried to move on and work on something else, my productivity probably wasn’t as efficient as it could be because of that, you know? Pam: cognitive load. Pam: Right. It’s still somewhere back there messing with, you know, mental processes. Pam: Yeah. Pam: And so, yeah, I’ve been able to get past that and it’s pretty crazy to me to think about it. And, uh, yeah, I mean, it’s really cool to think about in, uh, you know, just a couple, just maybe a month or two ago, it would have been a big problem in, I would have been in a bad mental state, so. Pam: So, how did you make that shift? Pam: I’m not sure. I mean, I think it’s just all gradual and iterative iterative and all the things I’ve been talking about over the past couple of weeks. Uh, of course a big thing is the process of. Or the stage of becoming a sear in the headless way that I’ve been talking about. And I just, I think I use that all the time. If something’s frustrating me, I just kind of, I can pause now and take myself out of it and just kind of see, I try to get into that position where I have no head and see things from outside myself. Or not necessarily just that, but just all integrated and connect, you know, what I’m feeling with all the other things that are going on and you know, the reason and, um, yeah. Everything else. So, yeah, I think that’s it. Let’s see. Do we. Need to talk about anything else or do we do anything else here? Pam: Yeah, I don’t think so. Pam: okay. I think we can start wrapping things up. So, yeah. Thanks for listening as always. And I really hope I can get this issue with the script fixed. So I can get these episodes out and hopefully I’ll be able to get the not bad advice trailer completed soon. I mean, it’s so close in, just, I just need to kind of figure out how to finish it and master it and yeah. But Oh no, I’m having fun with everything and I’m excited for things to come down the road. So, yeah. Thanks for listening. And thanks for joining me as always and real quick, before we leave off, where can people find you? Pam: You can find me on Twitter, where I am at Pamela underscore. Pam: And you probably won’t find me on Twitter at CK disco, but yeah, the thing is I’m really focused on finishing up the nut bed device trailer. And after I get that done, it’s a, I think a lot of other things are going to start flowing and I’ll be able to kind of get into a better flow with it. Things, uh, because a lot of things that I’m doing within that bed and advice trailer is kind of, uh, like overall techniques and strategies. Uh that’s. Going to, you know, I have to have those things in place and done for the trailer to come out and that’s going to be useful for everything else that I’m doing and make everything else easier. So yeah, hopefully we can get that finished and keep things rolling along and keep things going. And so we’ll see how things go. So, yeah. Thanks for listening. And I hope you come back next week and keep on practicing to Lou.

Practice Session #33 Welcome to my show notes for this week’s session of Practice! We record these sessions every Sunday. I try to publish the audio on the same day of recording, but once in a while, I may get delayed due to various reasons. Also, I will usually have the AI-generated transcript and my initial notes published on the same day of recording as well. On Fridays, I’ll go back through and proof the transcript while I add all of my notes. I’ll be utilizing this opportunity to clarify and elaborate on points that I may not have conveyed as well as I would’ve liked to. I’ll also provide links to further information and resources. So, on Friday, I’ll intersperse all my notes with the transcription from the audio below (unless I don’t ). [00:00] CK: Test test check, check. Okay. You ready? Pam: I am ready. CK: Here we go, Hey, yo, I’m CK and you’re listening to practice. I’m your functional systems integrator. And this is my podcast where practice is not just the theme of the show, but the whole purpose behind it. What started out as a pack practice of podcasting, as well as speaking in general, has evolved into a practice of self coaching and self reflection while it’s spazzing, half thoughts and providing unsolicited advice. As always, I’m fortunate to be joined by my practice partner and partner in life, Pam. Pam: Hey, that’s me. CK: Pam is also my pattern awareness manager. And every Sunday we reflect on the past week and my progress with this practice along with other lifestyle practices, as well as theories and ideas behind the virtues of practice itself, we’re doing it. We’re doing this on the fly, so don’t hold me responsible for what I say here. Make sure to check out my show notes where I’ll provide some fact-checking, self-psychoanalysis and commentary on things I could have done better. You may find this some more information about this project at ForcesOfEqual.com/Practice. Today, we’re recording on Sunday, October 11th, 2020. This is practice session #33 and already I’m stumbling right out of the gate. I don’t know what’s going on with my speech today, but… Pam: Do you think that your brain was still trying to do the old script? CK: Ooh very possible. Yeah… And I might’ve gotten a little too comfortable with the intro in general and less mindful. So I’m just kind of not thinking about what I’m saying, I guess, as I’m saying it. So yeah, we’ll see if we can improve on that. Pam: Getting sloppy. CK: Yeah. But anyway, this week has been really weird for me. Like, I feel like we just recorded our last session yesterday, but at the same time, it feels like a long time ago. So, yeah, it’s a weird feeling going on. And I don’t know, I’m going through a lot of thought processes this past week, so I’m kind of all over the place, but how about a quick evaluation for your week, Pam? Pam: Pretty chill got into, you know, past the first week of the month. That’s always really busy for me. Kind of got back into the flow, felt like I got some of my creativity back that had been. I’m weaning for the last, I don’t know. I would say six weeks. I started to get into a little bit of a funk before my birthday in mid September. And I feel like I’m starting to come out of that a little bit. So, um, other than, uh, physical issues and pains, I had a good week. CK: Cool. Any insight into why you were in a funk and how you’re getting out? Pam: Mmm. Oh, there’s so many things. Um, there, there was, there’s definitely some astrological things going on, but I don’t feel like I’m, um, fully equipped to speak about those. They’re affecting everyone. So if everyone else maybe felt like they had been in a little bit of a funk for the last six weeks to, um, that could be why, but I think that, um, I had a lot of, um, Dissonance between what I was spending my time on and what I wanted to spend my time on. So I’m spending, you know, I have to continue, you know, working and making a living while I’m feeling drawn to a lot of other projects. And so, um, So that has been causing a lot of dissonance for me, and also just really, um, wanting to be ahead in, uh, in the future to where we’re living somewhere else and kind of like building the environment that we want to be in and a lot of that kind of stuff. So getting out of that has just taken mindfulness practices and, um, you know, being present and understanding that you can’t rush anything that everything happens in the. Time that it happens and that I’m making yourself miserable right now. Doesn’t make the future come any faster. CK: Yeah, good. Well, I mean, it doesn’t sound like it was anything too drastic or anything like that. Just trends. Yeah. I get that. I can see that. And I kind of. Have been experiencing something similar, but before I get into that, let’s get the quote in for this week. And this is another quote from Lao Tzu. And I believe I quoted Lotsy last week as well. And I’ve been in on a Taoism kick lately. And I think we can go into that a little later, but here’s the quote colors blind, the eye. Sounds deaf in the ear flavors, none. The taste thoughts, weaken the mind desires, whether the heart. it’s the quote goes to say stuff that’s along the same lines that we’ve been talking about the past couple of weeks. And it’s mainly to me in terms of how as humans. We put boundaries on reality and we categorize things. And so like the first line colors, blind eye. So, and this kind of elaborates on what I was saying before, when I was telling you how I’ve been decoupling my vision from my site. Pam: When you’re meditating. CK: Right, right, right. Or, I mean, I I’ve been able to tap into that pretty much any time that I want to, or anytime that I’m mindful of it, but it’s along those same lines where what you see is computed through your brain and output into. Or I’ll put by your brain with the constraints of the categorize, the categories and the language, and what are, whatever else you use to compute that information. So basically things in reality are none. I mean, they’re just things and, uh, this is going to be difficult for me to explain, I think, because it’s pretty esoteric, but if you zoom out really far things in reality are just things. And we, as humans with our cognitive abilities are able to. Label things and differentiate things from each other. And this is how we develop language and categories and notions and concepts out of these patterns that we observe. And so it’s just, I’m just. Trying to explain how what’s out there constructed or seen by us. Well, uh, what we see is constructed by our brains. So, uh, are, do you think you can come up with a better way to Pam: well, yeah. So what I’m. Getting from that. And tell me if I’m getting this wrong, but what I’m getting is that everything that we experience, whether it’s seeing, hearing, feeling, tasting it, whatever it is, everything that we experience, we. Are, um, we, it only has the meaning that it has because of the label that we put on it. Like, we, we experience it as a certain way because of the, the meaning that has been applied to it. And that in reality, nothing has an inherent meaning. Everything is a construct that we’ve put CK: right. Yeah. Yeah. There you go. And I wouldn’t necessarily say that it’s the, like the label that we put on it doesn’t necessarily. Forced the meaning that we get out of it, but it highly influenced it, influences it. Um, and the reason that I want to clarify that is that, you know, there’s some things and I can’t come up with an example, but there are things like, you know, there’s something else to something that, but you can’t explain it. Um, I mean, I, I’m very familiar with this, trying to explain all the abstract concepts in my mind, but, uh, I’m not sure what I’m getting into anyway, but the point is like, okay, so this just popped into my head. Let’s just take the simple Adam or chemistry and molecules and compounds. For example, if we get. Cool. Okay. So now we might get quantum with this, but let’s okay. Let’s stick with the Adam. If we zoom down to the Adam, Adam’s have protons, neutrons, electrons, protons, and neutrons are in the nucleus and electrons are floating around orbiting outside, and every single Adam has this character has a structure and. All Adam’s are Adams. So there’s that category of Adams. Now, if we zoom in a little further, there’s different characteristics to these atoms. And as we observe them over time and observe a larger and larger data set, we can Clear patterns that develop with certain structures of atoms. And so this is how we can delineate between different elements. And so, you know, the hydrogen atom only has one neutron. Okay. Pam: You’re asking the wrong person. Isn’t it. Electron. CK: And no, I think, uh, they have varying numbers of electrons. And Pam: chemistry is not my strong suit. CK: I think number refers to the number of nutrients or. Uh, it’s on a fly, so don’t hold us responsible for what we see. Pam: We’re just two idiots talking about chemistry. Okay. CK: But anyway, the point is an atom is an atom, and then it doesn’t become an element until we observe that pattern. And categorize with that specific pattern. And, you know, we’re talking about protons, neutrons electrons in the case of Adams, they’ve obviously determined that I should stop talking about chemistry Pam: If you run into another problem. CK: Yeah, I’m still stuck on neutrons, but anyway, uh, Point is that when you zoom in so far, things become less and less distinct. And like, if you’re talking about animes, it’s more and more difficult to tell an Adam apart from another Adam. And then if you zoom in even further to an electron electrons, I, you know, I can’t come up. Uh, off the top of my head, like I can’t delineate electrons. Like we can delineate elements. So, you know, electrons are more uniform and they’re all the same. So there’s less of a, there’s less categorizations that we’re aware of now that we’re able to observe. So. I’m a man, this is just a really long roundabout. Yeah. The way to try to illustrate that things in reality are just things and yeah, they’re there and they’re not really anything. And tell humans, put some kind of meaning to it. So, uh, yeah, I mean, that’s what I was trying to get across. I don’t know Pam: that what I said. CK: Yeah. I guess basically I was just kind of trying to insert different perspectives. Pam: Okay, well, let me follow up and say that we were both wrong because the atomic number is proton. CK: Uh, I was kind of thinking that, okay. I don’t want to get, um, I don’t want to get caught in that thought cycle. But anyway, it’s the whole notion that we put constraints on things that aren’t inherently constrained. And so I’m like, I like this quote because it just goes on to elaborate the transition that I’ve been going through in terms of, in terms of. Kind of like getting more in tune with my emotions and letting go of these constraint constraints and abstract or not abstract, but artificial constructs that we’ve developed and put on things and just. Letting go, which I’ve talked about before the whole concept of letting go and not adhering so much to these supposed dues of, you know, how you’re supposed to act or how you’re supposed to be, or what do you think other people think you’re supposed to be doing? So I’m getting more comfortable with the stylistic way of. Being more intuitive and going with the flow and seeing where my emotions and creativity go and kind of come out, uh, as I try to assert myself. So, yeah, I don’t know. Listeners can hear that, but that’s one of our neighbors loud cards anyway. Um, yeah, go ahead. In my mind is, um, mixed up right now. Pam: well, the, um, so the first few lines of that quote, um, I feel like are a little bit confusing for me as a very like practical person. It’s hard for me to, um, wrap my head around, you know, colors, blinding the eyes, but the last line is what got me, which I think it was that thoughts, whether the heart CK: Thoughts thoughts weaken the mind desires, whether the heart. Pam: Okay. So desires whether the heart, I thought that that was really apropos for what I was talking about at the beginning where I have been anxious about. Uh, the future and like getting where we want to be in that, that has been, um, like negatively impacting how I’m feeling right now. So the desires have been withering my heart because I I’m I’m wishing for something that we don’t have that isn’t reality right now. CK: Right, right. Yeah. Great example, because obviously when you get into desires, they’re derivatives of thought and thinking is a derivative of putting boundaries on things and labeling things and, you know, Trying to connect things. Pam: sure. CK: So, yeah, I mean, it’s virtually impossible for humans not to do these things, but the point is that we are in such a vicious cycle of doing things, these kinds of things. And if we’re mindless about it and mindless about where this information is coming from and where these thoughts are coming from and how they’re. Cultivating your present thought patterns. For example, like I mentioned before, you know, if, if you’re starting with an incorrect piece of data and you’re building on top of that, then your whole structure is unsound it’s suboptimal, and it’s based on a faulty foundation. And so we need to be mindful of what. Is actually out there and, you know, what’s actually out there is not really defined. It’s random and it’s expansive and it’s all interconnected. And so it’s this notion that I’ve been transitioning into more and more, and that I’ve been able to. Bring into mind and be mindful of more and more and more. And it’s just all related to the headless way in the process of transitioning into the sear and my model and thoughts on. The vast awareness systems and systems in general, like the systems perspective and integrating sub systems with the super systems. And so it’s just kind of a really profound perspective and I need to get better at articulating this stuff because I, what I want to do is. Try to help other people achieve this perspective and cultivate it. So, yeah, I’m just trying to figure out how, how I’m getting into it and what I’m experiencing and how it’s coming out and trying to relay it to others. Pam: Would you be able to explain a little bit or give examples of how it has changed, how you think or feel, or like why this has been beneficial for you? CK: Yeah. And that’s a great question because it goes into something else. That’s been nagging at me this past week and. It has to do with getting into this creative flow or a creative flow state, which I’m still struggling with a bit because it’s just such a different mindset than I’ve been in before. And I still have a lot of letting go to do per se. And I still find that I have strong tendencies to. Be methodical and analytical and objective with my creative stuff. And I think that’s, uh, I I’m, I’ve been trying to deconstruct the obstacles and the struggles that I’ve been experiencing lately. And I think that has a lot to do with it. Like I get into these holes and cycles of trying to optimize our particular thing. And, you know, I may get a handle on that or I may conquer that and then see that the next piece isn’t as optimized or I’m not at that level or a similar level. So I continue that cycle with every little piece. And then when I go back to revisit one of the first pieces, it’s, that’s behind the, you know, Yeah. In terms of the level of, um, uh, yeah, the low level of quality in terms of the piece that I just finished with. So, you know, I’m continually improving my processes with every little piece, but then there’s so many pieces that, uh, you know, I, I can just continue this cycle. Infinitely Pam: you’re, you’re stuck in a perfectionism trap. CK: Right. Right, right. So I’m trying to call up this intuition and innate kind of emotional creativity more and just kind of like go a little more and not get into those objective cycles. And. Just let go a little more. And that’s why I think that’s why the, uh, that’s why Dow was talking to me a little bit in terms of going more with the flow and being more intuitive and taking things as it is and seeing things as it is. And yeah, just letting go. Basically, I keep saying that and I keep reiterating that, but it’s difficult when. I’ve been operating in the other mode for such a long time, but I feel like I’m getting there and I am noticing improvements in, like I said, you know, I’m able to call up the headless way and the perspective of the sear more and more often when I need to. So yeah, I think it’s just kind of working on that. Those kinds of things and realizing that kind of thing and just kind of coaching myself through it. That’s put me into like this weird flux over the past week or so, but yeah, that’s where I’m at now and that’s what I’m working on and that’s what I’m trying to figure out. So. Pam: Well, this is a little more practical, but, um, if other people are identifying with what you’re talking about with, um, getting, you know, like into the weeds with stuff and like trying to make it. Perfect or, um, like kind of getting caught in this cycle of constantly improving. Um, I struggle with the same thing and my coach asked me to define perfection and you can’t because it doesn’t exist. So, you know, whatever project you’re working on, if you try and define perfection and you realize that you can’t, that is helpful because then you realize that you’re aiming for something that doesn’t exist. But then also, if you, um, picture, like what would be like what you think you’re trying to reach and then think about whether you, like what you would do when you got to that point and for people who are like, truly like perfectionist and overachievers, when they got to that point, it still wouldn’t be satisfying. They would, they would try and reach another level on another level and you start realizing that you can never. Get out of this cycle, you just have to quit at some point. And I don’t mean quit in the sense of like stop producing, but like, you just have to make the deal with yourself that like this, this is enough. CK: right, right. Yeah. That’s a, that’s great advice. And I. Maybe I can try incorporating my vast awareness framework because I’ve been thinking about this lately and the more pieces seem to be coming together. And I think what I’ve settled on the acronym being is values in action over systems and time. And so when I’m thinking about my values of. Optimizing and being a perfectionist and, you know, getting the highest quality out of my work and thinking about that in the perspective of systems. And when I talk about systems, the, I think the most pertinent system is obviously the human system and the social system. So human system being. Uh, you, the human and your subsystems and then the super system being your social system. And so when I think about my values of wanting the highest quality for my work and think about that in terms of the super system or my social system, it’s because I want to be perceived as. Someone who does quality work and you know, who does optimal stuff in the work is perfect. Pam: okay. CK: But in terms of the systems and also time, the whole point of this awareness framework is to balance these dimensions and to. Get yourself into the middle of the momentum wave and, um, or, uh, sorry, not just that, but get yourself toward a balance of integration between both sides. So I’m talking about the super system, which is my social system and how I want. People that perceive me as doing good quality work. I need to balance that with my own system. And so we need to integrate that. So where is my value or what is my value in action for myself? So why do I want to be perceived as someone who does good quality work and. So my value in that sense is in knowledge and in being knowledgeable. And obviously I want to be perceived as knowledgeable, but that’s again, that’s considering the super system what’s in it for me is having knowledge and being able to help people. Obviously. So, I mean, helping people again is part of the super system, but that’s also my own value. It’s that’s gonna help me because that’s what I want to do. And that’s how I want to assert myself and how I want to plug into the society. So, so with those two ends of the spectrum in mind, how do I integrate those? And. Be able to help people. And also provide quality work. And if I’m just focused on being perfect and providing quality work, I’m not going to be able to help people. You know, if the word doesn’t come out and if it’s, you know, if I’m stuck in that cycle. And so I have to maintain mindfulness of the. Other side where I want to assert myself and integrate those two sides. So there’s a balance. So I can realize that I can’t get stuck in that cycle of perfectionism. Otherwise I won’t reach balance there. So yeah. Yeah. I mean, that’s, uh, how I see the vast awareness framework kind of working out and that kind of what helped me this framework and the thought process that it put me in is kind of what helped me realize my tendencies and how my tendencies still tilt toward the super system. And so I still need to assert myself more and then. You know, of course self-assertion and your self identity correlates with your emotions and the side also correlates with your creativity. And so I guess we’re all kind of circling all the way back to the notion of me starting myself and trying to tap into this creative side and let go. And. Go with the flow and not be tied to artificial constructs. Pam: Uh, and also understand that you could work on one thing for the next 50 years and still not have it perceived the way you want. CK: Good point. Pam: You have absolutely no control. You could be the smartest person in the world. You could craft the most amazing piece of music and then put it out. And once you have put it out, you have absolutely no power in how it’s received or how you are perceived. CK: Right, right. Yeah. It’s interesting. But at least on that end, you’re asserting yourself creativity or creative creatively. Pam: Yeah. That, that’s what I’m, I’m reinforcing that you need to put yourself out there and, and not be worried about how it’s perceived. CK: You got to let go of how the super systems can affect you. So, yeah. Pam: I think, um, shoot, what’s her name? The woman that wrote eat, pray, love. I’m totally blanking on her name, but I love, um, one of her books about creativity. And she says that, um, is, is when you’re writing a book it’s yours. But as soon as you release it, it’s theirs. It’s the readers. You have, you have no ownership of it anymore. So you can’t have any, you can’t really take any stock in the reviews or how they feel about it because once they read it, it’s theirs because they’re the ones experiencing it. CK: Elizabeth Gilbert. Pam: Elizabeth Gilbert. Yes. CK: Yeah, I think so. We can end things there this week. And yeah. I’m I don’t know. Do you have anything else that you wanted to talk about? Anything going on with the stars and planets? Pam: Um, well, there is, so right now the sun is in Libra and it is squaring Jupiter in Capricorn. So both of the planets are not really happy where they’re at right now. And there’s tension between them. In those two signs. So, um, but with that combination, there there’s a lot of interpretations, but one of them could be, um, overextending yourself and over-committing taking on too much. Um, it could potentially be good in the long run because it Capricorn is really about like achieving longterm goals. But right now you could like way over extend yourself and end up in a situation where you’ve got too much on your plate. So that’s going on right now. And then, um, I pulled a tarot card for our show before we started and I got the death card, which sounds really scary, but it’s actually think of it as the Chrysalis. So it’s actually the, the rebirth. So it’s the DRA the huge transformation and the like letting go of the old body so that you can transform into the new and become something better. CK: Uh, so like the rising of the Phoenix. Pam: Yeah. CK: Okay. I like Pam: about that thought that was apropos for talking about, you know, letting go of all this stuff that is holding you back so that you can become the new creative you. CK: Yeah, definitely. I like it. Perfect way to end things this week. So Pam, where can people find you? Pam: You can find me on Twitter, where I am @Pamela_Lund. CK: And you might be able to find me on Twitter @cKdisco. And so thank you for listening in this week and thank you to Pam for joining me as always. And I hope you come back next week and keep on practicing. To-da-loo!