Habits

Telling people problems with tobacco and alcohol is perfect message for the industries selling them

Addiction / Habits

Telling people problems with tobacco and alcohol is perfect message for the industries selling them

I was talking to a friend about how addictive products work so well for people who sell them. The products sell themselves. From the perspective of the buyer and society they don't work so well. Regular readers know I've concluded that since polluting and depleting destroy life, liberty, and property, a government mandated to protect life, liberty, and property must prevent polluting and depleting, as surely as it has to prevent slavery. I haven't reached final conclusions, but addiction at least skirts with depriving people of their liberty. I can imagine a case being made compelling that governments should protect people from being addicted. If I addict you to something without you knowing I did it, say by selling you something I claim can't addict…

April 17, 2025

Tina Tombstone, a friend I volunteer delivering food with, on Fifth Avenue with vegetables

Habits / Hands on Practical Experience

Tina Tombstone, a friend I volunteer delivering food with, on Fifth Avenue with vegetables

I'm posting today my podcast episode with Tina, who volunteers with me delivering food from stores that would throw perfectly good food away to a community fridge for anyone to take for free. She was more quiet and reserved when I turned the microphone on, but this video shows her more usual style and form. She's a firecracker. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xq52YJulfhg This video came when we met on Fifth Avenue when I came with a load of groceries and vegetables, some of which she was going to deliver to others so she was choosing things she knew they would like. The rest I would take to a shelter. It was January, I think. Here are my show notes from the episode: Tina is one of the central…

April 14, 2025

Volunteering warmed my heart on a cold spring day

Habits / Stories / Volunteering

Volunteering warmed my heart on a cold spring day

I wrote the following to my newsletter and thought after finishing it that it would work as a post, so here it is. I forgot to mention that volunteering has come to replace time I used to spend watching TV or on social media. Since Americans average over five hours of screen time per day and I don't have a TV or use social media, I spend less time per week volunteering than the average American spends on screens per day. Maybe I should volunteer more, but I'd prefer Americans spend more time away from screens. I don't see the latter happening any time soon. Artificial intelligence will increase it. If you think otherwise, please bet me so I can have free money. Do we…

March 31, 2025

My biggest downside to aging so far

Exercises / Fitness / Habits / SIDCHAs

My biggest downside to aging so far

I've passed the milestones everyone my age has. Some I like, like developing patience and wisdom. I may not have much of them, but more than before. I felt my potential strength decrease in my thirties. In my forties I lost yet more, and found even walking counted as exercise. Also in my forties, I noticed injuries took longer to heal. Injuries that in my twenties would hurt and affect functionality momentarily, then go away, and in my thirties bother me for a while, in my forties would linger for months. Months! I have three pains that have lingered for months that I don't think even injuries caused. I'm writing and editing a lot. I think they came from just sitting too long without moving.…

March 21, 2025

Year 15, day 1, posting daily to this blog, my first sidcha (what led me to the concept)

Blog / Habits / SIDCHAs

Year 15, day 1, posting daily to this blog, my first sidcha (what led me to the concept)

On this day in 2011, I wrote the first post of a streak that continues to today of posting to this blog daily. I didn't know that it would lead to discovering the freedom and calm of discovering deep values and living by them daily. Discovering the sidcha concept helped bring about self-awareness, health, stewardship, self-expression, patience, humility, independence, and more. Now I have several sidchas and standard operating procedures. As far as I can tell, I'm as healthy as ever, spending approximately zero dollars per month on fitness. I recommend learning the sidcha concept, developing one, learning the values it exposes, and then a few others for your other deepest values.

January 23, 2025

Do you turn on the light when you wake up at night to go to the bathroom? Why it matters.

Art / Habits / Leadership / Nature

Do you turn on the light when you wake up at night to go to the bathroom? Why it matters.

One of the more common line of questions people ask me when they learn I disconnected my apartment from the electric grid is what I do for light. Before I share what I share with them, if you're curious, you can find out easily: don't turn your lights on this evening. If you do the simple task of not dying, you'll find an answer. I'm no do-it-yourselfer. If you just don't die, you'll find more relevant answers for yourself than whatever I say. The more nights you do it, the more answers you'll find. Some nights you might talk with your family more. Others you might go out to volunteer. Others you might go to sleep earlier or meditate. You might post to your blog,…

January 18, 2025

A video of my twice-daily burpee-based calisthenics routine at the start of 2025

Fitness / Freedom / Habits / SIDCHAs

A video of my twice-daily burpee-based calisthenics routine at the start of 2025

Here is my twice-daily calisthenics routine at the start of 2025. For context, here is a list of all my sidchas, standard operating procedures, and preferences. I have found discipline creates freedom. This sidcha creates freedom, peace, connection, calm, and more. The calories burned and motivation required are negligible in comparison to those benefits, and are benefits themselves. I started in 2011 with ten burpees a day, then added and refined. My evening set differs slightly (planks instead of crunches, for example), but mostly like this video. This video shows my odd-numbered-day pattern. On even-numbered days I vary slightly based on what workout I do that day (cardio or lifting). I do this routine after Making my bed and turning off the alarm within a…

January 2, 2025

On delivering food to a soup kitchen on Christmas

Habits / Volunteering

On delivering food to a soup kitchen on Christmas

When I deliver food to hungry people, people say I'm nice. When I avoid polluting, they call me extreme. Yet both actions come from the same place in my heart and mind, which I can best characterize with the phrase "love your neighbor as yourself." Whether you're Christian or not, that advice has stood the test of time for a reason. Acts of love for neighbors are rewarding. I just got back from delivering a big load of food that would have been thrown away to the Bowery Mission---a soup kitchen on the lower east side that feeds the hungry. People call me lucky that I have time to volunteer, often disparagingly or condescendingly implying I'm privileged---note: not privileged relative to the people I'm serving…

December 25, 2024

Year 14!, day 1, daily burpees

A recent morning burpee

Fitness / Freedom / Habits / SIDCHAs

Year 14!, day 1, daily burpees

I started doing burpees on this day in 2011. I haven't missed a day since. I've done them daily over 22 percent of my life. By my spreadsheet, I've done just over 241,000 so should reach a quarter million in 2025. The point isn't the numbers, though, nor the fitness, though I like my pulse being nearly off the charts low for men my age. The simplest way to put it is quoting Jocko Willink: Discipline equals freedom. Most Americans seem to see fitness and diet as horror shows. They're out of shape, don't know why, don't know what to do about it, and do things like pay trainers not because the trainers provide a service but because paying people motivates them to act. People…

December 22, 2024

Ten days before Christmas people are already throwing away their Christmas pagan trees.

Habits / Nature / Tips / Volunteering

Ten days before Christmas people are already throwing away their Christmas pagan trees.

Ten days before Christmas people are already throwing away their Christmas pagan trees. Regular readers know I post pictures of how much people throw away trees they paid for being cut down. They're following a pagan tradition grafted onto one branch of Christianity. They probably try to believe some self-serving lies that the trees are grown or harvested sustainably, but we know they know. This year I told myself I would post fewer posts of the pictures, but then Sunday I saw the first tree of the season in a garbage can! How could I not comment and post on the depravity of this tradition? We created the tradition. We can change it to something more sustainable, or sustainable at all. If you haven't bought…

December 17, 2024

Want quality? Start with the corners nobody notices.

Habits / SIDCHAs / Tips

Want quality? Start with the corners nobody notices.

When I mopped, I used to think I should start with the middle of the floor. That's where I spend the most time and the saw the most. I've included mopping in My sidchas, standard operating procedures, and preferences on one day of my six-day exercise cycle, meaning I haven't skipped or missed mopping every sixth day for years. Performing a task with a measure of quality teaches a lot internally and externally. I've learned to start with the corners and out-of-the-way or not-visible areas. Then the middle takes care of itself. If I start with the middle, the corners accumulate dirt. I'm not just talking about mopping floors. I'm talking about any performance-based field. Actually, any art. An artist who cares and who has…

October 31, 2024

Two updates to my sidchas and standard operation procedures

Awareness / Fitness / Habits / SIDCHAs

Two updates to my sidchas and standard operation procedures

I'm updating My sidchas, standard operating procedures, and preferences in two ways. Cardio days First, in my 6-Day Exercise/Mindfulness Cycle, I'm changing day 6, which was "Cardio, at least 300 calories rowing or meaningful effort plogging, biking, walking, or climbing stairs." I did cardiovascular exercises for two reasons: To improve my heart and lung health and capacity To burn more calories Since around May, I've been experimenting fasting on day 6. That is, instead of burning more calories, taking in fewer. Doing cardio almost inevitably led to me eating more on those days, so exercising more wasn't in practice leading to getting rid of fat I didn't want. In practice, fasting is resulting in getting rid of more fat I don't want. As for heart…

October 16, 2024

“You take care of things you found in the trash more than others take care of things they bought.”

Habits / Nature / Stories

“You take care of things you found in the trash more than others take care of things they bought.”

A friend who visited broke a couple things of mine. They were fixable, but when he damaged one things by treating it cavalierly I said, "treat everything like it's valuable." He was taken aback since I had told him I had found this thing---a laundry drying rack. Some neighbor was throwing it out. It worked so I kept and used it. On last Fridays of the month, if I walk around the neighborhood, I can find tons of perfectly good things people throw out when they move. When traveling, I've seen the pattern in many neighborhoods, rich and poor. The weekly disposal of perfectly good things pales in comparison to NYU dorms at the end of a semester, so presumably many universities, but that's another…

August 21, 2024

On considering when to decrease my daily exercises started over a decade ago, now in my 50s

Choosing/Decision-Making / Exercises / Fitness / Habits / SIDCHAs

On considering when to decrease my daily exercises started over a decade ago, now in my 50s

I've meant to write this post for years. It may be the longest past due. Why? Because it relates to many parts of my life and involves decisions that will affect me the rest of my life. I'll stick with the basics to put the main thoughts on paper, so to speak. When I started doing burpees daily, it was ten a day for thirty days with a friend in 2011. I didn't expect to continue them daily for an indefinite period. Within those thirty days, the value of an exercise needing no equipment, spotter, etc that exercised much of my body became clear. I knew two conflicting things: practice would enable me to increase but aging would lead me to decrease. In the years…

August 3, 2024

Michael Lombardi on Bill Walsh on Tom Peters on living In Search of Excellence; on mastery and freedom

Habits / Leadership / Stories

Michael Lombardi on Bill Walsh on Tom Peters on living In Search of Excellence; on mastery and freedom

A vignette from Michael Lombardi, podcast guest and football great General Manager about his mentor Bill Walsh, appears in his book Gridiron Genius, sticks with me. In particular, the part at the end of this passage about the picture frame. To me, one way mastery differs from just doing enough is that when we master an art or craft, we love the details. Before mastery, they may seem drudge work. A novice painter may not focus on each stroke of the brush. A master sees that the art is in those details. Here's the passage in Lombardi's book: In short, Walsh took over a team with no high draft picks, no quarterback, and no hope. Three years later, that team won the Super Bowl. It…

July 31, 2024

Volunteering: I just helped deliver a mammoth summer load of vegetables to the community fridge

Habits / Stories / Volunteering

Volunteering: I just helped deliver a mammoth summer load of vegetables to the community fridge

The community fridge where I volunteer by bringing food (and doof, sadly) stores would otherwise through away for anyone to take recently coordinated a deal with the Union Square farmers market to pick up what vendors don't sell. Half a dozen of us picked up and delivered our first load. Several of us made two trips. It was the most volume and I'd say highest quality of any load I helped deliver. These pictures don't show how much and how glorious the produce was, all local. Redistributing food so it doesn't go to waste solves an immediate problem. I still can't see how to solve the systemic problem of overproducing. In the meantime, at least people got to eat this food instead of it being…

July 2, 2024

Research that avocado seeds are healthy

Fitness / Habits / Nature / Tips

Research that avocado seeds are healthy

Americans waste about 40 percent of our food. I've written how I eat healthy parts of plants like citrus peels, mango peel, and banana peel. When I tell people I do, the same people who decry food waste ask why I eat them. They're healthy food! The challenge is to combine them to taste good, or to acquire the taste. I recommend eating all the edible, healthy parts of a plant. People all around the world do. I eat avocado pits too. I recently found research that shows their healthiness. I'll cite the sources and quote their conclusions, albeit full of jargon. That's academic writing for you. From Avocado seed discoveries: Chemical composition, biological properties, and industrial food applications: Avocado is widely grown and consumed…

March 12, 2024

I’ve learned to enjoy just thinking

Greenwich Village Sun

Awareness / Habits / Nonjudgment

I’ve learned to enjoy just thinking

I've held back on posting this discovery since I think people might confuse it with boredom or having nothing better to do and I didn't want to be judged, but as I've cut out more media, I've found it enjoyable, relaxing, and rewarding just to think . . . to ponder, consider, reflect, introspect, daydream, and such. I mean something different than meditating. I meditate too, as one of my sidchas, but meditation is about consciousness, awareness, patience, and such. This activity is more like solving problems that take some thought to disentangle. Figuring things out. Some of my best writing comes from it. I don't schedule it, but I don't shy away from it. I'd been doing it for a while, but I think…

March 1, 2024

Just finished a 4-plus days water only fast

Awareness / Fitness / Freedom / Habits / Tips

Just finished a 4-plus days water only fast

Today about 1:30pm I ate my first food since Saturday noon: a bit over four days or 97.5 hours. Years ago I would have thought it impossible, but I've done a couple three-day fasts and a few two-day fasts, now several one-day fasts. With my six-day exercise cycle that I start on the first day of each month, for months with a number of days not divisible by six, I've had to figure out what to do. I'd been experimenting with fasting. Hunger comes and goes, though there are also feelings like wanting or expecting to eat that aren't hunger. One of the things I value most about fasting is the self-awareness it brings. Also learning about being human. Also resilience and independence. I recommend…

February 28, 2024

Awareness / Fitness / Habits / SIDCHAs

Why I stretch

I stretch every day after I meditate in the morning (neck and shoulders) and in my morning and evening calisthenics (quads, Achilles, hamstring, etc). At times I work other stretches in. Why do I stretch? The research I know says it doesn't reduce injury, make me stronger, or enable me to do things otherwise. Yet I find value. It looks like I'm pulling on muscles, tendons, ligaments, or whatever gets stretched. I don't stretch to lengthen the muscle or ligament from pulling on it. While pulling on it creates tension, I don't stretch to create tension. I pull on it to find where I'm tensing it without realizing, so I can relax. Step one is to pull to find where I'm tensing. That step creates…

February 27, 2024

My latest life-changing rule for visiting web sites

Addiction / Choosing/Decision-Making / Freedom / Habits / Tips

My latest life-changing rule for visiting web sites

I used to waste three or four hours a day browsing social media sites, generally Reddit at the time, but others too, in particular after telling myself not to spend that much time on sites. I found some useful guidelines to reduce wasting time on screens. Not all time on screens is wasted, so I wanted to reduce wasted time but maintain productive time. Existing rules that have served me well Effective guidelines and guardrails I've used for a while: No internet use for the first hour of waking up Use site blockers to limit daily access to some sites. Use site blockers to limit access to any sites for thirty-minute working blocks. Make my laptop being disconnected from the internet the default so I…

February 26, 2024

My Cell Phone Battery and Time Use

Habits / Visualization

My Cell Phone Battery and Time Use

I joke that my favorite phone app is airplane mode, but I like it. Still, my phone's hot spot is my only internet connection at home, so I'm using it now, but I'll put it on airplane mode after posting. I looked up how to take a screen shot and took shots of my battery and time use for the past ten days. I think they were usual days so probably represent regular usage. By battery use Here's the the breakdown of battery use by app (taken while in airplane mode, I notice). "Libby" is the library's app, through which I listen to audio books. Since I turn off screens while eating, listening to books works for me. So does books being free from the…

February 19, 2024

Volunteering recognition from 1993

Education / Habits / Stories / Volunteering

Volunteering recognition from 1993

I've been writing about volunteering. Then last month I found this certificate for distinguished service in college in 1993 cleaning out my father's basement and had to share the story behind it. A church near Columbia on 114th Street and Broadway served a soup kitchen. I volunteered there every Friday. I just went on my own. Partly I consider activities like it as civic duty. Also I find it rewarding. I meet people in my community. Independently, Columbia had a program called Community Impact that motivated students to volunteer and participate in the community. So other students often volunteered. None of the students who volunteered through Community Impact attended as regularly as I did, so Community Impact invited me to join their strategy and planning…

February 16, 2024

*Sigh* More Christmas Pagan Trees being thrown away. Wasn’t a month of trashing them enough?

Habits / Nature

Sigh More Christmas Pagan Trees being thrown away. Wasn’t a month of trashing them enough?

How's this Christmas Pagan Tree next to a portable toilet? What better way to show you love your messiah and savior than putting the remembrance of his birth by a box of shit? . . . or we could leave the trees in the ground and celebrate with life instead of death. More than a month since Christmas isn't enough time for all the trees to be trashed, there are so many. I thought yesterday's post would have covered them all, but after posting, I went out and saw more. I'm not looking for them, nor taking more time than a second or two to take a picture. Here are more:

January 26, 2024

Year 14, day 2 posting here daily

Habits / SIDCHAs

Year 14, day 2 posting here daily

Since my friend's fateful words when he set up my blog here when I asked, how often do you post and he said: Every day. If you miss one day you can miss two. If you miss two it's all over. I've posted every day since January 22, 2011. It became my first sidcha and helped me establish the concept. It's easier to write every day than to worry about trying to restart after stopping. Here's the list of all my posts if you're new and want to start. Here are some of my favorites. It's led to two published books: Leadership Step by Step and Initiative, which get great reviews and are used by universities across the country (also two self-published books). More importantly…

January 24, 2024

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