Fantastic

Hi Dear Readers!

I hope this blog post finds you and brings you joy, insight, and/or action steps for defeating the Diabolical Forces in the Universe (DFUs). Things have been going pretty well on that front, which tells me you are all upping your game on the actions steps. For my part, I have been boycotting social and mainstream media (SMSM) with nearly 100% efficacy and the results speak for themselves. I am smarter and happier than I can remember being in quite a long while, due to completely disenfranchising the DFUs from my digital life. I have been instead focusing on curated non-mainstream media (such as podcasts) and reading more audiobooks (on the Libby app).

And my analog life is fantastic too. I get outside and take the dogs for a walk pretty much daily, unless the weather is super bad (95% of the time, it does not reach that level of awfulness). My marriage counseling practice is thriving. I manage to squeeze in a 30+ minute Peloton workout most days (excepting our tropical vacation a few weeks ago and when I was sick with RSV - I still worked out during that, but man did my lungs BURN! Probably not the smartest thing to do...). I am getting very close to my fitness goals and I am almost to the point where DFU-destroying intention is optimized. The DFU's should start feeling that in the next couple weeks.

Fin.

A Holiday Challenge From Me to You

Hi Dear Readers!

Happy Thanksgiving Eve.

I am proposing a holiday challenge for all the omnivores out there...and it won't be easy: GO VEGAN ON THANKSGIVING DAY. Tough one, eh?

But...if you succeed, leave a comment below. We expect ZERO comments, because people are weak and social conventions (like slaughtering millions of birds and eating them) are strong. But if you manage to complete the challenge, we want to recognize you!

Fin

Sunday Funday

Hi Dear Readers.

I hope this blog post finds you and brings you joy, insight, and/or action steps foe defeating Diabolical Forces in the Universe (DFUs).

This is your weekly Sunday reminder that the single most important thing you can do for your mental, physical, and spiritual health is GET OFF SOCIAL MEDIA. Boycott it completely.

It takes about three weeks of social media abstinence to overcome the addictive dependency most people have on it. But it is very possible to do, if you substitute other positive activities for social media use instead. The main reason people succumb to social media use is boredom. If you stay actively involved in non-boring things, you will do fine. There are a gazillion pretty easy and no/low cost positive activities you can choose from, if you give it a little thought (I recommend inventorying a list of five to ten of these). Get out into nature and walk around using your five senses. Read/listen to a book. Watch a movie or TV show series. Make a recipe and eat it. Ride a bike. Explore the public transit system in your city. 

The main reason people turn to social media to alleviate boredom is the EASE of doing so. It's really not all that rewarding (small dopamine bump) and sometimes it leaves you feeling drained and angry (very negative emotions). But social media use is SO EASY, by design, that people will usually just pull out their smart phones and succumb to it, sometimes for a much longer time than is healthy. Alternative positive activities may take a little more effort to get going on, but not that much more, and they are often significantly more rewarding and time limited. So don't let ease be the enemy of your optimized enjoyment. Someday you are going to die and when you are on your death bed, are you going to be happy about how much time you spent on social media?

What's in store today, you ask? If all goes to plan, there will be exercise and rocking. I'm not sure of the exact order yet, but it will likely go something like this: pre-practice GUPPY EFFECT songs this morning (while Deborah sleeps in), in anticipation of this afternoon's GUPPY EFFECT band practice; bike to the gym for a swim and some lounging by the pool (great weather today); have the aforementioned GUPPY EFFECT band practice; and unscheduled time in the evening. Of course, I'll intentionally observe the Tenets of the Church of Bike With Joe, eating only vegan food, exercising, and abstaining from toxic social and mainstream media (SMSM).

Fin.

Weekend Eve

Hi Readers!

Happy Weekend Eve. How will you be spending your valuable weekend time? Leave a comment below and let us know.

I'm kicking off the day here momentarily with a 30-minute Peloton workout. I really didn't have time to write a lengthy post this morning, but I wanted the search engines to have some alert to new content on this blog. Apparently, new content is a desirable feature when it comes to how search engines rank a web page. I still have a long way to go, I'm sure, to be one of the privileged sites for Google searches. But I don't do it for the fame...only the glory!

Fin.

December Wellness Challenge

Hi Readers.

Welcome to December! A lot of special things happen this month (or so I am told...). That's actually true of EVERY month, depending on your perspective on life. But, assuming you are a conventionalist, most people focus on December as the month to get a bunch of sh!t done that they procrastinated on during all the prior months of the year (especially if said people run a cash basis business and need to close all their accounts receivable before January 1st of the new tax year). December also culminates in a few minor holidays, depending on your religious/spiritual persuasion, and many people honor these holidays by buying a bunch of crap they don't need and then giving most of it away to others (often with the intention of manifesting World Peace and/or the End Times...again, depending on your persuasion). Does this all make any kind of sense to you? No? Me neither. I mean, FFS, it's Monday GD morning...

Anyway, the gist of this post is to encourage everyone to adopt an intentional December Wellness Challenge, whereby you decide on a small, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-limited (SMART) goal to accomplish by the end of the year. It's almost like a pre-New Year's (NY) Resolution, except that it recognizes and harnesses the weaknesses in NY Resolutions (too big, unmeasurable, unachievable, irrelevant, and unsustainable for an entire year, for most people). Some people choose things like "quit drinking for the month" or "go vegan for the month" or "exercise daily for the month" or "read a book this month." Ideally, it should be some positive activity that is relevant or important to you.

INTENTION is the key to establishing a doable December Wellness Challenge. INTENTION taps into the Power of Positive Thinking (PPT). What is INTENTION, you ask? In psychological terms, it's the cognitive association between a behavior/action and some positive OUTCOME. What is an OUTCOME, you ask? It can be anything you want: lose weight, sleep better, find a soul mate, get smarter, be a better human, world peace, get rich, or whatever. In practice, there doesn't even have to be an actual, on-paper, cause-and-effect relationship between the INTENTION and the OUTCOME (although, there can be). It's more of a mental/emotional association. By intentionally pursuing and achieving your challenge goal(s), you manifest your desired outcome in the Cosmos. You essentially create and enter a new timeline in the multiverse, which you would not have entered had you maintained your mundane complacency about the Cosmos and your powerless lack of agency in its unfolding. Some people have referred to this association between INTENTION and OUTCOME as "Dark Magic" (DM) or "The Secret." Whatever the case, this sh!t works, and you should try it.

I'd be a hypocrite if I didn't pursue a December Wellness Challenge of my own. So, I am. My INTENTION is to burn more calories than I consume on a daily basis, by way of daily aerobic exercise and consuming an 80% whole food, 100% plant based diet. My OUTCOME is to lose 15 pounds before the end of the year. I'm not going to lie...I have already been exercising most days of the week and eating 100% plant based for a long time. The problem is caloric intake. So, one could argue that my INTENTION is actually to be consistent with the SMART goals of exercise and dietary mindfulness on a daily basis.

If you're going to accept the challenge to do a challenge in December, let us know in the Comments section below this post.

Fin.

Sunday Funday

Hi Readers!

It's Sunday. So, you know what that means, right? It's also a FUN day.

I kicked it off with a whole food, plant based breakfast comprising coffee (with coconut/almond milk blend), avocado toast, and a banana. Next on the agenda is a Peloton workout of 30-60 minutes. If all goes to plan, a vegan lunch with my parents at the Crisp-n-Green is on the agenda for midday shenanigans.

Deborah and I plan to hit the Willy Street Co-op and CostCo this afternoon for some grocery essentials and possibly some vegan Thanksgiving options (likely a couple of Gardein Turk'y roasts). I have GUPPY EFFECT duo band practice with Stefan at 6 PM this evening, and I'll need to hone some of the practice material ahead of time. So, I'll probably hit the Manwich Music Mansion about 4 PM, to start said honing the quintessential semi-acoustic rock-n-roll that we produce.

That's about it for my Sunday Funday. I'll be abstaining from social and mainstream media (SMSM) by listening to music, reading Kindle books, and engaging with the real world. How about you? Leave a comment below letting us know how you will thwart Evil today.

Fin.

Best Dream

Hi Readers!

What is your mood score today on a 1-10 scale, where 10 = ideal mood? And what do you attribute your mood score to (positives and negatives)?

I'm at about a 9/10 today, despite quite a busy and stressful marriage and family therapist's workday ahead. I attribute this to getting a great workout in yesterday (60 intentional* minutes on the Peloton). I also accomplished my "3 Things that Would Make Today a Success" yesterday. And so, by definition, yesterday was a success. I had an awesome night's sleep last night and a couple of cathartic dreams.

Anyway. I hope you all have a very positive and productive day today. Try to make time for self care, and if possible, abstain from social and mainstream media (SMSM). Word on the street is that it's very toxic and radioactive right now, and any amount of exposure can lethally poison your soul. I am encouraging all of my psychotherapy clients to fast from SMSM through at least the end of the year. The mental health benefits far outweigh the newsworthiness.

If your mood score is less than a 5/10 today, take a mental health day, do some self care, and avoid negativity, toxicity, and drama.

Fin.

*NOTE: INTENTION is the manifestation of desired outcomes in the Cosmos through positive action. My INTENTION is always the disenfranchisement of negativity and toxicity in the Cosmos, balanced karmically by an improvement in my positivity and wellness.