---
content_date: 2021-09-24
feed: "DANIEL_ON_SLOPE"
codex_section: "S13"
codex_candidate: true
source: Scotomaville
source_file: 02.12-self-care.pdf
chapter: 02.12-self-care
total_pdf_pages: 20
volume: v2
title: Self-Care
monomyth_stage: "08 - The Ordeal"
category:
  - awareness
  - strategy
  - integration
tags:
  - self-care
  - cognitive-biases
  - amygdala-hijacking
  - plant-paradox
  - emotional-onion
  - physiology
  - psychology
  - leaving-scotomaville
  - personal-everest
  - wind-foiling
summary: |
  I’m at Three Mile Canyon, a place packed with 40 years of memories, but the choked launch and overgrown weeds mean I can’t foil here anymore. That disappointment becomes the perfect setup to hack my thinking, face cognitive biases and amygdala hijackings, and manage both my psychological output and physiological inputs like diet and inflammation. By peeling emotional onions, using tools like the Cognitive Bias Codex, and making small nutrition and self-talk changes, I turn vulnerability into awareness and keep moving out of Scotomaville.
qr_links:
  - https://youtu.be/3FiLo3sZj08
---

# 02.12-self-care

## Spread 001  [p1–p2]
**type:** image_heavy  |  **img coverage:** L=60% R=32%
**heading:** SELF-CARE

### Visual description
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.

### Left page
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

### Right page
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

## Spread 002  [p3–p4]
**type:** text_only  |  **img coverage:** L=29% R=10%
**heading:** two different aspects of self-

### Left page
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.

### Right page
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

## Spread 003  [p5–p6]
**type:** image_heavy  |  **img coverage:** L=85% R=41%
**heading:** COGNITIVE

### Visual description
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.

### Left page
COGNITIVE

### Right page
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
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## Spread 004  [p7–p8]
**type:** image_heavy  |  **img coverage:** L=32% R=69%
**heading:** To demonstrate how vulnerable I feel, here’s my

### Visual description
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.

### Left page
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

### Right page
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

## Spread 005  [p9–p10]
**type:** text_only  |  **img coverage:** L=15% R=11%
**heading:** Leaving SCOTOMAVILLE

### Left page
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?

### Right page
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.

## Spread 006  [p11–p12]
**type:** image_heavy  |  **img coverage:** L=14% R=44%
**heading:** PHYSIOLOGY

### Visual description
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.

### Left page
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
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### Right page
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.

## Spread 007  [p13–p14]
**type:** text_only  |  **img coverage:** L=19% R=28%
**heading:** START @ OBVIOUS, AND DON’T QUIT EARLY

### Left page
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
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### Right page
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.

## Spread 008  [p15–p16]
**type:** text_only  |  **img coverage:** L=27% R=25%
**heading:** LAMB CHOP DEGLAZE - dinner

### Left page
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
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### Right page
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

## Spread 009  [p17–p18]
**type:** image_heavy  |  **img coverage:** L=24% R=34%
**heading:** TANGENTS ARE WORTH THE EFFORT

### Visual description
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.

### Left page
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

### Right page
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

## Spread 010  [p19–p20]
**type:** text_only  |  **img coverage:** L=14% R=0%
**heading:** 3FiLo3sZj08
**urls:** `https://youtu.be/`

### Left page
YOURT
https://youtu.be/3FiLo3sZj08
I’ve covered a bunch of facets of self-care. And, like a bunch of darts