My Journal - SpiNips

[SpiNips]

Hello!

Today was great. My work with studying has paid off, and I'm content with it. BJJ was okay today, the techniques were complicate but sparring was great.

Recently I have had moments of clarity while thinking about my values and turning them into goals. I'm thinking about whether to somehow integrate this to my daily routine. I could for instance take 10 minutes out of each day to write my feelings about my goals and ideas how to get to them. Need to think about that.

I've been thinking about setting goals and I've come to the conclusion that I have to stick to what I aspire. Still while trying to avoid being stubbornness and close-mindedness but in the end I want to live my life with my values that I agree on.

Today I'm grateful for

• Potlucks
• Knowing that good habits will do work for me even when I have doubts about their necessity
• Good and warm scarf, It's a real lifesaver
• Having the chance to study with awesome, considerate and open people
• Not having deadly spiders, scorpions, mosquitos around! (And only one dangerous snake specie)

[SpiNips]

Hello!

Today we celebrated the end of this phase with my friends. Some of us drank a little and some drank a little more. We ended up having comical conversations about philosophy. Lets hope that tomorrow morning will be merciful.

I absolutely hate the scarcity culture.

Today I'm grateful for:

• Getting to know new people and strengthening the existing connections
• Pommes frites
• My friends for inviting me, I need to invite them to a sauna evening or something as well.
• Physics
• Carrots

[Cam Adair]

Yes! Abundance mentality all the way

[SpiNips]

Hello!

Today was a cool day! Spent most of my time with a friend. Just some pretty basic random stuff. 

I'm progressing in reading the Slight Edge. I love how simple it's picture of road to success looks like. I feel like my days will soon consist of numerous 10-minute-sections. Well maybe not, but I'm definitely looking to put this mindset/method into use. Areas that I could benefit from it are at meditation, stretching, working out, BJJ, studying, reading, social interactions, managing my menu, hygiene and probably many others as well. It will require good planning. Having too many habits is hard to manage.

For me today was a success because I was able to have good time with my friend. I feel like I'm slowly crawling over my avoidance of one on one social interactions. Have you guys any known methods how to apply the slight edge to your social skills and relationships? For me it's easier to come up with ideas on how to for example learn a physical activity like juggling or manage your calendar so your workout will fit in. I guess you could consider meetups as a workout for your social skills. If there are no meetups around I can always throw up my own.

Today I'm grateful for:

• Jeff Olson for sharing his wisdom
• Raisins and other dried fruits
• Going to a painting event, Going to paint like Bob Ross
• Bernkastel-Kues, a beatiful german city our class visited when I was 12
• Inspiring teachers for making subjects delightful by their sheer enthusiasm

[SpiNips]

What's up

Today has been a bit of a rollercoaster. For some reason I got really bashing comments from my mom. I had a conversation with her. I respect her but some of those were unnecessary and shaming. A thing I noticed after a while was that I projected my bad feelings to people around me and apologized. Anyways we got through it in the end.

BJJ was fun, I wrestled with a probably 85kg Policeman who was quite bulked up. Didn't get my head ripped off so that's a win!

It's probably around day 50 of meditation. I'm enjoying the Headspace Pro-pack. Works better than visualization for me

Today's Gratitude journal

• I'm grateful for antibacteric gel. It's so useful for preventing infections. Living in this age of advanced medicine is astonishing
• New phase, new people, new subjects

I spilled my drink on my laptop... I'm going to shut it down let it dry so I won't cause any damage  Oops....

[Cam Adair]

It's amazing what happens when we start to notice how we project our feelings on others hey?

[SpiNips]

Hello!

Today was alright. Only a couple steps from winning the day. My feelings have been a bit distracted and I've noticed having some unnecessary and far-fetched thoughts. Noticing and moving on. Feeling like I'm doing something wrong and things are going to get bad, even though there is no real basis for it. Have you people ever noticed anything like this? Feelings are hard to explain. Otherwise the day has been eventful since I trained BJJ and had time to hang out with my friends as well.

Today I'm grateful for:

• Music for bringing up memories, This time it's Radiohead
• Going to exercise even though I didn't really feel like it in the beginning
• My good old rucksack, It has served me for 11 years now
• Understanding that making improvement through Quantum leaps is actually not required to get better. Consistency > Breakthrough
• Getting to familiarize with people I don't really know that well tomorrow

[SpiNips]

Good point Cam! It works both ways doesn't it?

[Cam Adair]

Good point Cam! It works both ways doesn't it?

Yes. People project onto you just as much. That's why taking things personally is usually not accurate. It's not about you.

[SpiNips]

Hello!

I've been busy today. I've set up a plan to study more consistently and it has been working well for now. Today I attended a meeting regarding a job for next summer! It's great to earn some money for the future (possibly for InterRail). Yeah, going to get good sleep tonight. :^)

Today I'm grateful for:

• A random moment of connection with a person who I'm not in touch with really often.
• Getting everything done.
• Reading. Books feel different from other sources of information
• Our school providing us with iPads to study physics with. It's actually quite convenient
• Meeting my old arts teacher, she was as supportive as always

[seriousjay]

Well this one is a doozie, but since you're taking the time to comment on my journal, SpiNips, I will go through yours and see if I can contribute at all!

[SpiNips]

Hello!

Today I had pretty negative thoughts during the day, but after reading the chapter in The Slight Edge which discusses happiness I was able to get more perspective. I was looking at some things a bit narrowly. Pretty good day altogether, went out to meet friends and did all my little pieces of work for the day.

The best moment of the day was somewhat random, but it was me and 3 of my friends trying to beat each other on how many stairs can we jump upwards. 

Yup that's pretty much it, trying to introduce happy habits from the Slight Edge into my life. :^)

Cam - Yeah that's true. I was also thinking about happy mood projecting from a person to another. I know some people who just light up my day by just their presence!

Jay - Thanks man! I will try to read everyone's journals whenever there is time since they are really great and I can relate/find help from many of them.

Today I'm grateful for:

• Penguins
• My sister landing safely to Iceland
• Tea, works wonders for my throat
• Stretching, feeling more mobile and eases back pains
• Chocolate, Dark chocolate is healthy and cocoa altogether enhances endorphins effect

[Cam Adair]

Exactly. It has to do with mirror neurons in our brain. Look it up.

[SpiNips]

Hello!

Today was great fun! I felt happier maybe it's random, maybe it's the "Happy Habits" recommended in the Slight Edge working, anyways more positive today! Essentially got all the little pieces of work done, and that's Great. The best moment of the day was no doubt meeting my old friend, who I went wild camping with. Really happy to see him after a long time. He told me that he is into Kung Fu and we sparred a bit. Just really unexpected and fun!

Going to read a bit of the Slight Edge before going to sleep. Progressing steadily through the book. Up next is the Ripple Effect.

Today I'm grateful for:

• Hugs, I love them!
• Garlic, I love the taste
• Spongebob plasters
• the Fact that our part of the world is currently at peace, Reading through a book about the II World War
• Power Metal and Queen, Energizing music!

[SpiNips]

Hello! 

Today was a day with ups and downs. The darkness of the nychthemeron (Is this word appropriate?  ) takes a little time to get used to. There nothing I can do about the orbit right now so I'll just accept the it as it is. For some reason there was a bit toxic atmosphere in school, but there were pleasant moments as well. The best thing about this day was laughing with my friends off of some awkward moments we had.

While I've not been outside of the house too much today I've still got some good work done. I reflected my feelings and goals and that helped me understand where I'm going currently. Plenty of balancing and trying out to do. Creating a habit about this could be beneficial. For example I could spend 30 minutes every sunday checking in with the happenings of the week. Yup, Let's try that out!

Today I'm grateful for:

• To be able to laugh at awkward coincidences, especially on Fridays
• Oranges, there is something about the scent that wakes you up
• My friend for being a living example of the Slight Edge in social skills
• Cashew nuts, no need to explain
• Making new Kung Fu friends 

Edited November 13, 2015 by SpiNips
Grammar

[SpiNips]

Hello!

Today was great! I read, met my friends and cooked good food. Really solid day. The best moment was drinking tea with my friends in a dim candle lit room. The Slight Edge continues to impress me day by day. Now I'm moving on to part II. Doing well!

Today I'm grateful for:

• Green tea, a refreshing alternative to black tea
• Cooking steaks with my father, had a really good time with him today
• Making new friends who know different kinds of martial arts
• Having people who light up this otherwise quite dark season
• Eating well
• Having plans for tomorrow

[Cam Adair]

+1 to Green tea!

[SpiNips]

Hello!

Today was a good day. The best thing that happened today was meeting other people who are into martial arts and sparring with them. Ended up getting a black eye during the warm-up. Double-leg takedown into side back kick was not a good idea.  Albeit the minor injuries we had a great time and learned a lot!

The Slight Edge's responsibility part was great. As a weekly challenge I'm doing my best to notice and act upon all the positive choices and also to notice and fix the small errors in judgement, while taking responsibility of my situation and the outcomes.

Today I'm grateful for:

• Getting hit with the foot on a hard and solid body part instead of for example my teeth, extremely stupid on my part not to wear a mouthguard. Lesson learned!
• Smoked salmon, Tastes beyond delicious and contains Omega-3 fatty acids
• Negative feelings, as I was cycling home I though that it might actually be quite miserable to always be happy. Somehow they are a part of being human.
• Milk, It helps me to get Calcium and calories
• My mother and grandmother for collecting 20 kg of funnel chanterelles, we could make all sorts of delicious dishes from them, white wine chanterelle risotto maybe

[SpiNips]

Hello!

Today I've been focusing on healing and planning. The last couple of days have been too static for me, so I've got to fix that small error in my judgement. I'm currently planning on starting to work out in the morning. Three times a week the standard 5x5 stronglift routine. It's going to be pretty intense with BJJ and Gym, but overtime they should add up to decent results. I'm hoping that I will be able to withstand the pressure from that amount of sports. Well, the time will show and I can always adjust it afterwards!

The funniest thing of today was seeing the surprised faces of my friends when they saw my eye. Glad nothing worse happened!

Keeping up with my habits quite well, studying is taking it's toll. Feeling a bit distracted and stressed. There are a lot of thoughts running in my head while I think about using the Slight Edge in all of it's fields. One step at a time, I have to work with these thing one step at a time.

Today I'm grateful for:

• Dining with my whole family
• The GameQuitters Community. I know that you are guys who are focused on building your own success and not focusing on tearing down others'
• The eye is healing well
• Not having Mathematics currently, eases the school workload considerably
• My sister is back from Iceland, Great to have her back again
• Having a warm chat with an awesome girl

[Cam Adair]

Awesome to have you as part of our community man

[SpiNips]

Hello!

Today I have felt gratitude and positivity kicking in! I'm starting to notice more of the positive things happening around. My morning routine is a bit mixed up tomorrow since I'm going to workout, looking forward to that. Have to make sure I get enough sleep though since I've got an early wake up. Sleeping enough is important for me. The best thing today was the positivity streak combo. Going to read a bit of the Slight Edge before going to sleep.

Today I'm grateful for:

• Getting the gym card, plenty of time to work out before summer
• Dick Dale and Aerosmith
• Quizlet, Great tool for learning languages
• Going spend good time with my friends
• Stronglift 5x5 app. It's really well designed!

[Tom]

• Stronglift 5x5 app. It's really well designed!

Good to hear! It didn't exist when I did the program so I was making calculations in my head all the time  Have a lot of fun with 5x5 and expect some impressive gains! In a few months you'll need to go easy on your BJJ buddies... You'll keep the speed and precision and add a lot of gripping power.

If you have any questions around 5x5 maybe I can help, so feel free to ask.

[SpiNips]

Hello!

I've been very busy today. I'll have to catch up on your journals when I have the time! I spent my day with friends and studying. Oh and the Gym was really great! It was lovely working out in the morning while it was calm and peaceful. The timing was a little tight so I'm going to make an extra 20 minutes for the exercise, stretching and showering. The best moments of today were working out in the gym and getting a nice cup of tea with my friends.

Good to hear! It didn't exist when I did the program so I was making calculations in my head all the time  Have a lot of fun with 5x5 and expect some impressive gains! In a few months you'll need to go easy on your BJJ buddies... You'll keep the speed and precision and add a lot of gripping power.

If you have any questions around 5x5 maybe I can help, so feel free to ask.

Tom -  Thanks mate! I will bombard you with the questions whenever I stumble upon them. Yeah, by the way I'd like to ask whether you use any extra protein or other kinds of supplements along with working out?

Today I'm grateful for:

• Working out in the morning, since the gym isn't overcrowded. You are able to use the equipment without a queue
• Our substitute teacher for history today. He was really into the subject and it glowed from his appearance. Respect for him
• Spices, flavoring otherwise simple tasting dishes
• Long Johns, we'd up freeze here if we hadn't got them
• Buff Dudes! They are entertaining and educational at the same time.

[Phoenix]

Good to see you're doing great!
I was reading through your journals and was wondering how reading affected your life so far. Did reading for instance help you become more sociable? I recently picked up reading as a side hobby. I bought 'The power of habit' by Charles Duhigg, you've heared of it. I'm also considering buying The Slight Edge, since it had a positive influence on you. I will use your experiences as a framework to improve myself. Thanks for being an inspiration!

[Tom]

Tom -  Thanks mate! I will bombard you with the questions whenever I stumble upon them. Yeah, by the way I'd like to ask whether you use any extra protein or other kinds of supplements along with working out?

I compared progress with and without supplements and found that a varied and balanced diet is enough for me. I still managed to get from 58 kg to 70 kg and I deadlift twice my body weight. I do eat quite a lot (always did) and I drink at least two liters of water each day.