A simple Cost and Benefit Analysis

Hi Dear Readers!

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

I have received some pushback on my thesis that boycotting all social and mainstream media (SMSM) is a good idea for improving mental, physical, and spiritual wellness. I want to reiterate that I am not saying it is an ABSOLUTE GOOD idea. I am saying it is the LESSER of two evils...a RELATIVE GOOD. I would love it if SMSM were informative, positive, motivational, and non-addictive. But it is none of those things and is increasingly the opposite of those things. It now contains more misinformation than information. It is ridiculously negative and rife with toxic grievance that leaves you feeling empty and angry and devoid of joy. It discourages civic action by substituting it with the aforementioned aggrieved negativity (whining on social media has become the ONLY form of action people take on important civic and social issues). And if you need proof that it is more addictive than heroin or nicotine, just try quitting it for a couple of weeks, or even a couple of days. QED.

So, this is a simple cost and benefit analysis. There may have been a time when the benefits of SMSM outweighed the cost. But that time is long gone. You are now better off avoiding it completely. For one thing, it keeps DFUs largely out of your life, which by itself is a wellness advantage. It also denies the Corporate Overlords of SMSM your attention and money. Recall, the reason SMSM is free for you to use is because YOU ARE NOT THE CUSTOMER; YOU ARE THE PRODUCT. The customers of SMSM are advertisers who pay for your time, attention, and eyeballs to increase their profits. If you have any doubt about this, ask yourself why there is so much advertising on SMSM? If it were not profitable, why would companies advertise? Boycotting SMSM is a form of civic action, as you are reclaiming the commodity that is your attention and time, and you are impacting (albeit minimally) the bottom lines of big, exploitative corporations (you are very gently "sticking it to THE MAN").

Once you free yourself from SMSM, you become significantly/relatively smarter and happier (though, in absolute terms, you will still be of average intelligence and moderate mood...an improvement only in that it is a return to your baseline from a much worse off state...). This is why boycotting SMSM is a massively positive improvement in your wellness environment, akin to quitting nicotine, alcohol, and/or drugs. Add to that a healthy plant based diet and daily aerobic exercise and you will find yourself almost unstoppable, physically, mentally, and spiritually.

In quasi-related news, there will be a GENERAL STRIKE across America and the World on May Day (5/1/26). I encourage you all to participate and here is the info: maydaystrong.org.

I will be participating by avoiding SMSM (obviously), purchasing NOTHING, and closing my marriage and family therapy business for the day. Actively, I will be enjoying time with friends and family, hosting a bike ride, and generally chilling TF out.

Hugs!

Fin.

Thursday Meanderings

Hi Dear Readers!

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

You may have noticed an uptick in posts from me this week. That's because I am on a 5-Day Social Media Fast, and when I don't have the distraction of useless social media to waste my time, I use that time for more productive things.* It feels great to be free of the negativity and toxicity of the social media. But also, it feels even better to deny the Big Tech companies from profiting off my attention. I encourage all of you to try a five day fast from social media. If enough people do it, the Big Tech companies will feel the dent in their bottom lines. Ideally, someone with some charisma and persuasion power would call for a General Boycott of social media for a day, week, month, or (stretch goal!) year. If social media wasn't so ridiculously addictive to the human mind, this might even be possible. But the Big Tech companies were ingenious in making social media both irresistibly addictive and immensely profitable.

I remind everyone again (and this is not disputed by anyone), you are not the customer of social media (that's why it is free). YOU ARE THE PRODUCT. Every time you use social media, Big Tech profits off the time your eyeballs are on the screen, to the tune of billions of dollars. And you NEVER get any cut of that pie. Your attention is nothing more than a commodity and as with any commodity, the goal is to mine and exploit more and more of it. Think of social media as an attention mining operation, and the more addictive it is, the more profitable it is. So, if you can escape the addiction (and that's no easy task), withhold your attention from social media exploitation companies until/unless they offer to pay you for the use of your attention. Remember way back in the day when people with landline phones would try to charge Telemarketers who called them for the use of their phones for business purposes? Some of those people even took the Telemarketing companies to court and WON! So, there's hope. But not much, because you are human and that means you are ridiculously bad at resisting addictive things. But...change my mind and prove me wrong. I'll wait...

I guess that's all I have. I should wrap it up, because I want to get a few minutes of mindful meditation in before I kick off an action packed morning of seeing marriage and family therapy clients. I have the afternoon off today (because when you are self employed, you can take time off whenever TF you want, albeit unpaid). I will meet my parents at the Middleton Starbucks at lunchtime for some chit-chat and the NYT mini-crossword. Then I'll come home and pound out a solid Peloton workout with intention (outcome = the demise of a certain specific DFU in the next few days).

Fin.

* NOTE: It could be debated if writing blog posts is actually a "productive thing." But that would also be unproductive because all signs point to blog posting being a far more productive pursuit than social media doom scrolling.

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.

Decommodify

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). I guess my posts must be stimulating more joy and insight for you, because the DFUs are really prevalent right now. So, I'll work on content that generates more action steps. But also, I'll need you guys to think outside the box a little more too. The DFUs are not going to destroy themselves!

I thought I had been pretty explicit and directive as to the BEST action steps for defeating DFUs. It is primarily BOYCOTTING social and mainstream media (SMSM). Aerobic exercise can bring joy and eating a plant based diet can bring insight, but only abstinence from SMSM disenfranchises DFUs from your life.

Think of it this way...when it comes to SMSM, you are a COMMODITY. More correctly, your ATTENTION is a commodity. And it's a profitable commodity for the SMSM companies and their corporate advertising overlords. There are actually companies out there whose SOLE SERVICE is to make SMSM more addictive and glue your eyeballs to screens more tightly and for longer times [SOURCE]. You might hold the common misconception that SMSM advertising has no impact on you and doesn't influence your spending habits. If that were true, why do advertisers spend BILLIONS on ads on SMSM? Seems like a real waste of money if they aren't getting any return on that investment in terms of sales and profits. So, if you want to keep holding that misconception, this post is NOT for you.

Assuming this is true though, the reason SMSM is free for you to use is because you are not the customer. You are the PRODUCT. Unlike other non-sentient products that are bought and sold in volume, you actually have some autonomy and self advocacy over your attention (the commodity that corporate players are buying and selling). You can withhold it. You can demand something in return for your attention (i.e., positive change). The struggle is that SMSM is ridiculously addictive, as I alluded to earlier. When you go on your phone, tablet, or computer, you probably don't think about the fact that you are offering up your attention to these SMSM companies for free and getting nothing in return. In fact, you are giving up valuable time and resources you could more productively direct toward something else (like...read a GD book, FFS!).

So, that is why boycotting SMSM is important. Yes, you are a tiny nothing in the huge volume of attention being bought and sold on the attention commodity markets. And that fact might be depressing enough to fuel your complete apathy about doing anything about it. But if enough of us reclaim our attention and put a price on it, we can facilitate change (because the Corporate Overlords will notice the impact on their profits) AND maybe even profit from it. 

I currently abstain from ALL SMSM. If SMSM companies want my attention, they can name their price, but I have to get something in return for my attention, time, and resources. Until they, they can all f**k right off.

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

The Week Ahead

Hi Dear Readers!

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

I'm just coming down off of a PHENOMENAL weekend. On Saturday morning, I biked the 50 mile round trip from Madison WI to New Glarus WI, a ride intentionally dedicated to the demise of DFUs in my life. The town of New Glarus was having their annual Oktoberfest celebration, and I met Deborah, Gretchen, and the step grandkids there, for a couple hours of polka mosh pit (for the kids) and a pizza lunch at Sugar River Pizza, after which I made the return trek back to Mad Town.

I was a little anxious about the planned bike route to New Glarus in the morning. It ended up being mostly bike trail (rail to trail), albeit some of it unpaved crushed limestone, with a couple miles of deserted (and modestly hilly) country roadways into and out of New Glarus. The weather was phenomenal. Overall, it was a great time.

Some other stuff happened over the weekend too, but that was really the highlight, I think. Especially because it did some serious damage to the DFUs.

I'll end by reminding people that the path to salvation (aka, mental, physical, and spiritual wellness - MPSW) is three-fold: 1. eat a plant based vegan diet; 2. exercise aerobically daily; 3. boycott all social and mainstream media. You don't have to do those things, obviously. But I cannot guarantee MPSW if you don't.

Take care!

Fin.

Earth Day is a Good Time to Disenfranchise the Diabolical Forces in the Universe

Hi Dear Readers!

Happy Earth Day! I hope this blog post finds you and brings you joy, insight, and/or action items for disenfranchising the Diabolical Forces in the Universe (DFUs) from your life.

Since it's Earth Day, perhaps you are thinking about ways to shrink your ecological footprint and protect the planet from climate change and global warming. Do you want to know what one of the best ways to protect the Earth is? I'll tell you. It's going to a plant based diet [SOURCE]!

You don't even need to go 100% plant based - just a little bit more plant based than you are currently.

Switching to a plant based diet is probably one of the most impactful AND easiest things you can do for the Earth. But you can also buy things locally from mom and pop shops, boycott large multinational corporations (polluters), drive a fuel efficient car, join a CSA farm, bike/walk/public transit to more places instead of driving, compost kitchen waste, and recycle. Also, try to use less plastic.

It's so easy to be more Earth friendly and a win-win. The main obstacle is ignorance about how to do it. But here's the thing - you have a giant library at your finger tips that you can use to figure it out. It's called the Internet and you should spend five minutes using it to identify ways you can be more Earth friendly.

Don't forget to fast from social and mainstream media (SMSM) regularly too. Those server farms that house and run SMSM use a ridiculous amount of energy.

Take care.

The End.

0 Day

Hi Dear Readers!

I hope this blog post finds you and brings you some joy, peace, insight, and/or action items for the defeat of the Diabolical Forces in the Universe (DFUs).

This past Saturday (yesterday), many of us celebrated the final day of the 12 Days to the Demise of the DFUs. The rituals of the holiday, when followed, are intended to usher in the destruction of the DFUs, via Karmic Justice. Much like the Easter holiday of a lesser known religion, which prophesies the resurrection of a mythical deity, the expectations are often not matched by Reality. And that's OK. We come together with common cause.

I had a fantastic closure to 12 Days. Deborah and I took the Madison BRT (Bus Rapid Transit) downtown and hit the Dane County Farmers Market opening day, securing some gourmet mushrooms and some lettuce seedlings for the garden, along with more sweet pastry treats than we had any business purchasing. Since it was by definition a FREE DAY (holiday feast day + farmers market pastries), we enjoyed it. We took my folks out for Chinese food at the Hong Kong Cafe in the evening. On Sunday (today), I rocked and rehearsed a bunch of tasty rock-n-roll songs for an upcoming jam with some buddies.

That's about it.

Fin.

Lapse

Hi Readers!

As many of you know, I'm on a short vacation in Colorado, with family. It's been alright. Tonight, we went out to eat at the Burrowing Owl vegan cafe. The food wasn't as great as I remember it being on past visits to the eatery. It was very comforting to be at an exclusively vegan restaurant though. No anxiety about any items on the menu.

I got an hour long aerobic workout in this morning. I have been adhering to the daily exercise Tenet of the Church of Bike With Joe whilst on vacation. However, I have lapsed considerably on the other two Tenets. On vacation, I am OK with some free days regarding caloric intake and social and mainstream media (SMSM) use. Notwithstanding, I plan to get back on top of the other Tenets here soon.

Tomorrow, I fully plan to go hike around at the Garden of the Gods nature park in the late morning. Then I'm taking my folks to Adam's Mountain Cafe for lunch. They have a few vegan items, though they are not an exclusively vegan eatery. They should be!

Fin.

Good Things Are Happening

Hi Readers.

Happy Sunday! In today's news, good things are happening. You may have noticed by now that this blog is all about the positive vibes and how to maximize them in your life for peace, happiness, and mental/physical/spiritual well-being. You also may have noticed that the external world at large is getting way more toxic, divisive, vitriolic, negative, and frankly exhausting with each passing day. This blog - and the Church of Bike With Joe - is intended to counteract that doom-y and gloomy narrative. Many people tell me they feel hopeless about the direction of the external world at large and powerless to do anything about it. I'm here to tell you that you have a lot more agency, autonomy, and control over your positivity and happiness than you think. But, that being said, it requires taking action (wishful DOING vs wishful THINKING).

Most people don't have the time or resources to take any big and impactful action on the negativity that plagues the external world. And that can make people feel hopeless, helpless, and want to passively give up. But just because you cannot control the external (outside) world does not mean you cannot control your inner world, and bring peace, happiness, and positivity to that. I have spent the past 56 (almost 57) years exploring this problem and searching for a potent evidence-based solution to it. Despite a lot of trial and error, I finally did. And, as it turns out, the solution is much simpler than anyone (even me!) anticipated. In short, the solution is three-fold:

1. Exercise aerobically for at least 30 minutes every day (ideally) or on more days of the week than not (if there are obstacles to daily aerobic exercise).

2. Follow a whole food (80%), plant-based (100%) diet.

3. Disenfranchise toxicity (including toxic people) from your life.

The nice thing about these three actionable things is that anyone can do them. Aerobic exercise is any activity that increases your heart rate, and that will be different for different people, but anyone can increase their heart rate, regardless of fitness or skill level. Eating a plant-based diet is easier than it has ever been in recorded human history (that's only a little bit hyperbolic...). Even if one cannot access whole foods, because of socioeconomic barriers, 80% of the American diet is already plant-based. All you have to do is cut the 20% of food that isn't plant-based and eat more of what is. Humans can get all the nutrients they need from a plant-based diet and many peer-reviewed scientific studies show that it's a healthier way of eating [SOURCE]. Lastly, disenfranchising toxicity involves setting boundaries and taking action to safeguard your inner world from it. The biggest and most destructive source of toxicity in today's external world is social and mainstream media (SMSM). So, you can actually cut 80% of the toxicity out of your life RIGHT NOW by quitting all SMSM [SOURCE]. The remaining 20% of toxicity in the world usually comes from harmful substances and people in your immediate environment. It's easier to eliminate harmful substances (drugs, alcohol, nicotine, toxic chemicals, guns, etc.) from your life than it is to eliminate harmful people, especially if you live with a narcissist or sociopath. You may have to settle for a little bit of toxicity leaking into your inner world if you cannot disenfranchise all these people from your life. But don't focus on the obstacles! Focus on what you can control (removing 80% of SMSM and toxic substances from your life immediately). You'll find that once you start taking care of yourself and your inner world, the toxic people will tend to wander off and leave you alone on their own. Trust me on this...I have tested it! Toxic people thrive on your passivity and acquiescence and lack of boundaries. Once you actively take control of your inner world, these people lose interest and seek out easier targets. That being said, if anyone needs some additional support on this, contact me. I'm a licensed family therapist with some pretty amazing coaching skills in this department.

Many people reading the above are going to say (for a variety of reasons), "NO WAY!" and continue on with their status quo, allowing negativity and toxicity to continue to plague their inner world. That's OK! This is not about OTHER people; it's about YOU. Do you want to take control and agency for your life? Then I encourage you to think about trying this out.

The nice thing about this three-fold solution to the problems of negativity and toxicity in the world is that it's TESTABLE. Here at Bike With Joe HQ, we are all about the SCIENCE and making decisions based on evidence. You can test this solution yourself: Follow the three Tenets above for 30 days. Assess how your inner world has improved at the end of the 30 days. Boom. That's it. If you're not convinced after testing them that these three Tenets hold the key to bringing peace, happiness, and positivity to your inner world, totally fine...go back to your status quo. However, I guarantee you will be a convert once you test it out.

Have a great day!

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.

Happy Bad Karma Day

Hi Readers!

I hope you all have a Happy Bad Karma Day (aka, Thanksgiving), if you celebrate it. Although many people don't like to hear or acknowledge it, I am not known for ignoring the elephant in the proverbial room. Fact: There is a lot of historical trauma, suffering, and oppression embedded in ("baked into") this American holiday. It's rooted in colonialism and racism.

That doesn't mean you can't have a happy Bad Karma Day. In fact, you should intentionally do so. It's really the only way to practice forgiveness, honor the oppressed, and heal the cultural wounds symbolized and recognized by/on this day. That being said, one way to honor the oppressed and heal the cultural wounds (and be happy) is to choose not to engage in the oppression and suffering of sentient beings...like turkeys (Oh, yeah...I am really in the sh!t now!). I encourage you to intentionally go vegan for the holiday, knowing full well that the culinary conventions of this day are potent and most people won't be able to rise above them. This is not weakness, don't get me wrong. It's just that tradition is a potent emotional driver for a lot of people, and we all know from Psychology 101 that the emotional brain overrides the rational brain just about every time the two come into conflict. Plus, most Americans have been acculturated since birth to accept the notion that slaughtering millions of birds on one specific Thursday of every year is totally fine and normal...maybe even patriotic(?). It's weird though, no?

If you choose to accept my challenge and go vegan today, be warned...this may free your mind and the side effects of that can be profound (it untethers you from blindly accepting cultural norms and narratives, which can be mentally and emotionally destabilizing, especially if your entire identity is defined by external social cues - in which case your ego completely evaporates and your consciousness "disappears"). But it also liberates your conscience. Once freed, that genie is difficult, if not impossible, to return to its bottle. You join the ranks of the unconventional and non-comforming. That can be scary.

Here are some tips, if you want to accept the karmic rewards of going vegan, if just for the day. You can still completely stuff yourself on plant based foods (which tend to be lower in calories, on average). You can cook a plant based roast, such as the Gardein vegan Turk'y Roast. Consider making a vegan side or main dish, like this African Sweet Potato Peanut Stew (which I will, in fact, be bringing to my family's Bad Karma Day celebrations today).

I'm not going to entertain counterfactuals like "I could never go vegan" or "I need meat in my diet." You do you. I'm just saying, good karma comes to those who detoxify and disentangle themselves from bad karmic forces, of which today's holiday is definitely one. I said what I said and I'll own that.

In other news, today is in many ways no different than any other day as far as self care and positivity. In about five minutes, I'll get my Peloton workout out of the way, then move on to prepping some Bad Karma Day food, comprising: aforementioned sweet potato stew, apple pies, vegan roasts, and mashed potatoes (using vegan butter and oat milk). I already knocked off my DuoLingo Spanish lesson and moved the three bags of water softener salt to the basement (putting two of them into the softener salt basin). These may seem like mundane and commonplace things not worthy of mention. Counterpoint: In Buddhism, enlightenment comes through intention and mindfulness in simple daily activities. Choose to be hyperaware today.

Blessings from the (secular) Church of BWJ!

Fin.

Un-Psychedelic Breakfast

Hi Readers!

A joyous day to you! Because you cannot have joYOUsness without YOU. Am I right?

Let's talk about FRUIT today. I am currently in the process of eating a metric pantload of the stuff for breakfast, comprising one banana, two apples, and a large but uncertain number of grapes. Damn, this stuff is filling! And it's really low calorie too. Since fruit is a plant based whole food, it's totally allowed and encouraged to be eaten by adherents of the Church of Bike With Joe. The Cosmos rewards the eating of fruit with one of the Blessings of the Church: CLEAN BLOWS. If you are curious, you can read more about clean blows HERE (and apologies in advance!). The Blessing is usually bestowed about 24-36 hours post-consumption of said fruit (or fruit salad) and it is believed to indicate that the individual has been bestowed with Cosmic (albeit temporary) protection from Evil. 

I will be seeing a handful of marriage and family therapy clients this morning, after which I will attend the monthly Systems Theory consult group meeting that I participate in semi-regularly. On my way to the meeting, I'll stop by the office to get my business mail. It's very possible this evening will comprise going to Best Buy to acquire a couple of essentials for the coming Apocalypse, including a new TV for the bedroom and possibly a standalone freezer for the basement (to hold overflow vegan pizzas).

There was (and still is) a possibility of me attending a Bombay Bicycle Club ride tomorrow - the final one of the 2024 cycling season. But the window of opportunity on that is rapidly closing, due to weather. This is probably for the best, because there was talk of getting together with my parents for lunch at the Crisp-n-Green tomorrow, and the bike ride might cut into that. So, it may be a Peloton workout at home instead. Such is life...and a good effing life it is!

Are you a member of the Church of Bike With Joe yet? There's no obligation whatsoever. It's optional, but encouraged, if you are looking for an organic lifestyle that is guaranteed to improve mental, physical, and spiritual well being (Enlightenment). I am sure there are many other ways to find Enlightenment out there. However, I have no idea what those are, and joining the Church of Bike With Joe is one of the easiest and most certain ways to achieve said goal. The Church has three basic Tenets, and if you follow them, you'll achieve ideal wellness. The Tenets are:

1. Follow a whole food (80%) plant based (100%) way of eating.

2. Exercise aerobically for at least 30 minutes every day.

3. Abstain from and avoid mental, physical, and spiritual toxins (including social and mainstream media, toxic people, and poisons like nicotine, drugs, and alcohol).

That's it. Membership in the Church is an act of DOING those three things. There are no fees or dues. There are no Church Fathers (except maybe me, since I started the gosh darn thing). There are no places of worship, other than within your own physical, mental, and spiritual lived experience (consciousness). If you adopt and integrate these Tenets into your life, you will start to notice the mental, physical, and spiritual benefits (aka, The Awakening) in about 2-3 weeks.*

Joining does not even require 100% adherence to the Tenets - just having the INTENTION to do so is enough (although Enlightenment cannot be guaranteed if you don't follow them at least a little bit). Following the Tenets should feel like the natural and authentic thing to do (at least after 2-3 weeks of following them, if not right away). And not following them should feel uncomfortable and unbalancing and destabilizing. If neither of the aforementioned things are true for you, then the Church probably isn't for you. And that's totally OK! Don't try to pound a square peg into a round hole by pursuing something that violates your authentic narrative and values. That would be a waste of time.

You may be wondering why these three things, in particular, are the Tenets of the Church of Bike With Joe. In short, these Tenets are derived from what Science has told us are the best ways to optimize wellness. 

Some have asked, "What is the most important of the three Tenets, if...say...I can only follow one of them?" The answer is the third one - avoiding toxins (especially social and mainstream media). Eating a plant based diet and daily aerobic exercise are not feasible or possible for everyone. The Church understands this and emphasizes INTENTION more than action on the first two Tenets. The third Tenet is actionable for almost everyone, because it involves NOT doing (abstaining from) something, which is achievable for just about everyone. It's easier to not do something than it is to do something (you can test this yourself...). You know, there was actually a time in the world, not too long ago, when social media did not exist and mainstream media had to be accessed ACTIVELY (it wasn't always passively ubiquitous in your life).

Nonetheless, due to Grievance Addiction, many people still find it hard to abstain from social and mainstream media (SMSM), which was literally designed by diabolical forces (in Silicon Valley) to be more addictive than heroin or nicotine [SOURCE]. If you doubt this, I challenge you to abstain from SMSM for one week...or even one full day. You'll see what I mean. And if you have already kicked the SMSM habit, great! You are well on your way to becoming a Church of Bike With Joe adherent (should you so choose).

Fin.

*NOTE: I'm not gonna lie to you...the window of opportunity to join the Church of Bike With Joe is still very wide open, as of this posting. No urgency whatsoever. If this were about marketing some kind of religious scheme to profit off of, I'd probably lie and tell you that the window of opportunity is CLOSING SOON, SO ACT FAST! Nope. It's not. And - much like Honey Badger - I honestly don't have any strong incentive to encourage you to join the Church, other than empathy (which, one could argue, is the currency of Karma). In fact, the Church really doesn't want any members who aren't INTENTIONAL about being members. As I said earlier, following the Tenets should feel like it aligns perfectly with your values and authentic self. If that's not the case, don't join. That said, it takes 2-3 weeks of following the Tenets to feel the benefits (Blessings), so give it a sporting chance if you are on the fence. But if you know healthy vegan eating, daily aerobic exercise, and avoiding toxins like SMSM are not for you, move along...nothing to see here.

As of now, there is no urgency whatsoever to join the Church of Bike With Joe. However, the window of opportunity to join very explicitly closes on January 19, 2025, a little over two months from now. You can literally join any time right up to the deadline, and it's super easy to do. As I said earlier, just INTENTIONALLY start practicing the three Tenets of the Church described above...and you're IN! Because it takes 2-3 weeks to reap the full mental, physical, and spiritual rewards of adherence to the Tenets, I would do so no later than about New Year's Eve 2024, if you plan to join (or you just want to give it a practice run). In fact, you could make joining the Church your New Year's Resolution, if you like. Most people give up on their New Year's Resolutions about 2-3 weeks into the new year anyway. So, if it ends up not being your bag, you've sacrificed nothing.

You can, of course, also join the Church after the January 19, 2025 deadline, but the Church makes no guarantee of mental, physical, and spiritual salvation on or after January 20, 2025. We also don't make any guarantee of that on or before that date either, because get real...how could anyone guarantee any such thing? However, an inability to guarantee salvation does not mean we don't KNOW it will happen. That's what FAITH is all about...knowing something with your heart and soul without any scientific evidence whatsoever. It's important to say here that the Church of Bike With Joe LOVES Science and Science underlies the three Tenets of the Church (which is why we capitalize Science). We believe Science to be one of the best ways to understand Reality. Science is integral to the FAITH of this particular Church. So, even though believing in Science is not a formal Tenet of the Church, we really dig Science and hope you do to. Dig?