02.12-self-care
02.12-self-care
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type: image_heavy | img coverage: L=60% R=32% heading: SELF-CARE
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The left page of this spread is dominated by a large, realistic aerial photograph of Three Mile Canyon on the Columbia River Gorge, showing a calm blue expanse of water reflecting distant arid hills, with a red pickup truck and white Airstream trailer parked on a gravel launch area surrounded by sagebrush. The chapter title "SELF-CARE 2.12" appears in large bold lettering at the top, with vertical text running down the left edge reading "THREE MILE CANYON @ COLUMBIA GORGE." A dark rectangular pull-quote box at the bottom contains the exact text from the user's excerpt about 40 years of memories and the choked launch preventing foiling.
The right page shifts to a split layout with a dark gray panel containing the heading "hacking your thoughts," followed by explanatory paragraphs on cognitive biases and amygdala hijackings. Prominently featured is a hand-drawn-style "COGNITIVE BIAS CHEAT SHEET" infographic divided into four quadrants with red icons, listing biases under headings like "TOO MUCH INFO" and "NOT ENOUGH TIME." Below the photo on the left and continuing onto the right page is additional narrative text describing the location's changes and emotional impact.
The primary image is documentary in style, captured from the actual journey as described in the book context, with no ironic cartoon elements present. The overall spread feels straightforward and location-specific rather than metaphorical.
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SELF-CARE 2.12 i have 40 years of memories here. for the first time i saw how choked the launch has become. i cant foil here. Bummer. THREE MILE CANYON @ COLUMBIA GORGE 298
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Welcome back to another Episode of SCOTOMAVILLE. We’re at one of my favorite, and most memorable places in the en tire Columbia Gorge. This is Three Mile Canyon. However, it’s all different. It’s changed, and I have to change my thinking. I discovered weeds have grown to the surface across the launch and lagoon. Unfortunately, I can’t foil here. It’s emotional because I watched hacking your thoughts amygdala hyjackings can be a thing of your past Imagine how futile it would be to compete on a playing field without knowing the rules of the game. Your team would get it’s butt kicked, and the players would turn on each other in frustration. Buster Benson digested the Wiki list of cognitive biases and made this simple play book. Memorize it. You’ll recognize false narratives intended to game you, turning their kryptonite into your awareness superpower. shooting stars with my children in my lap after hot days of fully plan ing jibes. I assumed I could continue building memories here. But what I got was thrown off my foil into masses of overgrown weeds lurking just below the surface. It’s sad but true. It’s time to hack my thinking by addressing change and cognitive biases. In this Episode, we will talk about leaving SCOTOMAVILLE 299
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type: text_only | img coverage: L=29% R=10% heading: two different aspects of self-
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two different aspects of self care: how we can manage our physiology and our psychology. We’re first going to talk about the output - that thinking that becomes speaking. Then we’re going to cover aspects of your physiology - that is, input - what you eat, smell, the information you take in.
PSYCHOLOGY I want you to see that in order for me to manage my output I have to manage my input. I’ve had to throttle what I can hear - the distant noises of the train and highway that are affecting my mindfullness. I’m using unsightly earplugs so I can listen to my thoughts to tell you about listening to yours. That’s Onus Probandi. “Every cognitive bias is therefor a reason — primarily to save our brains time or energy.” We’re gamed for 20 watts of effort.
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they’re wrong, I feel vulnerable, triggering an Amygdala Hijacking - flooded with emotions. We’re all vulnerable. The gang that put the Wikipedia list together counts ~188 cognitive biases. That’s too many for me to digest, so I don’t make the effort to understand the implication or magni tude of the importance. Fortunately, Buster Benson has worked hard to skinny the list down to four problems the biases are trying to solve. “Every cognitive bias is there for a reason — primarily to save our brains time or energy.” Our four fundamental computing problems ■ We aggressively skim and filter to kill noise. ■ We seek meaning, so we create stories. ■ We act fast, jumping to conclusions. ■ This isn’t easy, so we remember only bits. FOLLOW ME - ON YOUR OWN JOURNEY The theme of SCOTOMAVILLE is that “the Greatest Expedition you’ll ever undertake is that Journey to Self-understanding.” I’m inviting you on that journey while demonstrating it. To change our outcomes, we have to become aware of our beliefs, and understand our views are half wrong because the input we’re getting is playing on our ignorance of our cognitive biases. We have access to Internet, so we mistakengly believe we are smart by having what seems the right answer. We’re naive believing that Google tells us what’s available or true. It’s worse than with the book-mobile. Google has server capacity to index four percent of the internet. Four percent is the total capacity they have. What could go wrong with that? Google is obligated to their shareholders to make a profit. So, their algorithms chose what’s profit able to pay for those facilities and the electricity and the employees. They must identify and serve what is profitable, putting users in a walled garden. The search results reflect a diet discarding 96% - and literally, that’s called censorship. TOO MUCH INFO - NOT ENOUGH MEMORY To give you an inside look at how awareness exposes our vulnerability, consider this: According to my plan, I’m supposed to be on the water right now because the weather forecasting model I consulted turns out to be probabilistic, rather than accurate. It’s precise but not correct. The forecast was for strong wind here. We drove a couple of hours to settle our things with enough playtime - a good Hoppers move - except that I’m pegged. When I rely on external recommendations, and
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type: image_heavy | img coverage: L=85% R=41% heading: COGNITIVE
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The dominant visual on this spread is a large, full-width circular infographic titled “COGNITIVE BIAS CODEX” in bold uppercase lettering at the top. A detailed gray brain illustration sits at the exact center, with thin colored lines radiating outward to connect dozens of small text labels naming individual cognitive biases. The diagram is divided into four color-coded sections—green on the left for “What Should We Remember?” and “We Need To Act Fast,” and blue on the right for “Too Much Information” and “Not Enough Meaning”—each with explanatory captions and bullet-point lists describing the brain’s evolved shortcuts and their downsides.
Additional text blocks appear on the right side of the spread, including the credit “ORIGINALLY WRITTEN BY: BUSTER BENSON,” four color-keyed problem statements, and a section headed “So what’s the downside?” listing four consequences of the solutions. A thin horizontal rule and the footer “LEAVING SCOTOMAVILLE” with page number 303 run across the bottom, along with small-print credits for the visual design (John Manoogian III), concept (Buster Benson), and source (Wikipedia’s list of 188 biases).
The image is purely diagrammatic and systems-oriented, not documentary photography or ironic illustration. It directly supports the chapter’s self-care theme by mapping the mental filters and biases that can undermine accurate self-observation and decision-making.
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COGNITIVE
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BIAS CODEX Our brains have evolved to deal with these four giant problems: ■ We aggressively skim and filter to kill noise. ■ We seek meaning, so we create stories. ■ We act fast, jumping to conclusions. ■ This isn’t easy, so we remember only bits.
So what’s the downside? In addition to the four problems, our solutions have problems of their own: ■ We don’t see everything. Some of the information we filter out is actually useful and important. ■ Our search for meaning can conjure details that are filled in by our false beliefs, and stories that aren’t true. ■ Quick decisions can be seriously flawed. Some of the quick reactions and decisions we jump to are unfair, self-serving, and count er-productive. ■ Our memory reinforces errors. Some of the stuff we remember for later just makes all of the above systems more biased, and more damaging. ORIGINALLY WRITTEN BY: BUSTER BENSON Leaving SCOTOMAVILLE 303
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type: image_heavy | img coverage: L=32% R=69% heading: To demonstrate how vulnerable I feel, here’s my
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The right-hand page is dominated by a large composite image showing a silver Airstream trailer parked on green grass, overlaid with a semi-transparent, color-coded map of the United States and southern Canada displaying city names and temperature readings. A white sticky note with handwritten text reading “This whole program smells of asshole” is placed in the upper right of the image. A dark horizontal banner across the lower portion of the image repeats the phrase “THIS WHOLE PROGRAM SMELLS OF ASSHOLE” followed by explanatory text about the author’s immediate emotional reaction of fear, rejection, and shame.
The left-hand page contains running body text discussing vulnerability, machine learning versus intuition, and the need for triangulation of opinions, along with a centered pull-quote in large italic type: “the answer might be popular. It might be precise. It does not mean it’s accurate.” A smaller section header “SHIFTING PERSPECTIVE ON OPINION” appears below the image.
The visual style is documentary photography (the trailer and location) combined with graphic overlay and ironic annotation rather than a literal illustration or diagram. The sticky note functions as wry, self-deprecating commentary that directly echoes the chapter’s theme of internal conflict and self-care. No people are visible in the spread.
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To demonstrate how vulnerable I feel, here’s my thoughts: The scale of the analytics and the model ing is so unimaginable this machine learning must be more intelligent than me. So, it must be more accurate than my intuition. That pushes me into an internal conflict and doubting, which triggers issues of confidence. Ok, I yield.
SHIFTING PERSPECTIVE ON OPINION You’ve seen across my episodes that there seems to be a provision of opportunity to learn on the exact subject that I’m liking... Liking? In this scene, I’m speaking about input, thinking, and how I seem to be presented with challenges to overcome on the topic in focus. In a previous episode on onion peeling, I presented a way of discovering what’s troubling us. “the answer might be popular. It might be precise. It does not mean it’s accurate” Choose them wisely. With all of the cognitive biases, it’s easy to get gamed. Look for Triangulation - no less than three different arguments for any topic or storyline. Don’t settle for a single narrative. Require AI to name references and to cite sources. Do the hard work and ask it what is a better question to ask. dig a little deeper. Test them to be reliable. Don’t just swallow it. Just because it’s popular, it may even be precise; it doesn’t make it accurate. Test what I’m claiming for yourself. Don’t swallow what I am saying. Discover Why You Do What You Do with as many tools as you can find. Require evidence, even from those that acknowledge their biases and point out their false conclusions. Leaving SCOTOMAVILLE 304
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An Example of Provision: I was out wind-foiling. When I returned to the Airstream, I found a post-it note which read: “this whole program smells of asshole” Immediately, I had a flush of emotions, including fear, rejection, and shame. I reacted with de fensive thoughts like, “For 30 years, I bicycled to work. I’ve earned my carbon offsets for the rest of my life. I should be able to use gasoline now after THIS WHOLE PROGRAM SMELLS OF ASSHOLE: Immediately, I had a flush of emotions including fear, rejection and shame. I reacted with defense. decades of human-powered commuting, right?” “This Airstream is our full-time home. When can you buy a home for less than $150,000? You can’t do that today.” At first, I was struggling with strong emotional rejection. I was conflicted and in turmoil. Leaving SCOTOMAVILLE 305
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type: text_only | img coverage: L=15% R=11% heading: Leaving SCOTOMAVILLE
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Leaving SCOTOMAVILLE 306 But then I remembered what First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt had said: “no one can make you feel inferior without your consent.” Wait a minute I thought. I don’t have to accept what they say. I used diffuse time to reflect on my reaction. I did maintenance on the roof of the Airstream for the winter, readjusted the door, and puttered around all the tasks that I needed to do. I made time to think about what I was feeling and THE GIFT THEY GAVE US I started feeling sad for them, guessing why they let their 20-watt brain agree with social ly popular judgments instead of what’s accurate. That’s sad. They didn’t know what a gift they were giving me, or you, in this Episode. I recalled several linked memories and feelings of rejection and shame. The yellow sticky note trig gered a false conclusion I had about my origins and birth mom. It was certainly the feelings of shame from my childhood, but my mom was 15 years old when she had me. What did she know? The criticism is not about me. That’s someone else’s judgment about hard work and achieve ment. I realized that the core of my emotions and potentially explosive trigger turned out to be a I puttered around solving physical problems while peeling an emotional onion. “No one can make you feel inferior with out your consent.” Eleanor Roosevelt thinking. I thought about previous experiences of rejection and dug through layers of prior wounds and childish conclusions by peeling emotional onion layers. I realized that I had been given an opportunity to see how other people can jump to a judg ment without having information. They might aim to cancel me by criticizing - expecting me to prove myself - the inverse of Onus Probandi: “I say you are, so prove otherwise.” They didn’t know much we struggled to get the Airstream and how much maintenance and work it is or the pride of ownership of the Air stream community. None of those things were in their argument. They didn’t watch my chan nel. What did they know?
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Leaving SCOTOMAVILLE 307 “You have power over your mind - not outside events. Realize this and you will find strength.” Marcus Aurelius false conclusion I had with a judgment made by others. The deepest onion layer I found was ultimately childhood erroneous junk. [laughter] I love it. I can laugh about it. CURIOUSLY COINCIDENTAL Curiously, the sticky note judgment came while I was working on this Episode on Self-care, and specifically on the topic of managing my thoughts and self-talk. Coincidently, we had five similar rejections the same day. They were demands to remove our rig, get out of here, go somewhere else; we don’t care where - not our problem. The timing and abun dance seemed outstanding to me. My cognitive bias wants to filter noise and find patterns, create a story and make sense of it all. Don’t just read this and accept what I claim. Do your homework. Dig into your core beliefs next time you feel triggered. Don’t accept the first few excuses or justifications you recall. They are likely tangential distractions. Instead, work on something physical and sleep on the issue. Ask a superi or reasoning engine to express the words as emotions. Peel some emotional onions to gain insights and evidence that only your mind will expose. Take another step up your Personal Everest. You have the power! POWER OVER YOUR MIND You’ll remember the quote from Marcus Aurelius about “the obstacle is the way.” You might recall from an earlier Episode that I believe the common or the popular interpretation of that saying is a little off target. I think the ‘obstacle’ is our interpretation of the event, not the actual event. It’s not the game-a-foot or conspiracy against us. It’s our thinking... the way we think, not what we think. With better awareness and some understanding, you’ll not only recognize fallacies, but you’ll start testing your thoughts as a discipline. You’ll also begin changing your input sources. For example, if you’re getting confirmation bias from a single channel - too much information that matches what you already believe - then find another with facts and evidence. That’s a way to control and trans form your outcomes. Give your family the gift of being the best you can be. Give yourself that gift by managing your self- talk at the source. Document, review, analze, peel, repeat and grow your self-mastery experience.
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type: image_heavy | img coverage: L=14% R=44% heading: PHYSIOLOGY
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The left page opens with the large bold heading “PHYSIOLOGY” above two small documentary photographs placed side-by-side near the top: a close-up of a dark tire tread with a silver screw head clearly embedded in it, and a waist-up portrait of a gray-haired man in a dark suit, purple tie, and glasses gesturing with his right hand. Lower on the page, a smaller candid photo shows a bald older man (appearing to be Daniel) grimacing with his hand pressed to his temple.
The right page is dominated by a large, realistic color photograph of a breakfast plate on a dark table—two pancakes topped with sliced almonds and a dark spread, scrambled eggs mixed with bacon bits and green vegetables, and several slices of orange or melon—bearing white overlaid text that reads “IT TAKES A BIT OF TIME, HOWEVER WE FEEL GREAT FOR HOURS AND DON’T HAVE CONSEQUENCES LIKE WITH GRANOLA, YOGURT AND ORANGE JUICE.”
At the bottom right, a clean diagrammatic illustration labeled “NO MORE LEAKY GUT” depicts intestinal villi, tight junctions, gut microbes, PAMPs, LPS, and inflammation pathways with color-coded arrows and labels. The tire image functions as a direct visual metaphor for the opening text about catching small problems early, while the breakfast photo and gut diagram serve as literal and conceptual illustrations of the chapter’s physiology and Plant Paradox discussion.
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PHYSIOLOGY You’ve heard me say that you should pay attention to the small things numerous times. They give you a heads up on future consequences. Before you start towing your RV, most of us do a walk around. Guess what I found recently. A screw stuck in the tire - here. That’s the kind of thing you want to catch in advance. In the same way you develop the discipline of paying attention to your rig, do the same with your body. The difference between health care and sick care is taking personal responsibility. By making it your responsibility and not offloading it to a third party to mask the symptoms with a drug, you pay attention to small things like inflammation or a headache, gut ache, gas, bloat ing, blood in your stool, pain in your foot, a itch, a craving. When you pay attention to things by asking better ques tions, doing some research, you can find out what’s ailing you and prevent a whole chain reaction of consequences. I did. I dealt with and resolved occasional colon bleeding - see gyphosate pg 216, Viome pg 240, a subtlety of Chapter 2.09, closing pg 266, closing pg 294, and in particular across the next four columns!
THE PLANT PARADOX I ran across Dr Gundry’s Plant Paradox. It made a huge difference for me. “Lectins are proteins found in a lot of plants. The protein helps plants ward off attacks from would-be predators like you. They’re how a mother plant makes sure you don’t eat her babies because when you eat something rich in lectins they bind to the sugar residue on the outside of your cell membranes like barnacles cling to a boat. Specifically these barnacles attach themselves to your red blood cells and leave you feeling lousy. How lousy? Well a lot of the food poi soning cases reported right here in the united states, especially with regards to beans, are actually lectin poisonings, because you guessed it beans are a huge source of lectins. Leaving SCOTOMAVILLE 308
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It takes a bit of time, however we feel great for hours and don’t have conse quences like with granola, yogurt and orange juice. Leaving SCOTOMAVILLE 309 Other sources include the nightshades like eggplant, peppers, potatoes and tomatoes, squash, including zucchini, butternut squash and pumpkin, and grains like brown rice, barley, oats and everyone’s favorite wheat. In fact, if you’ve ever met someone with a wheat sensitivity they could be reacting to gluten, one of the best known lectins out there. So whenever possible it’s best to cut these foods from your diet entirely. Eating them is a great way to destroy your gut wall and kill off your good gut bugs, and trust me that’s not what you want to do.” Subtle changes like a gain of weight, a little gassiness, a little bloating around the midsection. These are symptoms to pay attention to. There’s far more that I would encourage you to delve into by checking out the Plant Paradox by Dr. Steven Gundry. For decades I have paid attention to the foods I eat. And, here I am at 68, taking no prescription medicines and the same weight as in high school. I’d like that for you. Let’s look at a typical breakfast, lunch, and dinner in our Airstreaming life. Angelina: A typical breakfast is organic happy eggs with some pesto. We have in-season fruit like Hood River cherries, and we split a paleo pancake - so - no bloating, no farting. We have un cured bacon bits and blanched almonds that Daniel toasted. We each have half a grapefruit - natural sugar - replacing processed sugar. So we have protein and carbs and precision supplements. When we run out of Viome we have a backup mix of Walmart herbs and supplements like Cilantro. NO MORE LEAKY GUT You might remember the squall that produced a small leak inside of the Airstream? Here’s the outside of a transom win dow. You see that little hole right here? There’s a whole bunch of them in a row. Following a trip back from town, I’ve got the solvents, the caulk, and the tube of sealant to rework the leaky caulking.
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type: text_only | img coverage: L=19% R=28% heading: START @ OBVIOUS, AND DON’T QUIT EARLY
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START @ OBVIOUS, AND DON’T QUIT EARLY So how did I do on that caulking job? I was mistaken. I had found small gaps in the factory caulking job and replaced them with new sealant. However, the next time it rained, the window leaked again. Argh. 100% wrong 50% of the time. Having fixed the obvious outside gaps, I took the inside apart. I discovered dust between the glass and a rubber gasket. Aha. I resolved another leak. I scraped it out with a utility knife. I cleaned it with acetone. I masked it with painter’s tape and forced a black silicone adhesive inside the crack. Then I pulled off the mastic to make it a tidy appearance. “Get yourself a set of ingredients to build nutri tious meals with - just like a decent set of tools” DECENT TOOLS AND INGREDIENTS - lunchtime My nutritional self-care philosophy is to have an excellent set of ingredients so that when we start running low on food, we mix and match the elements in some delicious, nutritious, and visually exciting ways. That mirrors one of the principles of having a fabulous workbench or wardrobe. Do the same for nutrition. Buy and eat nutrient dense ingredi ents, you’ll do a decent job of wellness with satisfaction. That’s a pretty decent meal: low fat coconut milk with a CLOSE BUT COMPLETELY WRONG: The leak wasn’t from the obvious sealant holes. It was from a faulty rubber seal on the glass. I found and fixed the core fault with good tools and onion peeling - layer by layer. It’s the same as mending a false belief. Get started, improve the visible, and don’t quit early. Leaving SCOTOMAVILLE 310
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FIXING YOUR BODY CAN BE HARD: You only get one body, so learning to care for it is critical. Fortunately you are not alone, nor the first. Leaving SCOTOMAVILLE 311 curry vegetable soup with wild greens that has goat cheese, apples, almonds, palm heart, and sliced beets. EVEN FANCY TOOLS BREAK Holding a freshly broken non-cutting can opener. Yeah, these fancy can openers work well with this episode on Self- care - the reliance on yourself to fix things - even new things. (Close up of broken can opener handle and a dried up tube of super glue) Of course, the glue tube nozzle is all dried up. I cut open the bottom of the unrolled metal tube, and sure enough there is excess super glue now stuck on my fingers. BODY WORK IS HARDER Taking care of our body is a lot more work than fixing an Air stream. It’s more complicated than exercise, eating, sleeping well, drinking the right things. It’s all of these things combined, plus it’s managing subtleties like inflammation, gassiness, bloaty ness and pain. But what are your alternatives? Let it go? It just gets worse. So make the extra effort.
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LAMB CHOP DEGLAZE - dinner Tonight we have lamb chops with apple, lemon, and oregano deglaze, along with grilled asparagus for dinner. That looks great! SLEEP DETOXES OUR BRAIN In a previous episode, I introduced Dr. Matthew Walker and the importance of getting a whole night’s sleep. I’ll let you follow up on research on that, but I would encourage you to consider an entire night’s sleep to detox your brain. Yeah, our brains only detox while we sleep. PROFITABLY TRUTHFUL MISMATCH Earlier in this Episode, I claimed Alphabet has a prime aim at generating a profit. It dictates Goo gle’s search results. Here I’ll show that YouTube recommendations are biased for profit above the sales their advertiser make. I claim their machine learning is precise but not necessarily accurate. This example came up during editing, so I’ll include it as evidence to support my claims. This is Dr. Matthew Walker. You’ll remember that I introduced him to you in the previous Episode. Dr. Walkers MasterClass is being advertised several times on my YouTube search results. They intend to provoke my interest in a click-through to join the MasterClass - which I already completed - meaning that MasterClass paid to serve that ad to me, and I’m NOT buying it. YouTube’s history of my search, location, time, and context inform the predictive algorithms. YouTube’s pattern recognition is precise. It targeted me. However, it is not accurate. I’ve already taken that class. Perfect mismatch. It’s not producing the outcome that MasterClass is paying for. Instead, it is delivering the result You Tube needs for its shareholders. Leaving SCOTOMAVILLE 312
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VIOME PRECISION SUPPLEMENTS Viome has bbeen a tremendous resource for Angelina and me, which I have mentioned in numerous episodes. We sent a blood, saliva, and a stool sample to their lab. The test results came back along with a personalized dietary ingredient list, and precision supplements. Angelina’s is quite different than mine. We also get probiotics and prebiotics and a personalized recommendation in an app listing super-foods to increase and foods we are eating that should be minimized - supported with explainations, references and data. By switching your diet around, you may benefit as I did. I lost that five pounds of a nagging tire around my belly. I’m back to the same weight that I was in high school simply by dialing in on the ingredients that cause inflammation for my body. The Plant Paradox and the Mediterranean (blue zone) diet confirm the ingredients. I found perfect Triangula tion on the ingredients that were optimal for our longevity. I hope they will do the same for you. See note on page 308 ADDICTED TO MILK PRODUCTS? An influential and straightforward discovery that made a big difference is differentiating casein milk proteins. You can simply switch from A1 to A2 milk. I thought I was lactose intolerant. It turns out there are two genetic strains of milk cows. One is called A2. The more common one is called A1. A1 milk is the ordinary milk found in most grocery stores. However, A2 milk is now pretty available, and has become popular because it eliminates bloaty, gas sy discomforts compared to regular A1 milk. The difference is slight. During the digestive process, A1 milk is broken down into an opioid. There fore it’s addicting. A2 casein proteins have an extra amino acid, so it doesn’t break down into that casomorphin. I switched to A2 milk with a different fold to its protein, and it was a game-changer. 313 Leaving SCOTOMAVILLE
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type: image_heavy | img coverage: L=24% R=34% heading: TANGENTS ARE WORTH THE EFFORT
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This two-page spread opens with a close-up documentary photograph in the upper left of an RV interior, showing wooden cabinetry, a long aluminum rod (the awning tool) leaning against the wall, and a small lid fallen on the gravel floor beneath the cabinet, directly matching the "TANGENTS ARE WORTH THE EFFORT" anecdote. Below the main text block on conquering added sugar, a smaller inset photo displays a stack of brown paleo chocolate pecan pancakes on a white striped plate, topped with chopped pecans and chocolate shavings, with scattered crumbs around the base.
The right page features a large, wide-angle photograph of two people (Daniel and Angelina) riding bicycles along a sunny paved road lined with tall trees and open fields, towing a silver Airstream trailer behind them, with the caption "Movement of any kind helps" at the bottom. A large pull-quote in the upper right reads “life satisfaction with self-care comes by making small changes - incrementally advancing your wellness expedition.” All images are realistic, on-location photos from the journey rather than illustrations or cartoons, with the pancake image serving as a literal visual example of the healthier dessert compromise described in the text and the cycling scene illustrating incremental movement and wellness progress in a documentary style.
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TANGENTS ARE WORTH THE EFFORT All I wanted to do was empty the coffee into our cold container and put the lid back on it, but I dropped the cover. This is the tool that I pull the awnings open with (a long aluminum rod), and that (looking under the cabinetry) is the lid that fell on the floor and rolled underneath the cabinet. Okay, now back to what I was doing. CONQUERING ADDED SUGAR One of the more significant diet challenges I have overcome was first brought to my attention by my daughter. My daily glass of orange juice was about eight oranges of juice. That’s nearly an entire daily allotment of added sugar. Add 19g of sugar in yogurt, and breakfast is twice an adult dose. It’s taken five years to recognize and overcome a sugar addiction. I’m able to manage my refined sugar intake most of the year, but I test my resolve every once in a while. We just bought salted car amel syrup to put in coffee. It’s Fall again. Sweet loaves, pastry, and warm drinks. Hey, they’re emo tional anchors. (Tossing the syrup in the dumpster) Within a few sips of the flavored coffee - bam - a headache. I remind myself how challenging sugar is. Sleuthing the root problem takes extra effort as with window leaks. By developing a distinction of subtle side-effects, you’ll gain awareness. Sip, sip, ahhhh@rrg! What’s causing that pain in my head? Is it the smoky air? The milk proteins? The brand or type of coffee roast? The new sweetener? Cleaning your diet up step-by-step makes it easier to isolate the... What’s the word? Culprit. You can then reset your wellness by reversing course. It’s a windy road with many mismatches and scotomas. Keep going. Don’t quit. PALEO CHOCOLATE PECAN A CAKE - dessert This is a pile of Paleo pancakes made with cocoa, topped with reduced cherries, shaved chocolate, and pecans. Pecan a cake. Get it? I kind of miss the sugar sweetness because I expect it to be a delightful dessert. It’s sweet enough. It has a lot of flavor. Nice compromise. Leaving SCOTOMAVILLE 314
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Movement of any kind helps PAY ATTENTION TO SMALL CHANGES Part of the satisfaction of a Personal Everest and a lifestyle that supports wellness is to make small changes that incrementally improve your experience. Identifying the core causes of leaky windows, emotional rewards and root triggers, gut inflammation, or mental biases starts by paying close attention. Make reasonable efforts at awareness and minor changes. Soon you’ll be finding yourself getting the heck out of SCO TOMAVILLE. Thanks for watching this Episode. Angelina sneezes... “Ahhhchooo...” Daniel: “that’s not necessary for my b-roll. You do that on purpose, I think.” “life satisfaction with self care comes by making small changes - incrementally advancing your wellness expedition” Leaving SCOTOMAVILLE
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YOURT https://youtu.be/3FiLo3sZj08 I’ve covered a bunch of facets of self-care. And, like a bunch of darts