My Journal - SpiNips

[SpiNips]

Hello!

Today was the last day before holidays! It was great to get some basic stuff in order today, for instance cleaning and returning my tailcoat. I also had amazing time to reflect and just write with my association/intuition. The best moment today was listening to Red Hot Chili Peppers and Foo Fighters after I was suddenly struck with a strong desire to listen to them.

I thought about my school courses and decided that I will ask for a permission to complete a course without attending the lessons. I'd be able to use the time way more efficient than in the lessons. 

It would be time for me to upgrade my social media accounts since I have really outdated pictures there. I'm not too active on that side but I feel like social media is a part of how people perceive you. Nothing to shabby, just a couple high quality photos. I'm thinking about creating a Tinder account. I'm bit late on the party but hey, why not. It would help me get to know new people as well.

Today I'm grateful for:

• Reading, learning is amazing
• Improvised Tuna rice-salad for dinner and it was great
• Friendly guy at the suit rent
• My sneaky plan worked out
• Doing hard work last phase
• Prioritizing
• Honey

[Marquess]

Oh yeah, I think Tinder could be fun. At least to troll the crap out of all the girls.

You used to meet girls by participating on a forum or going to a specific IRC channel. Things had substance, for you had to actively post on forums, and you have to share a certain interest/activity for IRC channels. Now it's just one massive conveyor belt. Oh well. I suppose it still has a potential ... I met my first GF online.

Also, what was that sneaky plan about?

[Cam Adair]

Tinder can be a great way to have more conversations with women (or men). So in the very least, if you're dating life is currently not where you want it to be, it's a good way to get some more practice in. 

[SpiNips]

Hello!

It's very late so I'll opt for sleep. Today was productive, fun and social. The best thing that happened today was making birthday gifts for my friends.

Today I'm grateful for:

Streetlamps, making me feel more safe

Anti-histamine

Shopping done for next weeks trip

My present being appreciated

Meeting my old friends and having good conversarions with them.

Oh yeah, I'm going to a ski resort for 4 days. I'll try too stick with normally writing here.

[SpiNips]

Hello! I'll keep it short since I need sleep.

It's the last whole day in the ski centre. It's been great here. I've connected with a lot new people and had fun. I've also had time to think about my life for a while. The best thing that happened today was sledging down the skiing hills with friends.

I feel like there are a ton of questions running around my head currently. To what extent can I allow myself to change? Am I being too judgemental against myself? Am I living my life in a half-assed way? Is life complicated or should it be simple (fussing around for nothing)? Am I being overly analytical and unefficient? With a lot of things happening around it's hard for me to make sense of all this at times.

Today I'm grateful for:

• Resting this day
• No hangover, absolutely deserves the spot
• Tortillas
• Chess and Nine Men's Morris, Had awesome time playing with Teemu
• Michael Jackson - Man in the mirror

[SpiNips]

My goal for March - March's manifesto

My goal for March is to improve my hormonal and physical health. I'm going to improve it by maintaining my sleeping and exercising habits and most importantly by cutting industrially processed foods, sugars, grains, soy and beer for 6 days a week until the end of March. The exceptions I'm allowing is small amounts of muesli, if there is no possible way to eat this way in school or if there is an event, for example getting invited for a dinner by relatives. I'm boosting this with supply of magnesium for my musculature health, vitamin D since it is easy to get a deficiency here in Finland and fish oil for omega 3 balance.

The way I'm improving my diet is similar to the way I quit games. I'm replacing the forbidden ingredients with new ones which are appropriate for this diet. I'm going to search for a recipe which fits my diet everyday and post it on my journal. I could also add pics for fun.

Here is the salad I prepared today. It contains quinoa which is a half-grain. I had to resort to it since I had no vegetables nor beans hanging around. It's still way less processed than pasta for example.

[SpiNips]

My post for today

The ski trip is over! It was really awesome and I'm very glad that I was able to take part in the trip. It's time to get back to business now that I'm back home.

Recently I have been thinking about many things. I think I have looked self-improvement in a perspective from which it seems intangible or hard, to say the least. I've been thinking about psychology and possible mental problems while forgetting about the more mundane progress. The diet experiment is a good example form action that is not too hard to execute. Bold decisions with scientific background are helpful, also applying your own experience since you are not an average of the people who participated in the studies. Some things may work for me others might not. I should by no means do something that is recommended but makes me feel worse. That isn't responsible acting.

I've questioned meditating since these 3 days of not meditating my thought process has been maybe even better than usual. There are probably other factors which contribute in that as well. Maybe it's that I've not overthought or -analyzed my life. But then again I don't believe that sitting, focusing on my breath and checking in with my emotions would make me any less cognitively proficient.

I'm making a new move with my NoFap and trying to look at it from a more concrete angle. I'm trying a less restrictive approach to masturbation. I'm making sure that NoFap isn't a way of shaming my own sexuality or a way of projecting sexual perfectionism/fear of vulnerability.

That's plenty of pondering. Keeping things simple and action filled is the way to go for now.

The best thing that happened today was improvising and cooking a new recipe which tasted good.

Today I'm grateful for:

• Red wine
• Quality eggs
• Amazing trip
• Wintertime
• Getting to know new good people who are inspiring

*Edit* Oh hey! The daily recipe! I'm trying out a recipe with chicken breast, kidney beans and bell peppers tomorrow.

Edited March 2, 2016 by SpiNips

[AlexTheGrape]

Great to hear that your ski trip was good, I'm a skiing veteran myself, skiing every year since I was around 5!

It looks like you may be overthinking things. I did heaps of thinking about my life purpose, work/fun balance, social life, and my grasp of opportunities over the past week and it has done me no good. Thinking about things I'm not sure about sometimes leads me to raise even more questions, and I end up more confused than I was to start with. The best advice I found was to just continue with actions, as it is through actions that we learn about activities and many other things. If meditation is helping a lot, continue I say!

Hope this helps and good luck with your cooking!

[SpiNips]

Hello!

I've been feeling tired today. There are many possible factors; new diet, hard exercise, getting used to the new NF policy and/or just being tired after the trip. Nothing overly crucial though. It's necessary to give oneself enough time to rest. The best thing today was drinking tea with my friends. I easily overanalyze things when tired so I better just have a good sleep!

Working towards my driver's license is a big upcoming thing. Completing that gives me way more opportunities and eases the possibilities of transport. Studying at least 20 min/day until the examination is complete sounds like a good idea!

The chicken dish was great! For tomorrows main course I have chickpeas, tuna and avocado and for breakfast eggs, bacon and spinach!

Today I'm grateful for:

• Oranges
• Acceptive friends
• Being able to notice some senseless worries
• An interesting job advertisement
• Optimal temperature for sleeping

[SpiNips]

Oh yeah, I think Tinder could be fun. At least to troll the crap out of all the girls.

You used to meet girls by participating on a forum or going to a specific IRC channel. Things had substance, for you had to actively post on forums, and you have to share a certain interest/activity for IRC channels. Now it's just one massive conveyor belt. Oh well. I suppose it still has a potential ... I met my first GF online.

Also, what was that sneaky plan about?

I guess it kind of is. It allows you to meet plenty of people who possibly share the interest with you so and that's good. The sneaky plan was about avoiding a trouble while getting my elbow and wisdom tooth checked.  

Great to hear that your ski trip was good, I'm a skiing veteran myself, skiing every year since I was around 5!

It looks like you may be overthinking things. I did heaps of thinking about my life purpose, work/fun balance, social life, and my grasp of opportunities over the past week and it has done me no good. Thinking about things I'm not sure about sometimes leads me to raise even more questions, and I end up more confused than I was to start with. The best advice I found was to just continue with actions, as it is through actions that we learn about activities and many other things. If meditation is helping a lot, continue I say!

Hope this helps and good luck with your cooking!

That is true! Actions shatter the wall of cloudy thoughts surrounding the concrete subject. Thinking is not to be dismissed of course, but it's necessary to be kept in good guidance. Thanks for reminding me from the importance of acting, there can't be too much of that! Keeping on keeping on!

[SpiNips]

Hello!

Today I came to the conclusion that I'm going to push not NoFapping a little further since working on both the diet and it would be too much to handle. I have got to admit that when I'm on NoFap I feel more connected to my environment. I wouldn't say I'm a different nor worse of a person when I'm not on NoFap, but I feel like I have more energy and listening to some comments I feel like it shows from my persona as well.

Are there bad actions or are there just actions from which the result determines their worth? Just throwing it out there. 

A great thing about my diet is of course the "Cheat day" which happened to be today. Me and my friends watched 4 Star Wars movies and ate pizza and all kinds of snacks today. (Insert something wise about T3 and T4 metabolism that justifies cheat day) No, but in general taking a one-day break from the diet is motivating and relaxing in it's own way. When I thought about it, diet has never been too big of a problem in my life. It doesn't mean that I would get any less from this monthly experiment though since I've probably already tried more recipes and ingredients than last year.  I will follow this diet as I set out to do because there would be no sense in changing it so quickly if I wanted to see the effects.

So yeah no not NoFapping, diet going strong, feeling alright!

The next recipe I'd like to try out includes kidney beans, ground meat and something fresh, cucumber for example. Onions would probably fit there great!

Today I'm grateful for:

• Active friends
• Chickpeas were great
• Avocados that are perfectly mature
• Realizing that I might as well do a idle project now since I'm going to have to do it someday anyway.
• Removing some of my misc bookkeeping habits that I didn't find too useful

I'll end this with a Yoda quote that in it's own way resonated with me: “Do. Or do not. There is no try.” No trying, just hard determination.

[SpiNips]

Hello!

I was at a camp this weekend. It was great! I learned many things about life and being your own self. Of course new friends were made as well. It's awesome that you can meet new people and connect with them. The best moment of the day was getting feedback from my friends at the camp. Taking a walk and thinking about everything was very giving as well.

Today's recipe – Pulled pork salad wraps. They also contain scrambled eggs and bell pepper.

Today I'm grateful for:

• Having time to think
• Great food and sauna at the camp
• Interesting conversations
• Humans being very resilient and adaptable creatures
• AC/DC, such a great feel-good band!

 

[SpiNips]

Hello!

Today has been a great day! I got back to training BJJ. The training wasn't too bad even though I had a bit of a break. I have been a little tired, maybe it's due to my new diet containing way larger percentage of fats to carbs than my regular one. If I won't adapt in two weeks I'll start adding some carbs because it's not worth it to be tired all the time. Two weeks shouldn't be too quick either. 

I feel like there are ideas that need to mature once again. Trying to let them develop on my sub-consciousness.

The best moment of today was just chatting and joking with my friend. It was such a warm shared moment.

My recipe for today is roasted brussels sprouts and pork cooked in oven.

Today I'm grateful for:

• A hobby that I enjoy
• Music, especially Avicii – Levels was very nostalgic
• Letting myself be tired if I feel like it
• Noticing emotions better with the help of meditation
• Getting plenty of sleep tonight

[Cam Adair]

Love brussels sprouts.

[SpiNips]

Hello! I'll keep it short, it's getting late.

Today was a great day. I managed to switch my Swedish course self-governing way of completing. I'm able to use the time way more efficiently + get a gym day in. I skipped todays BJJ because I was feeling rather bad. I decided to meet my friends instead and it lifted my mood a ton. The best thing today was winning Trivial Pursuit!

Today I recognized a fact that has made my life troubling at times. I notice tying my self-confidence to my assumption what my crush thinks of me. Not healthy. Also I've been narrowcasting on this one particular girl. Even though she is great I think we are better off just friends the way things are currently. I'm thinking about maybe dating a girl year younger than me since I think that I'll match them better with my current level of development. That's just natural.

Great! Happy Women's day!

Today I'm grateful for:

• Not thinking too big today, relaxing
• Pulled pork
• Not taking little mistakes too seriously, finding fun in them
• Self-governing swedish, plenty of time to work on it
• Awesome friends who like to hang out
• Board games
• Clipper Lemon white tea with a yellow dragon on it

[SpiNips]

Hello!

Today I killed it at the gym. Had real fun there! On the other hand eating less carbs seems to have a tiring effect on me. I'm still keeping cereal off my menu, but trying to add some other forms of carbs. It seems like I personally don't have a big problem with eating whole grains. Today I felt like quitting the diet and cooking rice, but I still cooked my food first. After eating I was glad I continued with the diet. Snacks and breakfasts are maybe the biggest problem currently. I have Turkish yoghurt, omelette and some avocado/egg salads to eat, but it's hard to beat bread in it's speed and convenience.

Websites on the internet that are promoting all different kinds of diets are great, but they are not simple. Oftentimes foods are debunked based on some bad component, for instance grains are bad because phyctic acid, lecitins etc.. Once you start looking into what your food contains it’s clear that nearly all of them contain some mildly harmful components. I think a good rule of thumb for a healthy diet would be to buy fresh, unprocessed ingredients and cook them yourself. To avoid refined grains, refined oils and trans fats. That shouldn't be too complicated. Having said that I've got to admit that if I added cereal back to my menu I would probably stop experimenting with new recipes and ingredients. Looking into the Mediterranean diet next.

Social interactions have lighted up my recent days amazingly! Taking care of my social connections seems to be really important for my happiness.

The best thing that happened today was talking about InterRail with my friends! When I'll do mine I'd love to meet some of you GameQuitters living in Europe.

Tomorrows recipe is vegetable filled omelette.

Today I'm grateful for:

• Squats
• Persistence
• Roxanne and the Police
• Going downhill skiing tomorrow
• Macbook
• Könö, he is a person whom I absolutely admire. He has so much positive energy and is unbelievably resilient

 

Edited March 9, 2016 by SpiNips

[Cam Adair]

I'm going to go kill it at the gym today too.

When do you plan on doing your InterRail? I did mine a few years ago - so much fun. I plan to come back to Europe soon, maybe this summer.

[SpiNips]

I'm probably going in 2017!  I'm probably going to travel in the old Jugoslavia, Italy, France, The Netherlands, Germany and Poland. We'll see about that in 2017.

[SpiNips]

Hello!

Today was a good day. I tried snowboarding for the first time and it went great! I was able to pick it up rather quick. I created rough plans for my diet today so it will be easier to follow. I fixed the need for cereal-made bread by baking some banana bread. Baking cheered up my mood which has been jumping around recently. I feel like I have been a bit tired and feel annoyed easily. I'm trying to keep my basics in check and it'll pass in time.

I thought a little about my journal format. I don't know whether all this personal information is necessary. It has worked out well for now though. I'll think about it.

The best moment today was the first time I learned to lean against the slope! After that the pieces started to fall in place.

Todays recipe is the banana bread: http://www.bakerita.com/paleo-chocolate-chunk-banana-bread/

Today I'm grateful for:

• Think and grow rich
• Cool gang of friends at the ski centre
• Doing things make me less tired than doing nothing
• A good realization about empathy
• Getting to taste my bread now!

Here is a pic from today!

[Cam Adair]

That's awesome! Now I shall take a picture the next time I go surfing.

[SpiNips]

Hello!

Today I took it easy after celebrating a friend's birthday in the neighbouring city. The best thing that happened today was watching the new James Bond movie with friends. It was very well shot but the end of the story was filled with deus ex machina which at times gets on my nerves.

I had an interesting conversation about life, freedom and future with my friend. 40 minute trip gone by in an instant. The conversation got me thinking about what do I want in life once again. Soon there will be no path set in stone in front of me. It's good to ask these questions once in a while to remember what the bigger picture looks like.

I want to work on connecting with people next month. I feel like I've got a big group of friends but few really close ones. Thinking on this subject is required! Turning this into a simple and measurable habit is not easy.

Today's recipe is salad with avocado, eggs and tuna. I'm going to cook it for tomorrow!

Today I'm grateful for:

• The Great conversation
• Saunas
• The warm and sunny weather
• Allergy medications
• Meeting new people yesterday
• Kylie by Akcent, the dance is legendary
• Listening to metal and Mumford and Sons
• Chocolate

[SpiNips]

Hello!

Today was a cool day! Got a lot done. Cooked a delicious salad and there is enough of it for Monday and Tuesday! ♥ I trained catch wrestling and sparred with a couple of huge guys. You sure get to tap a lot but just the feeling of sparring with a bigger dude makes me feel great. 

I was thinking about the way I was feeling the last week and a half or so. I think I might've been burnt out a little. There were stressing thoughts and too much work around. I feel a lot better having rested these few days. This is a problem that must be taken into notice. After all we are humans not machines. Anyone else had experience with burnouts? 

The greatest thing today was playing Pokémon theme on the piano! Finding the chords and blasting the song out!

Todays recipe is mashed potatoes and meatballs

Today I'm grateful for:

• Learned new ways of doing some guard passes on catch wrestling
• Warm shovers
• Arttu Wiskari and mökkitie
• Bo kaspers orkester
• Getting invited to a party
• Mint flavoured green tea

[Cam Adair]

If you're feeling a bit burned out or on that path, you need more PLAY. This article is a good one. 

[SpiNips]

@Cam Adair Wow, what an article! It really hits the nail in its head. I haven't left too much time for play recently and I have drank quite a lot. I can really identify with the authors feelings about emptiness and anxiousness from a year ago. 

I'm asking about your opinion, is playing just doing the things you enjoy with friends? Kind of playing around and having fun. It's great to note that it has a significant effect on our lives. Even though there is not information set in stone I feel like you can intuitively understand what he means by play.

[Cam Adair]

@Cam Adair Wow, what an article! It really hits the nail in its head. I haven't left too much time for play recently and I have drank quite a lot. I can really identify with the authors feelings about emptiness and anxiousness from a year ago. 

I'm asking about your opinion, is playing just doing the things you enjoy with friends? Kind of playing around and having fun. It's great to note that it has a significant effect on our lives. Even though there is not information set in stone I feel like you can intuitively understand what he means by play.

Play is a purposeless activity. The whole point of play is to just PLAY. A great book on it is called Play by Stuart Brown.