5 Thought Friday

Here are my 5 Thoughts for the week! The podcast in #1 is a discipline that I am highly focused on - improved breathing!

1.       What I am currently reading, viewing, or listening to:

• Dr. Jack Feldman on Andrew Huberman, breathing for improved mental and physical health.

• This conversation serves as a "Master Class" on the science of breathing and breathing-related tools for health and performance. I listened at 1.5x with a few key areas as follows if you have limited time:

  • The first 1.5 hours are varying studies on breathing

  • 1:29:30 - 1:34:00 - hypoxia through breathing

  • 1:45:00 - 1:57:00 - Controlling breath to change one’s state of mind

  • 1:57:00 - 2:05:00 - Managing breath practice: Dr. Feldman recommends a few minutes of box breathing (5 seconds breath in, 5 seconds hold, 5 seconds breath out, 5 seconds hold…repeat)

  • 2:06:30 - 2:18:00 - Magnesium Threonate and its impact on cognition, memory, and sleep.

2.       Gratitude Practice (for improved happiness):

• Grateful for my wife (Irene) and I who spent a few minutes filling in the blank in our gratitude journals: “I feel happy when ____”. We each did 25+ responses and here are a few of mine:

  • …..my daughters smile and laugh!

  • …..sipping a nice cup of coffee!

  • …..waking from an amazing sleep!

  • …..tasting Irene’s delicious cooking!

  • …..looking out over a beautiful ocean and beach!

3.       Wellness ideas to consider:

• My first Zone 2 outdoor run of the year. HERE is a link to the image showing the steadiness of my heart rate (HR) during the run. I love the HR spike up to 148 BPM when a group of bird watchers jumped into my running path.

• Also, here is my January 28 blog link for the definition and benefits of Zone 2 training.

4. What I’m eating, drinking, buying, or whatever else is on my mind:

• Drinking only zero-calorie liquids! I am on day 13 of a 14-day experiment to take in zero calories from liquids. Therefore, I have been drinking only water, tea, and black coffee. Zero alcohol, juices, protein shakes, kombucha, etc.

• Try it out to see how it may help you improve your wellness by consuming all calories via food only. Preferably, these should be whole, minimally processed foods.

5. Quote(s) I am Pondering:

• “All the thinking in the world, until converted into action, has no impact on the reality of our lives. It does not change the events in any way. The only impact it has is inside us, in the form of needless suffering and sadness. Anticipating awful things in the future or ruminating about awful moments from the past is not the useful, instructive, and unavoidable experience of everyday pain. This prolonged extension of pain is a serious bug in our system because …. Suffering offers no benefit whatsoever. None!” Mo Gawdat, Solve for Happy: Engineer Your Path to Joy

Happy Friday!

Mike