Stay on Offense Climb Mountains

Attacking Adversity

Bookish Weapon Number Fifty-Three

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Author Akshay Nanavati has written a bookish weapon without him even realizing it. That’s ok. What a bookish weapon it is! In his introduction this former Marine sets the tone for the book. He says, “we all do the best we can with the level of skills, abilities, knowledge and awareness we possess at any given time.” He credits Jack Canfield for this, but follows it up by saying, “Any time you might be feeling confused, lost, or scared, it is not your fault.” Akshay also hikes! Actually he is a mountaineer which is far more impressive.

What is “Fearvana?” It is when you feel the fear or anxiety, then take action and you succeed. He give es the example of getting all nervous and afraid before going on stage, but then running out onto the stage and knocking it out of the park. That’s Fearvana.

Why Do We Do The Things We Do?

This is the title of chapter two. In it the author describes seven reasons for our actions. A couple of these stood out to me, but you should read the book because the others are important too.

The two that I enjoyed were “The Law of Love and Hate,” and “The Top-of-Mind Rule.” The first is a name he gives the filter of our animal brain. “It states that our gut feelings of love and hate determiner decisions and our views of the world.” The second is explained this way: “The easier it is to recall something from memory, the more likely our brain deems it important or commonplace…Whatever is on top of your mind is more likely to have an impact on your perception of reality.”So what can you do about all this? Akshay says, “By utilizing your human brain to make conscious decisions, you can literally change the physical structure and functions of your animal brain. Your cognitive biases won’t disappear, but you can change the way they operate for you.”

Real Freedom

The author believes that our only real freedom consists of our “ability to separate ourselves from suffering to create our own empowering reality.” So he says, “..it does not matter what you might be struggling with or how it might compare to other people’s suffering. Don’t waste your time and energy in the destructive downward spiral of second dart syndrome.” And what is the “second dart syndrome?” It is from Buddhist philosophy that says when we experience pain or suffering, it is the result of two darts. “First darts are the ones beyond our control…Second darts are the manner in which we react and respond to the first ones.”

It is all internal. “What we do inside our minds, the conversation we have with ourselves, that is what shapes our reality. Our mindset determines how much we suffer.You have the power and the freedom to choose how you interpret the world. That interpretation will control the quality of your life. If you don’t exercise this freedom, your brain will create its own interpretations without your awareness.”

LMNOP

Easy to remember, right? I liked it too. Of course, each of those letters stand for something. When something negative happens and you feel an emotion use these. L-label and language. Label the emotion to release yourself from the impact. M-Find the meaning you have attached to the event or emotion. You control the meaning. N – It’s not you. It’s your brain. You are just stuck in a pattern. “It is not who you are.” I guess N is for “Not.” O – Opt out for a more empowering meaning. Give the emotion or event or both a new meaning, P- Purpose and Preemptive strikes. The important thing in this step is to the action . Do something different the before. It builds new brain patterns.

LMNOP is a great tool for helping you get past an experience or emotion.

Changing Your Past Memory

He discusses how to change a past negative memory. Get yourself in a positive state, and then “going into you past, you can change the effect the past has on you today.” This was most interesting. This is all under a section called. “Your Past Is A Lie.” You need to do this in a six hour window. So “to change the past we need to activate a memory from an optimistic present state and modify it within six hours. Your past helped shape the fears that keep you imprisoned in your present, so altering your memories is often a necessary step to move from fear to Fearvana.”

Get the book for the complete process.

Positive Suffering

That’s my title. The author talks a lot about suffering and says, “Unending bliss awaits us within the simplicity of going to war with ourselves.” He says, “…people with high levels of stress without depression are some of the happiest people in the world. They are also the people who are most likely to view their lives as meaningful.” He stresses the need to prime your subconscious mind to embrace struggle.

I like what he suggests when you face a challenge. He says to ask, “What is fun about this? How can I make this enjoyable?” “Visualizing the process of struggle, as opposed to the outcome on the other side of it, better prepares you to overcome the struggle.”

That’s a quick look at the book. I didn’t even tewl you about the section entitled “The Most Important Habit Of All.” Get the book and read about it!

Go Hiking In Shorts, No Shirt When It Is Freezing

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No, I won’t do it. Wim Hof’s book is a great one and will inspire you to do what he says to a point. However, when he talks about climbing mountains wearing no pants or shirt I have little or no interest.

Cold showers are just fine. I might even do a cold plunge if the opportunity presented itself, but when I hike I don’t just want to be covered up, I need to be. This is true especially in the summer months when it would be warmer as supposedly easier. That’s because of my allergic reaction to Mosquito bites! Now I would be safer in the winter cold with snow and ice because they stay away then, but four or five hours in the cold doesn’t inspire me.

Training

Wim Hof trains people to climb in the cold. Maybe that is what I would need before was ready to give it a try on my own. I could fly over to his location and take his course. There are people here in the United States that teach his method as well. So that is a possibility.

The method includes three main things. Cold, breathing and mindset. I think I would need a huge change in mindset. I would need lots of practice in “setting my intention.”

Motivation

Hiking with almost no clothes in the cold would surely be out of my comfort zone. That is supposed to be a good thing. Get outside your comfort zone the self help folks tell you. Always be stretching yourself. Push your limits. Dream big and set goals to achieve them.

It all sounds very good, but hiking in the cold is not a dream of mine. I would need some more convincing. Hof says that after doing the breathing is the best time to “set your intention.” That intention might be to climb up a mountain with no shirt, but it won’t be mine. Not yet. My guess is you would need some in person training before you should even try to attempt something like that unless you like frost bite.

Bookish Weapon Number Fifty-Two

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“The Wim Hof Method,” by Wim Hof will cool your heals! It is a nuclear Bookish Weapon for sure. If you decide to read the book you need to consider it as an experiment. That means you need to practice the method. Why would you want to actually do what he says to do? It is the only way you will understand what he is talking about.

That’s why I decided to begin taking cold showers and practicing the breathing method. To date I have been taking the showers for a couple months, but the breathing only for two weeks so far.

The Cold

First, let’s talk about the cold. As you probably know Wim Hof is known as the Ice Man. He climbed Mt Everest and got stuck in the death zone. Of course he wasn’t wearing a shirt. He has climbed Kili multiple times with groups of people also with no shirt. You don’t need to climb a mountain with no shirt. Wim says to start out with 30 seconds of cold after you have the warm water turned on for a bit. I just jump into the cold. There is benefit for alternating between hot and cold so you should consider that too.

No cold plunges for me as I have no resource for those and I have no desire to go hiking with my shirt off. None! However, the cold showers wake you up in the morning and become somewhat addictive.

The Breathing

Now the breathing technique might surprise you because you can get cold doing it. It is because the capillaries under your skin close so your brain thinks you are cold. My teeth chatter. However, it could be my breathing technique is off a bit.

So what do you do? Breath in as you extend your stomach and then exhale. That is one count. You do that thirty or forty times. Then on the last exhale you hold your breath for as long as you can. Then you inhale and hold it for fifteen seconds. Then exhale and do the whole 30 or 40 two more times. How long can you hold our breath? I could hold mine maybe thirty seconds. Now, at the end of the last thirty I can hold it for four minutes. So far I have not passed out.

The Mind

This is the third pillar in Wim Hof’s method. It is an important one and probably the most difficult to master at least from my perspective. He gives you a basic mindset exercise and discusses how to meditate, but this area is covered far less than the other two. I suspect it is the secret sauce. He says it is what allowed him to set all the records and accomplish what he has so far.

It seems that in all areas of life your mindset is king. It will serve you or bring you down.

Results

Why do anything unless it produces some positive results. That is what I was looking for when I decided to do the breathing. I already knew the benefits of cold showers. For one thing they boost affect your Vagal nerve so increase the parasympathetic side of your autonomic nervous system. But the breathing was unfamiliar to me.

What I discovered is that once I have completed a breathing session I feel very calm and surprisingly am in a very positive emotional state. As I said I have been doing the breathing for only two weeks as of this writing so who knows what might happen as this journey continues. I was hoping for an anti-inflammatory effect which I could measure by whether my arthritis was better or worse. So far the jury is out.

Go Hiking Because You Are Built for It

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It is so obvious, but it took the title of today’s Bookish Weapon to really consider this. You have two legs and two feet. Your ancestors walked a lot. Actually, no. They hiked! Everywhere!

So why no do something you were built for? It makes perfect sense. However, any have excuses.

My Back Hurts

You are not using your back when you hike and haven’t you heard the mantra of physical therapists everywhere; motion is lotion! Wim Hof (the Iceman) says BREATH!! I say MOVE. What better way to move than using your legs and feet.

Your back will heal and get stronger as you move. Maybe no pack on your back for now. Just get yourself up a mountain.

But My Knees Hurt

Yes, so do mine. Especially the left one, but both have arthritis. One has had surgery. What is the best medicine for that? Movement!!! After a coupe hours of hiking your knees are gong to feel better (usually). Not so much if you fall down and bang it on a rock.

Make sure you use the Couch stretch after climbing. If you don’t know what the Couch stretch is then look it up online under Kelly Starrett.

I Am Too Old

Unless you are in your nineties, you can’t play the age card with me. I am seventy-five. I don’t listen to people that say I shouldn’t climb mountains at my age.

Remember the cliche that you are only as old as you think you are. Never stop moving. Can you get up off the floor without using your hands? Neither can I, but that doesn’t stop me. It might keep me out of the 100 year old Olympics according to Dr. Peter Attia, but it won’t keep me off a mountain.

Bookish Weapon Number Fifty-One

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My father was a serial entrepreneur. He owned at least six businesses that I know about during his lifetime. This is the ultimate entrepreneur’s book. “Built to Serve,” by Evan Carmichael is for those that want to find their purpose and become the leader they were born to be according to the subtitle. I would say that it delvers.

If you want to have your own business and use the Internet (especially Youtube) to generate business Evan is your guy.

Purpose

Before you can serve anyone you need to know your purpose. Evan presents you with excellent questions to ask yourself. He says your purpose is your “source of power.” He takes you through a process to discover your purpose.

You discover the who, the why and the how. First is your who. Who are you? Then you discover your why. Why do you want to do this? Finally, how are you gong to do it.

Your Who

Evan says that your “Who” is the starting point for everything. You start by figuring out what makes you happy. He gives you an excellent exercise for discovering this but he has also written another book called “Your One Word,” that he says will help even more.

In Built to Serve he presents you with five questions to help you discover your who.

Who was your favorite teacher growing up?
What is your favorite movie of all time?
What do you love most about how your parents raised you?
Which successful person do you look up to and why?
What lessons do you want your kids to have?

So once you have discovered your who and your core value, what then?

Your Why

Your why equals your purpose. It comes from your pain. I thought this was very enlightening. He says the way you turn the pain into something good “…is to turn that negative situation into a life-changing gift for yourself and others, to live a service life instead of a surface life, to give yourself a powerful reason to wake up in the morning and work on building something better for yourself and the people around you.” He says, “Your job is to face the pain, eat it, grow from it, and then create positivity and oxygen for others around you.”

Here is the difficulty which he attempts to answer and that is if you are still moored in the pain and have not yet overcome it then what good are you to someone else? He says, …”just the fact that you’re out there trying is an inspiration to others, and you also know more than you did when you started.”

Your How

You need to know how you saved yourself. Now if you haven’t done that then get busy. So you ask yourself, when did you decide something had to change? What is the first thing you did to start the change? Then How did you sustain the momentum? That is your recipe for success he says.

Your how is your passion. It is the work that you love. Evan says when you combine your Who with your Why with doing the work you love it is a hone run.

So don’t delay go get this book. It is one of the few books I have read that really could change your life if you are the right kind of person. Even if you don’t want to start a company it has some great insights about life in general. If fact, I would suggest you get it and read it twice.

Go Hiking and Get Your Life Back

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So you ask me, “How does that work?” Well, if you have been reading these odes to the mountains you will understand that is the easiest task. All it takes is a few hikes and your life changes.

How does it change? First, you go hiking. Before you went hiking you were so distracted by emails, Instagram, Tik Tok, and even Microsoft teams that you had lost your life. It had disappeared into the electronic Matrix. Once you get on the trails things settle down.

The Matrix

You might think that when you are looking at your phone instead of looking at the person across from you that you have your life firmly in hand. Or you are supposed to be exercising but you are sitting on a bench at the gym staring at your phone.

Your mind is in a Matrix composed of all the lures of the electronic universe. You have to escape it to see it for what it is, an addiction so heinous that it will grind you up and spit you out into a pile of wasted lives.

Busyness

Oh, you say that you have your phone under control and you are in charge of it. But you are going from one meeting to another, rushing from one office to another, catching a plane, a lunch date, or grabbing a bite on the run. You have lost your life in the busyness of it.

How long has it been since you had time, even ten minutes to sit and think? A long time I imagine.

The Solution

The best solution is to go hiking! Put your phone in your pack and only take it out to take a picture when you get to the top of a mountain. If you need to take a picture before you reach the top then you still need to keep it in your pack. Make it hard to get at.

Then you hiking, with trees surrounding you and the odor of pine needles or will strawberries wafting up to you. The breeze is on your face. You relax as you push yourself forward. You become one with nature. You get your life back.

A Little More

Maybe a quote from one of Eldredge’s other books, Epic. He says, “We have grown dull towards this world in which we live; we have forgotten that it is not normal or scientific in any sense of the word. It is fantastic. It is a fairy tale through and through. Really now. Elephants? Caterpillars? Snow? At what point did you lose your wonder at it all?” “Perhaps we come upon a waterfall, clouds have made a rainbow in a circle around the sun…”

Go hiking, experience it all (maybe not Elephants), and get your life back!