Tag: mindset

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 Sunlit Day

On By Dean ColucciIn health, mindfulnessLeave a comment

Glorious sunlit day.

I feel the rays being absorbed.

They warm my body.

The rays flow over and through me.

They create heat in my body.

I feel alive.

The sun energizes me.

It refreshes me.

I feel alive.

I begin again.

I own my breath.

I am renewed.

I am alive.

I am grateful.

Ignore the Leaf Blowers

On By Dean ColucciIn mindfulnessLeave a comment

I sketched out these thoughts about six weeks ago, on a beautiful fall sunny day in New Jersey.

Surrounded by falling leaves in my Zen Grotto. Leaves peacefully falling to the ground around me. The ground was covered that day like the first snowfall we would soon have. Ankle deep in some places.

The quiet of the leaves falling through space was soon penetrated by a leaf blower in a neighboring yard. Actually, an army of leaf blowers. An ironic counterpoint to the peacefulness of the falling leaves. The suburban homeowner’s weapon of mass destruction against the falling leaves and the end of summer. Leaves which had just died after fulfilling their life’s mission of providing oxygen.

When I sit in my my grotto and journal, the exercise typically begins as a compilation of what I see around me. An approach that typically makes me be present and opens my mind. This might be the one time in a day that I stop. I look. I listen to the natural world. A world unrelated to a brick attached to my ear.

I can hear birds chirping. Watch the birds and squirrels coexist. See the leaves die their natural death.

This particular day the noise rang out and smacked me. The blasts of the leaf blower entered my consciousness as an image for the noise in my daily existence. Noise which I must continually navigate in and through. Some days worse than others. Leaf blowers appear and disappear outside of my control. Each are obstacles that I need to pierce through to see, hear, and feel what is going on. To be present. Mindful.

The distraction of the noise, of the leaf blower, is just that. Distraction. A distraction to be ignored. Allowed to wash over me and permit a focus on the here and now. The important. As opposed to the trivial.

Transcending the metaphor, the individual making the most noise is to be ignored. We need to ignore the leaf blowers in our lives. In our politics. The leaf blowers spew noise but do not affect the beauty and existence in front of us if we push them to a mere passing sound in our consciousness. Instead, focusing on the quiet beauty around us, enveloping us. The dying leaf falling to the ground. The wind lightly blowing. The distant, soft sound of the chirping cardinal

Focus on the silent. The white space between the noise. The leaf blowers will always be ready to barge in if we let them. If we let them affect us. But why?

Random Thoughts on Observing Birds Feeding

On By Dean ColucciIn mindfulnessLeave a comment

A few days ago, I sat in my self-described Grotto of Zen.  A small rock garden existing in the corner of my yard where I have hung Tibetan prayer flags and installed a small Buddha.  My place for mindful meditation. 

It was a brisk morning.  I had just finished my 10 minutes of Mindfulness (using Sam Harris’ Waking Up app www.waking up.com).  Sitting in my Adirondack chair, perhaps procrastinating until I moved on to the rest of my day, I fixated on several bird feeders about 20 yards away.  The interplay of the birds, squirrels, and chipmunks on the ground, in the trees, and through the air entertained me.

They flew or scurried in and out of my consciousness. 

After a few minutes, I was struck by their coexistence.  They moved in a orderly manner from a feeder, to a tree, to the next feeder, on and then off the ground.  Very little conflict occurred between them.    On the ground, the birds, squirrels, and chipmunks picked at the remnants of food falling to the ground from the feeders above or another’s leftover seeds.

A break in the action….now the next shift swoops in.  Just as orderly as the prior one.  This continues for some time.

It struck me that their behavior is instructive for us so-called sentient beings. An allegory perhaps.

These “lesser” species cooperating and co-existing. Without a spoken word.

Enjoying the sweet smell of early fall air, I took in the chirps and squeaks of the birds and their friends. 

Most importantly, I took the time to Stop.  Listen. Observe. Hear.  It was very instructive as I transitioned to my day. 

I observed and covered my breath.  I absorbed the singing above.  It soothed me. 

I took a break.  I listened and I breathed. 

For those few moments, my mind was focused and I was not distracted.

It was a welcome change.

So it’s been a while…

On By Dean ColucciIn UncategorizedLeave a comment

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.