Today Is The Day You Scare Yourself

Eleanor Roosevelt once said "Do one thing every day that scares you."

This is fantastic advice, but for those who don't ever "scare" themselves it is a bit hefty.

So let's begin by doing it today.

What she means by "scare yourself" is either:

1. Literally scare yourself. Go to the Zoo and hold a tarantula or a snake. 
2. Do something you are anxious about or uncomfortable with. I.E. Approach a cute girl/guy.

Since it's Friday, many of you will be going out tonight. I want you to do something today/tonight that scares you.

Examples:

• For guys and girls, approach someone you find attractive. 
• If you're comfortable approaching, use a stronger, more direct approach.
• Go to the bar/club solo. 
• Dance like an idiot at the venue.
• Go sing karaoke.
• Go sing karaoke on a date.
• Hit the gym.

And if you never go to bars/clubs...

• Go to a bar or club.

Obviously, I am tailoring the examples to the expected readership because there are far too many things that one could be scared of/uncomfortable with. It is up to you to decide what it is that frightens you.

And then do it. Today.

(If you end up reading this after Friday, I still recommend giving this a shot the day you read this. If you postpone it you'll most likely not do it).

Know, Understand, Act

There's a simple concept, a triad, that explains how you should go about learning something.

Law #67: Know, Understand, Act.

Know - To know something is to read about it. This is the step where you go on YouTube and look up how to cook mussels. This is the step where you read a blog post on how to lead a better life by eliminating unnecessary ailments and limiting beliefs. This is when you absorb purely objective knowledge.

This is the weakest form of knowledge. A textbook awareness.

(I.E. A guy who reads 100 posts on how to pick up girls).

Understand - To understand something is to make it your own. This is where you make mental decisions as to how the blog post on life effects you. This is where you decide how you will cook the recipe, perhaps altering some things to fit your style. This is where you take objective knowledge and make it subjective -- this is where you make it personally relevant.

This is the second strongest form of knowledge. A mental clarity.

(I.E. A guy who reads 100 posts on how to pick up girls and compares his own behavior against what he is learning. He may even approach, but he will be absorbed in thought).

Act - This is where you physically experience something. This is when you cook the dish. This is when you approach that cute artsy girl sitting at a table across from you at Starbucks. This is when you take subjective knowledge and apply it.

This is mastery. This is when you no longer have to think to act. A physical knowledge, your body 'knows' how to behave.

Muscle memory is a good way to describe this. For those who play instruments, you know how easy it is to play your favorite riffs over and over. For those who type on the computer, you know how easy it is to press the correct keys without looking.

When you master an idea, some information, you no longer need to think about it. It just happens.

(I.E. A guy who approaches a girl and manages to not stay in his head. He enjoys the experience, yet acts accordingly to the principles he has learned. He usually succeeds).

Note: The divisions between these three steps are blurred of course. One can begin to understand while acting. You might read something and try to accomplish it immediately without consideration for how it applies to yourself. 

The ultra-point of this post is to warn those of you who spend too much time "knowing" something. I myself spent a great deal of time reading about "pick-up" and other hobbies (I've been known to spend hours researching specific lifts, only to never even try them out at the gym). 

Without attempting to reach the mastery level, you are only wasting time.

You can read a thousand posts on how to pick up women, but until you begin acting on it you will see no results.

Zero.

This is true in all things.

Stimulation Masurbation

Do me a favor. Spare me 10 minutes later today, or when you finish checking up on blogs/e-mail, find a comfortable seat. A chair, your couch, maybe lie down on your bed. Shut off all distractions -- TV's and PC's. Leave your cell phone in another room and put it on silent.

Now, take a seat (or lie down).

And just chill. Look around. Let your mind wander, see where it takes you. Notice your breath. Note: I'm not asking you to do any sort of breathing exercise. Just be aware of your breath.

Allow yourself to do this for 10 minutes. No shorter or you won't really experience it. Longer is acceptable.

Hard mode: 20 minutes. Note: It's not really hard but you'll see why it's hard if you never do this sort of thing.

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The point of this is to take a break. To un-stimulate yourself for a short period of time. Our senses and mind are bombarded constantly. Even I'm listening to music as I write this. The point of this is to just give yourself a minor break from it. Note: I shut off the music at this point to not be a hypocrite.

If you're like most people you may just end up really fucking bored for 10 minutes. If you can't make 10 minutes, you are a prime example of the modern era -- an era of stimulation masturbation. So, don't be to hard on yourself if you can't handle it.

But what are you, chicken? Note: You heard me.

Fish Oil

If you ask anyone in the health industry (your local Vitamin Shoppe employee, for instance) whether fish oil is good for you they will probably scream to the heavens that it is an amazing product and then thrust a couple bottles of it in your face. Those Omega-3's have gotten the limelight for almost a decade now I believe.

I too have always assumed they were good. I came across a blog that I think is great. He is a proponent of Fish Oil as it acts as an anti-inflammatory. (His work is dense but digestible. If you're interested in health at all I suggest poking around a bit on there).

Well, like anything, I recently questioned whether fish oil was a miracle drug. I found an interesting article discussing fish oil in a warning light, comparing it to harmful hormone and x-ray usage in previous years. Here are some choice sections of the lengthy article. (Full article here).

"For a few decades, x-ray treatments were used to relieve inflammatory conditions, and most of the doctors who promoted the treatment were able to retire before their patients began suffering the fatal effects of atrophy, fibrosis, and cancer. (But a few people are still advocating x-ray therapy for inflammatory diseases, e.g., Hildebrandt, et al., 2003.) The fish oil fad is now just as old as the x-ray fad was at its peak of popularity, and if its anti inflammatory actions involve the same mechanisms as the anti inflammatory immunosuppressive x-ray treatments, then we can expect to see another epidemic of fibrotic conditions and cancer in about 15 to 20 years."

Scary thought. I see this sort of thing in literature as a plot device -- yet here it is as medical information.

"In 2004, a study of 29,133 men reported that the use of omega-3 oil or consumption of fish didn't decrease depression or suicide, and in 2001, a study of 42,612 men and women reported that after more than 9 years the use of cod liver oil showed no protective effect against coronary heart disease (Hakkarainen, et al., 2004; Egeland, et al., 2001)."

No results. There's a head-scratcher. 

"When animals are fed fish oil and then exposed to bacteria, their immunosuppressed thymic (T) cells cause them to succumb to the infection more easily than animals fed coconut oil or a fat free diet. Natural killer cells, which eliminate cancer cells and virus infected cells, are decreased after eating fish oil, and T suppressor cells are often increased. More subtle interference with immunity is produced by the actions of PUFA on the "immune synapse," a contact between cells that permits the transmission of immunological information. The immunosuppressive effect of fish oil is recognized as a useful aid in preventing the rejection of transplanted organs, but some studies are showing that survival a year after transplantation isn't improved."

Furthermore, in the article it was said that the test animals were very resistant to eating fishy foods. Do they know something we don't?

As with anything, proceed with caution. I personally am discontinuing fish-oil supplementation. The only real reason to take it is to improve your Omega-6 to Omega-3 ratio anyway, but those of us who eat low Omega-6's shouldn't even worry too much (more reason to eat on the Paleo Diet).

In my opinion, you should aim for a tight ratio without supplementation.

Here's a short article talking about both Omega-3's and 6's. Check it out.

This of this segment as Step 1 to fixing your ratio:

"... [to] cut down on omega-6 levels, [reduce] consumption of processed and fast foods and polyunsaturated vegetable oils (corn, sunflower, safflower, soy, and cottonseed, for example). At home, use extra virgin olive oil for cooking and in salad dressings."

Everyone's an Artist

Art is what makes me get up in the morning. Writing some prose or producing some music are the two things in life I'll never give up.

I get a nagging feeling in the back of my mind whenever someone praises me for being an artist -- I know they don't think of themselves as one.

The way I see it is that everyone is an artist. I'm sure back in caveman days everyone took part in dance, song, drawing, and story-telling. These things were not "exclusive" to artists. Everyone was an artist.

I think it is only until recent times that Art has become the central focus of a persons life and decentralized from society as a whole. I doubt that there was a caveman in a tribe that was dedicated to Art -- he had to find food and build homes too.

So I hate it when people think they can't be artists. Every time you tell a story to someone you're making art. Every narrative you wrote in school is art. I don't care how shitty it is -- it's the self-expression and the act of creation that matter.

So do this for me. For yourself, even. Pick one of the following:

1. Write a poem or a short story. Fuck word count, just write something.
2. If you can play an instrument, write a song. If you can't, write lyrics.
3. Draw. Stick-figures are fine. Try telling a story with your stick-figures (you can "tell a story" with one frame as well).
4. Put on your favorite danceable music and dance for fifteen minutes.
5. Cook a new recipe today. Use fresh ingredients.
6. Build something. A model or Lego's or wood or brick.

Ultimately, the point is to create something. To produce something and to add value to this world. There are many different ways to do this outside of the one's I have listed (I.E. I don't expect any of you to produce a feature length film but if you have a camera a five-minute short might be suitable).

Remember -- have fun with it.

Everything in Moderation (Bullshit)

I hate when people say "everything in moderation." It's a cop-out; a safe bet.

"Everything in moderation." Bullshit, you wouldn't take arsenic in moderation. Oh, it's okay, I only stab myself once in awhile.

Meat in moderation? Fuck that, I'd rather starve. The things I love in life are things I consume way above a moderate level. Music, art, meat, vegetables, literature, oxycotin.

Joking.

Everything in moderation, including moderation --- Oscar wilde.

Note: this post was inspired by idiots. 

A Conversation With My Dad

I had an interesting conversation with my dad recently. I proposed that travel is a great way for a person to grow, to become more worldly and improve their character -- to become a "better" person.

He shook his head in disagreement. I was shocked, as I thought that this was a truth.

"Son," he said for emphasis, "you could be locked up in a room for a year and come out just as improved as if you had traveled the world."

I've been mulling this over since that conversation. You already have heard of this concept from the monks who meditate for decades to become enlightened.

Whilst I do agree with my father, that one could in fact, alone with his own fortitude and thought (or in Zen, lack of thought), become a better person. I still think that traveling is a faster and more efficient alternative.

Plus, who wants to sit in a room for a decade?

Food for thought, I guess.

The Road to Confidence

There is an interesting thread over at the RooshV forums about confidence. Check it out here.

The original poster asks how the many successful gamesmen over there have achieved confidence with women. There is a difference of opinions with some saying "approach approach approach" and others saying "it's all an inner issue, one that you need to personally bandage."

I think all of these are inherently wrong. Not that they don't bring about confidence, but that they approach the problem from the wrong direction.

General confidence is default. Every human being is born generally confident in this world. Newborns are not insecure.

If you are not confident, it is only because your confidence has been suppressed  -- stifled by the culture and conditioning that has affected you throughout life.

You must realize that confidence is not something you "get" but something you "realize." With the turn of a mental switch, you could be a rock-star.


Now, what's a pretty solid way to realize it? Force it. That's why the advice to "approach" a million women is so effective and pervasive in the community -- because it works. It takes a lot of effort and will power, but you will soon come to realize that you are, in fact, confident.


But is this confident something you truly "attained?" Or is this something that you have merely actualized.

Is this confidence something that you have achieved? Or have you become un-stifled.


This might seem like an argument of semantics on the surface, but with a deeper look we can see that their are differences in their approaches.

If you believe confidence is something to be attained, you will look for it externally. Things in this world will become the source of your ability to be confident. You will anchor your confidence on things without you, rather than within.


I.E. You approach 500 women. You become "confident." After awhile, you have a pretty bad dry spell, a losing streak. You question yourself  "am I truly confident?" If you suddenly lose the external source of your confidence, you will lose your confidence altogether.


If you believe confidence is default, you will try to awaken it internally. You will come to understand that you are inherently valuable and strong, which does not allow for foreign winds to shake you. Note: This sounds like a fucking fortune cookie.

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I find this to be a difficult concept to express through words. I would love to hear a comment or two from readers if you understand this, or if you want me to try to elaborate further. 

Cave Stories: Pook

Here is an interesting post written years ago by the man named Pook. Picture included.

Where goes your sexual energy?

You wanted to know what the matriarchy is, young one?

You've been living in a dream world. This is the world as it exists today. [Pook shows you a screen full of shopping malls, most television catering to females, family law favoring females, and an artificial type world where males do not try to be men and females do not try to be women.]

Throughout human history, women have been dependent on men to survive. Fate, it seems is not without a sense of irony.

The male's sexual energy generates more change than any other force on Earth. Male's sexual energy is so powerful that it completely overwhelms males and overrides their capacity to reason leading to suicide, mass carnage, and purple rages of jealousy. But properly harnessed, male's sexual energy creates empires, destroys empires, creates art, literature, music, and genius itself. Combined with forms of electricity, women have found all the energy they would ever need.

There are fields, young man, endless fields where males are no longer raised. We are grown. For the longest time, I wouldn't believe it. And then I saw the fields with my eyes, watched them pour poison into their minds to attempt to give female souls to male bodies and the male souls to the female bodies. Rows upon rows of androgeny where no one acted like a male or female nor knew how a man or woman should act. And standing there, facing the pure horrifying precision, I came to realize the obviousness of the truth.

What is the Matriarchy?

Control. 

The Matriarchy is an androgeny-centered world built to turn your sexual energy into this. [Holds up battery.] Look at the faces of married men, of tired zombie like faces. Look how they lose their hair, how their gut pushes out, and how they turn into a waste. Now look at the single man and how he has a fresh face on, a full head of hair, and still trim.

Your sexual energy, and the genius that is included in it, is desired by women to be harnessed like an ox obeying its plow-hand. But let us correct the appearance and reality. You have been blind because what you thought was the opposite.

Men are the emotional ones. Not the women.

Men are the prize to be sought. Not the women.

Men are not the sex-crazed, food-crazed Humans. Believe me, it is the women.

Women are not the flowers. It is men. And women see themselves as gardeners of those flowers, and will cut, nurture, water, and everything to make the man grow and bear fruit. Women love men as a garderner loves his plants.