Failure

There is only one type of failure, and that is not trying. Everything else is an attempt, and it doesn’t matter the outcome. Each attempt represents a step in the right direction. Failure is giving up on yourself, which is the one thing you should never do. Giving up on an idea, a diet, or a relationship, all are inevitable. It’s going to happen multiple times throughout your life. But that’s not the same as giving up on yourself and not trying.

The idea that we should never quit is one of the traps in this life that prevents us from ever trying in the first place, because we believe if we’re not going to be successful, then why try and risk failure. No, you should quit when your intuition is telling you to move on. Two quotes come to mind. “Fail fast,” and “Don’t spend time in delay.” If it feels like it’s time to pull the plug, then it probably is. Move on, and give yourself the opportunity to try something new. And never give up on what you want.

Try Something New

Try it on. We try on clothes all the time before we buy them. We need to see if they fit. If they look as good on us as they do on the hanger. If they feel nice. If they are worth the price. So why not try on more things in life before committing? Why not try on a lifestyle? A new diet? Why not try stopping a bad habit? Try it on for a week and see what happens. You can always go back to what you were doing before. To what you were eating before. AND, if it doesn’t work out, you can always try on something else. 

That’s the kicker. Nothing is permanent. Mitakpa, Impermanence. 

Know It Alls

I don’t think people think they know it all. I think people forget that everything they know was learned, and that creates a false sense of knowing. They assume that if there’s something to know, that they would already know it. It’s a slight, but important, difference in perspective.

It’s hard to remember a time when we didn’t know, when we first learned something, and what that felt like. And for many of us there comes a time when we stop learning. We finish school, settle into a job, and our life becomes predictable. We’re no longer pushed to learn, and learning no longer fees necessary as a result. We feel we have everything we need to know.

But if we assume that people think they know everything, then we assume that people are know it alls, and therefore aren’t interested in learning, and are unwilling to change. But if by contrast we understand that we’re all born unknowing, that we’ve all learned everything we know, and that we can be taught, then we can assume that if we can figure out how to get through to people, they can learn, and they can change.

Focus

Where should be point our focus?

I was doing Swiss ball passes the other day. It’s an exercise that involves the passing of a Swiss ball, aka a stability ball, between your hands and your feet as you lie on the ground in a hollow body position. During the movement I noticed that my attention was on the movement of my legs and arms, and not the ball. And, for the first time, this seemed odd to me, so I adjusted and tracked the ball.

Immediately after I locked onto the ball with my eyes I noticed that my form improved. Even as the ball went out of sight above my head, my form stayed dialed in. It turns out that the location of the ball is far more important in this exercise than where I, and how I, move my arms and legs. Knowing where the ball was fed my brain the information it needed to figure out the best position to put my body in. Trying to move my arms and legs correctly, and following their movement, was actually a distraction.

When I observe something like this, it makes me wonder where else in my life this type of behavior might be occurring, and causing more strain than it should. Where else in my life can I use this same logic to improve? Where else in my life am I being distracted while thinking I’m paying attention? Where else in my life could correcting my focus help put me in a better position to succeed? What minor adjustment could I make that would help get things done more efficiently with less effort and better results?

Relationships

Sharing responsibilities in a relationship is not only about carrying equal amounts of burden. It is about collaboration. Collaboration requires conversation, discussion, weighing the pros and the cons, and ultimately coming to a mutual decision. When one person does it all, it leads to breakdowns in relationships. But not because one person is responsible for carrying the load, although resentment can build, but because when a serious issue arises the couple, having rarely collaborated before, lacks the experience and skills needed to work through it.

If by contrast a couple is constantly working together and communicating about every decision and detail in their shared lives, from where to put a new tree, and what to cook for Christmas, what to feed the kids, to where to live, and whether or not to pursue that business idea, then when conflicts between them arise, they will be well versed enough to work through them.

They will know when to speak, when to listen, when to be forceful, and when to acquiesce. They will be open and receptive, and understand how to come to an agreement, and be able to move forward even if they didn’t get their way. Sharing responsibility is about more than shouldering the burden, although at the surface that is how we usually view it. It is about working together for the best possible outcome in all situations, and the more practice you have with the benign and fun stuff, the easier it will be to get through the tough things.

Balance

For 99 percent of people the goal should be sustainability and balance. Losing weight is not the goal. Getting healthier is not the goal. Making more money is not the goal. These are the things that emerge when a sustainable and balanced life are achieved, but they are not the goals. 

Find the spots in your life that are out of balance, out of alignment, and focus on achieving homeostasis in those areas. Fix your sleep. Give up sweet treats with added sugar. Complete a project you’ve been putting off. Go visit that friend or family member you’ve been threatening to go see. Make yourself a delicious meal, and then do it again, and again. Get rid of something that makes you miserable. Like answering emails between 6 pm and 6 am. End a relationship that only serves the other person, and only brings you a black cloud. 

Find the points of imbalance and slowly, methodically, and intentionally, correct them over time, and eventually your weight, relationships, health, finances, and overall happiness will improve. Anticipate and be ready for setbacks, and don’t let them discourage you. Realize that they are part of the process, that old habits die hard, and new ones take time to develop. Every setback should be acknowledged as progress. It means you’re pushing up against something hard and it’s pushing back. 

It’s not going to give in so easily, but neither are you. You’re moving towards balance, and a life of stability.

Hypocrisy

People are arguing about whether or not people in Gaza are starving. People arguing about this are not starving. People arguing about this have never missed a meal in their lives. People arguing about this are deciding what they’ll have for dinner tonight. Should they go to the store and cook? Should they order take out? Should they go out to eat? What are they in the mood for? Well, last night was Italian, and tomorrow is sushi, so maybe something light tonight like Mediterranean. 

Some people get to decide what they will eat, when they will eat, how much they will eat, who will prepare their food, how they will prepare their food, and they also get to debate whether someone else is “actually” starving or not. They get to weigh in on what qualifies as “starving” versus overreacting, being dramatic, and just being hungry.

And they see that as ok. They miss the hypocrisy. And all around us we see it as normal to be in a position to debate someone else’s well being and livelihood, while our own lives go on unaffected and uninterrupted.

Expectations

Most humans don’t do things they’ve never learned or don’t understand. That is basically the rationale as to why someone does one thing and not the other. One they were taught, and the other one they weren’t. One they understand, and the other they don’t. But we all assume everyone knows what we know, and we assume we were born with the knowledge and insights we have. But we weren’t.

Everyone is born with the same lack of knowledge and understanding, and we learn from our environment. The people, examples, and experiences we grow up with. So it’s crazy to me when someone from one side of the world expects someone on the other side of the world, or someone from the other side of a city, town, or neighborhood even, to know what they know, and understand what they understand.

My fiancee and I have a saying. “You could have been a horse born on Cumberland Island, or you could have been a horse born at the track.” Cumberland Island, where wild horses are protected and praised, is a majestic paradise for horses. The track is like being born in a labor camp. They might be of the same species, but these two horses are going to live drastically different lives, have drastically different experiences, and therefore have very different views of humans, nature, and the world.

No one would look upon these two horses and expect them to act the same, but when it comes to humans we do. We project what we know onto everyone around us, and ridicule and condemn others when they don’t act in accordance to our expectations. Never contemplating the fact that that could of been you and you wouldn’t even know it.

Where would you choose to be born if given the choice? I know my choice. Cumberland Island all damn day.   

Change

I’ve been accused of changing more than once in my life by people who “know me.” But there’s an alternative consideration. That I never was the person everyone knew. That it’s hard as a child to really know who you are and not be influenced by the environment around you. Or even as a young adult, or young professional entering the work force.

More often than not, you’re just going with what you know and what you see around you. Rarely, if ever, stopping to think, “Is this what I actually want to be doing? Is this making me happy? Or is it just familiar?” And even if you do have that moment of question, it can be hard to answer without knowing what the other possibilities are.

I grew up in a house where I was required to go to college. And, while it was never said, it was implied, at least from my perspective, that after college I would get a job, get married, buy a house, and start a family. And while it never felt like the right plan for me, for years I kind of went along with it. It’s embarrassing to admit, but at the time I couldn’t conceive of an alternative plan. I didn’t understand what else was possible, so I followed the one I’d seen play out around me and was comfortable with. But that’s just one example of many.

We fall into this trap with our beliefs too. We grow up thinking we believe something because the people around us believe something. We fall for it with our likes. We like what the people around us like. And dislike what they dislike. We think we’re interested in a sport, art, or certain food, because of something innate in us, when really it’s just something common amongst those around us.

So when we get older and, if were lucky and courageous enough, we take the opportunity to separate ourselves from what’s familiar, like the beliefs, likes, dislikes, and interests that saturate the environment we grew up in, we start to really learn about ourselves, and more often than not all of those things begin to change. From the outsiders perspective they believe you have changed, or someone changed you, or something in your environment is the reason.

But what they don’t understand, because they’ve never experienced it, is that it was in you all along, waiting for something or someone to ignite it.

Perspective

When we moved into our house last year our neighbor came over to see what we had done to the backyard. On the walk back she commented about how much she hated the ground cover that lined the path on the side of our house. She had the same ground cover, but she ripped it up a few years ago because she was gardening one day and found a snake.

“A rattlesnake?” I asked.

Both my neighbor and my fiancee tst tsted me and said, in almost unison, “Of course not!”

Well if it wasn’t a rattlesnake, and therefore not threatening, then why did it leave such an impression, and why even mention it…

It’s a fascinating story to me about perspective. To me, a garden snake is not worth mentioning or even remembering, unless it was in the context of sharing the good news that we have another animal living in our garden. But to someone with a fear of snakes, albeit an irrational one as garden snakes are harmless, it is a tale of caution, and a reason to destroy the snake’s home.

And it is that same irrational fear that the people in charge play on to convince us that our wars, operations, and conflicts are just. Only it’s not snakes were told to be afraid of, it’s certain people and races. And an irrational fear of people is sometimes all a person needs to decimate their lives.

Relationships

I used to think that trust in a relationships meant telling the truth about where you were, what you did, and who you were with. But now I realize that’s just foundational, and the bare minimum you should expect from your partner. Strong relationships are based on trust of a different kind. Trusting that when you’re being foolish, your partner is going to tell you that you’re being foolish, and when you’re trying to be courageous, that your partner will encourage your courageousness. And trust that they’re going to know the difference, and be honest about it when the time comes.

My buddy is thinking about leaving the corporate world. After 15 successful years of building a nest egg, and moving up the corporate ladder, he’s beginning to wonder, “Isn there more to life than this?” and so he’s starting to explore the idea of leaving, and taking a year or two off. We had him over for dinner recently when he told us. He laid it all out, and we helped him weigh the pros and the cons. We asked questions about his biggest fears around leaving, what he might want to do instead. We threw out ideas for resigning, discussed timelines, and gave suggestions based on our own experiences and what we know about him.

Finally after about an hour of discussing it I asked, “What does your wife think you should do?”

I know his wife very well, and I’m very fond of her. She’s a smart, funny, successful, no nonsense woman who deeply loves my friend. And so it dawned on me, who cares what I think, if she believes he should leave, then he should leave. If she believes he shouldn’t, he shouldn’t. Because, lucky for my friend, he’s found the woman that he can trust to tell him when he’s being foolish and encourage him when he’s being courageous.

“She’s all about it,” he replied. “She thinks I should quit, and take time off.” When he said that I told him we had our answer and that he should stop searching. And it was the first time the importance of a partner you could trust was that crystal clear to me.

Concerning

I find it concerning that not everyone is concerned with the president’s use of the word slaughter. As in, “There has already been great death and destruction, but there is still time to make this slaughter, with the next already planned attacks being even more brutal, come to an end. Iran must make a deal, before there is nothing left.” 

The open acknowledgement of what it really is, a slaughter, versus what it is reported to be, targeted defensive strikes, is mind blowing. But even wilder than that is the mild mannered reactions or no reaction at all from mass media and independent journalists. It’s been more of just a regurgitation of what was said, just part of the developing story.

It’s not that he’s first president to support a slaughter, we have a long history of that. In fact, my lifetime has been filled with them, and it’s likely yours has a well. And he won’t be the last. But he might be the first to call it out in real time, AND try to legitimize it as a negotiation tactic.

If you’re from the U.S. you know, or should know, that our history is littered with slaughters, although we don’t call them that. We call them wars, or operations, or conflicts. And we enter these wars, operations, and conflicts because there’s a resource we need like oil, land, labor, fruit, or rare earth minerals. But we don’t say that, we say it’s to fight terror, or free people from oppression, or stop the spread of a dangerous ideology.

Our president’s tell us we’re doing everything right, and we’re doing everything we can to stop what’s happening. And despite knowing what’s happening behind the scenes, the truth of the war, operation, or conflict, we hear those words and it gives us hope that our prayers might actually be answered, and that maybe we’re wrong. We don’t know what’s really going on.

But all hope goes out the window when the guy in charge calls it like it is, a slaughter, and no one flinches. It’s twisted, but maybe it’s what we need as a country to finally wake up. To stop believing all of the lies. To understand that when the president says “I’m doing everything I can to broker a ceasefire,” but despite his seemingly genuine intention the destruction continues, that what he’s actually saying is, “The slaughter will continue until we reach a deal.”

Misconceptions

One of the biggest changes in my life was realizing that things, big projects, don’t have to be done all at once. Not even in one day. I’ve finally figured out that even a backyard project could be pieced out over days. Day 1, measure. Day 2, pick up the lumber and hardware. Day 3, cut. Day 4, assemble and install. It doesn’t have to be done all at once, and it doesn’t have to be done right now.

I’ve lived under those misconceptions for a long time. The idea that something had to be done all at once, right now. And it stopped me from starting many projects because I couldn’t see how to get it done based on those timelines. But things take time, and so it’s ok to take time. Make a plan. Check that it makes sense. Gather who and what you need.

Don’t overcommit to too much in one day. Call it quits when you notice it’s no longer enjoyable (a good rule to live by).

Our lives are filled with small misconceptions about how we should live, that end up dictating our lives, and we don’t even know it. 

Convenience

Everyone is selling convenience. That’s the most valuable commodity around. If you can find a way to make someone’s life easier, then you can sell them anything.

I’ve decided to start feeding my dog real food. I almost slip every time and say human food. As if chicken, beef, rice, sweet potatoes, and vegetables (the main items of his diet now) are only made for us. He’s getting older, he’s 13, and I think real food might expand his horizon and longevity. If it works for me, why wouldn’t it work for him?

The impetus for this decision came as I observed him devouring a frozen beef femur the other night. For hours he laid outside on his blanket with it and sucked everyone ounce of bone marrow and life force he could out of that bone. Watching him gave me the sense that he needed real food. And that’s when my decision was made.

But it made me question why I even give him kibble to begin with. Why do I feed my dog pellets of processed food? What am I actually buying? Because I can buy and cook food for my dog if I want to. So it’s not actually food that I’m buying. It’s not some special formula like they want you to believe. When has fortified processed food every proven to be better for your health than actual food? Never.

I’m really just buying convenience. I’m paying someone else for the convenience of not having to shop, cook, clean, and plan for my dog. I’ve outsourced that responsibility.

The company wins. They get paid. I win. All I have to do is remember to order food, and scoop a few cups of kibble into his bowl each day. The only loser is my dog who’s left to eat what my fiancee calls “food with no life force.”

Looking at it from the view of dog owner to dog, the decision to give my dog processed food seems straight forward. The juice, giving him real food, is not worth the squeeze, shopping, cooking, cleaning, planning. Despite how much we love our animals we can’t deny the fact that we view them as lesser, even if by a tiny margin. Which is why they don’t get all the perks and luxuries new give ourselves. Whether that’s real food, or that big expensive procedure. It’s just easier and understandable not to.

But I wonder if that’s why we, humans in modern civilization, eat so much processed food. Convenience, cost, time, energy, yes. But is that the only reason? Or is it also because we don’t think highly enough of ourselves to warrant taking the time to plan, shop, and cook our meals? Do we think we’re not worth the extra cost, time, and effort? We know the benefits of eating real food, and the consequences of eating processed food, so why is 70 percent of the American diet made up of processed food?

I don’t actually know if that’s the case or not, clearly. And I know that for many people in this world that it is way more complicated than I’ve made it seem. But for many of us, it’s probably not that complicated, and we could feed ourselves better with very little impact to our lives, and I’m fascinated by why we don’t.

Hiking Half Dome at Yosemite

What are you carrying and not using? What are you carrying that you don’t need?

This past week I was hiking Half Dome in Yosemite National Park with my fiancée and three friends. Half Dome is a 17 mile round trip hike on a mix of paved trail, granite steps, sand, rock, and dirt. The trail ascends for 8 - 8.5 miles, gaining 5,500 feet of elevation, until reaching the top of Half Dome, which requires pulling yourself up chains attached to an almost vertical wall for the last few hundred feet of the hike. It then descends 8 - 8.5 miles back to the trailhead. You can count on it taking 10 - 12 hours, depending on fitness level and number of rest stops, to complete.

In addition to Half Dome’s challenging profile, there’s only two places to fill up water, at the trailhead and a few miles in sourced from a river, and nowhere to get food (naturally). Which means if you want to have an enjoyable day you’ll need to carry a couple thousand calories and a few liters of water. It’s also why hiking poles are recommended, and why we we all packed ours, checking a bag for a weekend trip just to do so.

Nevertheless, we all started the day with our hiking poles strapped to our backpacks as we began to climb the first 3 miles and 2,500 feet of the hike. Less than a mile in I thought about using mine, but something in me kept resisting. The trail was steep, and I knew I was in for a long day, but I thought I shouldn’t use them so early on, that it was better to fight through without them, and only use them if I needed them. Maybe just to descend.

But my brain wouldn’t relent. Over and over in my head it went, “Just pull them off your pack. What did you bring them for?” So, at the end of our first break, after gaining close to 1,400 feet, I gave in and pulled them off my bag, snapped them into place, and carried them in my left hand like a grocery bag. I went from carrying them on my back, to in my hand. Progress. Getting closer. But still not using them.

I looked around to my fiancée and my friends, none of whom had pulled off their poles yet, and again it went, “Why did we bring hiking poles if we weren’t going to use them?” It was a very real question I kept wondering about. What was the rationale we were telling ourselves to not use the poles we traveled with to help us hike? I actually paid $40 to check my backpack that I could have otherwise carried on. Said another way, I believed it was worth $40 to have my poles, which, for a frugal man, was not a decision I made lightly, and one that would have went another way in a prior time of my life. I had made an investment in my poles, and now when it was time to cash in I was treating my asset like an insurance policy.

Why were we so unwilling to use them?  

There was the idea that using them created an image of weakness. That I couldn’t keep up without them. The belief that if I didn’t use them, I’d be stronger in the end having survived without their help. That I would suffer on the way up, but reap the benefits in the days that followed. There was the group think of, “No one else is using them, so maybe I don’t need them?” That only in the case of an emergency should they be deployed. All of these reasons, and more, swirling around my head, convincing me not to use them, even though they were always part of my plan.

As often happens, I then started to wonder where else in my life this was happening. Where else was I turning down help because I thought it might make me look weak, and because doing it alone would make me stronger? Or because no one else was looking for help, which meant I didn’t need any either. Where else could I be making my life easier, but I’m making the decision not to? What am I carrying around that I’m not utilizing? And, conversely, what am I carrying that I could get rid of? 

What’s in my backpack that I didn’t need to bring but packed anyway because it gave me comfort, but no utility? What’s in my backpack that I’ve been procrastinating removing? On a typical hike I pack double the amount of food I need, to make sure that I never get hungry. As if hunger equals death. I pack gear I know I’m not going to use. I offer to carry other peoples comfort items so that they have a good time. Why carry around things I don’t need, when a lighter pack would be easier, allow me to reach the top quicker, with more energy, and have more time with the views?

A backpack on a long hike is the perfect metaphor for visualizing the baggage we carry around in life. Bad relationships. Excess bodyweight. Stress. Unrealistic expectations. Bad habits. Self abuse. Grudges, anger, and hate towards others. Self-limiting beliefs. Everything we emotionally, physically, and spiritually carry around with us, packed into a “backpack” that we lug around. Dragging us down, making life harder, and providing no help in getting to the top.

All around us, and with-in us, we have access to tools, skills, knowledge, and relationships, that we don’t take advantage of. And on our backs is a bag full of people, beliefs, habits, feelings, and emotions, that we never confront despite knowing that they don’t serve us, and carry around anyway. What could you be taking advantage of that you’re not? And what could you unpack for an easier life?

Finally I took one pole in each hand, planted them into the ground, and carried on to the top of Half Dome. 

Trips Details:

We flew into Fresno Yosemite International Airport on Tuesday evening, and drove one hour to Oakhurst to spend the night at The Inelle. Fresno Airport is two hours south of Yosemite, and Oakhurst is right in the middle on your way to Yosemite. Making it a good place to spend a night or two if you want.

Wednesday we spent the morning exploring Oakhurst. We had a really nice breakfast at Bees Cafe (I recommend), and coffee at Clouds Rest Coffee (also recommend). Oakhurst has a couple of big grocery stores, and so we shopped for food to have in our cabin the next two nights. 

We stayed at The Explorers Cabin, part of the Yosemite cabin rentals. It’s just outside the park, about a 35 minute drive to the parking lot where you’ll park and begin your walk to the trailhead for Half Dome.

Thursday morning we were up at 4 am, out the door by 5:15 am, parked by a quarter to 6, and at the trailhead by 6 am. The walk from the parking lot to the trailhead is about 3/4 of a mile. 

With stops every 90 minutes or so, plus a 30 minute lunch at the top of Half Dome, we made it up and back to our car in ~10.5 hours. On the way up we took the Mist Trail which takes you along the side of a couple of beautiful waterfalls where you will get pretty wet (hence the name). On the way back we planned on taking the John Muir Trail, but when we saw that it added 1.5 miles to the journey, everyone in our group voted to go down the same way we came, the Mist Trail.

However, we did take the John Muir trail for about a half mile to a natural pool made by a waterfall. At the pool we took off our shoes, some took off their clothes, and jumped into the cold water. It was a really refreshing way to end a long hot day. Even if you’re going to take the Mist Trail down, I do suggest taking the Muir Trail, definitely stop for the pool.

Main blogs/resources we referenced:

• Half Dome Gear Guide

• Weather Guide

• Thorough and Detailed Blog

All Trails Map:

• Half Dome via The John Muir Trail (this is via John Muir, but you can see the Mist Trail and use it to navigate either way).

Permit:

• Note: YOU WILL NEED A PERMIT TO GO TO THE TOP OF HALF DOME. ENTER THE LOTTERY HERE: Half Dome Day Hike

The Mis-Conceptions of Food Waste, and Value

Food Waste

I did a tabling event at a children’s museum this past weekend for We Don’t Waste. Tabling, also called The Speakers Bureau, involves interacting and engaging with the visitors, giving them information about We Don’t Waste, and educating them on our mission and why it’s important.

My pitch goes something like this:

“We rescue food that would have otherwise ended up in landfills from places like grocery stores, bakeries, restaurants, and sports stadiums, and distribute it to the community through mobile food markets, and partnerships with organizations like shelters, food pantries, and farms. Last year we rescued over 24 million servings of food which helped feed over 700,000 people.”

Most people nod and get the gist. A small percentage of people have heard of We Don’t Waste and are familiar with the problem food waste in this country poses (over 40% of food in the U.S. ends up in landfills where it rots and produces methane gas). But one lady asked me, “So, do you like dig in the garbage for food to find what’s still good?” A valid question because, well, “food waste.” What does that make you think of? It made me wonder how many other people might have that same question but were just too afraid to ask it. It is the reason I hate the term food waste.

The answer to her question is no. The food we distribute is in perfectly good condition, and comes directly off the shelves of bakeries, or straight from the freezers at grocery stores. A better term might be “excess food that stores know they are not going to sell and are going to throw away but is actually still of high quality and definitely edible.” But it would be hard to start a global campaign around that. So we use “food waste.”

Here are some pictures of the food we are saving and re-distributing. These are pictures from a mobile food market this past week.

Cream Cheese, Pistachios

Frozen Ground Beef

Assortment of Bread and Misc

So there’s two big disconnects that we are fighting against in this movement. 

The first is our perception of food waste. When we think of that phrase we automatically picture food in the garbage, or an unfinished plate, or maybe something rotten and inedible. And that’s understandable. But as the pictures above show, “food waste” is anything but. 

A couple of years ago I worked part time (very part time) on a farm in Los Angeles. One day we were harvesting carrots. We had two bins. Carrots destined for the market went into one bin. Carrots destined for the compost went into another bin. The difference? Appearance. The compost carrots were ugly and the farmer I worked for knew for that reason they wouldn’t sell. Just another example of how our programming of what food should look like has turned food, into waste. Think about that the next time you’re at the grocery store or the farmers market, and you put an apple down because it has a bruise, or choose a different potato without a spore, or pass over the soft avocado. We’re conditioned to pick perfect produce.   

The second disconnect is what is actually causing the degradation of our environment and our health. One of the guys I volunteer with has been vegan for 20 years. When he told me that I replied, “Twenty years, that must be hard.”

“Not when you’re doing it for the right reasons,” he replied. “Like animal welfare and the impact on the environment.”

Is farming ruining the planet, or is the way we farm ruining the planet? If we can produce so much food in this country that over 40 percent of it goes to waste, then perhaps there’s something wrong in the methodology. If 40 percent of food goes to waste, then 40 percent of the resources used to grow that food are going to waste (energy, water, and money). If the food industry can waste 40 percent of food and still turn a profit, then it should call into question the “methods” and “techniques” (if you can call them that) that they are using. Massive fields of monoculture agriculture doused in pesticides might produce a large yield, but it’s decimating the soil and the land, and our health. 

I just finished reading Silo, written by chef Douglas McMaster who owns a restaurant of the same name. They are the world’s first zero waste restaurant. The book is a “how to” for anyone looking to reduce the waste they create. At the end of the book he sums it up pretty perfectly. 

“Zero waste is nature. To achieve zero waste is to integrate with nature. It has everything we desire and there needs to be no compromise.”

Zero waste is nature. We’re disconnected from nature. The biggest disconnect that encompasses all of the others. 

Nothing of Value

Spam email is a great example of what happens when something costs nothing. Companies can send out their “newsletter” to thousands of people for next to nothing. And even if they get 1% of people to click, it’s worth it to them. So they flood our emails with their latest nonsense. Just one more way we are all so distracted.

I ordered hydrogen tabs recently after learning about them on a Joe Rogan podcast. $30 for a 30 day supply seemed like a good bet to test them out. Today I recieved a newsletter from the company. 

I can’t even tell you what it said because I unsubscribed and deleted it immediately. I was just looking for a hydrogen tab to test the reported health benefits. I didn’t ask for a newsletter from a company that manufactures hydrogen tabs. 

But everyone thinks they have something intelligent to say (ahem)…

And now with AI not only does the email cost nothing, but you don’t even have to produce the content. 

Me: “Compose a newsletter that tells people why hydrogen tabs are beneficial to their health.”

ChatGPT: “Sure! Here's a draft for a newsletter that promotes the health benefits of hydrogen tablets in a friendly, informative tone:

Subject Line: Unlock the Power of Hydrogen – A Simple Tab for Better Health

Header: Say Hello to Better Health with Hydrogen Tabs

Body:
Did you know the smallest molecule in the universe could be your biggest health upgrade?

Hydrogen tablets—tiny but mighty—are changing the way we support wellness from the inside out. When dropped into water, these tabs release molecular hydrogen (H₂), a powerful antioxidant that helps your body fight oxidative stress, reduce inflammation, and boost cellular health.

Here’s what hydrogen tabs can do for you:

• Combat oxidative stress – Molecular hydrogen targets harmful free radicals, which may reduce signs of aging and improve recovery after exercise.

• Support energy and mental clarity – Users often report improved focus and stamina with regular use.

• Promote gut health and hydration – Hydrogen-rich water is gentle on the digestive system and may support gut balance.

• Anti-inflammatory effects – Preliminary studies show benefits in reducing chronic inflammation and supporting immune function.

No pills, no powders, just a clean tablet that transforms your water—and your wellness routine.

Ready to feel the difference?
Drop one tab in water. Drink daily. Discover the benefits.

[Shop Hydrogen Tabs Now]

Stay healthy,
The [Your Brand Name] Team”

Technology has done some amazing things, but creating cheap products and services of no value to infiltrate our lives, and distract us, has not been one of them. And in a lot of ways it is the same issue we face with food waste.

Eating Pre-Industrial

I recently heard a term that at the same time describes what’s wrong with the way we eat and how we should be eating.

The term is “pre-industrial.”

I picked it up while reading Silo, a book written by the chef of a restaurant by the same name. It is (was?) the world’s first zero waste restaurant. Chef Douglas McMaster uses the term pre-industrial to describe the “diet” (aka “cuisine”) at Silo, which is a blend of vegan and paleo principles.

I think it’s a perfect way to describe the type of food we should be putting on our plates and in our mouths. Typically when when I describe my diet I use phrases like whole foods, real foods, without added sugar, or nothing processed. But really what I’m trying to say is that I eat the way humans used to eat, the way my ancestors ate, before food became industrialized and viewed as a commodity. So pre-industrial is perfectly fitting.

Another reason I like it is because it doesn’t describe a diet with set rules to follow, and therefore eliminates the follow up questions about what’s allowed or not. Vegan. Paleo. Vegetarian. Whole 30. Keto. Atkins. Pescatarian. What are the rules? What can I eat and what can’t I eat? Red meat? Grains? Dairy? Pre-industrial encompasses everything the earth can produce in its un-adultered form.

Lastly, I like it because it eliminates the need to say “whole foods,” which has been co-opted by the grocery store of the same name, who sells more ultra-processed foods than they do real foods… But I digress.

I had family visiting this week. My sister-in-law was telling us how she loves to cook, and how they no longer keep processed food in the house. Her 16 yr old son came to her one day and said,

“You don’t have anything that’s just ready to eat. Everything has to be cooked.”

I thought it was so telling. In this post-industrial world we’ve become accustomed to having food ready on demand, requiring you only to open your mouth and shovel it in. Which I believe has as much to do with our declining health as the toxic ingredients in the food.

Because I’m of the opinion that cooking is part of healthy digestion, which is a vital to good health. That cooking is the ultimate “aperitif,” if you will, that primes the body and gets it ready to process the food you’re about to consume. That digestion begins the moment you begin preparing your food, and skipping it can cause all sorts of things to go wrong in the body.

Compare these scenarios.

Scenario one, you want to cook your favorite recipe. So, you go to the store and buy all of the ingredients. You bring them home, and unpack the groceries. You turn on the oven, heat a pan, and fire up the grill. You start chopping vegetables, and season your meat. You put some vegetables in the pan to sauté, while the others get placed in the oven to roast. The smell of veggies starts to fill the house. You step outside and throw a cut of meat on the BBQ, and it begins to sear.

While the veggies and meat are cooking you start to whip up a salad. You pick fresh greens, a tomato, and basil all from your garden, chop it all up and place it in a bowl before running outside to flip the meat and catch a whiff off the grill. You step back inside and give the veggies a toss, and check the oven. The salad gets dressed with olive oil, vinegar, and a couple of pinches of salt. 

With that the timer for the veggies goes off, so you pull them off the stove and out of the oven. Then you run outside and pull off the meat. While the meat is resting you set the table, and everyone gathers around to eat.

Or;

You open UberEats and order a burrito bowl from the sofa. While you wait you watch TV. Twenty - thirty minutes later you get a notification that your food is on the doorstep. You get off the couch, grab your food, remove it from the bag, take off the lid, and begin to eat.

I can’t help but think that there is something fundamentally wrong and unhealthy with the second scenario and something magical about the first. There’s a trigger that’s missed in the second scenario that is being activated in the first. A trigger that is prepping you for food. There is a connection formed by every cut, smell, taste while you’re cooking. The activation of your senses warm your stomach up, and prepare you.

Aside from just toxic ingredients you can’t pronounce or spell, foods made in factories at scale, in this post-industrial world, rob you of the opportunity to connect with your meal and get ready for nourishment. It’s a double dose of unnatural behavior that’s killing all of us.

By contrast getting back to a pre-industrial way of eating eliminates that deadly dose and promises good health as a result.

Three things that are on my mind right now

Colorado school meals

Chicken at the grocery store

So much to distract us

Colorado

In Colorado, the Healthy School Meals for All program is at risk of coming up short on the money required to keep the program true to it’s name. I was reading about it in a really good article in my local paper.

Colorado is one of a eights states that have universal free meal programs for their students. Universal means everyone is included, and students don’t have to meet certain requirements to be eligible for the program. Making the program available to everyone, and eliminating eligibility requirements, stops the discrimination and shame sometimes felt by lower income students, and it also reduces the work required for parents to enroll their children.

And, it also fulfills what should be a basic human right. The right to food. Particularly in a country where at least 50 percent of the food we produce is never eaten, and ends up rotting in landfills instead. But, I digress.

Regardless, the program is under threat, and if lawmakers can’t figure out how to secure the necessary funding, and close a $40 million dollar gap, then the program won’t be available to all, and will need to be renamed to the “Healthy Schools Meals for Some.”

Lawmakers have proposed two funding options that will be ballot measures for all Coloradans to vote on this year.

Option 1 - Allow the government to keep taxes that are required to be refunded to tax payers “due to the state’s cap on spending,” a requirement enshrined in the state’s Tax Payers Bill of Rights. Or;

Option 2 - Raise taxes on individuals making more than $300,000 per year (which is the same way they raised money for the program in 2022).

When I was training for my first Ironman I did all of my running with two guys. One of the guys took charge of planning the routes because he hated running out and backs, and would always say “they are so unimaginative.” Which is how I feel about these lawmakers. Unimaginative.

So, I’m proposing that we all write in a third option.

Option 3 - Instead of funding Israel’s and Ukraine’s wars, we take the collective billions we will have sent overseas, and use it to feed ALL our STUDENTS. Instead of spending $1 trillion dollars on the military, we cut the military budget, and use it to feed ALL our STUDENTS.

There’s this clip of Senator Murphy that I just love from the day he went out to protest defending USAID and closing the building. You can watch the clip, but he said “The people get to decide how their tax money is spent, Elon Musk does not get to decide.”

It made for good theater, but you could tell that not even he believed what he was saying. He knows we don’t decide. Because if we did decide, we would have things like free universal healthcare, and we would also provide free meals to ALL of our CHILDREN, without scrambling for funding every year.

Chicken

Normally, I get my chicken from a farm about 3 hours away from my house. All the meat they raise is done so out on pasture. Which means the animals spend most of their lives outside, grazing, pecking, and scratching, free to express their natural instincts, free to eat from the earth. But for the last couple of months they haven’t had any chicken meat to sell.

Why?

Because when you’re a small family farm operating in the Colorado mountains pasture raising your livestock, it is just not possible to have broiler chickens all year long. There is a certain seasonality to it, that differs from the large factory farms raising their animals in close unsanitary conditions indoors.

So, I’ve been buying chicken from the grocery store. Because while I’m aware of the seasonality, I still want chicken in the winter months. But, I try to be very selective of what I buy. Most times the highest quality I find is organic and free range. Which translates roughly to the chickens were fed an organic feed, likely still full of grains (grains are cheap), and they had access to the outdoors, but they likely spent their lives inside (chickens don’t just go outside, kind of the way people don’t anymore either).

But when given the choice between no chicken or organic free range, I’m choosing the latter every time.

However, I was pleasantly surprised when I got to the meat section at the grocery store today and saw what looked like real deal pasture raised chicken. And I was ecstatic when I saw that it was only $8 / lb. The chicken I buy from the farm is over $10 / lb, plus a delivery fee. But that is the price I pay for better meat, healthier and happier birds, and to support my local farmer.

When I stepped forward towards the chicken today another lady also stepped forward. We smiled and exchanged hellos. Out loud I said, “I’m so happy to see pasture raised chicken here. It’s the first time I’m seeing it.”

“I’m here for the chicken that’s on sale,” she said, “actually, I don’t know what the difference is.”

Sensing a teaching moment I took a deep breath and explained the difference between organic free range and pasture raised. I went further to explain why $7.99/lb was such a good price.

She looked at me and said, “that does sound better, but you can’t beat the price of this chicken.” She then proceeded to bring her package of on sale chicken closer to show me the price. “One pound of tenderloins, for $8… Well that can’t be right,” she said.

I walked away as she stood there unsure of what to do. Either way, I gave her something to think about.

Distractions

It’s a wonder how we get anything done. With all of the distractions and choices, I often fail to comprehend how the world is still running. It’s just so easy to distract yourself from things you need to do, but also thing you want to do (and sometimes these things are the same).

It’s like, if I sit down at my computer, before I do anything else, I check my email, check my stock portfolio, check my website, and check my YouTube page. Not because I “want” to, but because those are the things that give me that feel good dopamine hit (regardless of whether or not the news is good). I also know subconsciously that at least one of them is going to send me down a rabbit hole that will keep me from doing the thing I sat down to do. Sometimes that’s good, sometimes that’s bad.

My phone is no better. Thankfully I’ve been off social media for around two years now, but that doesn’t mean I don’t waste time on my phone. Emails, text messages, WhatsApp, photos, and checking the stock market (again) are all efficient ways to burn time and distract myself from being productive. 

So often I find myself asking, “What was I going to do?” My phone usage report the other day said I picked my phone up 49 times by early afternoon. To do what?!

So, I’ve been trying to re-wire that circuit in my brain to prevent myself from losing focus. Rather than waiting until its too late, and I’ve forgotten what I intended to do, and I have to spend time re-tracing my steps, now I take a moment when I open my lap top or pick up my phone and I ask “What do you want to do?” I sit on it, let it marinate, and a few moments later the answer usually comes to me.

“Colorado Movement Lab. Look them up, and see what they’re all about.”

Why sharing my writing scares me

I think I’m afraid to share my work because I’m scared that people are going to take the one thing they read that I wrote, and use it to form an opinion of me. Even though its only one thing, one idea, one thought, one observation, or one view out of a million that I have, it’s not going to be the collective one million that makes up who I am in their mind, it’s going to be the one thing that someone reads and doesn’t like.

And that’s what scares me and stops me from wanting to share. Because I see how people form their opinions. I see how they do it to other people. I see how they take something that someone said or did completely out of context and use it to from their whole opinion of that person. I see people do this in front of me all the time, and I don’t believe for a second that they don’t do it to me when I’m not in the room.

I know they do because I know they don’t have enough self control to stop themselves, or pick and choose who gets unjust criticism and who does not. It’s behavior that I’ve observed over and over again in strangers, friends, and family. 

And the thing is, I don’t want to give people any more ammunition than they already have by sharing everything that’s comes to my mind, and all of my intimate moments in this world. I don’t want to. But, I’m also burdened by an uncontrollable and burning desire to share and communicate with that small percentage of the population who actually has an open mind, and who is looking to connect. Because that’s what I want, and the medium that calls to me is writing.

So, I’m throwing caution to the wind, because I’ve decided that when I die, I will have lived a much more fulfilled, authentic, and enjoyable life if I just laid it all out, than if no one ever criticized me, misinterpreted what I said, or used my words against me.

So, on this website, I will continue to try to leave it all to bare.

A recent experience has changed my view on solving homelessness

I put in my first volunteer shift last week at a recuperative care center for the homeless in downtown Denver. The program and the facility are part of Coalition for the Homeless. During my two hour shift I helped serve dinner and clean up, and tried my best to be pleasant and welcoming to the clientele.

The recuperative care center works in collaboration with local hospitals. The hospitals can only hold patients for so long before they have to be discharged to make room for new patients. The problem is that, unlike you or I, when these patients are discharged they don’t have a place to go. So they end up back on the street, where it is challenging, if not impossible, to fully recover. Making it very likely that they’ll end up back in the hospital.

So, this left the hospital with a couple of choices.

Discharge them anyway and let them recover on the streets, knowing that the patient would be back soon;

or, 

Keep them in the hospital longer, which is expensive, and does not solve their need to free up beds;

or,

Partner with a recuperative care center and give their patients experiencing homelessness “safe, dignified, and quality spaces… to heal and stabilize from medical issues.”

Luckily, a number of hospitals have chosen the latter. The recuperative care center can house and care for up to 75 patients at one time.

The patients here are suffering from a plethora of acute injuries and illnesses. Everything from limb and digit amputations, wounds, broken bones and gun shots, to complications associated with chronic diseases such as cancer, diabetes, and stroke. The recuperative care center gives patients two weeks to recover in a new, clean, and comfortable facility, where they are provided three warm meals a day and a snack, and are able to engage in activities such as yoga, bingo, meditation, and poker night. 

If a patient needs more time to recover, then usually the facility can provide that to them. Repeat customers are common, as you might expect, and, at least from the handful of patients I spoke to, patients are always sad to leave. When they are finally discharged the recuperative care center does everything in its power to find them housing. But not everyone is so lucky, and many people end up back on the streets, only to return again one day.

Prior to moving to Los Angeles in 2019 I had very little understanding or involvement with people experiencing homelessness. But in Los Angeles, especially after the pandemic, the homeless issue was not something you could ignore. And like everyone, I had an opinion. 

My opinion was formed based on what I saw around me, and based on my experiences. In 2022 I joined a group of people and went to various encampments around the city to feed the individuals who lived there. What we witnessed was at times very hard to see, and it influenced my views.

Most of what I saw was a lot of people suffering my various mental disorders. For some people it appeared that substance abuse brought on the mental disorders, and in others the substances exasperated an existing condition. And for many of them, it looked like their mental condition and substance abuse had gone untreated for so long that I doubted if they could ever truly recover, and become a functioning member of society. I sympathized with all of them, but the prognosis was grim.

So when it came to the debate over building free housing or not, I leaned more towards the not side. I couldn’t see how without intensive mental interventions anyone I had met would all of a sudden thrive because they were given a home. It didn’t add up to me, and I felt strongly that we first needed to provide them with mental and physical support services, before we did anything else.

And I still believe that that is an extremely important first step in any plan, however, after just one shift at the recuperative care center, I now understand how important it is to also give people a place to call home.

Just looking around the halls and around the dining room at the recuperative center I saw a lot of the same “faces” that I saw in Los Angeles. Most of the patients I saw looked like they had lived on the streets for a long time, and had battled substance abuse at one time or another in their life.

But despite what felt familiar about the population, there was one thing that felt drastically different. The energy throughout the whole facility was completely serene. There was a sense of calm that I could feel radiating through these patients as they understood that for at least today, they didn’t have to fight to survive. That their nervous system could take a breath, and they could start to think about how to improve their situation, and focus on getting better.

There is tremendous value in bringing structure, routine, consistency, and predictability, into someone’s life, and surrounding them with a team of people who care. It’s something that those of us who have grown up with a safety net or a support system take for granted. I get to sleep easy knowing that if shit hits the fan and everything goes terribly wrong in my life, that there are at least three different houses that I would be welcomed into. And that’s being ultra-conservative.

For many of these people there is no one to catch them.

All volunteers are required to attend an online orientation before signing up for their first session. On my call was a young man from Louisiana. He said he grew up in a small rural town, and just recently moved to Denver. He lives in downtown Denver and said he had culture shock when we saw the homeless problem in real life. He said:

“Where I’m from we live in poverty, but there is no homeless population. There’s always somewhere for you to go, or someone to help.”

It was eye opening to hear, but not hard to understand why what he said made sense. In a small town where everyone knows everyone it is hard to walk by someone struggling. In a small town you don’t make assumptions about why someone is on the streets, chances are you know why or you know what that person is going through. In a small town the actions of a few can affect the lives of the majority. So not helping is not an option, lest you want it to impact you.

But in big cities across the country and around the world, the view is very different. Chances are you’ve never seen the person you’re stepping around on the side walk, or the guy you’re driving by holding a sign at the corner. In those situations it’s easy to make assumptions about how that person ended up there and why they’re unable to get it together. 

In a big city it is not your problem. There are hundreds of thousands or millions of other people and surely someone else must be helping. There is no reason why I should do anything. Someone else has got it. And regardless of the outcome, I’m able to continue on with my day.

These beliefs and views don’t work in a small town. It’s clear who’s getting help and who’s not. It’s hard to step around or drive by a face you recognize and have likely spoken to. The person or people living at the park or at the bus stop directly impacts you. There’s only one park, and you need to get to work.

We need to adopt small town mentalities in our big cities if we ever want to truly make an impact. We need to give people free and unlimited mental and physical therapy, and support services. And we do need to give people a place to call home. Whether it’s part of a larger program, or a place like the recuperative care center. They need a place where they can feel safe and heal.

My opinion hasn’t changed in that I don’t believe housing alone is the answer. But I do think that housing needs to be part of the solution.