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My Daily Process

On By Dean ColucciIn Fitness, health, Healthspan, longevity, mindfulness, Uncategorized, WellnessLeave a comment

Part One – The Morning (or thereabouts)

I thought it would be useful to post my morning ritual. This process has evolved over the years. I implemented the latest iteration about 6 months ago. I will continue to update this post as my process evolves and I make changes. Philosophically, I think of this process as something I live within. Not something I follow mechanistically. Living within this process helps center me. It provides me direction and yields rewards such as reducing anxiety on days when it seems the world is swirling around me while also giving me an infrastructure for promoting my own health and wellness. I welcome any feedback or comments on the process.

Wake time: Most weekdays at 6 AM.

Bathroom time, collect Weight, CGM (Continuous Glucose Monitor) at Levels Health, and Oura ring data.

Consume 1 g of Resveratrol mixed with 3 ml of olive oil, 12 ozs of water mixed with fresh squeezed lime juice and pink Himalayan sea salt, 1 g NMN, 800 mg Fisetin, 400 mg Spermidine, and 800 mg Quercetin.

Most days I will also grab a cup of either Pu’Er Fermented Black or Green tea from Pique to sip during after workout. I also sip Xendurance Hydro Stix during and after workout. It has only one gram of carbohydrates and I take the view that it doesn’t break my morning fast — at least for my purposes. Depending on the anticipated workout, particularly if it’s going to be a long chipper or a long aerobic grinder, I will take one or two Santa Cruz Medicinals CBD Infused Adaptogenic Mushroom caps. I have found them to be really useful for these types of workouts — or at least my mind believes that.

After that, it’s off to either a 6:30 or 7:15 AM Crossfit Class at @Veracity.Athletics. I usually do crossfit 4 to 5 times per week. I vary it on Saturdays with a hot powerflo yoga session @leapfrogpoweryoga. Some weeks I try to squeeze in a second yoga session in the evening.

Post-workout I grab a shot of double espresso. My favorite currently is Blue Jaguar from Redbird Coffee in Bozeman, MT.

If it is warm enough I take my double espresso out to my Zen grotto under the Tibetan Prayer Flags for 10 minutes of Mindfulness meditation using the @wakinguppapp. Otherwise, I do this from a quiet place indoors.

Following the 10-minute meditation, I try to journal for anywhere between 5 and 15 minutes. Periodically, this is interspersed with some reading from Stoic philosophy. I recently completed the Meditations of Marcus Aurelius and have begun working through the Discourses of Epictetus. The unstructured journaling picks up on anything that has crossed my mind that morning, prior evening, or that otherwise requires working through mentally.

I recently added a sauna session to the morning ritual — after using outside cold plunges throughout the winter.

I try to do five twenty-minute sauna sessions per week — 20 minutes per session at 175 degrees or higher.

If I cannot fit in the sauna session in the morning routine, I will try to add it at some point in the day.

Following meditation and sauna, if it’s cold enough (as I mentioned above), it’s time for a 3 to 5 minute cold plunge in my 150 gallon stock tank which is cooled by Mother Nature. Otherwise, it’s time for a shower. At the end of the shower I will turn the water all the way to cold for 2-3 minutes. It’s important that cold follows the hot — and not vice versa. #soebergprinciple

Following an after-shower espresso shot, It’s time for work. If I have a busy day and need immediate focus, I will also throw down one or two capsules of Santa Cruz Medicinals CBD Infused Nootropics Caps.

In future posts regarding my ritual, I will explore what processesI have for the remainder of the day — particularly around the breaking of my fast midday. I try to limit eating to an 8-hour window each day. The purpose of doing so is primarily to promote longevity and wellness. I am not pursuing any direct caloric restriction through the limited feeding window. I do, however, count macros in an effort to live in a caloric deficit. This has had mixed results.

Note: I have no economic or commercial relationship with any of the products mentioned in this post.

A Fresh New Notebook

On By Dean ColucciIn UncategorizedLeave a comment

There is nothing like the first fresh page in a brand new notebook. It brings back memories of new beginnings. The first day of school. The first day of a new semester. A new job. Optimism. Excitement. The starting line for an opportunity to learn. The promise of growth. New experiences.

My first post of 2022. Even though it is already February, I feel much the same. Where will we go this year? Each day, each post is a chance for new beginnings. Each breath is no different.

The sense of adventure. Expansiveness. While the process remains the same, the openness in front of me is vast.

Why waste a minute…..?

Or better yet, why fail to recognize and enjoy each minute. It will not be wasted but experienced. Then, I have lived. I have been present.

I may think I have much to write. I may think I have much to do. But really, the overriding consideration is that I have much to live.

I have built a process to stay in the moment. To experience life. I will continue to follow that process in 2022 along with the systems I have built.

I will not cease re-examining these systems. I will not cease stress testing them. But more importantly, I will not cease living.

If we build systems and processes for life solely to prepare for some event in the future, we are missing out on the present. We are missing the point. A system needs to be sustainable for the future, but, most importantly, it needs to survive in the present.

What good does it do if I build a process for living a long life, if I never actually live that life? If I never enjoy and savor the present moment? The only moment that I am ever assured of living.

Undoubtedly, there is a thin line to be walked between laying the groundwork for a long and happy life and actually enjoying every minute of that life. Of taking the steps to promote longevity and living each moment that I am given to the fullest.

There must be balance.

To be truly valuable, I must strive for the present, while building for the future.

Begin Again…and Again

On By Dean ColucciIn Uncategorized2 Comments

It’s been a long year.

We have come through it well.

We look to the impending new year for a new beginning. A fresh start. A reboot.

But why wait?

Each day is an opportunity for a new beginning. Each breath is an opportunity for a new beginning. If we have learned anything from the past year, why waste any day or breath. Why wait for an arbitrary demarcation in time to begin again. To take the first step on a journey.

With each new breath, we begin again.

Use it wisely.

Throw Out the VHS Tapes

On By Dean ColucciIn health, mindfulness, UncategorizedLeave a comment

I have had a lot of thoughts rumbling through my brain the last several weeks.

One which has reverberated around quite a bit is the passage of time. A couple weeks ago, this realization hijacked my mind as I was tried to clean out a closet of children’s toys which dated back to when my oldest was 5 or 6 years old. The closet stacks of old VHS tapes. Arthur. Rugrats. Barney. Even the dreaded TeleTubbies. I hesitated toss ing them out. Even though they were simply taking up space. I am not even sure we have a working VHS player. Nor could I tell you the last time we even watched a VHS tape (or give you a reason why we should).

I thought about why it was bothering me so much to depart with these tapes. My kids surely did not want them. My wife wanted them out.

It was an acknowledgment. An acknowledgment that time had indeed past. It is not returning. A little part of me had died….but had it really?

It is still a part of me. It is a part of who and where I am.

We live in today’s instant. The past is already past. Who cares. We have lived it and enjoyed it.

New adventures lie ahead. If I am open to them.

Keep to the process. Think. Live in the moment. It’s the only on of which we are assured.

The tapes went out that day to the dump. I don’t miss them.

So it’s been a while…

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Beginning a few minutes after my last (first) blog post, I have been trying to write my next (second) blog post. Many starts but until now an equal number of stops. I have come up with a bunch of topics and ideas I want to share but I have made perfect the enemy of the good. That has effectively paralyzed me. I have forgotten most of these ideas.

No more. I am going to make this blog more of an experiment. I will bring it in line with how I typically conduct my life. I am usually willing to try things. Experiment. Be an early adopter. Along the lines of something I wrote in my first entry, I am open for growth. Rarely, if ever, do I consider something a failure. If I am dissatisfied with a result, I try to dissect the process to see why the result differed from expectation. This usually involves a fair amount of honesty with myself. It also might require a few iterations of introspection. I need to better apply that ideal to the writing process and this blog.

Move on quickly. Learn but don’t dwell.

I will try to put things out there more often. That was my whole intent in doing this exercise. Future posts may be imperfect or not fully evolved. So what. They will be out there for feedback and reactions. I will learn and move on. The blog will continue to evolve hopefully.

I think one of the biggest issues with people playing “in the second half” is that individuals become increasingly less willing to take chances. To put themselves out there. They stop experimenting. This sclerosis may occur gradually over time but eventually they get to a point where the inertia to stay on the same glide path becomes too much to overcome. It is almost paralyzing. They didn’t realize it while it was happening.

What’s the point? Are you just trying to run out the clock? Why? Makes no sense. To me this is the time to experiment even more than earlier in life.

Write the blog post. Throw it out there. Take the chance. Challenge myself. Revisit what I eat and drink. When I eat and when I chose not to. How I spend my time. Assess my activity level. Try a new movement. Expand my consciousness. Learn.