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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. Outtro. 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: Okay, 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: And the final session for 2020. CK: Wow, that’s right. Let’s end 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… Pam: Anything could happen. CK: Yeah. So let’s go ahead and get into the quote for this week. And this quote comes from Stoic philosopher, Marcus Aurelius, who I’ve quoted 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 wove both of them together-” Oh, sorry. I totally added a word 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 wove 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” Um… didn’t I- I’m pretty sure I just copied and pasted that. Is that not making sense to you either? Pam: No. ‘Cuz 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 and 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, huh… 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 quote made sense to me without it for some reason, but this past week has been kind of- well, it’s been very confusing for me for a myriad of reasons. So we’ll be 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 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: “Ahatever happens to you has been waiting to happen since the beginning of time. The twining strands of fate wove 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. And I 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 fine 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’s 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 releasing Not 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 to listen back to, 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 Not 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 #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 #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 #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 #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!

Practice Session #32 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: Alrighty. Ready? Pam: I’m ready, Freddy. CK: I got a timer today. Okay… Pam: Are you laughing at my burp? CK: Yup. 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 this 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 in more information about this project at ForcesOfEqual.com/Practice. And we’re recording today on Sunday, October 4th of 2020. This is practice session number 32. And I am just kind of all over the place again, this week. A lot of ideating going on. Lot’s of thinking going on… lots of music this past week, especially yesterday. I guess it kind of ramped up to yesterday, which was very fun. Might talk about that a little more later, but real quick, Pam, how was your week? Pam: Uh, I had a kind of a stressful week. Um, just the first week of the month is always a little bit stressful with client work and reporting and whatnot. But add on top of that, I have had a nagging shoulder injury for coming on two months now. And it just kind of got to the point where it had worn me down so much that I mentally couldn’t deal with anything else. And I was pretty grumpy. So, um, I wanted to take a second to give some gratitude to you for being very kind all week and not making my crappy mood even worse. And, you know, knowing to just kind of give me some space to let me be grumpy. I’m sure I couldn’t have been as easy to live with as I usually am. CK: No, I don’t think, yeah. I don’t think, I think you handle it pretty well. You kept it from effecting me and well, you know, whatever I could do, I, I could tell that you were pretty frustrated and getting annoyed with it, but yeah, I mean, thanks for recognizing what. I was doing, but I, you know, I don’t feel like I was doing very much. Yeah. Pam: Well, that’s exactly what you were doing though, is not making it worse. Not like not, not trying to help when I didn’t want help or, you know, just kind of giving me some space to, to be grumpy. Sometimes that’s necessary. CK: Yeah. But the good news is that it’s getting better. Right. Pam: It is. Yeah. Thanks to dr. Google. I found a YouTube video from a physical therapist that, um, within 30 seconds almost entirely cured my issue. So I’m pretty excited about that. And he’s got a program that I might look into adding into my routine of all kinds of like, uh, repairative moves like that to keep your body functioning is. Properly as possible. So you reduce the chance of injury? CK: Progressive. Pam: Yeah. If it works all, I let people know what it is. CK: Yeah, just a quick update on me. I haven’t really talked about my issue with my foot and my toe lately, so I still have not been back on the road or the trails yet. And I’m kind of surprised how long it’s taking my toe to heal, but I feel like I’m almost ready to try. Maybe running on the road again, maybe start out with a mile or so, and see how that goes. But yeah, I mean, trying to think of back when I broke that toe, I think it was maybe two years ago, three years Pam: More than that. Yeah. Yeah. CK: And I feel like I came back faster from that, but maybe not in terms of activity, but in terms of like pain and how it was feeling and how it was affecting me. So, yeah. I don’t know. It’s weird, but Pam: well, this is the second major injury on the same toe. So it’s probably CK: Lots of scar tissue and. Stuff. So I did go to the doctor. I don’t know if I mentioned that a few weeks ago and I got x-rays and yeah, it ended up not being broken, which I thought was great, but it still feels like it’s just as bad or even worse. Uh, supposedly I might’ve torn some and stuff like that, so yeah. Anyway, it’s starting to feel better and it might. Left foot looks really weird with how all my toes are and like the broken one and how they’re all kind of the injured one is sticking to the ring toe. And now there’s a huge space between my second toe in the middle of my foot. It’s pretty weird, but I like it anyway. So let’s go ahead and move on to the quote for this week. And this week we are quoting loud too, from the touted Ching. And this is from Taoism obviously, and the quote goes like this. When people see somethings as beautiful, other things become ugly. When people see somethings as good other things become bad and it’s pretty simple this week. And I think it. The basis of the quote is fairly straight forward where it’s, it goes along with pretty much everything that we talk about in terms of complex systems and spectral, potentiality, and perspectives and how there’s a spectrum of options. And also how, you know, as. Uh, someone see something, you know, someone else might see it a different way. And so it goes along with our concepts, with the forces of equal and Newtonian physics and, you know, uh, what’s the, is it the third law? Every action has an equal and opposite reaction. So it’s, uh, we’ll see if I can relate stuff throughout this session to that quote, but I mean, it’s pretty basic, so you can pretty much relate most anything to it. Pam: There’s so many different ways that you can look at it. Like the way I was hearing it. When you first said it before you explained all the. Other ways that you could look at it. I was just thinking of it as duality so that, you know, thinking about maybe like expectations in life, if you have an expectation of an outcome and that’s what you consider good than any other outcome would be bad. So like labeling anything as good or, or bad automatically. And by default creates the opposite being the other side of that spectrum, no matter what you do. CK: Yeah. I’m so glad that you said that because I was kind of trying to convey that notion and it just kind of started going into other things, but it. Also adds to what we’ve been talking about the past couple of weeks in terms of how we view things and how as humans, we put boundaries on things and categorize things. And there’s this spectrum of language that we have to consider in terms of what that language actually means and what we’re trying to say with it. So it just goes into all this stuff and, uh, Mostly perspective, you know, it all comes down to perspective and also reflection that comes out of that. So it’s pretty much in line with what we’ve been talking about. So we’ll see if I can weave that in. And I, yeah, I may be ready to start talking about form versus function Pam: Okay. CK: and that’s something that I mentioned. Maybe months ago now at this point that I wanted to talk about, but it’s all kind of lining up now and it feels like the right time to talk about it. And not that I have all my concepts and theories solidified still abstract and stuff, mowing things around, but form versus function has been a big thing for me. Of course, I call myself a functional systems integrator. And historically I’ve seen myself as a very functionally strategic person in terms of how I go about things in my work and my life and my routines and practices and all that stuff. And I’ve kind of been neglecting the form aspect and I’ve. Previously I’ve thought that function was way more important than form. And what I’m talking about is how some methodology or product or whatnot is functional and how it actually does what it supposed to do or what you want it to do versus the form of it, which is. Mostly has to do with how it looks and how it’s portrayed I suppose. And so I think cars are a good example where the function of a car is. For mobility. And to get you from point a to point B in the form of the car is how it looks and the exterior and the interior and all the gadgets and little gizmos, I guess, gadgets have function too, but at some point there’s and the thing is there, that form has function. And that’s the thing that I’ve been realizing more and more lately. Because, you know, using the car example in my younger years, I was very much into cars and I still have a Ford Mustang, SVT Cobra, which. I still think is a pretty cool car. And I, you know, just realizing that I’m saying that I realized that I still have some kind of ties to the form of the car Pam: Even though it hasn’t been driven in two years, so no one knows you have it. No one sees you in it. CK: it’s not even functional. Pam: Yeah, there you go. CK: It’s funny because I used to have this mindset where. You know, or now I’ve kind of cultivated this mindset mindset recently in recent years where I totally disregarded the form of cards. And I kind of looked down on people who were all about the form and how the car looked and all that stuff versus what the cars for. And I still do think, you know, there’s. A lot of efficiencies or I’m not sure what the right word is, but pointlessness to some of the things that people want with their cars and it gets out of hand or out of line, and it gets to a mindset where it’s not practical and it leads to. Maybe spending money on ground effects or a paint job or something that really doesn’t matter in terms of the function of the car. And it may make you feel better about the car, but then. Why does that make you feel better? You know, why does it have to take that form? And what is the actual value of you feeling better about how your car looks versus what your car does? And is it because you want other people to think it’s cool or, you know, does, is there something about it that you think other people. Are going to think better of you because of it. So then you’re thinking outside of yourself and you’re thinking in the super system, and now you’re being dependent on the hierarchies above you. And so I’m kind of weaving in a lot of stuff that we’ve been talking about the past couple of weeks. So hopefully it makes sense, but that’s kind of where I’ve been coming from in terms of this form versus function debate. And now I’m realizing that. Uh, so in that sense, I’ve been thinking that function should take precedence over form. And that is the rational perspective. When form takes precedence over function, that’s more of that. It’s irrational in terms of. What the thing in this case, the car actually does versus what you think you want it to do. And so that’s more of an irrational perspective, but then when function equals, what I think of as an optimal perspective, so that the look of the car is equal to the performance of the car. And. It all kind of integrates and becomes very functional and practical and, you know, you can enjoy how your car looks at the same time as enjoying how the car performs and functions in your life. So there’s a balance there. And so I’ve been, so I’ve had that notion that I’ve been working with it for awhile. And I’ve kind of been always like, you know, forum has the equal function or function. It has to be greater than form. So basically in order to be optimal or progressive function has to be equal to, or greater than form. But now I’m starting to realize as I’m, by associating these concepts with stuff like emotion versus reason and creativity versus objectivity, where like I was talking about in previous weeks, emotion. Lined up with creativity, whereas reason lined up with objectivity. And now in the same sense of the form function, dimension. Yeah. Emotion and form. Lineup and reason and function lineup. So form has those aspects of emotion and creativity. Whereas function has the aspects of reasoning objectivity. And now, as I’ve been growing more into this creative state and getting more in touch with my emotions and. Asserting myself and building up the forum aspect so I can build up to equal the function. I’m kind of realizing that form can be greater than function as long as it’s pretty close. So it’s kind of, you know, we can use my analogy of the momentum wave, where. You necessarily don’t want to be hitting those peaks and the valleys or those extremes. Too often, because it creates a very volatile progression. You want to try to get in that sweet spot of the wave, which is where you make, where, where there’s the most momentum. And so when we, if we. Associate this with form versus function, rather than then being on the extremes of form and function. You want to try to get them to equal out or close, to equal out to each other. And in that sense, it’s okay for form to be a little bit, then function and vice versa for them to be a little less than function, which I’ve always. Considered as okay. But it’s also a kid that form is greater than function as long as they’re close. And so, um, I don’t know if I’m articulating why this is important to me or important in general to consider. Pam: It sounds like what you’re saying is that by having new experiences and exposing yourself to new information, you have altered your view. CK: Yeah, definitely. I’ve definitely altered my view. And so, I mean, does my previous view and the evolution of that view makes sense. Pam: Of course. CK: So do you also agree that like you want to have form and function. Be pretty close together in order for something to be effective and optimal. Pam: Yeah. There’s so many times when I complain like, Oh, this looks great, but it doesn’t work or this works, but it, you know, it’s terrible to use. So yeah, absolutely. It should be pretty equal. CK: Yeah. Okay. Well, it was a lot easier than I thought to get a trust, so let’s see. Where can I go from there? Pam: Well, I think you are missing the nuance of what I said, that new experience, new information changed your perspective. Like that’s something that we talk about all the time that you, you have to have this spectrum of information. And if you’re, if you, I think we talked about it last week, that your knowledge. From the, from the super system is affecting the decisions that you make and the options that are available to you. So your information from your experiences was affecting the decisions that you are making, and simply by exposing yourself to new, uh, new information, you’ve changed one of your kind of principle beliefs, CK: Right. Yeah. That is a very good point. And yeah, I’m trying to wrap my head around it, but yeah, I mean, it’s what we’ve been talking about in terms of being open and having open mind and. Being mindful of your experiences and of course learning and growing from new information. So I guess that’s, this is just the exemplify that can work and how you can evolve your thoughts and your mindset. Pam: There you CK: And so, yeah, on that note, I’ve still been experiencing a ton of synchronicity. And I’m enjoying Arthur. Kessler’s the act of creation a lot. And it’s, it’s going to take me a long time to get through as well. As I mentioned his, the book I read previously, the ghost in the machine took me about a year to read through and that’s just. One, because I just kind of developed that practice of reading a little bit of it in the morning during my morning routine. But for two, it’s so dense and complex that it’s beneficial for me, or I feel that it’s beneficial to just take it little bit at a time and to kind of process it slowly because. I share a lot of the things that I talk about. Are pretty complex. And you know, I, I’m not able to articulate it as succinct succinctly as I’d like to, and that’s almost kind of a reflection or an extension of how, just how complex all this stuff is. So, you know, it’s, it’s useful or I, I think it’s productive, more productive to take it a little. Bit at a time. So yeah, experiencing a ton of synchronicity with that, and I’m still enjoying all of Kessler’s concepts and it feels like they’re all fitting in and I’m still making more connections with them, my own concepts that I’ve been developing and that I’ve been talking about. And one of the things that I realized was that. Of course, I introduced myself as a functional systems integrator. And as I’ve been thinking about all this stuff around complex systems and integration and the headless way, I’m realizing that all this stuff that I’ve been kind of conceptualizing, which has been Intentional in terms of language has starting to, has been starting to crystallize. So functional systems integration is something I came up with maybe two years ago, two or so years ago. And even then, and even now I still kind of been saying, you know, I don’t even know what it means. I just kind of made it up and I’m just kind of developing it, but it’s. Now it’s making even more sense to me. And even those words, functional system integration. Yeah. It makes perfect sense with everything that I’ve been learning and studying lately and especially with the headless way and what I’ve been talking about with complex systems and the hierarchies and the subsistence and stuff, super systems like these are the functional systems that I’m trying to integrate. And so it’s, it’s crazy that it’s all coming together and it makes sense. And so, yeah, just experienced it, still experiencing all the synchronicity. And I even came up with a little logo designed for functional systems integration that I’ll have to show Pam and maybe I’ll post it somewhere at some point, but it totally integrates. Everything that I’ve been thinking and studying and everything that I feel like is coming out of this. It just totally integrates all that perfectly. And this is where the form and the function comes together equally for me. So, yeah, I’m kind of excited to show you that I forgot to show you it before, but yeah, that’s kind of where my head’s at now and where everything’s going and. Let’s see, where can we go from here? Dan? Do you have any input or anything you want to talk about? Yeah, how’s Gorbey doing, Pam: Um, he’s with you. So I don’t know. CK: I forgot. He’s Oh, he’s just chilling. So we’re watching one of our favorite doggies today. Gorbey. And we have them for a total of two weeks. So we get to spend a lot of quality time with them and he’s just chilling. He’s laying down. I forgot. He was even in here. Yeah, he’s a, he loves to play. He plays way more than he should. He doesn’t have that governor that’s central governor, it just keeps running and running and then. Take some like an hours and catch his breath, but it’s fun. Okay. So let’s see, what else can we talk about? Pam: Um, I can drop in the, the astrology note for the day, which is that, um, Pluto, just stationed direct. So it’s been retrograde for awhile, which kind of, um, Pluto is the planet of, um, kind of like. Uh, your ultimate dreams and a little bit of like illusion and trickery, and it can be kind of a, a nasty planet sometimes. Um, I think it’s a lot of fun, but anyway, it’s been retrograde, so it’s kind of been holding us back from, from moving forward. And now that it’s stationed retrograde, it is really associated with, um, big transformations and, uh, potentially a change of power on a. Large scale. So, um, that could be interesting with what is going on politically this week. CK: Yeah, seriously. Yeah. And man, what’s going on politically. It’s just crazy. So who knows? And th that’s the thing, like, there’s so much uncertainty with all that right now Pam: Yeah, because we’re not getting any reliable information. Like we can’t trust anything that’s being said. So even though there’s the regular uncertainty of the president being in the hospital, and then on top of that, there’s the uncertainty of our administration and what they’re like. CK: Yeah. And that just goes to show like, you know, we don’t want to get into the politics, but it goes to show how things can develop from one piece of information or. You know, just a certain nugget of data somewhere. And it, if things, and this all goes back to the language and boundaries and how human, the human brain categorizes things, and, you know, you have to be mindful of where things. Where information is coming from, because if you start with that one little small nugget of information that turns out to be wrong and everything that you’ve developed from that one little nugget that is wrong is going to be inherently wrong from that. Then, you know, everything that you’ve developed from that little one nugget is wrong. So yeah. Yeah, we just have to remain mindful. What was the quote, if you want to improve, you have to, um, Oh, Holy cow. I’m totally blanking. Blanking. Um, give me a second. Uh, so I’ll paraphrase. It’s it’s like, if you want to improve, you have to do. Uh, Oh my God. I’m totally blanking. I can’t think right now, uh, if you want to be, if you want improve, you have to, um, something about being comfortable of being thought of as stupid. Pam: Oh, not today’s quote the quote from CK: Right, right, right. Pam: ago. Um, yeah, you have to, uh, become comfortable with being thought of as stupid CK: Yeah, I’m in. I have to look it up now. Hold on one second. I know this is great radio. If you want to improve, be content to be thoughtful and stupid. Oh man. I can’t believe, I couldn’t remember that. Right. I still saw it. I’m still working on my. Speaking and talking and yeah, I mean, if we weren’t doing this, I could just come up with it right away on the fly. So that’s kind of weird to think about, but I mindful of that and I still have work to do in terms of being in the moment and trying to recall stuff out of that brain up there, or my brain up there. It’s getting weird now. I think we’re getting close to finishing up here. And what was I talking about anyway, Pam: we were talking about, um, politics and how, uh, you have to be mindful of the information that you are, um, paying attention to and that, um, one piece of information can change your entire view. CK: right? Yeah, because there’s a lot more. Ways to be wrong than to be. Right. Pam: that’s really interesting. CK: so yeah, so, you know, if you go into the mindset into any situation that you could be wrong, then that’s the past toward improvement. Because once you think you’re right all the time, then you fall into. A rigid cycle of thinking in psychology, it’s called psychological rigidity where you can’t think outside that. Thought process and you can’t consider other perspectives then of course you lose empathy. You lose through mind, you lose compassion. And as I’ve talked about before, and when you get into a rigid thought process, that’s the path toward death, you know, when you can’t adapt, then you’re unable to function in a changing environment. So, yeah. Yeah, I think we can leave it off there. So I want to thank the listeners for joining me again this week. And of course, Pam for joining me like every week and before we leave off, Pam, where can people find you? Pam: You can find me far too often on Twitter @Pamela_Lund. CK: Are you on there all the time now? Maybe so, maybe it’s good that I’m not on there. Pam: Create a little balance. CK: So you’ll find me on Twitter @cKdisco. And do I say anything else, I guess? Uh, yeah, just thanks for listening. And I hope you come back next week and keep on practicing. To-da-loo!

Practice Session #31 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: Yup. CK: Here we go. Okay. Hey, yo, I’m C K 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 it’s pausing have 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@forcesequal.com slash practice. Today, we’re recording on Sunday, September 27th, 2020. And this is our 31st practice session. And we’re kind of starting out a little slowly today, ran into some issues with, with outside noise and our annoying neighbors cars. So we’re a little razzled up or I don’t know. Pam: Just had a little bumpy start. CK: Yeah. Little annoyances before we got started. But anyway, now that we’re recording, I don’t know. I’m going to talk about Pam: You got nothing today. CK: well, I mean, the thing is I. Like before we started recording, I started thinking about what I wanted to talk about. And then I had all these different ideas and thoughts running through my head. And then I felt like I had a good idea of what I wanted to talk about, but I also didn’t necessarily have anything solidly formed. So it’s all kind of still evolving from last week when we were kind of on our, in our relaxation mode and not thinking so, okay. I’ve been thinking a lot more and no, I mean, we got out of the relaxation mind this week and got back into the flow and I’ve been doing more. Thinking around philosophy and all the different things that we’ve been talking about over the past couple of weeks. So I guess what I’m trying to say is a lot of these concepts are still abstract in my mind. And I think I’m just kind of using these sessions, especially the past few weeks to try to wrap. My head around the things that I’m thinking or try to verbalize these thoughts to hopefully generate more connections and whatnot. Pam: That’s the whole point of talking about philosophy, right? CK: yeah, exactly. I guess so, so I guess that’s what we’re doing. We’re just doing some Sunday philosophy. Pam: There you go. CK: So anyway, let’s just get started with our quote for the week. And actually I’m a little, I’m not certain about which cook that I want to use. So I think so I’m kind of, I mean, this is how frazzled in my mind has been this past week. I’m kind of between two different points. And I think I’m going to go ahead and go with what I think that I want to talk about. And so this is going to be a little different and it’s not an ancient philosophical quote. Not that Bruce Lee was an ancient philosopher, but this is actually coming from someone that I’ve talked about before I mentioned before his name’s Arthur Kessler. And I had just finished reading his book, the ghost in the machine, which I’ve been reading for the past year, basically. And I just finished reading it last week. So it’s gotten me thinking a lot. And that book has, is probably the single most influential book for me at this point, because it. Put together so many concepts and ideas that I’ve been already thinking about that I’ve already been thinking about. And these are concepts that I had been developing since childhood even. And I think a lot of my uncertainties and cognitive dissonance arises from. Concepts like these, where it’s not talked about very much in general society. And so I’ve kind of been battling between these concepts and the general concepts that society has. Just falling into as a routine. So it was exciting for me to begin reading this book over a year ago and to see these concepts put together in words and theories and organized in a book. And I talked about how much I love books before, and this is, this just goes to exemplify. Like the connection you can get from a book and someone else’s work. And I believe what I read from Kessler afterwards is that this book took like 15 years or so for him to write because all of the concepts are so they’re pretty complex. I mean, he’s talking about. Complex systems in consciousness and metaphysics and quantum mechanics. So it’s Pam: Really light stuff. CK: Yeah. And so, yeah, for me, it was really cool to see all this being put together because as I was saying before, a lot of it is more on the abstract end of the spectrum in my mind, but I have like this notion or kind of intuition that. There’s something to be derived out of these abstract things. And Kessler just kind of laid it out really well. And it aligned very neatly with what I’ve been thinking. So it was really cool for me and the book opened up a lot. Yeah. And a lot of the things that I’ve been talking you about throughout these practice sessions are based a lot on what I’ve learned through Kessler’s writings. And so. I’ll go ahead with a quote. Well, actually I think I need to describe, or. Clarify some things first, because the quote talks about whole lines, which we’ve talked about before and to refresh our memories. Hold on, hold on, refer to everything basically as being a part and a whole as at the same time. So I use humans as an example, humans. In themselves are a hole. So a human is a whole system within themselves, but they’re are also part of a system, whether it’s the social system or the ecological system or the solar system or the universal system, or, you know, there’s all these outside systems around us that influence our own system. So. Hold on. I just mean that everything is a system and also part of the system and then Kessler’s concepts. And what I’ve been trying to articulate with complex systems are based on a hierarchical level. So he calls it and I believe he calls it an open hierarchical system and it’s open in the sense that there’s no end to the hierarchy. And we can even translate this to our current reality where we really have no end to the top of the system. We don’t know where the end of the university is. So in that sense, it’s open. So beginning from starting with humans, again, you know, if you move up. Toward the universe. There’s no top to the universe that we know of yet. And even if there is one and my mind started going to space and astronomy, so, Oh man. Now I just started thinking about dark energy and dark matter in this Pam: Well, you got me thinking about how they just found, um, basically the basis for life to be on Venus. So CK: Oh, yeah. Pam: yeah. So it’s like this idea that even though you think that maybe you can see the entire heart hierarchy, there’s always something else that is possible or something that. Could happen. That is outside of what you see as the hierarchy. Like it’s not static in that sense. It could always be open-ended CK: exactly. So in addition to that, in terms of the hierarchical systems, In order, uh, I want to clarify this in terms of what he’s trying to convey. So basically it’s, it has to do with the whole lines and the levels of the hotlines. So starting with humans, again, the hierarchy in terms of the social system, we’ll start with you yourself and then your immediate family. What could be the next level and then your extended family. It could be the next level from that. And then it could extend out from there, whether it’s your ethnic origin or country, and then extend out obviously to the planet and then extend out to the solar system and then the galaxies and the universe. So these are like the levels of the hierarchy that he’s talking about. And. Okay, so now I’ll go into the quote. So this is by Arthur Kessler and the quote is hold ons on successively higher levels of the hierarchy show, increasingly complex, more flexible and less predictable patterns of activity. While on successive lower levels, we find increasingly mechanized stereotyped and predictable patterns. Okay. So there’s a lot of words in here, but taking the example of the social system, well, break down the first part of this, which says lines on successively, higher levels of the hierarchy show, increasingly complex, more flexible and less predictable patterns of activity. So hold on on successively higher levels. So if we start from the human level, The higher level would be the immediate family and then a higher level than that would be extended family. So as you move up the levels, so as you move up from yourself to let’s say your family system there’s, so the sentence goes on to say the hierarchies show increasingly complex, more flexible and less predictable patterns of activity. So there’s less, uh, or I’m sorry. So there’s more autonomy as you go higher in level. So actually the social system doesn’t make sense with this. Pam: Well, yeah, what’s confusing in there to me though, is, um, increased flexibility because you would think that like, that you as an individual would have increased flexibility. Whereas once you get into a higher level of hierarchy, that there would be less flexibility. CK: Right. So I used the bad example for the systems. So let’s try maybe in terms of, in a system of like authority or something like that. So Pam: government work, like CK: yeah, exactly. Pam: government, state, CK: Exactly. Exactly. So, I mean, that’s not necessarily a one to one correlation because now I’m like, now I’m thinking politics and Pam: Alright. Do you have an example? CK: what do you mean? Pam: Do you have an example of a good whole on system that works better than. CK: I mean, let’s take government in its simplest sense where there’s the local government and then there’s the city, government, state, government, federal government. And obviously the federal government oversees the state governments and the state governments overseas, the city governments. And so in that system, the federal government, which is the top of the hierarchy has more flexibility. In terms of their activity Pam: Because of their autonomy. CK: right, because of their autonomy. So they’re more autonomous, they have more flexibility and they can, they have the ability to become more complex or initiating more complex policies or practices or whatever you want to say. And then when you moved down. So I actually, government’s a really good example because when you moved down from the federal government to the state government, the state government is under a control of the federal government. So there’s less autonomy, less flexibility. And of course, as you move down to the city governments, and then yourself, you’re limited to what. Your city, government stipulates and your state government stipulates in the federal government stipulates. So does that make sense now? Pam: It does. I was thinking of flexibility, not from the sense of autonomy when you pose it with autonomy, it makes sense that they have more flexibility in the decisions that they make because of their power structure. I was thinking of flexibility. As in like, when you have a smaller system, it’s easier to make a decision between two people than it is to make a decision between a hundred people. So you’re less flexible with like more people in a higher level. So I think just the word flexibility might be a little confusing there. CK: Yeah. I see what you’re saying, but at the same time that your example, the, uh, interaction between two people and being more flexible, that kind of exemplifies the autonomous nature that you have within your own hierarchy, basically on like a lateral level. So you have autonomy. Within your hierarchy in that sense, but excuse me. But if you think about the next level of the hierarchy, your autonomy in that, in that scenario of being flexible, laterally is still under some control by the hierarchy above you. Pam: yeah. CK: So we’re kind of getting a little complex with this and. More, maybe more complex than we need to, but this is just all to kind of exemplify or try to articulate how we as humans don’t necessarily have as much free will is we may think that we have. And we’re not necessarily in control of as many things or as in control of many things as we think we are. And it’s kind of a cry for more mindfulness on my part, I guess, in terms of. Like, I mean, this is what I’ve been trying to do since I started this podcast or especially the last couple of weeks is, I mean, we’re always talking about mindfulness and consciousness in conscious competence and et cetera, and this is just. Uh, what I’m trying to show here is that there’s levels of control per se, that we have to consider. So, um, I’m hesitant to get into politics, but it’s such a good example. There’s so much information coming out now, and there’s so many puppeteers pulling on the strings here and there. And we’re so inundated with information and media and social media that we don’t necessarily see the strings being manipulated. And these strings are being controlled by the systems above us in the hierarchy. And so if we’re not mindful of how we’re being controlled or what we’re being dependent on in the hierarchy above us. Okay. So let me start that sentence over again. If we’re not mindful of how the hierarchy, sorry. If we’re not mindful of how dependent we are on the hierarchy above us, then we’re being controlled without knowing about it. So. That’s kind of the whole point that I’m trying to articulate here is that you need to be mindful in it. We need to be mindful of these hierarchies in this complex system in order to, to move forward. And sir, ourselves, rather than thinking, we’re a sort of inserting ourselves when we’re actually asserting the concepts or ideas from the hierarchy above us. That’s. Sending it down the stream into our consciousness. Does that make sense? Pam: it does. Um, I don’t want to get. As you said too political about it, but the word that’s coming to mind is manipulation because the hierarchy can be used for good, which it is in a lot of cases, but power can also be used for manipulating people to do what you want them to do. And while obviously we don’t want anyone to manipulate other people for bad reasons. Um, It’s going to happen and it’s on you to be aware of your position in the hierarchy and how those in higher levels are using their position and their influence to control what you know or are told and how that influences the decisions that you’re making that feed back into the system. CK: Right. Yeah, well done there. It’s it’s very complex. And when you start thinking about this kind of stuff, it gets pretty meta and you start. Thinking about all the different ways that things cross over into each other. And that’s the thing like these days, a lot of things gimme is very binary and it’s either this or that, or yes or no, or black or white, but there’s a lot of maybes and grays. And we talk about spectral potentiality all the time and it things in reality are not binary. It’s on a continual spectrum. And we, as humans put boundaries on things and categorize things, and it makes things easier for us because if we didn’t do this, then we’d have to figure out every little thing. Every time we couldn’t function as humans, because we wouldn’t know what to do, we, everything we encountered would be new and we’d have to figure it out all the time. So while it’s beneficial to categorize and. Put boundaries on things. We have to realize that that’s just that, like, it does put constraints on what actually is there and this kind of elaborates on what we were talking about last week with language and the word love specifically where we put words to these concepts and feelings like love. But it’s like, love is very limiting and we bound it, you know, with that word and categorize it as love. But it’s, you know, how do you, how do you explain love? It’s like a spectrum and it’s a feeling and it’s abstract. Pam: it’s different for everyone. CK: exactly exactly. So we have to remain mindful of how things are connected and continual and spectral rather than this cycle of binary thought that we’re constantly just routinely Pam: Well, we’re, we’re stuck in it because it’s, it’s almost easier in the sense to just say a or B, but, um, To kind of tie this back to the idea that you were talking about at the beginning, with like that there is no limit to the hierarchy that there’s, there’s no, no bounds. Um, your, your knowledge and your view and what you understand. Like, if we’re talking about whether things are binary or, or not knowledge, you can only make decisions based on what you know, and you only know a little bit. So like the idea that you can say something is a, or B from the limited amount of knowledge that you have is absurd. CK: Yeah. Yeah. When you put it that way. Yeah. Great point. So I’m actually not sure where we are on time, because we left the recording going in the beginning because of the outside Pam: 20 minutes and. CK: Okay, cool. So let’s keep going on this. And I’ve been on this thought cycle of how do I put this? I mean, I’ve been going on about emotion versus reason a lot lately. And separating thought from feeling and incorporating the headless way into my thought processes. And in doing that, I’ve, I’m still experiencing a ton of synchronicity. And I think what’s happening is that I’m starting to find my creative self again, or kind of re. Discover it and what I’m finding out, which is just crazy to me is that it’s all falling in with everything else that I’ve been rediscovering or kind of falling into. And so, uh, so, okay. It’s actually, uh, continuing on about Arthur Kessler. I started, so I finished ghost in the machine and I started the. Book that was previous to ghost in the machine, which is called the act of creation. And that kind of sounds religious or something, but it’s actually creation in terms of creativity and. It’s really interesting to me, just the way that I’ve fell into these books this way. Cause I don’t remember exactly how I found out about ghost in the machine, but I’m sure I was looking into metaphysics and metacognition and consciousness and all that stuff. And I didn’t really know about his other books, but after reading the ghost in the machine, He’s mentioned the art, the act of creation a lot throughout that book. And so I started getting interested in it. And so I started reading that this week and he starts going into how creation or creativity falls in line with his notion of the whole lines and open hierarchic systems. And. What I’m finding a lot of, oops, sorry. Knocked my microphone there. What I’m finding a lot of coherence with is how creativity is very much in line with emotion. Whereas objectivity, obviously isn’t in line with reason. And I been, when I was a kid, I was super creative and I was very artistic and I was very musical and I’ve carried on with my musicality through high school and college where I picked up the guitar and played in band and I’ve been messing around with music and finally started getting back into it. A lot, uh, this past year or the past few months. And I’m kind of seeing how this correlates with yes. The four stages of the headless way where the process of becoming, or going through the process of the child too, or I’m sorry, the baby to the child, to the adult, to the seer where the child is. Very much about themselves and really don’t see themselves. They just see what’s on front of them. So the child has no head in our, I’m sorry, that’s the baby. Sorry. I’m totally getting these Pam: ahead of yourself. CK: Yeah. So the baby has no head and just sees the world and the child begins to understand that they are a self. And, but, but they’re not so tied up with that. They’re still very much about. What’s out there and frame much, not a self absorbed. And then you become the adult, which is very much more conscious of themselves and see themselves in the mirror and see themselves. How other people see them. And then the year is where you take all this and reinstitute the concept of the baby, where you have the notion of yourself, as well as having no head. So it’s yourself and having no self. Basically, I kind of went through that real quick, but hopefully that still makes sense after talking about it past the past few weeks. But anyway, in terms of creativity, And creativity having to do with yourself. It’s creativity is yourself searching. You’re asserting your own creations in your own head out into the world. And I guess you could assert it to yourself as well. But creativity is not rooted in reason. It’s not rooted in objectivity. It’s very much more subjective and emotional and feeling based and taking that into consideration. I’m seeing how I’ve kind of lost, well, maybe not lost, but kind of restrained or stuffed that creativity down through like my twenties and thirties. Because I was so much in the adult state of the headless way. And I was seeing myself as everybody else was seeing me or how I thought everybody else was seeing me. And so now it’s, it’s just crazy to me that I’m getting back into music and I’m feeling this creativity and I’m. Considering these concepts of emotion versus reason and creativity versus objectivity. And now I’m starting this book, the act of creation, which is the prequel to the book, which is the most formative writing that I’ve read in a long time, if not ever. And so, I don’t know, I’m just kinda rambling on here about how I’m. Rediscovering my creative self. And as I was saying before, I’m trying to assert myself more into the super system because I’ve been so inundated with my thoughts and how I want to fit in the super system for so long throughout my life. So it’s just, it’s just cool to, to experience all the synchronicity and it feels really good too. I mean, I don’t know, maybe I’m rationalizing things and connecting things for my own benefit. Somehow. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, but it just feels really good to, to know that like I’m going in the right direction. Like all these things are falling into place and it. Doesn’t feel like I’m putting a lot of effort into it. It’s just happening. So yeah, I’m kind of rambled on a lot there. Do you have any response to that? Pam: Um, I’ve got, I have two completely different directions. Um, uh, so when you’re talking about the headless way there and how you’re now able to move out of that phase, where you’re so focused on how other people see you, are you saying that you. We’re less inclined to create for those years, because you were afraid of how people would see your creations or hear your music or afraid of judgment. CK: I’m not sure. Like I, well, for sure there was some of that, but when I think about it, I don’t know if that was like the reason. Um, yeah, I’m not sure. It’s like, it’s not necessarily one thing. It’s just kind of an overall systemic mental attitude or something. Pam: Or maybe that you were doing what you thought, right. He expected you to do rather than being a creative person. Is CK: right. Yeah, totally. Totally. Yeah. Um, and it’s, it’s not like I, I fall into that mode of thinking consciously it’s just, huh. Wow. How things fell into place, I guess. And, uh, you know, I D I got really interested in science and logic and I mean, objectivity, so maybe there’s a factor of that in play. Pam: like you thought that they were in opposition. CK: Yeah. I don’t know. I mean, I don’t know what I thought I got it. You know, it’s all abstract, but yeah. It’s uh, yeah. Uh, I don’t know. I don’t know. I don’t know how to explain it. Pam: Well, I’ll give you, um, funny observations from your astrological chart, CK: Oh, Pam: is that your fifth house, which is the house of creation, which is creativity. So it can be associated with children, but it’s really anything that you bring to life, which includes art and creation. That house for you is ruled by. Um, Pisces, which is a water sign, which is very about emotions. So it’s um, so the kind of the message there is that your creation is going to involve tapping into emotions and being in an emotional state. And along with that today, mercury, which is the planet of. Um, gathering and sharing information and thinking moved into Scorpio, which is your rising sign, your ascendance sign. So it is conjunct with your ascendant right now. And they’re, uh, they’re in Scorpio, which is another water sign, which is deep emotions. So it’s like the dark deep water that, um, kind of like plunging the depths of maybe emotions or topics that people don’t want to talk about. So it’s interesting that you’re getting into this emotional stuff in our conversation today about your creativity. CK: Yeah. That astrology stuff is so crazy. I’m still not sure how I feel about it, but yeah, that actually. It brings up some things now, because I feel like a lot of my creativity in my adult years or creativity per se, was very calculated and methodical. And I’m very strategic in the things that I do. And I was actually talking to our friend Selena about this a couple of weeks ago, in terms of, well, we were talking about how. We get in our creative modes or, you know, how we balance our creativity with our logic and whatnot, because we’re, we’re me and Selena were very similar or Selena and I, or me. Yeah. It’s leaning in and out. And so. It’s interesting what you’re saying, because it feels like now I’m trying to tap into the emotional side of my creativity. Whereas before I was still creative in a lot of ways, But it was all very calculated and Selena mentioned the same thing. Like she was very much the same way. And Selena does a lot of creative work in like acting in producing and writing and stuff like that. And she feels like she’s very methodical and calculated in her creativity. Whereas when I see other men, my voice, so when I see other creatives. Like well, so there’s, there are experimental creatives in conceptual creatives, which I think I’ve mentioned before, where I’m very much more experimental where I just keep chipping away at things and keep experimenting with things. And this is pretty much in line with how a man, who was it. Hmm, Cezanne, the artist stays on painted. He painted the same thing over and over and over again. So he has a lot of very similar paintings. Whereas someone like, uh, who would be a conceptual, creative, someone like Picasso, who just comes up with the concept in his mind and just paints it. Oh, you know, just lays it down right there and his work is done. And so I was kind of trying to find how to become more conceptual in that sense, because I’m so strategic and methodical, but now I feel like music’s kind of bringing me into that more of the emotional realm and yeah, I feel like there’s a lot of like music. Like the audio and the sounds there’s it, to me, it feels like some kind of like a, like a portal into this dimension of creativity and, um, like emotion. So I, yeah, I have a lot of thoughts going around on this and maybe I can. Expand upon it next week, or sometime later, because there’s a I’m seeing, and this is very abstract, but I’m seeing something going on with how I’ve been able to decouple my vision from my site. Does that even make sense to you? Pam: you’re going to need to explain that out a little bit more. CK: Yeah. So with the headless way and seeing things as having no head. In meditating in this manner, I’ve been able to decouple my vision from my site so I can look at something and kind of de focus. And what I see is just colors and light versus objects. So. So, so site, so site is our sense. So site is how our site is what our eyes see our eyes taking sight, but vision is computed per se by our brain. So our brain calculates and basically categorizes and puts boundaries on. The information that it takes in from our eyes. Pam: It looks for patterns and puts it together into CK: Exactly. And this is the same concept as what I was talking about with words and language, how we put, sorry, patterns and constraints and boundaries to concepts and feelings and put them into these words. So our eyes will do the same thing with what are we seeing? And so that’s why we might see something. And when we take a second look, it’s not actually what we thought we saw in the first place. You know what we thought we saw our brain put that together, but then when we actually look at it, you know, it might be something different. And so, you know, your, your vision, isn’t always what you see. Okay. So I’ve been able to kind of decouple that, so that. What I see isn’t computed. It’s just light. It’s just light in colors. So I don’t really see anything. It’s just kind of all a blur. Yeah. No, when I’m meditating. Pam: You didn’t say CK: Oh, sorry. Pam: I was really confused. CK: Sorry. Okay. Yeah, that might make more sense. No, but yeah, it’s what I’m meditating on this specific concept. And also when I’m trying to bring this up throughout the day, if I need to use it for whatever reason. And so I, I I’m beginning to get this same feeling with hearing and sound. And I’m beginning to the couple. Is it decouple sound from hearing? Yeah. So sound is what your ears taking in hearing is how your brain computes it. Pam: I guess. CK: Yeah. I’m not sure if that’s the right terminology, but I’m much less annoyed. With outside noises and stuff these days after developing this notion and no, like I, and now this gets into abstract part in stuff that I am trying to wrap my head around, but, um, Kind of playing. I got this synthesizer last week that I’ve been playing and it’s been keeping me up at night because I just totally fall into manipulating these wave forms and it, and this is kind of putting all these concepts together for me. And it’s just so fun. And I just zone out on manipulating these waves and I could. I get to see the wave forms on the synthesizer. It has a screen and it’s putting, so it puts together quantum physics for me and audio and the notion of trying to separate sound from hearing and all these different things. And I think it’s all kind of there’s interconnection between that and what I’m experiencing with division. So, yeah, there’s a lot going on. And a lot of them trying to wrap my head around. So, yeah, so that’s, that’s that, and I think I’ve, I’ve been, uh, I’ve been abstract enough throughout this session, so we could probably end it there. Pam: Yes. Dear listeners. I live with this weirdo. I get to experience this all day every day. CK: Yeah. And I, it feels like we went on quite awhile. Yeah. So let’s leave it there for this week and start closing it up. So 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 C K disco and. Uh, I’m not going to say anything more about that yet, so we’ll leave it there. I, so picking up this synthesizer and all the music stuff I’m doing, um, I’ve been. I’ve been conceptualizing a lot of stuff to do on social media. So we’ll see what happens with that. I’m not going to add any more pressure on myself just yet, so we’ll leave it there for now. And so thank you to the listeners for joining us this week and as always thank you to PIM for joining me. And I hope you come back next week and keep on practicing to Lou.

Practice Session #29 Welcome to my show notes for this session of Practice! We record these weekly 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. CK: Alright, do it. 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. I’m using this platform to practice podcasting as well as speaking in general, 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’ve done better. You may find this and more information about this project at ForcesOfEqual.com/Practice. Today, we’re recording on Sunday, September 13th of 2020, and this is our 29th practice session. And this week has been kind of weird for me. What about you? What would you sit well with? What’s your one word description of this week for you? Pam: um, I don’t know about the week over all, but yesterday I would say overwhelming. CK: Yeah. Pam: Yeah, just quickly, I guess. Um, I did my normal Saturday grocery store trip. And while I was there, apparently there was a lot of people that were heading to a Trump rally. So there was a bunch of people wearing Trump gear and, um, you know, w we deal with people like that on the internet. And it’s one thing to see them at a distance, but to see people that were like almost frothing at the mouth. With excitement to go to a rally that is essentially for hate was, um, I think I I’m getting goosebumps thinking about it and talking about it right now. Cause it was just, it was really, um, it really affected me to see it in person. And then I also went for a little birthday adventure to a place called the, um, OSSI open market, which has 200 stalls of vendors that are like artists and makers and you know, just little shops and I’d been wanting to go there for a while. So I went for my birthday and it was, um, It’s a really cool place. I really enjoyed the spot, but there was so many people there cause it was their one year anniversary. And like, no one is physically distancing. People are just like in your space. And it was really overwhelming to be around that many people after being around. No one other than you for so long, like I just wanted to be back home. CK: Yeah. Yeah. That’s interesting. You’ve developed a sense of normalcy being at home and isolated, whereas there’s this whole other spectrum of people who are returning to the normal, see that they’ve had before. And now there’s this duality going on. Pam: I’ve always preferred staying home. Like I’m just a home body. So I think it’s just exacerbated now. CK: It’s more pronounced. Pam: more pronounced and all these other people that prefer to be out and about are so excited to be doing that. Like CK: And it’s more pronounced on that side. Pam: Yeah. Yeah. So they’re really like pumped to be out shopping and interacting with people. Meanwhile, I’m like get away from me. CK: Yeah. That’s interesting. And that brings up something that I ran across earlier this week. And I believe it’s called the theory of dual entitlement. So in economics, I believe it comes from economics where there’s the notion that the consumer wants the best price available for them. But obviously the. Business or the company also wants to make the most, or, you know, set the best price that’s available for them. So you’re coming at two different sides. And obviously in order to reach some kind of success with the product, you have to have some kind of compromise. So you’re coming from this place, this, these two different sides and reaching a compromise. So. It’s it just goes to show the importance of context and in terms of relating this to like our society and how people react to each other or understand things or just interact, oftentimes we’re very. Inundated with our own thoughts and ourselves in our thing, don’t consider where other people are at in their lives. And so that other side of that dual entitlement theory. So obviously you have you think of what you’re entitled to, but oftentimes we don’t think of what other people are thinking they’re entitled to. And so that’s why there’s a lot of conflict in terms of trying to agree on certain stances or beliefs or whatnot. So just an interesting point. Pam: I could list off 15 things that happened yesterday that are, you know, me looking at people thinking that they were in, they were feeling entitled, but meanwhile, they are, you know, looking at me thinking that. So it definitely makes sense. CK: right. So I felt like my week was weird because of the sky and the smokiness and the cloudiness. And it’s kind of like, we’ve been in Twilight for the past week. Pam: It’s been Erie, CK: Yeah, and we haven’t had like full, bright sunlight and obviously there’s issues like seasonal effectiveness disorder that can play into this Pam: seasonal affective disorder. CK: seasonal affective disorder. Sorry. Thank you. Pam: I’m seasonally affected. CK: Yeah, there might be a theory that goes along with that. Maybe we can make one up, but thanks for the correction seasonal affective disorder or sad, and that’s tends to occur during winter months and winter seasons when you don’t get as much sunlight. And so you get into sort of a depressive mood and that’s kind of what I’m like. I’m feeling like that kind of notion with this smoky sky and the cloudiness. It’s weird. And it’s also different because then the sun is a whole different color. It’s like this eerie orangy glow Pam: Red sometimes. CK: Yeah, totally. Pam: And we’re not even getting the worst of it. Like San Francisco and Portland are like, the whole town is. Red or black, depending on what is going on and where you’re at. It’s CK: Yeah, Pam: to think about. So like that combination of not only is our environment different, but then there’s like that mental load of realizing why it’s that way. And, and that all these other people have it even worse. CK: Yeah, totally. So, yeah, that’s how our weeks have been going. Pam: And then I went out and ran in that air quality. And so my lungs are a little bit messed up now. CK: Yeah. That’s yeah, it’s all this. Yeah. I mean for people, yeah. For people who like us who enjoy being outdoors and enjoy the sunlight, it’s a lot to have to consider. So. You know, we can’t do things that we normally would do so that we have to consider all that, but let’s move on. And I’ll say our quote for the week, and this comes from stoke philosopher, Marcus Aurelius, and he’s one of my favorites. And one of the big three that I’ve mentioned before the others being Seneca and Epictetus, who we’ve had quotes from before. And Marcus Aurelius was a Roman emperor and a lot of historians consider him to be the greatest Roman emperor of all time. And he is the, he was the emperor of Maximus or really is in gladiator, the movie gladiator, which I love one of my favorite movies. And Maximus is a really, this is actually a fictional character, but in that fiction, his leader was Marcus. It really is who got murdered, I believe, or no, he got, he died from the Antonin plague, which has a lot of crossover with what’s going on today with the coronavirus actually. But I’m not going to go too much into that. So let’s just get into the quote. And it goes like this. You can discard most of the junk that cluttered your mind and clear out space for yourself by comprehending the scale of the world. By planning infinite time by thinking of the speed with which things change each part of everything. The narrow space between our birth and death, the infinite time before the equally unbounded time that follows. So it’s just, he’s just basically talking about broadening your perspective. And this is a lot of what I like to espouse in terms of broadening perspective and spectral potentiality, and how your range of perspective is. Correlated with your intelligence or that’s how I like to see it anyway. So we’ll try to see if we can weave things in and out with that coat throughout this session. And on that note, I’m going to try to keep this session doing half an hour to a half an hour. Like I wanted to all along, we’ve been going over the past couple of weeks. Without me even realizing because things seem to be flowing pretty well now. And on that note, I would also like to mention that I reading through the intro today, I realized that I want to change some things up. And I started out this practice of podcasting too. Practice podcasting and practice speaking. And I’ll always be practicing those things as I do them because I can always improve. And I understand that I can always get better, especially with speaking. I feel like I’ve made a lot of improvement from the first episode. And I most thing that saying that I’m practicing speaking now maybe hindering me a little bit because I’m kind of using it as a crutch. If I mess up or can’t figure out what to say, like. I have that little nugget in the back of my mind. That’s telling me, Oh, it’s okay. This is just practice. You can just. Flub, whatever sentences or words, or if your brain, the source isn’t working, that’s fine. It could cause it’s just practice. And while that’s true, I don’t want to lean on that and be okay with just messing up or not improving week to week, basically. So I’m thinking of looking at things moving forward as. This practice of self reflection and focusing less on the practice of speaking with the idea that, of course I am practicing speaking, but I feel like I’m at a level where it’s like, what we’re doing is fine here. Like I’ve been listening to the past few episodes and it’s, for me, it’s been fun to listen to and comparing myself to the other podcasts that I listened to. Unlike. You know, we’re not, I’m not very far from speaking in a manner where I’d even be comfortable being on another podcast that I listened to and listening back. Whereas before, obviously I’d be very anxious about going on a podcast or being in a guest. That’s not saying that I’d have that opportunity now, but just saying if I did have that opportunity, that I’d be fine. And I think I come off is an okay speaker or fine speaker, or, you know, it’ll be good enough. And I’ll. See myself as being good enough, if that makes sense. Pam: totally agree. So it’s time to level up your goals for the podcast. CK: Yeah, totally. And the thing is like the way we’re doing this podcast and the way that we’re doing it on the fly. Like, I don’t really prepare much of anything for these episodes other than the quote. And I have the intro in front of me, but I basically have that memorized. And so. Everything else I’m just coming up with on the spot. And usually the podcasts that I listen to, it’s all prepared or a lot more prepared than these sessions and also they’re edited afterwards. And so it’s, I’m kind of putting all this out there in a raw format and now I’m. Coming to a point where I’ve think I’ve developed myself and these episodes enough that it’s on a sufficient level. And so I would say, Oh, kind of a tangent. My favorite podcast app is overcast. And are you still using? I don’t have a guest. Okay. And overcast has this awesome feature called Smartspeed. Where they use AI to determine where to send speed things up or slow things down in the audio feed, depending on how you pause. And I don’t know exactly what goes in the algorithm, but it’s really smooth rather than just spitting up like 1.5 or two times, which tends to sound a little artificial and. Not so natural. Yeah, exactly. And with Smartspeed from overcast, it speeds up, but it also sounds natural. So you don’t necessarily, you can’t necessarily tell that it’s sped up unless you speed it up a lot, but still it’s easier. The flow is a more natural flow. So it’s like you’re talking faster rather than talking normally and spitting up. So I don’t know if that makes sense, but it makes a difference coming out in the audio. So I recommend listening to me via overcast with Smartspeed because then that makes it sound totally awesome. It makes me sound like a really good speaker because it takes out the pauses. And a lot of my pauses tend to be a little longer. Because I am sorting through a lot of stuff in my head, but a lot of other podcasts they’ll just take out the pauses in post-processing. And then at the same time, there may be some tools and plugins for post-processing that do similar things as what overcast Smartspeed does. So there may be some editing in terms of that. But yeah, just kind of a tangent. Um, but I guess it’s all just to say that I am starting to get more confident in myself and I’m enjoying, listening back and realizing that I actually do know what I’m talking about most of the time and that I can put some of these ideas together on the fly. So yeah, that’s where I’m at and trying to move on. Um, let’s see. So I don’t know. I have so much going on in my head this past week and it’s been all kind of all over the place, but I think I may want to expound on what I was talking about the past couple of weeks in terms of the headless way, as well as the. Three categories of brain evolution, because what I discovered while I was journaling, actually this past week was the by ssociation or crossover of those two frameworks, I guess you can call them. So to recap real quick, the. Three stages of the human brain evolution started out with the lizard brain. And then there was the mammalian brain and then the human brain actually it’s the lizard brain and paleo mammalian brain, which is the early human early mammal brain. And then the Neal mammalian brain, which is the evolved even brain with the frontal lobe and the prefrontal cortex and all that stuff. So. If we take those and then consider the four stages of the headless way where we had the child, or I’m sorry, the baby, the child, the adult, and the sphere, the first three stages of a headless way. Line up with the three categories of the a P it’s referred to as the Tribune brain tri meaning three. So trying brain refers to the three categories of brain evolution. So if we’re looking at the lizard brain, which is more towards the stimulus response end of the spectrum, The lizard just responds to what it’s given basically. And this could be related to the stage of the baby in the head, this way, the baby’s more stimulus and response. And if we continue the metaphor of the baby, doesn’t see its own head. So the baby doesn’t really know of itself. It just knows of what’s out there and responds to what’s out there. So there’s that. Association there with the lizard brain and the baby, and then with the paleo mammalian brain, which is where you have the beginnings of the processes of learning as well as emotion. There’s, there’s some learning with this stimulus response category, but it’s evolved with emotion in the paleomammalian brain. Okay. And it’s associated with reactions. So in addition to stimulus in response, there’s an added part of the reaction and emotion. And this can relate to the child stage of the headless way where the child begins to understand that. It is a being within himself and understands that what it sees in the mirror is a self, but is also very much in tune with what’s going on outside of them. And probably even more in tune with that. Like they’re more susceptible to there. Super systems and obviously their parental systems, which is their super social system and their peers, their social system. So that there’s that crossover with the paleomammalian brain and the child stage. And then with the neomammalian brain, which is the developed brain where you have the frontal lobe and the prefrontal cortex. Which offers you executive thought and the ability to reason and add space between stimulus and response and space between stimulus and reaction and separate emotion from reason. And that could relate to the adult stage of a head of sway where. It’s basically the same things, all the same associations where the adult, uh, I mean, it’s not, uh, completely, uh, it’s not a perfect relation, but the growth is there, but in that thinking there, so there isn’t a fourth stage of the evolution of brain evolution. Pam: That we know of. CK: Exactly. So. I’m thinking the fourth stage, if we keep these correlations is the fourth stage of the head this way, which is the sear, which is where you take everything that you’ve learned throughout your lifetime. So far as an adult through that adult stage and also re include. The stage of the baby where you saw everything without no head, or, uh, I did a double negative there where you saw everything with no head. And so what I’m thinking is that we, as humans are still in, or we can still evolve. And we have more progress to make in terms of brain evolution. And I would go as far to say that we still need a lot of work on the third stage in terms of utilizing our executive function and our capabilities to reason. So we still need more work there, but there’s yet another stage to reach, which correlates with this stage of the sear in the headless way. So that’s kind of what I’ve been thinking about this past week. Does that make sense? Pam: it does. It makes total sense. And I think it’s, um, that ongoing battle between where we. Where a lot of people think that we need to get as a society. Yeah. Versus, um, where we are now, where, you know, if people were in more of that kind of phase and getting more into to that sear type mindset, our economy would be. Affected significantly because people wouldn’t be in this constant buying cycle and filling needs with products. So there’s a whole super system that is trying to prevent us from moving into that sear, um, phase. And you know, they’re doing that by, um, you know, restricting use of psychedelics and, um, And, and not, um, making, you know, meditation and awareness practices, part of our education and how we bring up children and making that a weirdo thing and like, Oh, those, those people are the others, rather than those people being the ones that probably haven’t figured out. CK: Yeah. That’s really interesting that you bring up psychedelics. We could go down that road a little bit real quick, where there’s a lot of theories in terms of, have you heard about the stoned ape theory? Pam: It sounds familiar, but refresh me. CK: I believe it comes from Terence McKenna who was very big into psychedelics. And it’s very influential in the psychedelic world. Um, but his theory is that way back during evolution of primates, it was when apes discovered, I believe it’s siliciden, which. Is mushrooms and I’m thinking it was that because it’s, it was probably found in nature. And, uh, from what I remember, it grows and poop Pam: Uh, I mean, I’m sure, but I think it grows kind of anywhere, but poop is definitely a good fertilizer. CK: Yeah. Uh, um, so I, I’m not exactly sure. That’s just college or college memories Pam: You have memories from college. CK: a little bit, but anyway, the theory goes that the apes discovered siliciden and began tripping on them, which is what expanded their brains to form into. Well to evolve to what we have now with the prefrontal cortex and everything. Cause if you think about it, these psychedelic, these psychedelics expand our human cognition, you know, we think about things that we haven’t thought about before or Pam: connections, it opens up pathways that aren’t available right now. CK: exactly. Exactly. So, yeah, there’s that notion of that stoned ape theory and these other. Chemical methodology is to expand human performance in cognition that are out there and available and being researched. But there’s also forces out there that are trying to keep this at Bay or keep it under wraps or keep it from the general population, because who knows for what reason? Maybe because it’ll hurt their own profits or because maybe they actually do think it’s harmful to humans, but. For whatever reasons there’s forces out there that are controlling us to some extent. So being mindful of all of these things is important. And we can go back to our quote for the week where, I mean the whole quote, it starts as you can discard most of the junk that clutters your mind. And that’s pretty much the basis of meditation. Because in consciousness, you have this state where it’s, that you always have state where your mind is clear, but it’s these distractions and clutter and nines in all this stimulation and things that bombard you, that you get caught up with and worried about. And you get caught in the cycle in these patterns of. Emotion or reaction emotionally and reactionary thought. And if you’re not mindful of that, you’re just living with those thoughts and then those thoughts are controlling you. So, you know, do you have free will or the power to make your own choices and make up your own mind? Um, maybe not. If you’re not mindful. So, yeah, it just all goes to say the importance of mindfulness and perspective. And we could, like, I tout self-reflection all the time and I’ve been ramping up my own. This past week or the past few weeks with journaling, but I’ve been, I’ve started to look at a lot of things as self reflection. So there, there may be, there might be some proxies that you can employ. So actually this practice of podcasting is actually turned into a proxy of self reflection for me because I didn’t go into it thinking, you know, I’m doing this too. Meditate or be mindful or reflect on my week, I was doing it to practice podcasting and speaking, now that has turned into a practice of self reflection. So there might be some tools and things like that that we can talk about in the future around those types of things. Pam: I know that we’re running short on time, but can I give a quick example of how I use self-reflection yesterday after I was leaving that shop where I was really overwhelmed. So there was an artist there, this man Lloyd, and he was adorable. He was like in his eighties and he’s a woodcarver and he made these absolutely gorgeous bowls and he reminded me of my dad and, um, He was the only like elderly man there. And I immediately felt sorry for him. Like, I felt like he was really out of place and I felt like he thought that he had to be there to sell his products. So I like felt guilty and wanted to buy something out of guilt because of this guy being in this place where I felt like he didn’t really belong. And I started putting all of my thoughts and emotions onto him. And it put me in a really bad mood because I felt so terrible for this guy. I almost bought a $300 bowl because I felt bad for this guy. And they’re gorgeous. Bolts are absolutely gorgeous. I’d love to have one, but I don’t know, $300 to spend on a Woodbowl. So, anyway, as I was walking out, I realized that I felt awful. And the reason that I felt awful was had absolutely nothing to do with my interaction with this guy. He was great. And he. Probably liked being there. And I realized that I was taking away his autonomy to make his own decision. Like he’s a grown ass man. Sorry, he’s a grown man. And he made the decision to rent this booth and he can make that decision. And. I was putting all of my stuff on him. And so I went through this process. I actually spoke out loud myself in the car. And I was like, I feel bad about this guy because he, you know, is in this situation that I wouldn’t want to be in. And I like talked to myself through it. And I named all of the feelings that I was having about him that had absolutely nothing to do with him. And like went through this self-reflection and processed everything that I was feeling. That had again, nothing to do with him. He didn’t say a single word to me that indicated that he didn’t want to be, there was, he was a lovely gentleman. He seemed like he was doing fine, but I put myself in that position. So that process of just talking to myself and listing all the, all the things that I was feeling and all the things that I had made up. CK: Right. And you felt, it sounded, it sounds like you felt dissonance in the moment, dissonance in the moment and. Like you were there and you saw this guy. Well, first of all, there’s dissonance between the guy and the atmosphere or the Pam: Yeah. Yeah, CK: And then there was dissonance between what you were feeling and what you thought he was feeling or what, or also what you thought you should be feeling, or, and then you went into curiosity about why you were feeling that way. And then you were able to have the awareness to go into trying to sort it out. So yeah, I mean, that’s very mindful of you and your electorate, the space, and then create space for him to be there and do what he does. So, yeah, that’s a great example. And yeah, like you said, we were running out of time today. We’re going to celebrate Pan’s birthday with my parents and my brother and his wife. So we actually had two changes of plans already this morning, which before would have sent me into a little spiral of anxiety. But on that note, I mean, I. And totally fine with it. Like I just brushed it off and I’m like, okay, because at first it was canceled and then it was re-instituted or reinstated. And I was like, okay, let’s do it. So we gotta get ready for that. So we’ll leave it there for this week. And before we leave off 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 sometime soon at CK disco and Pam. Thank you for joining me this week for practice and thank you to the listeners for joining me this week. And I hope you come back next week and keep on practicing to loo

Practice Session #28 Thanks for checking out my show notes! I’ll be utilizing this to clarify and elaborate on points that I didn’t convey as well as I would’ve liked to. I’ll also provide links to further information and resources. We record these weekly sessions on Sundays. Please note that I try to publish episodes the day after recording: Mondays. I generally will have the transcript and initial notes published on Mondays as well. From there, I may continue adding and modifying the show notes throughout the week. I’ll be interspersing all my notes with the transcription from the audio, which will be displayed like this: Intro.   CK: Hopefully that makes it a little easier for me to line up the audio. 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. I’m using this platform to practice podcasting as well as speaking in general, while espousing have 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’ve done better. You may find this and more information about this project at ForcesOfEqual.com/Practice. Today, we’re recording on September 6th, 2020. This is our 28th practice session and we’re rolling right along in this hot weather. Pam: Labor day weekend. CK: yeah, that’s right. It’s over 100 here today in Southern California. Got over a hundred yesterday as well. And today we decided, or I decided to fire up the air conditioning for a little while before this practice session to keep our rooms cool while we’re recording. And I guess maybe that’s something unconventional that we could riff about where we generally don’t use our air conditioning. If we don’t have to. Pam: Or our heater, we don’t use any climate control. Really? CK: Yeah, very true. And for one we’re very fortunate to live in such nice climate in Southern California, where every day it’s pretty much 70 and sunny. Although, we get to the extremes like this weekend and maybe a couple of weekends ago as well, where we hit over a hundred. And that seems to be happening a little more often then it had been before. It’s a little worrying. I don’t know if we want to get into the whole climate change… Pam: That’s a whole can of worms, but I saw somebody tweet something the other day that said, “Don’t think about this as the hottest year on record; think about it as the coolest of the next 10 years.” And I thought that really put it in perspective. CK: Wow. Wow. That’s kind of blowing my mind. Yeah. I don’t want to get too hung up on that right now. Oh man, that’s so scary though. Pam: I know. CK: Okay. Pam: I haven’t stopped thinking about it since I read it, so now you can think about it too. CK: Yeah, thanks for that. That’s crazy! Anyway. So we- I wanted to talk about how we generally don’t use our climate control technology that we have available to us. For me, it’s mainly because I like to stay with the general order of nature. And I feel like there’s a lot of benefit in following natural cycles. And it all goes into our rhythms and cycles and patterns and our circadian rhythms specifically. But as humans, we need a lot of variance. And I know this is a little may seem hypocritical, or paradoxical may- might be the better word, because I talk a lot about maintaining a certain state of equilibrium or homeostasis and riding that sweet spot of the momentum wave. But that’s like the general baseline that you want to achieve. So, the goal is to reach a state of equilibrium where things are balanced, but in terms of growth, you need the variances. So you need to experience extremes or different levels of different things in order to inform yourself and to grow from that information. So with, like, temperature, these days in modern society with all the technology we have in the modern electricity grid and all that, all the comforts that we have available to us, it makes us complacent and too comfortable with comfort. Pam: there’s also something to be said about, um, finding that stasis While you’re in discomfort. So being able to stay calm and stable and at that baseline of functioning while you’re experiencing discomfort. So you need to be able to, to develop your ability. To be stable while experiencing extreme heat or extreme cold, or, you know, whatever the stressor is like. That’s part of the practice of maintaining balance is you can’t maintaining balance when everything is easy is not difficult. CK: Right. Exactly. And in the end is not, it’s not really balanced because then you start falling into that comfort level and you start going into this state where you’re not growing. So it’s, you’re you become complacent. Like I said before, and. you grow into that habit and you get into that cycle and you don’t realize that you’re getting comfortable and complacent and that you’re not growing. So this is where it’s important to stay mindful and to practice different things and to challenge yourself and to be uncomfortable sometimes. So with like the temperature, that we’re talking about, it’s beneficial to get into hot. Situations or cold situations. And in terms of exercising your body and your mind and your physiology, it can be also beneficial to get into extreme, hot and cold situations. So of course, I’m sure you’ve heard about sauna and sauna therapy. So there’s many benefits in sauna therapy. Uh, and it spans a wide spectrum of different things. So, and there’s different kinds of sun is too. There’s the wet saunas and the dry saunas, infrared saunas, and all different kinds. And they hit on different aspects of your physiology. But the point is that the extreme heat puts your body into such a state that it induces physical reactions and chemical reactions and physiological reactions. To respond to that extreme pressure and build up your body’s functions in order to be able to, um, respond better to those situations in the future. Pam: Develop resiliency. CK: Right. Exactly. And same with cold. You may have heard about cold exposure therapy, which has been gaining more and more popular popularity lately. You may have heard people taking cold showers and ice baths and going into frozen waters in like the Nordic countries. Pam: Like polar plunges. CK: Yeah, exactly. And both of these methodol methodologies are things that I love to do. So I love going out in heat and I love running out and heat and humidity, and I love cold showers and cold soaks. And it’s exercise for your body basically It’s a Hormetic stressor. And hormesis, if you don’t know is basically hitting your body with small, acute stressors, so your body can build up against them and respond better the next time it encounters those stressors. So exercise is a prime example of a hormetic stressor, where you work your body and your muscles, and you’re actually. Destroying your muscles, or I don’t know if destroy is right term, but you’re breaking down your muscles when you work out. So working out your, when you work out, you’re actually not. Building up your body, you’re breaking it down. And then the recovery process from the workout is when your body builds up and that’s the hormetic response to that acute stressor of exercise. And so the response builds your body back up to prepare for it, for that challenge when it encounters it next so that your body is more ready for it and both top for it. So it has gained those functions and then you become better and it’s beneficial in the end. So it’s little acute stressors, like these that are beneficial to you in the long run. You want to challenge your body and become uncomfortable at times so that you can become more comfortable in the long run and more of the time. So, yeah, we kind of oh go ahead. Pam: I was just gonna add one more piece to the awareness,um that you mentioned earlier, which is that, you know, like you said, we are in constant comfort all the time when we have air conditioning and heating and you know, and all of this stuff that makes us really, really comfortable. And we are in the middle of a situation here with the coronavirus pandemic that is making other people’s lives really uncomfortable. So we have an even larger homeless, um, epidemic/problem happening right now because the homeless shelters can’t keep as many people in them because of the requirements of social distancing. So there’s more and more people living on the streets right now. And in this extreme heat it’s even worse. And, you know, they have no resources and the heat is, is just unbearable. So. Bringing your awareness to the fact that you’re sitting in a 90 degree room and you’re miserable. And there are people that have literally no shade because we don’t have any trees in LA. That’s a big awareness piece that I think can come from making yourself uncomfortable or taking away some of your comforts. CK: Yeah, really great point. Thanks for bringing that up. There’s a lot to that you could unpack there, but the general theme is that not only does being uncomfortable benefit yourself, but it also makes you aware. Of the spectrum of human experience, basically. And so while we’re living in, the comforts of modern technology, there are people that don’t have access to that. So being aware and mindful of this abundance that we have available to us, is very useful in considering the whole system and the whole society. And the people around us and how that can affect everything. So, yeah. Great point, Pam So yeah, we kind of got started off topic or on topic. I don’t know. We don’t really have any topics, so… Pam: Do you have a quote this week? CK: I do. So let’s get into that. My quote today comes from the great philosopher. One of my favorites, Bruce Lee. And I’m sure everybody’s heard of Bruce Lee but if you haven’t, he is a Chinese-American or he was a Chinese American that came to America from China in the seventies, late sixties, early seventies, something like that. And tried breaking into Hollywood and had a lot of obstacles being an Asian trying to break into it Hollywood. And he was very big into martial arts, which was basically what he was typecast into Hollywood, for And then he tried to bring a lot of Eastern philosophies and Eastern practices, especially around martial arts and around Taoism to America. And the quote by Bruce Lee is: he way to transcend karma lies in the proper use of the mind and will the oneness of all life is a truth that can be fully realized only when false notions of a separate self whose destiny can be considered apart from the whole. Are forever annihilated. Pam: That was a lot. Can you break it down for me? CK: So let’s, let’s take this, uh, the first sentence first is the way to transcend karma lies in the proper use of the mind and will. So this goes to say that first of all, there’s the notion of karma where. If you do something, you get it back from the universe. So if you do something negative you’ll, you may get something back negatively from the universe and the same vice versa. If you do something positive, you may get something positive back from the universe. And the first sentence here, Bruce Lee is saying the way to transcend karma. So karma, I suppose it implies. This higher power per se, or I don’t know if you want to say higher power because in Taoism, I don’t know if the concept is a power or just being, I’m not sure the language around that, but in terms of transcending, this power that is over you, basically a super-system you have power within yourself. To affect how things are going to progress or what the outcome is going to be. So it looks like immediately, he’s talking about self-assertion versus integration or being controlled by an outside system. And then he goes on to say, the oneness of all life is a truth that can be fully realized. Only when false notions of a separate, sorry. Only when farl- I can’t- can’t say false. False – false. Okay. So here we go. The oneness of all life is a truth that can be fully realized only when a false notion of a separate self whose destiny can be considered apart from the whole. Are forever annihilated. So let’s break this down. So it can be fully realized only when false notions of a separate self whose destiny can be considered apart from the whole. So we’re almost talking about holons here, and this is awesome. I didn’t really think too deeply about this. Uh, this quote just kind of hit me and I thought it was a good one to reflect my week, but now thinking about it in complex systems terms. He’s saying that there is a notion of a separate self, as well as the notion of the whole, which is exactly the concept of holons where everything is a part of a system and is also a system within itself. So Bruce Lee is saying the oneness of all life is a truth that can be fully realized only when. This false notion of the self or the individual can be considered apart from the whole system or when that the notion of the self? Uh, I, okay, so this sentence is, uh, I’m not sure how to explain it, but. It’s kind of saying the negative. So it’s kind of, I’m getting a little confused in what it’s actually trying to say. Do, do you know what I mean? Because it’s saying that okay. Anyway… Pam: Well, it’s saying that you can only achieve the transcendence when you realize that you are, that what you do impacts the greater good, the whole, like that you are integrated into everything. So. Your, your actions have impact on everything. And the more you try to make yourself separate from that, the more you try to be apart and not, um, not part of the greater good, the more you are, uh, potentially opening yourself up to karma because you’re not, um, you’re not integrating yourself into the, the oneness. CK: Yeah. Yeah, exactly. It’s exactly what we were talking about last week in terms of the, my little thing with the paradox of duality and the oneness of duality. And this is basically the same thing. And. I think the reason that this quote stood out to me, quote, I have to practice enunciating quote because when doing the transcript last week, it kept coming out as coat. Quote So, yeah, I I’ve been noticing a little tangent here. I’ve been noticing that. I need to practice enunciating Some more, some words, a little more carefully, because as I listened back, I noticed I say some things that I had no idea, I was saying that way. And it’s just kind of coming out as mumbly. Pam: That’s so validating for the last 11 years when I, when you say something and I’m like, what? And you’re like, why? Like, why can’t you understand me? I’m like you mumble. You’re like, no, you don’t. CK: Yeah. Yeah. I didn’t think I did, but now that I listen back, I can totally tell especially seeing how the transcript transcribes it. So Pam: Thank you transcript. CK: it’s pretty funny, but I, yeah, so I’m going to work on enunciating or be a little more mindful of that. So when you think I’m saying coat, I’m actually saying quote, Pam: I wonder if that has anything to do with how you learned to say Qs from your parents? CK: I have no idea. Pam: Cause like your dad says skier instead of square. CK: Skier, Pam: Yeah, skier CK: Hmm. Interesting. Pam: Just something to think about. CK: Yeah, language is interesting. Okay. So where were we anyway? Pam: You were talking about how this quote ties in perfectly with what you were saying last week about the, the oneness CK: Yeah, I remember that, but I don’t remember where I was going with it. Pam: That I can’t help you with. CK: Okay. But anyway, let’s see if. I can pick things back up. Okay. So I’ll repeat the quote once more, the way to transcend karma lies in the proper use of the mind and will the oneness of all life is a truth that can be fully realized only when false notions of a separate self whose destiny can be considered apart from the whole are forever annihilated. So yeah, it’s basically. The oneness of duality, everything’s a part and a whole at the same time. And so when you realize that that’s when you can be enlightened per se, and this is okay. So I think this is why I picked this quote is because this whole past week, and even the week beforehand, I’ve been getting a ton of synchronicity. Going on in my life. And I think this quote was popped out to me because I feel like I’m starting to flow into the practices or the principles of Taoism a little more now. So the past few weeks, I’ve been talking about stoicism and a little bit about its contrast with Taoism and how I feel more attracted to the logical proposition of Stoism (Stoism???) And I feel like I need to work more on the natural flow of Taoism and just being comfortable with the way things are and that just things are the way they are. and That’s it. And to just be, and with the process of the headless way that I’ve been going through the past week or two that I started mentioning last week, I feel like I’m starting to see more and see how things just are. And I’ve been able to create this space to allow for that. And so I think this is why this quote popped out to me this week. And I feel like everything that I’ve been encountering has been relating to my growth. And the things that I’ve been seeing, and even these things that I’m trying to articulate here as I’m going through this process and going through this enlightenment per se, and this broadening of perspectives. And I guess I could talk about the headless way is I’ve been learning a little more and more over the past week. So there’s. Four stages that they break things down. And actually there’s two different parts that are the basis of the headless way. And they refer to them as the science of the first person and the science of the third person. And the science of the first person is basically you and how you see things. And how you’re looking out into the world and the science of the third person has to do with how others see you. And so there’s that duality with the headless way. And then the four stages are the baby, the child, the adult, and the seer And so how it starts out is with the baby. And when you’re a baby, You only have a notion of the first person. You only see what you see and you basically have no head. You don’t see your own head and you’re not really aware of your own head. Even if you see your reflection, you’re not really sure what that is. You don’t necessarily know that’s you and you don’t know that that’s how people see you. You know, you only know what you know and what you’re experiencing and how you see things. So as a baby, you have no head and you’re adhering to the science of the first person. Now, does that make sense? Pam: Mmmhmm CK: Okay. Now the second one stage as a child, you begin to get the notion of your own head. And you start seeing yourself in the mirror and you realize that your reflection as you, and you start to realize that your actions have consequences and there’s. another way that other people see you, that you necessarily might not see yourself. You know, you might not necessarily get into such a mindful place with this notion, but you start to realize that it’s not just you and not just what you’re seeing, there’s other, you start to gain empathy, I suppose, and theory of mind, So as a child, you start learning the science of the third person. And then does that make sense? Pam: Mmmhmm CK: Okay. So then the third stage where you’re an adult is where you ramp up the science of the third person. And oftentimes you, this is. The majority, or even just your exclusively in the science of the third person, where you only see yourself as how other people see yourself and you lose sight of how you see the world and how you have that space for that first person view. And so it’s almost like how I would consider. Being subject to the supersystem and being so controlled almost by the supersystem and outside thoughts and opinions. And so in the that third stage of an adult, you almost lose, or you, some people may lose, actually lose that science of the first person and lose themselves. And they’re only. Something in terms of how everybody else views them. Pam: they’re only the reflection CK: Right. Okay. So does that make sense? Pam: It does CK: Okay. Now finally, we get to the fourth stage and this is the stage of the Seer And I feel like this is the stage where that I’m transitioning into right now. And I’m starting to see these things. And this is the stage where. You regain that science of the first person and you take all that you’ve had and all of your experience and that third person experience, and then build that first person experience back in so that you can start getting back the notion of having no head. And that’s kind of the transitioning I’m experiencing right now. And over these past week, the past two weeks. And it’s this experience of becoming a Seer and opening up this world and creating the space where I can regain the first person perspective. And. I mean, it almost goes into me wanting to assert myself and integrate my subsystem into the supersystem Whereas before I was mostly concerned with the supersystem and how I acted within that system. So it’s this level, this fourth level of almost transcending the adult human stage, where you’re. Inundated by all of your past experiences and the patterns that you built up from them and the habits and cycles that you’ve fallen into. And maybe not necessarily letting go of that, but regaining the perspective of having no head and having the space. To allow yourself and this science of the first person or this first person perspective to come back in so that you can assert yourself. So did I get that out? Okay. Pam: You did CK: Okay. Pam: so the funny thing is that these zodiacal chart is broken into four quadrants, which are. CK: Wait what is it Pam: The zodiacal chart, the astrological chart. CK: Zodiacal Pam: Zodiacal yeah Um it is broken into four quadrants that are essentially in line with exactly what you just said. So there’s a lot of, um, You know, thous Yeah. Crossover and thousands of year old wisdom in there that are, you know, that happened in all of these different philosophies at the same time or within, you know, a thousand years of each other. And so they’re all very, very similar. There’s also a lot of the same, um, story in the lines of the tarot it’s, it’s all kind of the same principle that you have to go through this growth and self-awareness process, and then you reintegrate it and you go through it again and reintegrate and go through it again. CK: Wow. That’s interesting. I’ll have to look into it. Cool. So yeah, I mean, there’s a lot of synchronicity going on and that’s why that quote by Bruce Lee stood out to me and The Headless Way has been such a profound discovery for me. And I’m going to keep practicing and looking into it more and more as I go on and I’ll share what I learn. And in terms of synchronicity, I’ve been watching a lot of Joe Rogan this past week on YouTube. And just kind of putting him on in the background as I do stuff around the studio and the guests that he had on were Miley Cyrus and Mike Tyson. Pam: Together? CK: No no. They were two separate shows. Pam: Okay. I was like, I don’t want to watch Joe Rogan, but I might watch them together. CK: Yeah, that would be awesome. But even separate, they were really awesome interviews, and I wouldn’t have predicted that I would relate to those two people so closely. But man, there’s just so much synchronicity going on and I don’t- maybe it’s because I’m allowing for it. I’m creating this space and allowing myself to take all these different things in, and maybe I’m seeing things and I’m more open-minded in some ways. Or maybe it’s- this is just all happening at the right time. And there’s some effects, maybe along the lines of singularity going on. But like, I mean, Miley Cyrus was talking about brain health and she’s been a client, or patient, of Dr. Amen for awhile for a long time. Over 10 years, I think. I don’t know if you’re familiar with Dr. Amen, but I’ve been following his work for a long time and he he’s big on SPECT scans, which are a type of brain scan that does some kind of spectral tomography with a, I think it’s like, proton emissions or positron emissions. I’m not exactly sure, but it’s along the lines of an fMRI, but it captures like, uh, maybe 10 to 15 minute, whole view of brain function. Whereas I think fMRIs are almost real time, basically. But anyway, Miley Cyrus is talking about all this stuff around brain health and her growth as a person and- throughout her stardom, and her mindset now, and all that stuff. And it was so much in line with a lot of this stuff that we’ve been talking about, especially over the past two weeks, I would say. And if you substituted her pop stardom and her – she’s been an actress too, I believe, right? And, like, a child actress, I think. I don’t know if she’s still acts or not, but whatever – her celebrity, if you replaced that with my upbringing as a ultra-minority, basically, it’s like it could have been an episode of Practice. Like, if you looked at the transcript and just kind of switch those two factors out, it was, like- I was blown away and I’m like, “I relate so much to Miley Cyrus.” I would never have thought. Although, now that I think about that, I ran across an article about her a couple years ago, where she was going through a lot of growth and changes and it was really interesting and enlightening to see someone of her stature going through similar things. So, yeah, it was interesting with Miley Cyrus and then Mike Tyson, man, I- I- I enjoy listening to Mike Tyson. He has so many life stories. But on Joe Rogan’s show, he started talking about ancient conquerers and, like, Alexander the Great and even Genghis Kahn. And he is so interested in that history and he knows a lot, and it was fun listening to him and why he was so interested and how he translated a lot of those things into his own life and, like, the mindset and mentality. And obviously Mike Tyson is an athletic machine. He’s a beast. So I have a lot of respect for him in that sense, but just hearing him talk and just riff on this history of the ancient conquerors and stuff was really fun. And so I relate- I related to him a lot in that sense, because he also has gone through a lot in terms of substance abuse and a lot of mental obstacles and challenges. And so he’s very- his mind seems to be in a really good place right now, and it’s cool to hear him talk. And he’s very mindful. Like he still understands that he has these certain tendencies and, like, when he gets into the fighter’s mindset and stuff like that, like he’s mindful of, I guess, kind of moderating his mindset and making sure, or kind of keeping tabs on getting too out of hand or going overboard in some instances that, you know, may roll over into other parts of his life. So, yeah, it’s just really- it was really interesting to me to listen to how he’s grown, because I think he’s been on there within the last year or so before and he’s- he seems totally different. And now he’s training to fight again. Yeah. Like, legit fight. I forget who his opponent was. I’m not- I should know, but it’s escaping my mind. And I’m not that big of a fight fan, but I’m just interested in it from a elite athletic point of view. But yeah, all this synchronicity going on in with like someone with Miley- like, Miley Cyrus and Mike Tyson, who I don’t think other people would necessarily relate me to them, but it was really interesting. Pam: Did you listen to Miley’s new album before or after you listened to that interview? CK: Before. Pam: Interesting. Okay. Cause you were so excited about it and you thought that it was so good. So I was wondering if your connection to her tainted that and made you more excited about it, or if you really just were that into it. CK: Yeah. Um, it might’ve made it better after I heard the interview, but yeah, I heard the music beforehand. All this seemed to be coming out around the same time and I think she was on Joe Rogan to promote. Yeah, but yeah, I heard the album beforehand and yeah, I love it. Miley Cyrus’ new album is fire. And yeah, It’s, uh- I’ve been listening to it every day. Pam: I’m just laughing ’cause that was like the most pop culture thing that you have ever said. “Miley Cyrus’s new album is fire.” CK: Yeah, I’m trying. That’s what the young ones are saying these days, huh? Pam: Yeah, you could have tweeted that with a couple emojis. CK: I’m almost afraid that it’s it’s past, like that’s like old slang already. Pam: Saying something’s “fire”? Nah, that’s still good. CK: Okay. Cool. Pam: You can trust me. I’m a 41 year old. Almost. CK: Uh, alright. Anyway, even just listening to Joe Rogan, I- I have a lot of respect for him as an interviewer and a podcaster. And obviously I’m here practicing podcasting, so I find Joe Rogan to be a good model for me. I don’t follow everything that Joe Rogan does, and I don’t necessarily agree with all of his viewpoints and all of his methodologies and ideas and strategie. But he’s built, like, such a huge empire with his Joe Rogan Experience. He’s the biggest podcast in the world. And he just made a multimillion dollar deal with Spotify. And I mean, how can that not be a good model for me? And I, I really enjoy listening to him talk and interview and get his guests to talk and reveal various things. And I mean, he’s just talking and they’re basically just chilling with each other for two to three hours, sometimes more. And I find it inspiring and motivating to watch him ’cause it- for him, it just seems so natural and easy and it just comes off and he has such a broad set of knowledge and. he’s just gets to chill with cool people multiple times a week and then gets to share it with millions of people. So, yeah, I like that about Joe and, you know, I pick up a lot of benefits by observing what he does. So, yeah. I just noticed that we’re over 40 minutes, so. I could probably stop rambling and maybe cool off. It’s starting to get hot in here. So, Pam, did you have anything else that you want to- you want to talk about? My voice is starting to crack. Pam: I think I’m all good. CK: Cool. Well, we’ll leave it there for this week. And before that, I guess Pam, where can people find Pam: You can find me on Twitter where I am @Pamela_Lund. And if you do say “hi.” CK: Yeah. And you might be able to find me on Twitter at CK disco. And I just wanted to mention that I am very much in a productive mode and I’ve been getting a lot done this past week and I plan to get a lot done this coming week, getting a lot done with Not Bad Advice. Yeah. And hopefully have the trailer coming out soon. I know I mentioned getting that out a couple of weeks ago, but we’re making big strides now. And I just want to mention real quick that it’s really fun working on the audio for that, because I’m going back to the first episodes that we recorded and Oh my God, the audio quality is terrible compared to what we have now, but I’m able to fix it so quickly now. So with all the stuff that I’ve been working on the past few weeks and all the troubleshooting I’m doing, I’m finally able to put it into practice and seeing what comes out of it. And what’s coming out is awesome. And it’s becoming easier and easier to get this out and processed. So it’s pretty exciting for me. And so we’ll see what comes in the next few weeks. So yeah, I’ll leave it at that. So with that, Pam, thank you for joining me again this week. week Pam: My pleasure. And thank CK: you to the listeners for joining me and we’ll just keep going and hopefully get better and better. So I hope you join us next week and keep on practicing. To-da-loo!

Practice Session #27 Thanks for checking out my show notes! I’ll be utilizing this to clarify and elaborate on points that I didn’t convey as well as I would’ve liked to. I’ll also provide links to further information and resources. We record these weekly sessions on Sundays. Please note that I try to publish episodes the day after recording: Mondays. I generally will have the transcript and initial notes published on Mondays as well. From there, I may continue adding and modifying the show notes throughout the week. I’ll be interspersing all my notes with the transcription from the audio, which will be displayed like this: Intro. CK: Alright, here we go. Pam: Um, your… There CK: go. Pam: I go. I was like uh.. am I having a stroke? CK: Weird… now, you got louder too. Okay whatever. 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. I’m using this platform to practice podcasting as well as speaking in general, 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. So 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’ve done better. You may find this and more information about this project at ForcesOfEqual.com/Practice. Today, we are recording on Sunday, August 30th of 2020. This is our 27th practice session. And we will start off with a quote and this comes from stoicism again. And actually I have two quotes today. They’re both from Stoic philosopher, Epictetus, who is one of the big three Stoics that I mentioned last week. If you remember, from last week, I quoted Seneca today as Epictetus and the third big philosopher is Marcus Aurelius. So what I remember about Epictetus that’s interesting is that he was a slave. And he came across stoicism as a slave and under the control of his owner. And so it’s really interesting to have this big stoic philosopher come out of that scenario. It’s interesting to me. And so. His, a lot of his principles are based around things that you can control. So as a slave, obviously there’s a lot of things that he couldn’t control. So he focused a lot on those things that he can. And this reminds me of the serenity prayer from alcoholics anonymous, which I- I attended a few AA meetings because I was having some issues with self-medicating and stuff like that a few years ago when I was under a lot of anxiety and maybe some low level of depression and really couldn’t figure out what was going on. I’ve had issues with alcohol since college, I would say. And prior to college, I didn’t drink at all. So I kind of went crazy in college and that’s when issues, my issues with alcohol began, but I don’t think I’m an alcoholic. But along the same lines, I see everything on a spectrum, so I do notice some alcoholic tendencies that I have. And so I attended AA meetings, one, because they were required because I got a DUI. But, two – a lot of people that are required to attend AA for DUIs, just cheat, they just.forge the signature themselves and turn that in. Pam: Really CK: Oh yeah. No- no one- I mean, a small percentage from what I’ve observed actually attend these AA meetings, but yeah, I went to every single one that I was required to, and I actually found a lot of benefit from it. And so the pray in paraphrasing the serenity prayer, um, first of all, I’m not religious in that sense, but in the prayer, the words in the prayer have a lot of meaning. So in prayer- paraphrasing that it says something like, uh, “grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change and the courage to change the things that I can.” And so this goes hand in hand with Epictetus and his principle of just focusing on what’s in your control. And then another principle of his is that. You want to basically walk the talk and set an example and just, it act, basically actions speak louder than words, instead of just saying things, do them, or instead of just, even instead of just philosophizing, you know, do the things that are virtuous and. On that same note, a third principle of his is basically just don’t fall into bad habits and know what your values and your virtues are, and kind of use that as what I would refer to as like your North star, use that to guide the direction you’re going into. So with all that said, the quotes that I have for this week, the first one is.: “Man is not worried by real problems so much as by, his imagined anxieties about real problems.” And I should’ve asked you, Pam, if you could re- recall or recite that off the top of your head, because we used that quote for a lot of our microphone- microphone testing that we’ve done. Pam: Is that the same quote? Yeah, “Man is not worried about real problems so much as by as imagined anxieties about real problems.” That’s not the quote that we’ve been using. CK: Oh, is it not? Pam: The quote that we’ve been using is he who indulges in imaginary fears earns himself real fears. CK: Oh, you’re so right! Okay. Nice! Nice work. So, uh, and that’s actually from Seneca. So yeah, my mistake, I thought I had Epictetus down here, but that was Seneca. Maybe we’ll touch upon that in a future episode, Pam: I mean, they’re very similar quotes. The essence is the same. CK: Yeah, exactly. So again, that was, “Man is not worried by real problems so much as by, as imagined anxieties about real problems.” And the second quote I have for today is: “If you want to improve, be content to be thought foolish and stupid.” So these quotes have a lot of meaning to me, especially this week. I couldn’t settle on one because I’ve been going through a lot of different thoughts and creative processes over the past week. And my creative ideation is going off the charts again. And I think this is maybe a factor of; one, I began journaling about a week or so ago. And this is journaling pen to paper, which I think I probably touched on here and there – that I couldn’t get into the actual practice of writing pen to paper, even though I’ve tried a couple of times and I understand the benefits and the science behind it. But I finally got into it about a week and a half ago, and I’ve been doing it every day and it’s been easy and awesome. And I kind of have been finding myself, wanting to do it more and more, and just not having the time or not being able to find the time to do it more. So… Pam: Yeah, You’re doing it at quite a bit. I walked past the office and I see you laying in there looking like a teenager writing in your diary. CK: But yeah, I mean, it’s- it’s so fun and I’m getting so much stuff out and it’s just another step – another iteration off of this self-reflection process that I’ve been focusing on since starting this practice. And so it’s been great, and I’ve been loving it, and I think that’s been helping me. And on that note, I’ve been able to clear off my whiteboard and start regenerating the mind-mapping that I had on there before. And that kind of goes back to the concept of pedal Morphosis, where I just kept building up and building up the mind-map and the whiteboard was just getting filled up and it was getting pretty crazy. And there were lines going all over the place. And it was useful for me to refer to, but it had gotten to the point where it became too specific, I guess, with the stuff that I ended up writing down towards the end of the mapping process. And then those things towards end didn’t necessarily line up perfectly with what I started out with. And so I had to go paedomorphic with it, and draw back, and go back to a more juvenile state, per se, and get back to the foundation of what I started out with. And then build back the specifics that I ended up on that I felt comfortable with with that notion. And just kind of, kind of basically starting over. Not necessarily from a blank slate, but with the foundation and the additional information that I learned, but kind of reorganizing it in a more efficient and effective format, if that makes sense. Pam: it does. It’s editing. CK: Yeah, I mean… Pam: Our- well, our superfan, Daryl, has his first fiction novel coming out in October. And so I’ve been watching him going through the editing process on that book and learning about how, you know, the editor came back and was like, “you should just chop out these four chapters,” like, an entire section of the book to make it flow better and make it simpler. And so that, and, like, “move this chapter over here.” And like, you’re- you’re like cutting things out and getting back to the basics of the- of the, um, core of what you’re trying to do and like getting rid of the fluff. So it’s an editing process. CK: Yeah, exactly. Yeah. I guess that’s a very much more simple way of putting paedomorphosis. But I like to complicate things as… Pam: Yes, you do. CK: …you should know, by now. But anyway, I’m kind of struggling a little bit to- to figure out what to talk about this week, because I have so many things running through my mind. So I am just kind of going to try to go with the flow and see what pops up. But before we get into things, let’s kind of reflect on our week and catch up with ourselves and maybe our moods and our physical feelings. Uh, where’d my brain thesaurus go? So, uh, I’ll come right out and get it started and say that I am in an awesome mood now because of how productive my week was and everything is starting to come together and all the work and all the troubleshooting I was doing is all coming together and paying off. And so it’s been fun for all that to begin happening now. And I feel like it’s just going to continue happening. And on another note, I also re-instituted my summer napping schedule. Pam: Take two. CK: Yeah. Um, I got off it because I was, excuse me, I was kind of looking back at my patterns of my sleeping- my sleeping patterns from before. And I am very conscious of my sleeping patterns because I’ve had a lot of issues with sleep and insomnia. I think I’ve mentioned that before. But now I’m- I’m sleeping so well. And my cycles seem to be lined up. And I mean, I have some instances where I fall out, but I can fall right back in and I have no problem with that. And now I’m finally realizing that it’s been about two years now, I think, since I finally got everything back on track and I went through some treatment processes and a lot of mindfulness and a lot of implementing my own practices to solve my issues with sleep. And so I’ve always, since then, I’ve kind of been, I guess, anxious, somewhat, still about sleeping well, because I know how important it is. Pam: Nervous about it. I get nervous about it when you sleep in later than you normally do now, I’m like, “Oh my God,” you know, “did he not sleep well? Is this the start of a problem?” CK: But now I’m getting comfortable with the fact that it’s not really that much of a problem for me anymore. And if I don’t sleep well on one night, I’ll get right back in. And my patterns and cycles have developed to the point where. I’m in the sweet spot of that sleeping momentum wave, per se. So I don’t have as much variance with my sleep and I’m not hitting those peaks and valleys as much. I’ve moved them closer together, and the wave is not as volatile, and I’m just riding the flow of the momentum. So that and my productivity with everything else is just coming together. And everything just seems awesome, and there’s actually another factor that just popped into my mind that Pam, you actually kind of asked me about last week and I didn’t think of it – I couldn’t come up with it, but it’s. Um, if you can remind me in a bit or try to remember, I’ll put a note here real quick and I’ll try to remember to mention it in a bit, but before we get into that, Pam let’s catch up with you. And how has your week been going Pam: Um, it was good. To stay in line with the productivity theme, um, Darryl, our superfan that I mentioned earlier, introduced me to a project management software called Click Up and it is amazing. Um, so I’m getting my entire life organized in there. And, you know, I have tried Trello and Wrike and Asana and Notion… And like- like, I’ve tried so many different tools and this one just is easy and it makes sense. And it has everything. So we’re getting all of the podcast production organized in there, um, all of my regular work tasks. Like, just organizing everything in my life in Click Up. And it’s really, really exciting. We had a great team meeting this weekend, so we’re getting all of that, um, lined up. So I’m really excited for what we can do in Q4 with, um, being aligned there. CK: Yeah, definitely. Pam: Um, other than that, um, I went out for my run this morning and… CK: Yeah, how’d that go? Pam: Well, I’m still recovering from my hip flexor issue. So I just went for a mile. I’m not doing a lot of mileage right now, so I just went for a mile and felt pretty good. Didn’t have any pain or anything during the first half. So I was like, “Okay, you know what? I’m going to go for time. I’m going to beat my fastest time. Let’s see if I can do that.” And so 8:54 was the fastest time that I was trying to beat and I killed it in the second half and I finished at 8:53. So I beat the fastest time that I was try to beat, right? Only by one second, but I beat it and I was really excited. And then I got back and I went to record my run and discovered that my fastest time was actually 8:52. So my, uh, my takeaway for you here is that if you are, um, shooting for a goal, make sure that the goal that you’re shooting for is actually what you want, because that is what you’re going to get. And if you aren’t shooting for the thing that you actually want, you’re going to be disappointed with the results. Yeah. That’s funny, but that’s the M in smart goal planning. Right? Measurable. Oh, I mean, it was measurable. I just had the wrong measurement. CK: True. True. Pam: So, yeah. CK: Well, that’s funny, but I mean, uh, one factor that you forgot to mention is that you did it without me, so… Pam: That’s true. I did not have a pace car CK: Yeah, you almost hit your personal best on your own. Pam: I could have- I could have shaved off two more seconds, but CK: That’s funny. Pam: Yeah. CK: That’s interesting though, uh, that may go back to one of the quotes for this week where man is not worried by real problems so much as by his imagined anxieties about real problems. So Pam: I’m not worried by it. It is definitely an imagined problem. It was more funny. CK: Cool. Cool. Well, okay, so let’s see, where should we go from here? Should okay. Let’s try to get back to what I was talking about before, where last week Pam asked me, what was it? We were talking about how I was. More able to be in the present moment and create more space in the moment. And we were talking about this in regard to how much fun we had with our photo shoot last week. And I really couldn’t come up with this at the time. First of all, because it’s kind of new and I’m still going through the process, but. Last week. I just said that, you know, it’s, uh, I’m not sure. It’s just kind of how I’ve been growing into these mindfulness processes and practices, and maybe it’s just kind of happening. Uh, I guess I kind of took a Taoistic stance in that respect, but then I remembered that I began going more into this. Mindfulness practice per se. And this is through Sam Harris’s waking up app so I’ve been using Sam Harris waking up meditations for the past about two years, I think between a year and a half and two years, and waking up has been the most beneficial.mindfulness practice for me so far. And I’ve been meditating and practicing mindfulness pretty much every single day, since about 2012. So about eight or so years now. And I just started with waking up about two years ago and it’s been so profound. It’s been by far the best practice for me in terms of getting my head. Around the practice and where I’m supposed to go with it basically. And Sam Harris has a way with words and metaphors that makes it a lot easier for me to understand where I’m supposed to be going. So with waking up, I was making big strides with my mindfulness. And through the app, Sam’s been bringing on a lot of other mindfulness and meditation practitioners and he’s doing interviews with them. And with some of them, he has other lessons and courses for different methodologies. And the one that I’ve been. Trying out for the past week and a half is called- Oh, shoot. I forget the name of it. I think it’s called The Headless Way, and it’s by Richard Lang who uses the principles from Douglas Harding. And I haven’t really looked in to this stuff. On its own very deeply. So I’m, I don’t know too much about it. I’ve just been going through the practices and they’re kind of presented more like experiments. So it’s not necessarily, can you hear that? What is that? I don’t know something just made a noise. I think it’s my phone. Okay. Anyway, I don’t know what’s going on here right now, but yeah, my phone just said our address. I don’t know. Yeah. Let me check. Pam: That’s creepy. CK: Yes. Siri turned on somehow and there’s no mention of it, so I don’t know what happened. Okay. Pam: That’s weird. CK: I know. Anyway. Pam: Get back to your mindfulness. CK: Yeah. Pam: Get present. CK: So with The Headless Way, the general principle is that you’re meditating on having no head. So it’s an open-eye Uh, the practices that I’m going through on more of an open-eye meditation or mindfulness. And when you’re looking out, the general idea is that you don’t see yourself and you can’t look at yourself. And when you try to look at where you’re looking out of, or kind of try to look back, there’s nothing there. You can’t see anything like you can’t see your own head and it’s building upon that principle. And then realizing that the essence of you is basically just space and your s You are space for everything that is that you’re observing. So what do you see. Is what you are space for. And I’m, it’s, it’s kind of hard to put this into words in Sam Harris and Douglas Harding and Richmond Lang They do a much better job and I’m just doing this. I’m just kind of saying what’s on my mind and doing this on the fly, but I mean, does that kinda make sense, Pam? Do you- did… Pam: Yeah. Is it that through perception, you are a container for everything that you’re experiencing. CK: Yeah. And it’s hard to put actual words to this practice or mindset because in the end, it’s all about this duality that I’ve been trying to articulate before. Where, you know, obviously there’s you, and, but at the same time, you’re a connected to everything and everything’s connected and you’re not only you, but you’re space for everything else and all this is connected. It’s all one. So you’re, it’s it relates to. holons and complex systems where with holon you are a system as well as part of a system. And while you can categorize the two things, it’s also part of the same thing. So it’s that duality. So It’s I think a lot of this is understanding the oneness of duality, which makes no sense it’s paradoxical, but that’s, I mean, that’s kind of how I feel like it is. That’s kind of the best way I can explain it right now. It’s the oneness of duality. So, can you, does that make sense? Can you think of any better explanation Pam: Um, uh, I’m not sure. My, my brain wasn’t really looking for explanations. I was laughing because, uh, if I remember correctly today, mercury is squaring, Neptune, and mercury is the, uh, The planet of communication and thought and intellect and Neptune is, um, oneness and the like collective. So it’s funny that you are like trying to put words to the idea of oneness. CK: Huh? That’s interesting. Pam: that was really funny. Um, but I think the idea is that while there’s duality in everything, there’s also collective and oneness and everything. So even though there’s duality, they exist together. They literally can’t exist without each other. CK: yeah, exactly. Pam: So the duality is the oneness CK: Right Yeah. I like how you put that. And I think that makes a lot of sense. And so I guess along those same lines, I can relate this back to one of the quotes for today, which says if you want to improve, be content to be thought foolish and stupid, and I’ve been getting a lot more comfortable with this notion lately. Because I’ve been pretty tied up with my own intelligence and intellectualism throughout my life. And the thing is like, well, I guess the whole reason I started this podcast is to become better at articulating my thoughts because I don’t want to be misunderstood, but now I’m just more comfortable with going with the flow and. Saying what’s on my mind. And I think this whole practice, it’s basically a exposure therapy that I self-exposure therapy that I instituted. Pam: yeah. CK: you know, it’s a cog a subset of cognitive behavioral therapy and that whole premise is kind of stoic in itself. You know, you overcome your fears by putting yourself out there and. Being in the moment instead of our first quote, man is not worried by real problems. So much as by, his imagined anxieties about real problems. So before where I was imagining how I’m coming off and how I may be misunderstood now, I’m not worried about that as much. I’m not worried about what I think is going to happen. I’m just more focused on what’s happening. And so I’m becoming a lot more comfortable with saying what’s on my mind. And I’m realizing that it’s for the most part, it’s accurate. Like last week I was talking about how our emotions are built in to our primit primitive brain wiring. And I was talking about the limbic system and the paralymbic system and three different. Proposed categorizations of brain function. And I listened back and I’m like, Holy cow, I actually know what I’m talking about. And at the, at the moment while I was talking about it, I was a little more free than I would have been before in talking about it. But I still had a little hint of anxiety. there like, is this right? Am I going in the right order? And like, after like right after I was talking about it, I was, I kind of. Had doubts about what I said and if what I said was right, but then listening back, it was pretty accurate. So it’s that imagined perception that you don’t want to fall. Privy to, or fall victim of or I don’t know what my thesaurus brain thesaurus isn’t working. Right. today But yeah, I mean, there’s a spectrum, like reality is on the spectrum of imagination. So on one side is imagination and on the other side is reality, but all the way up to reality, there’s still some imagination as part of it. Pam: And Also what is reality? CK: Right. Exactly. Pam: It’s all imagination really, CK: Yeah reality is like a collective imagination, basically. So yeah, there’s a lot there that you can work with, but there’s this notion of being in the present moment and just being which falls in line with the Taoism philosophy. And so on that note, I’m finding like a yin and yang between Taoism and stoicism with, and being more of being with the flow or going with the flow and being in the moment and being in the moment with the flow and stoicism being more logical in having that, uh, having the reasoning. In there. And so, yeah, it all goes back to the quote, if you want to improve, be content to be thoughtful and stupid. And so I like the whole, like this even goes back to my relationship with my own intelligence. Like the thing is I’ve never thought that I was, I mean, I know that I have intelligence. And I don’t like, I still don’t like talking about it, but there’s okay. So fact I am a member of Mensa, so obviously there’s a level of intelligence there that I have to exhibit, but I don’t feel like I earned that intelligence or there’s an External locus of control that I have in terms of this inhibiting, this intelligence. Pam: that’s one of your things. You only appreciate things that you have to work really hard for, CK: Yeah. And it Pam: So you didn’t for it. So you feel like it. Isn’t as good as it actually is. CK: Yeah. And I mean, it’s not like I hadn’t I haven’t worked to become smarter or more knowledgeable, but. There’s this feeling that I feel like everybody should be at this certain level of intelligence. Pam: but it also comes easily to you. You, you love learning new topics, you are able to retain information, you learn things easily. So that comes easy to you, even though you do put in a lot of time, you’re not struggling. To earn the intelligence. CK: Right. And, but the thing is, there’s a lot of different definitions of intelligence. And, uh, even in science, there’s a lot of ways that scientists are slicing intelligence into different categories. For example, there’s Gardner’s theory of intelligence, I believe where. It’s split up into like eight or nine different categories of intelligence, like logical intelligence, mathematical intelligence, musical intelligence, emotional intelligence. Uh, I’m not sure if those are the actual categories, but just to give you the idea. And then there’s the idea of G which stands for general intelligence. And so there’s a lot of different theories floating around, but what I’m starting to become more comfortable with is intelligence. In the frame of perspective. So I look at perspective as intelligence and when looking at it that way, I’m more comfortable in. In my, my intelligence, because I’m looking at it as perspective. So I’m comfortable in saying, or even believing in myself in having a broad perspective of things and even trying to increase my perspective and level of awareness. So in terms of being thought of as foolish and stupid, I like, that’s fine with me now. And because it increases my perspective and I get to learn. And so I guess I’m just more comfortable. That’s making me more comfortable in saying what’s on my mind and not necessarily getting so anxious about being right or accurate or being misunderstood. So, yeah, that’s what I have to say about that. Pam: I was thinking about something very similar to that. Not knowing that you are going to use that quote today, but I was journaling this morning and I was thinking about how, the way we interact has changed over the last few years. And you know, we’re both. Highly intelligent, um, you know, high performers. And I would say that for a number of years in our relationship, our communication wasn’t very good because we were both like, we didn’t want to say the wrong thing or come across in a certain way. Or, um, you know, we, we didn’t have a lot of vulnerability and a lot of collaboration in our communication. And I know for me, I never wanted to be wrong or, you know, A number of things I didn’t want to be, but through this practice of accepting that, you know, you are going to look foolish sometimes, and that not only is that okay, but it’s good and accepting your own, um, you know, foolishness, you allow the people around you to become comfortable with their own foolishness. CK: right. And you offer that space for that to happen Pam: Exactly without judgment. CK: yeah. Yeah. And that, that goes back to the headless way for me. So now I’m able to think of that. Like having no head, like when I in the present. Uh, like for example, when we go on our walks multiple times a day, I’m I can bring up that notion of having no head and immediately the world just kind of comes into view. And I see, like, I see everything more clearly and more vibrantly. And that’s just kind of a metaphor for everything else that that could relate to, like in conversation or any interaction. Like once I create that space, I just see more of everything. My perspective widens Pam: and along that same line, when we go on those walks, I know that if I share something with you or I’m like, I’m having this problem, or I went through this, this situation today. You are more likely to respond and say, I’m also having a problem. Or I went through that issue So by opening up and showing you I’m, I’m dealing with this thing that isn’t perfect. Or I did this dumb thing today, or this happened you then have the space and the freedom to come back to me. I also had that happen or, um, or I’m going through the same kind of thing. So it allows both of us, um, Better communication and better connection through having that, that space to, you know, to look foolish or to be, you know, potentially be judged, but know that you won’t be. CK: Right, right. Yeah. Being vulnerable. So yeah, I think this was a great discussion this week. And so we’ve been going a little longer than usual, so we’ll start closing up here. Pam, did you have anything else that you can think of that you want to add? Pam: No, I think that’s it. CK: You already got some of your astrology in so… Pam: I did. CK: Yeah. So we’ll just leave it there for this week. And I hope you guys are enjoying this little adjusted format. I’m having fun with it, and I think we’re just gonna keep getting better and better with the discussion – the back and forth discussion. And I’m liking it. I’m having fun and enjoying it. So we’ll leave it there for this week. And before we leave off real quick, Pam, where can people find you? Pam: You can find me on Twitter, where I’m @Pamela_Lund. And if you do, say “hi!” And then you might be able to find me on Twitter @cKdisco. And yeah, thanks for joining us again this week. And Pam, thank you for joining me again, of course, as always. And I hope you come back and join us next week and keep on practicing. To-da-loo!

Practice Session #26 Thanks for checking out my show notes! I’ll be utilizing this to clarify and elaborate on points that I didn’t convey as well as I would’ve liked to. I’ll also provide links to further information and resources. We record these weekly sessions on Sundays. Please note that I try to publish episodes the day after recording: Mondays. I generally will have the transcript and initial notes published on Mondays as well. From there, I may continue adding and modifying the show notes throughout the week. I’ll be interspersing all my notes with the transcription from the audio, which will be displayed like this: Intro. CK: Okay, here we go. 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. I’m using this platform to practice podcasting as well as speaking in general 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, we also talk about. 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’ve done better. You may find this and more information about this project@forcesofequal.com slash practice today. Yeah, it is August 23rd, 2020. And this is our 26th practice session. And we are closing in on half a year of practicing. Pam: At what point do we get to stop practicing? CK: Never. We’re always going to be practicing. What do you think about that? Pam: I think it’s true. CK: You can always learn and progress and get better. So today we are going to continue with our adjustments on the podcast and the sessions, and I’m just going to keep rolling along and we’ll start out with a quote. And this one comes from Seneca. One of the three prominent. Stoic philosophers aside from Marcus Aurelius and Epictetus. And this is Seneca, the younger, I believe he is the son of plenty, the elder, Pam: What makes sense? I guess CK: I don’t know, Seneca, the elder. Who is the son? Yeah. Who is the son of plenty? The elder. I’m not up to date with my stellar history. So check the show notes for any corrections or better information. Anyway, here’s the quote. The greatest obstacle to living is expectancy, which hangs upon tomorrow and loses today. You are arranging what lies in Fortune’s control. And abandoning what lies in yours? What are you looking at to what goal are you straining? The whole future lies in uncertainty live immediately. And again, that’s by Seneca and we’ll kind of, well, I’ll kind of try to base the theme of today’s session around that quote. And so hopefully I’ll weave some topics in and out throughout the session that relates. I’m not exactly sure if I’ll be able to relate to it directly, but I there’s so much within that quote and so much with what I’ve been maintaining recently, that is definitely related. So. It’s going to be up to me to be able to form those relations. So we’ll see how I deal with that. But before we get into that, let’s reflect on our week. And Pam, can you think of anything fun or memorable that happened this past week that pops into your mind? Pam: Hmm, fun or memorable? Um, I wasn’t prepared for that. CK: Throwing you a curve ball here. Pam: yeah. Uh, well we had a photo shoot, so we went and did a photo shoot for kind of like professional photos for all of our websites and all of the podcasts that we’re working on. And it went really well. We got our proofs back the next day and we have almost 1500 photos to go through. CK: yeah, crazy. I haven’t even started going through and yet. Pam: I can’t stop looking at them. CK: Oh yeah. Pam: Yeah. CK: Well, that’s a good thing. Pam: Yeah, no, I’m, I’m really happy with how they turned out. I’ve done a couple of shoots before and never had as much success as this time. And I think it was a combination of a lot of factors. Um, but one of them is definitely that I. Uh, went in with confidence and didn’t feel like, Oh, I don’t belong in front of the camera or I’m, I don’t look good or, or whatever. Um, and a lot of things into my ability to do that, but that was a big, big difference. CK: Well, so what do you think went into your ability to do that? Or can you say, uh, some key points or anything? Pam: Yeah. I mean, losing 20 pounds definitely helped. So there was that, but I have been on a big mental journey of taking up space and not, um, not going into things without confidence and just like trying to be able to, um, Just believe that I belong wherever I am and that I deserve to have what I have and to, to trust that I, um, that I know what’s best for me. And to be able to, um, project that I guess, and to be able to be calm, be more confident. So that, that was a big part of it. CK: Cool. Yeah, I would have probably mentioned the photo shoot as well. Obviously. That is something different that we did during our week. And we got to leave our home and go outside and interact with other people. Yeah. And, and I think that’s one of the things that made that photo shoot so fun. Well, actually it was my. First photo shoot ever pretty much. I mean, other than like school pictures or soccer pictures or something like that, I’ve never modeled per se. Pam: Yeah. CK: So if this occurred before I know that I would have been really anxious about taking photos and I haven’t really taken a lot of photos. In recent years lately. And there might be that there may be some function there of me not participating in social media as much. But yeah, I mean, there was probably also some, yeah, I’m not sure. I just don’t want my photos out there or my pictures taken or I guess maybe. Yeah. I don’t know. I it’s weird. I. Pam: I didn’t know that. CK: Yeah, I’m not sure. I guess I really just haven’t thought about it. I just kind of ended up happening where I just started taking less and less photos and I, so, yeah, I don’t know. I’m just kind of thinking about all of it right now, but whatever the case. Before I would have been very anxious then I w I would have wanted to be such a perfectionist with the compositions and the shots and how he posed and stuff like that. But this time around aye, barely even prepared for the shoot at all. And. I just went with the flow and just took everything as it is. And I think that’s kind of what made it fun. And there’s two factors relating to that, that I’m thinking of right now. One is what I’ve been talking about in terms of just basically not having expectations. And that goes right along with today’s cook. Where it begins with Seneca saying the greatest obstacle to living is expectancy, which hangs upon tomorrow and loses today. So by having expectations, you’re thinking about the future and how, what you’re doing is going to what that’s going to result in or how that’s going to turn out. So you’re not living in the present moment, your living, you’re living with these thoughts. Have a moment outside of that moment. So you’re thinking of the future. And you know, you also may be thinking of the past because of what you’re about to be doing is something that you’ve done before, or you’ve experienced somehow before. And you’re thinking how that’s going to affect what you’re going to be doing. And then in turn how that will turn out in the future. So you’re very much out of the moment. So. Pam: Or in that same vein, like you think that just because you’re doing the same thing again, that it’s going to be the same experience CK: Yeah, great point. Pam: You can do the exact same thing 10 times and have it be a completely different experience because of all the other factors involved, other people that are there, your mental state, their mental state, the environment, everything like everything else can be different and change the outcome or the experience of that exact same thing that you do again. CK: Yeah, exactly. And there are a lot of stoic coats that relate to the saying that you can’t step in the same river twice. Basically. Everything’s always changing around you. And so every experience is going to be different. So the other factor was. Our photographer for me, she was awesome. So going in with no expectations and then having an awesome photographer, it was like, I almost don’t remember it as a photo shoot. It was like, we were just hanging out all day, basically. Pam: yeah, it was like hanging out. Well, a friend was taking some pictures. CK: Yeah. And there may be some. Effect of not socializing so much over the past few months and then having to go out and socialize and interact with someone else that made things find in different. But Pam: you’re also a lot different with strangers now. CK: yeah, definitely. Definitely. And Pam: as anxious. CK: yeah, uh, I’ve had this weird notion within myself where. For some reason, I felt inferior to everyone I met before. Like I’ve always thought that people had something over me when I first met meet them. And then the times when I get to know them, you know, then I realized how irrational my initial thoughts and feelings were. But now I I&

Practice Session #25 Thanks for checking out my show notes! I’ll be utilizing this to clarify and elaborate on points that I didn’t convey as well as I would’ve liked to. I’ll also provide links to further information and resources. We record these weekly sessions on Sundays. Please note that I try to publish episodes the day after recording: Mondays. I generally will have the transcript and initial notes published on Mondays as well. From there, I may continue adding and modifying the show notes throughout the week. I’ll be interspersing all my notes with the transcription from the audio, which will be displayed like this: Intro. CK: 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. I’m using this platform to practice podcasting as well as speaking in general, 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- 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’ve done better. You may find this and more information about this project at ForcesOfEqual.com/Practice. Today, we’re recording on Sunday, August 16th, 2020. This is our 25th practice session. 25! Pam: You’re a quarter of a century old. CK: Yeah! Uh…. I mean, not quite a century, but… Pam: isn’t a century, a hundred? CK: Yeah, but it’s been 25 weeks… So… Pam: A century of episodes. CK: Okay. So, I am actually gonna change things up a little bit this week with no warning whatsoever to Pam. Pam: What’s new. CK: But yeah, instead of going through and having like these dedicated segments or whatnot – which we kind of got away from the past couple of weeks, anyway – I just want to kind of have like a little discussion or make it more of a discussion rather than trying to fit stuff into neat little boxes. And I’m trying to slow things down for myself in terms of my communicative aspects, or communication. And this is because in listening back to previous episodes, first of all, I can definitely tell that I’ve been improving with my speaking abilities and my communication and my thought processing. Where in the first episodes, I can totally see that- or I can hear myself having sympathetic reactions or these stress or anxiety reactions while I’m talking. And then I go into this- like, I can hear myself going into like a thought cycle and self-editing. And listeners may have heard me, like, say… like, kind of go through this edit cycle in terms of saying synonyms back to back when I’m talking and not, like, finding the exact words. So then I’ll repeat like three similar words and just kind of self edit right on the spot. So it’s little things like that here and there that I’m noticing in terms of how I’m feeling in the moment, when I look back and reflect. So in observing that I can see where I can improve and how I- how I can improve. And I can kind of see why I get into those situations. And most of the time it’s because I get kicked out of the present moment basically. And so I started thinking about the future, like how this is going to come off. How, you know, how what I’m saying is going to come off. And then, you know, I may start self-editing right there and try to correct myself or start getting in- to start stumbling around, like I am now basically thinking about how this is going to come off and, you know, start correcting myself and try to make things more clear. And that’s basically one of the whole reasons that I’m doing this is because I have this fear or anxiety of being misunderstood. And it’s not necessarily because I’m saying the wrong things. It’s just coming out wrong… or the wrong things in my mind, or like the wrong way or whatnot. Or, you know, I maybe, rather than living in the future and thinking about how things are coming off, I may be already looking back and thinking about how I said some things and looking back towards the past and, you know, getting out of the moment that way. So I want to practice slowing things down and staying in the moment. And we’ve been talking about this kind of stuff a lot throughout the weeks – throughout the past couple of weeks – and we’re all about being in the present and taking things as they are. And even relating it to the momentum wave, staying in the sweet spot of the wave. So it’s all related. So that’s kind of my intention for this change up and we’ll see how things go from there. What do you think, Pam? Pam: I think that it’s a great practice for Practice. A lot of times when you start to go into that thought cycle, when you start editing yourself, you then end up taking whatever thought that you were in the middle of and actually making it way more complicated. CK: Oh, totally. Pam: So, I think that in your goal to be understood, you actually end up biting yourself in the backside – trying to keep this PG for you – because you get so wrapped up in that thought process. So then you end up going on like a million different tangents and your original point gets lost. So I think that it’s going to be really good for you to focus on like a train of thought and trying to complete what you were saying and- and be understood in that rather than getting wrapped up in a million different thoughts and going off on all of your CK: tangents. Yeah. Yeah. And it’s going to be a process, obviously. And it will be a slow and iterative- iterative, evolving process. And yeah, I don’t know if I’m conveying my thoughts here and articulating everything the way I want it- the way I want to be articulating it. But the whole thing is, like, I can feel… It’s… okay… so this is getting into that cycle already, but I mean, so let’s try practicing here and slow down and maybe even pause, take a breath… And reflect and realize that, like, this whole feeling is an abstract feeling. Like, it’s hard to put it into words because it’s hard to relate these feelings to how other people may relate to the same feeling. But the whole thing is, you know, I’m trying to convey how I’m feeling in order to illustrate why I’m think- why I think I’m getting into some of these patterns that I’m getting into. So yeah, I mean, it’s difficult because in general, you know, if you ask someone about their feelings, that’s difficult in itself. Pam: Depends on who they are. I’ll tell you everything. But you definitely have a hard time explaining how you’re feeling. And a lot of people do. CK: I guess, yeah. That’s a good point. And got to stay mindful about spectral potentiality there and empathy and theory of mind: other people don’t think the same way that you do. And so you have to keep that in mind as well. So, yeah, I don’t know. Hopefully some people can relate to what I’m talking about here and maybe they’re able to put it into better words. Um, but yeah, I’m going to keep practicing this and continue asserting myself, basically. Something else that I’ve been thinking about the past couple of weeks is my own development and my own developmental process. Because as I mentioned a few weeks ago, I had an epiphany in terms of why I’m lacking in self confidence and how my upbringing affected that. And in talking with my parents a couple of weeks ago, we kind of got through some of those layers and peeled back some things and uncovered some things where my parents’ confidence – or lack thereof – in my success as I grow up and proceeded through life was lack- my parents confidence in me, it was lacking. So, you know, there’s- it’s no wonder why my own confidence was lacking. So in that… with all of that information, I’ve also kind of have this- I have this idea that my own development throughout my childhood and adolescence was very tightly bounded by my super-system, which was my parents at that time. So super-system referring to the systems outside, above our systems – the systems that we as humans are a part of. So my immediate relational super system is my parental system. So my parents were my super-system. And that super system basically encompassed what I was able to do while I was in the care and supervision of my parents, which was through childhood and adolescence, through my high schooling. And I didn’t really get out of that system until I got to college and looking back, there’s a very distinct difference between my life as an adolescent- or, you know, before college and after college. And so what I’m thinking is that I have- I’ve had this limited developmental ability while I was under my parents’ supervision. So I’m kind of having to go through a lot of those developmental processes now, now that I realize that I missed some of those processes or missed some context throughout some of that processing. So basically I’m living some aspects of my life, or reliving, or kind of rebuilding some parts of my life- some parts of my adolescent life, basically. So I’m not sure where I’m going with th

Practice Session #24 Thanks for checking out my show notes! I’ll be utilizing this to clarify and elaborate on points that I didn’t convey as well as I would’ve liked to. I’ll also provide links to further information and resources. We record these weekly sessions on Sundays. Please note that I try to publish episodes the day after recording: Mondays. I generally will have the transcript and initial notes published on Mondays as well. From there, I may continue adding and modifying the show notes throughout the week. I’ll be interspersing all my notes with the transcription from the audio, which will be displayed like this: Intro. CK: Okay, so everything’s going? You see the waveform? Pam: It’s pink and there’s a waveform. CK: Sweet. I say we just go, Pam: Okay. CK: Okay. You ready? Pam: I’m ready. CK: Alright, 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. I’m using this platform to practice podcasting as well as speaking in general 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 week we talk about my progress with this practice, along with other lifestyle practices, as well as theories and ideas behind the virtues of practice itself. Our conversations are unscripted and unedited… unedited… unedited-ed-ed. So that’s all going to be unedited. We’re really 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 ForcesOfEqual.com/Practice. Today we are recording on August 9th, 2020. This is our 24th practice session. I am totally not up to date with my sessions here. I think it’s the 24th. I’m pretty sure I could be around. So check the show notes if you’re really curious. Pam: If you’re into numerology or something. CK: Yeah. So let’s go ahead and check with checking with ourselves physically and mentally. Do you want to start? Pam: Um, sure. Um, uh, as always a little bit tired today because we do this on Sunday, which is my run day. It did two and a half miles this morning and I’m working on some form. Um, adjustments to improve a hip flexor issue that I have. So my run was a little bit harder than usual, but I just checked my pacing and I actually did the first two miles in almost exactly the same amount of time, which is good, cause I’m really working on pacing myself. So, um, that was good. And then, um, yeah, had a good week. I feel, even though it was the first week of the month, which was a huge accomplishment for me because his first week of the month is always really crazy with reports and invoicing and all of the client stuff that goes on. Monthly, but I’ve been working on mindset shifts to make it less stressful for me, because I tie my worth to the results that I get from my clients. CK: Nice sounds good. And maybe we’ll get into that a little more. So for me physically, I am not in the greatest of places with my foot. So I’m still dealing with that issue. I believe I suffered two weeks ago now out on the trails and my foot hasn’t gotten any better. Are you going to say something? I don’t think it’s been that long. Pam: I’ve done three solo runs, but you did it on a Friday. So this is the third Sunday. CK: right. So yeah, third, Sunday, but two weeks. So yeah, the one off rule, I don’t know if we want to get into that to get an in attendance already, but yeah, my foot, something is wrong and I am on the verge of. Going in to get x-rays so, yeah, something’s not right. I can’t put my full weight on it yet. And I’m starting to get a little antsy in terms of what to do with it. Because the, at the let’s see what was that two weeks ago, the first week after I injured it, I still kept moving around and still walking, not necessarily as mobile as I was regularly, but still moving around and still trying to stay active. And then after not seeing any progress for the last week, I. Pretty much stopped moving other than going downstairs to put my bare feet on the grass and getting some sunlight. I haven’t been moving very much other than some body weight movements and exercises. Of course, that don’t really involve too much foot mobilization. But yeah, I haven’t really moved very much over the past weekend. It’s still hasn’t gotten any better. Like maybe some swelling has gone down, so. If it’s, if there was any like fascial or muscular or tissue issues, I think those have kind of subsided and made way to the pain that I’m feeling, which seems more structural. So, yeah, I’m not sure I might be going in. For x-rays this week. So yeah. Yeah. I don’t want to stay on my feet and continue putting pressure on it if there is some sort of break. So it’d be nice to know that, to take the proper course of action moving forward. So yeah. That’s yeah, with that, I’m. Mentally. Okay. It’s been quite a week. There’s been a lot of ups and downs, but I’ve been very productive. So I’ve been, yeah, I’m making a lot of progress and I’m also working on my mindset and. Staying in the moment and still thinking in terms of being in the sweet spot of that momentum wave. And so, yeah, I’m taking things as they are in realizing that sometimes, you know, it just is what it is. And just because you’re not hitting milestones or you’re not reaching the goals that you’re. That you set out for there’s progress being made. And so, as long as there’s forward progress, that’s good. And I can live with that. And I, and I mean, if we’re just talking about forward progress, I’ve been making a lot of that and I’ve been smelling, celebrating, smelling braiding. I’ve been celebrating a lot of smaller wins. So maybe in terms of goals, kind of breaking things down into more micro goals, per se, we just recorded a session of not bad advice earlier. And we were talking about micro budgets. And so on a related note, I’ve been accomplishing more micro goals and celebrating those. In terms of moving forward in my progress with all this stuff. So, yeah, I think my physical issues with my foot has also been affected, affecting my mental status, especially since I can’t do my activities outside that I normally do. Of course I can still go outside, but it’s one thing just to stand there in the sun. Versus running and feeling the wind on my face or going to the beach and feeling the ocean breeze and stuff like that. So I think that’s getting to me a little bit, so I’ll have to figure out some things to mitigate that and engage with nature a little bit more and find some. Madonna leaves to exercise my mind and get that mind space that I’ve been enjoying with my beach days and my trail days that I haven’t been able to enjoy lately. Pam: We’re just going to the doctor and get your foot fix. CK: Yeah. I think that is probably the next step. Yeah. Pam: I will, I will say that you have been handling this a whole lot better than you would have if it had, had, had happened to you even six or nine months ago, you have not been grumpy and you have not been short tempered and moody, like you used to get when you were injured or when things didn’t really go according to plan that was, I mean, I mean, that’s a big issue for anybody, but. With your, um, your desire to get a lot done. And you’re like constant, like feeling of, of how much there is possible. Um, when you are held back by physical limitations, you get extremely moody haven’t been through this, which has been really impressive to see. Cause I think I would be. CK: Yeah. Thanks for that. I mean, you’ve been dealing with your own physical, physical elements too. So, Pam: Yeah, nothing like a potentially broken toe, but. CK: yeah. Yeah, it is really a I’m kind of nervous. It really doesn’t feel right. So, um, uh, I have that optimism bias, um, working against that and, you know, there’s that little voice in the back of my mind saying, you know, it might, it might not be anything. You just get a, just get a ride it out, but then. There’s that rational brain that says, just get a check done and find out for sure. So, yeah, I’m also, I’ve also been noticing that I become a lot more mindful and I’ve been a lot better at inserting that space between emotion and reaction. And so there was an instance. This past week, a day or two ago where I did lash out and I lost that mindfulness, but even so it was, wasn’t nearly as bad as I would have gotten in the mood I would have gotten into before. But yeah, I mean this whole past week, the past three weeks, I’ve still been. Dealing with troubleshooting. And we’re talking about software when it comes to audio editing and music production, and even hardware with the computer, with my desktop, computer and music production equipment. And. It’s a lot of, I mean, I can’t even count how many times I’ve restarted my computer and re rebooted all this different hardware. And so it’s a lot of waiting and a lot of doing the same things over and over again, but I’ve been able to stay in the present moment in really stay in the moment and enjoy the process in the moment. Instead of getting into that thought cycle of man, you know, I can’t this just work in, you know, I guess what I tend to think is why does this just work for everybody else? When you know, I have no idea if it does or not. And other people could be going through the same issues or even worse. And you know, other people may have gone. Through issues that weren’t even as me nearly as complicated and just quit. So, you know, there’s all these different scenarios and it all goes into complex systems and spectral potentiality. And also, I mean, it also crosses over into mindset and empathy and theory of mind. And so if you know about all these concepts, you can realize that. You’re thinking irrationally, whenever something frustrated comes up and you get emotional about it. So it, that’s why it’s so great to be aware of these concepts in the first place, and then have a practice where you can maintain awareness of them and build up your awareness and your. Practice with them or your ability to incorporate them into your life somehow. Pam: I think that’s the key is the ability to incorporate them because people think like, Oh, you learn how to be mindful. And then all of a sudden everything is different and it’s absolutely not that you know, you and I have both been on this kind of journey of learning about. All of this for years now. And it’s like incremental change. You, you realize something about yourself for you, um, practice changing how you respond over and over and over again, you get a little bit better at it, and then you slide and you get a little bit better at it. And it takes a long time to develop that ability to like see yourself and see how you’re reacting and why you’re reacting that way. And, and then to actually be able to do something about it. CK: Yeah, totally. And that’s the thing, that’s the thing why Pam and I are getting so much into coaching these days, because with a lot of these self-improvement programs that they just kind of lay out everything in front of you, or there’s a certain methodology or framework that they use. And it’s just that it’s just there and you’re expected to get from zero to that goal somehow. And there’s not a lot of in between that are, that, that you’re taking through or that you’re help through, or that maybe these practitioners even understand in terms of behavior and habit formation. So, yeah, there’s a lot of that. And I don’t know, it’s hard to say because I don’t really participate in the mainstream too much, but it seems like there’s this notion coming around in terms of evolved thinking and habit formation and cognitive sciences or behavioral sciences, um, would you agree, like, is there more of that starting to come out? Pam: I think so. I think that that’s a double edged sword though, because there is a lot of good information available and a lot of people talking about it, but then there’s also a lot of like bros that are pretending to be enlightened. Cause they. I read one book. CK: Yeah. That’s a great point too, because you see a lot of those articles with the title bait, you know, do these three things and. Reach all your goals or whatnot with no nuance or no understanding of complex systems or individual differences, so, Pam: everything. I mean, you see that with diet and fitness it’s, you know, anything that happens. So the caveat there is to just be mindful of the information that you’re consuming and where it’s coming from. CK: right. Yeah. I mean, it’s tough to discern with. The preponderance of information coming out. So where are you going to do whatever we can to continue spreading awareness of evidence based practices and take it from there and continue working on ourselves and trying to help others. So I guess we can move on and start. Into our segments. So I’ll go ahead and get into our first segment that we always get into. And this is the podcasting segment where I talk about my process of this practice of podcasting, and I’ve already been discussing my mindset and all the troubleshooting I’ve had to do. But on a good note, excuse me. I did. Uh, okay. So actually this is. The spot where I talk about my supplementation. So go ahead and do that. I took my regular supplements today and I did take my honey, but. My voice is cracking a little bit, so I’m not sure what’s going on. Didn’t do as much vocal exercises prepare. Cause we’re yeah, we’re doing this later in the day. I was, I’ve been messing around with it. Are set up a little bit this week. So we recorded our episode of not bad advice during our regular time. And then I wanted to change some things up for practice, to test and experiment with some things. So hopefully you guys will get to it. You’re this episode and Oh, the audio comes out. Okay. So we’re using a different. Digital audio workstation or DAW or duh, I still don’t know. I don’t refer to it yet. I’m thinking, duh, duh, but I don’t know. Even I see people on YouTube say at least two or three versions every time they say it. So anyway, before we were using idea city, which is a free open staff DAW or de. And it was fine for what we needed it for, but we ran into some issues with it here and there. And I, my original intention was never to stick with it. It was just to use it, to get started up with, and I think we actually started out with squad cast the online, yeah, the cloud app. So then we went through our destiny and now we’re using Ableton and Ableton is geared more towards electronic music production and they have, their workflow is align a lot more towards that. But. They have, I mean, it’s, it’s a recording software, so you can record anything you want with it. And since I’ve been getting familiar with it through the music side, I was thinking that I would like to use that for podcasting as well. But then as I started looking into the DWS, I started looking into pro tools and I started researching that and saw that it was pretty much the industry standard when it. Came to audio editing and especially video editing, which is something we’re also looking into getting into. And so I figured, you know, it fits this standard and, you know, looking longterm, what would be the best way to go. Um, in that dimension, the courses that I’ve been taking through Coursera and Berkeley college of music, they have these specializations. So it’s a bundle of courses and some of the courses will overlap across the different bundles depending on the specialization. But there’s one for like general music production, which use. The pro tools interface, and then the electronic music production bundle happened to use the Ableton interface. So I was going through the electronic music production specialization. And then when I started looking into pro tools and saw that they also had a pro tools course in the other specialization, I started going through that course as well. So I pretty much learn the basics of both. DWS and pro tools was going great until I reached the limit of their free offering. And then everything just went to crap and I couldn’t, I couldn’t do anything so their free offering, you can only say save. You are projects into their cloud system. You can’t save it locally on your computer. And so once you reach that limit, you you’re, you have to upgrade. So I was doing, trying to deal with that and figure that out. And then. I started getting frustrated with that, because since you couldn’t say locally, you also had to wait for the software to load everything into the cloud. So there was a lag in the software and I’m not sure, sure. If this is exactly the situation that I was experiencing, but I have a pretty good background of. Technology and software. So in, uh, and, and in terms of web development, not actual software development or anything think like that, but I, but in terms of like a general lay person, I have a pretty good technical background. And so I think, you know, that’s what the issue was. So I got turned off at pro tools because of that. And then started looking back into Ableton and started realizing that I could. Do what I want to do and Ableton. And the other thing is that I’ve been playing with these other plugins for shaping our vocal quality and taking out noise. And other different artifacts and just improving the quality of the audio signal and, or not the signal, but the output. And so I was starting to get used to you using these plugins in pro tools and. Started having a really fun time, manipulating audio with them. Like these plugins are awesome. They’re so powerful. And once I started wrapping my head around them a little more, I’ll talk about them more and link to them, show notes. But I found out that I can use them the same way away in Ableton and started configuring, able to infer that. And so I got able to know configured and then started running into issues with Ableton. And started looking into the forums and saw there’s issues. Some people had issues with like the graphic quality, so the GUI or the graphic user interface, and which is. Just perplexing to me. So one of the major issues or typical issues when people run into this kind of thing, seem to be, seem to have to do with the refresh rate, which is how fast your monitor refreshes the picture, basically, which I don’t understand why that would affect the audio and audio software. Other than the, obviously there must be some bug in Ableton’s graphic user interface. So it’s all these weird problems like that. And that one’s a known issue. So, and that’s just one that I’m talking about. So there’s, there’s issues like that, that I’ve been dealing with. But hopefully I think I have Ableton figured out now and Pam, it seems like it’s running fine on your laptop so far. Pam: So far, it feels like it’s, um, my computer’s running a little bit harder CK: Oh, yeah. Pam: than it did with audacity. Like I can hear the fan. Um, CK: So, Pam: it seems good. CK: yeah. And that could be because Pam is also, do you sing a new mic or we actually both have new mikes that we’re testing out right now. And so I’m using, what’s called the neat King bee, and this is a cardioid condenser microphone. And it’s the same type of microphone in terms of condenser versus dynamic that I was talking about either last week or the week before. So the mix that we were using before were the blue Yetis, which are condenser microphones. And so this neat can be as also a condenser microphone and. It has gotten a lot of great reviews and I’ve been listening to a lot of different mix on YouTube reviews. And I really like how this one sounds and how I think it sounds from my voice. So testing it out for this episode and we’ll see how it comes out. Pam: It also matches your burning man bike. CK: Oh yeah, that’s right. It also matches my parsley tank top. And Tam is using a sure. S M B SM seven B. And this is a dynamic microphone and this is a very popular podcasting and broadcasting microphone. It’s one of the. Industry standards between the Shure SM seven B and the electro voice, R E 20. I believe it’s called those two tend to be there. Industry standard industry standard. You feel about those two mix a lot and. The Shure SM seven B, which is what Pam is using right now is used by podcasts was like Joe Rogan and a lot of the popular podcasts. There’s pretty much most of them. I would say if you were, if you had to guess it would probably be the Shure SM seven B, and I’m really excited about that because I feel like the way that I hear Pam’s voice as I’ve been editing it throughout the weeks, I feel like the Shure SM seven B. Would sound really good would make her voice sound really good. And I, the word that I, that pops into my head is buttery for some reason. Yeah. And that’s for both of our voices on the shirt, SM seven B or anybody’s voice, I guess. And it’s whatever quality it is, it just comes out so smoothly. And it sounds so. I just like how it sounds and with how Penn’s voice comes out. I think it’ll be really good. So I’m excited to hear that during the post process. Pam: different, but I feel really cool using it. I feel like a pro so CK: Oh yeah, Pam: yeah, it definitely, it looks bury like what you see. You know, real pod-casters using. So yeah, I feel very professional now with a mattress behind me and dog next to me. I feel very professional. CK: Oh, yeah. We’re dog sitting this weekend. You have a little bow. Yeah, it’s a good dog. We like him. And yeah, it doesn’t really make noise unless there’s someone coming in the door. So Pan’s also using an audio interface. So I’ve been, I’ve been waiting for an audio interface. Because I feel like that’s one of the sticking points or bottlenecks with the production audio production that I’ve been doing. I’ve been going off of my son card on the computer and I’ve been running into a lot of issues with that. So I finally picked up an audio interface last week and I had. It ordered and I’ve been waiting over a month and I ended up finding it at the store down the street. So I just went and picked it up. And it’s the mode two and four. And this thing is awesome. And well, it’s awesome. So far. I haven’t gone through all my testing with it yet. So I’ll leave my full review of it until later. But if you look at reviews on it on YouTube, there’s the mode two and two, and the mode two and four, I got the end four, which has four inputs and for outputs, because of all the music production equipment that I’m using. But the more two on two seems to be like the. Best entry level audio interface. Right now, it seems to have taken over, taking the throne from the focus Scarlet solo or the actually focused , which would be the equivalent. So if you want to look into that and audio interfaces, I would highly recommend getting the audio interface. If you’re going to be doing. Podcasting or any kind of audio work semi even semi seriously, because dealing with just the sound card, you can run into a lot of issues in terms of the processing speed and the latency and the amount of, um, Pressure that you put on your system. So, you know, having the audio interface externally takes some of the load off of the system and it has its own sound card, which are, which is built for audio or, you know, more advanced audio usage rather than standard computer audio. So, yeah, that’s something that I’m touring around with now. And. Pam’s audio interface. What we’re using right now is a zoom. I think it’s the zoom H six, so it can have a total of six ins and maybe six outs. And it’s actually not an audio interface. It’s not primarily an audio interface. It’s primarily. A recorder like a field recording device. And it’s really cool. I’ve been looking at this for awhile for recording out in the field where, for instance, when we recorded with my parents a month or so back, we took Pam’s laptop and we took one of our blue Yetis and recorded with that. But with the zoom H six, you can just take that you don’t need a computer or anything. It just records everything under there. And it has it’s own Mike hookups and everything, or you could also plug in higher quality mix or even these mikes that we’re using now, it has the XLR inputs and it has a lot of great features in terms of backing up audio and saving audio onto its own SD card and, and the way we’re using it now, it’s Pan’s audio interface. It can be as, as debt. And it has up to six inputs if there’s four inputs on board and then plus the microphone attachment that it can, that you can attach to it. And on that attachment, there’s a, also another input, like a eight inch stereo input or something like that. So there’s six. Total inputs. And you can use it as an audio interface, which is what we’re doing now. So it’s very, first of all, and a lot of people don’t really use it as an audio interface or the it’s, it’s not really touted as an audio interface, but I’ve seen some tests that tested it against the focus rate, Scarlet that I just mentioned that is. The competitor to the M series that I’m using right now. So it seems to be a pretty good value and very versatile for what it is. So we’re experimenting with that and I’m not sure. What we’re going to do with it. If we’re going to keep that, or, you know, how are we going to move forward with all this different stuff? Because there’s so many configurations and so many options, and maybe even through this testing we’re doing today, we might find something out. That’ll help make our decision. So doing a lot of testing on that front. So yeah, I guess we’re talking or I’m talking a lot about podcasting. Today. And so we’re already over half an hour, right. So let’s see. Do you want to get a word in? Do you have anything else you want to talk about? Pam: I think so I’m, I’m pretty beat. So, um, my brain’s not doing very well right now. Okay. CK: Yeah. Let’s get to church relaxing for the rest of our weekend and ended here for now, then. But, yeah. So thank you everybody for listening this week and I’m going to continue experimenting with some stuff. There’s the studios kind of a mess right now. There’s microphones all over the place and I wanted to get a set up to like, kind of. Do a little microphone shootout, but there’s a little more logistically that goes into it. So, you know, be doing that throughout this week and testing some microphones. But I think that we may end up with these two that we have right now. And that’s my prediction. But we’ll see. So yeah, we’ll go with that for now. And before we leave off Pam, where can people hit you up? 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 man, I really like how that sounds. I hope it comes through. Pam: I’m going to get into ASM are doing it though. Not listening to it. Cause it creeps me out. CK: Huh. All right. Well, maybe we’ll have some of that in the future to look forward to. I know I keep talking, but, okay. So thanks for joining us this week, and I hope you come back next week and keep on practicing to Lou