Weekend Thoughts - 5.16.15

Image by Ashton Pal, courtesy of Creative Commons licensing.

Happy Saturday, y'all! I was a bit under the weather this past week, but I have still gathered an excellent selection of reads for you to ponder this weekend.

1. Emily Guendelsberger from Philadelphia Citypaper went undercover as an Uber driver to find out what it's like to be behind the wheel of an Uber car. A fascinating read, but what sticks out is the paltry amount of money that Uber drivers receive for their services. A great read for anyone who has ever hailed an Uber (or Lyft, for that matter) as a rider.

2. DrugAbuse.com has a really interesting piece analyzing drug use at various music festivals. Burning Man seems to be to most well-rounded with its selection of substances, from what I can see.

3. An odd post on Boing Boing about a real book titled Dating Vegans. It seems sad to me that there is actually a book out there that is about dating vegans - do vegans really need to be that discriminatory in our dating practices that it would require a guidebook for dating?

That's all for this edition of Weekend Thoughts. Until next week, keep thinking wilder.

The Manual of Psychedelic Support

While perusing the May 2015 edition of Erowid Extracts, I was referred to a website called PsychSitter that has a wonderful guide that gives advice for "setting up and running compassionate care services for people having difficult drug experiences at music festivals and similar events."

The guide was published under a Creative Commons license and is available as a FREE PDF download. It includes a history of psychedelic care services, legal considerations, how to recruit, build, and train a team, the care space, complementary therapies, case studies, and much more.

Having a safe space for people undergoing powerful transformational experiences at multi-day outdoor festivals is extremely important. Unfortunately, because of the RAVE (Reducing Americans' Vulnerability to Ecstasy) Act,  harm reduction services can be interpreted as illegal activity in the United States.

The Act makes it unlawful to "make available for use" any place "for the purpose of unlawfully manufacturing, storing, distributing, or using a controlled substance." This can be broadly interpreted to target festival and event producers who have opted to provide any form of harm reduction services whatsoever. 

This can lead to producers being wary of even providing basic necessities like chillout spaces, available drinking water, drug testing reagent kit sites, and even the allowance of glow sticks, which have been associated in some people's minds with illegal substance use. This creates a situation where an already-difficult experience can turn into a nightmare for the traveler, who may end up in a crowded medical tent or the backseat of a police vehicle.

Groups like PsychSitter, DanceSafe, MAPS' Zendo Project, and the Full Circle Tea House are just a few of care service providers that are out there spreading positive vibes where they are needed the most. A petition has been started at Amend The RAVE Act that might be worth your checking out as well.

Weekend Thoughts - 5.9.15

Image by Erik Eckel, courtesy of Creative Commons licensing.

Happy Saturday y'all! I've got a well-rounded selection of links for you to read this weekend. 

1. Something that is hitting hard for me right now is the myriad controversies in nutrition science. Questions like "What is healthy food?" and "How much of it should I eat?" have been ricocheting throughout my brain this week. Quartz has a thought-provoking article on how the cult of healthy eating has more in common with religion than science. The piece's author, Alan Levinovitz, argues that nutrition science is difficult to research effectively, and he cautions his readers to not fall prey to healthy "fad" diet claims. I admit that I have tried many different types of "healthy" diets, to varying degrees of success. I make sure that I never put complete faith in any particular diet, and instead use the experimentation phases as a method for testing the diets for myself. However, I agree with Levinovitz's main argument - finding a truly healthy diet backed by substantial and trustworthy scientific evidence seems nearly impossible.

2. This Sriracha Avocado Chickpea Salad recipe from Healthy Slow Cooking looks scrumptious! After all, it's got three of my favorite things - Sriracha, avacado, and chickpeas!

3. New research has come out showing that there may be bacteria from fecal matter in beards. The findings essentially show that there are bacteria in beards that resemble bacteria found in the human gut. This may be because beard hair is coarser and can trap germs and grease more effectively. First of all, as a man with a beard, I have no plan to shave my beard. Second, I have to wonder if this is more germ and bacteria fear-mongering that will result in overall decreased immune function, rather than the reverse. After all, over sterilization is a thing.

4. One of my favorite video games, Portal, is being turned into a hyperdimensional pinball game. Pinball is one of my favorite arcade-style games, so the combination may prove to be entertaining. For those of you not familiar with Portal, it is a first person shooter game that has mind-bending puzzles in 3D space. Highly recommended. I may actually purchase the pinball version of the game - it's only going to be $2.99 for consoles, Mac, and PC, and $1.99 for mobile devices. The game will be released on May 25th.

5. A fellow Reality Sandwich writer, Bernardo Kastrup, was featured on one of my favorite podcasts last week: Lorenzo Hagerty's Psychedelic Salon. The topic is incredibly intriguing and this was an exceptional episode of the podcast that I just have to share. Bernardo describes the concept of a cosmic nervous system in great detail that resonates with me on several levels. Here is an excellent summary by Lorenzo:

"Today Bernardo Kastrup returns to the salon with more metaphysical speculations. Supplementing his recently released book, "Brief Peeks Beyond," he touches on the so-called hard problem of consciousness faced by materialists. In his examination of the dominant materialistic world view, Bernardo reveals the forces behind our value systems, which in turn determine our behavior. He ends with some very concrete suggestions for five things each of us can do to make the world a little better. However, my favorite section of this talk comes when he suggests that cosmic consciousness at-large may actually be experiencing what we humans call multiple personality disorder."

6. As an Apple fan, I enjoyed this brief piece titled One day they'll understand Apple on Ken Segall's Observatory. He argues that pundits that don't understand Apple's behavior in the present must look to its behavior in the past, as Apple is one of the most consistent companies in the technology industry. I agree with Segall's message here.

That's all for this edition of Weekend Thoughts. See you next time - and until then, keep thinking wilder.  

Weekend Thoughts - 5.2.15

Image by Jason Devaun, courtesy of Creative Commons licensing.

Happy Saturday y'all! I hope the week treated everyone well. Let's jump right in for some deep weekend thinking.

1. One of my favorite resources for personal development, Steve Pavlina, published a superb post titled The Spiritual Path of Veganism that discusses the relationship between humans and our extended family of flora and fauna that share space with us on Earth.

2. Here is an interesting read on Newsweek about how Homeless Millennials Are Transforming Hobo Culture. A subject I have a fascination with but no personal experience, the article discusses how recent technology has changed a lot of things for the modern homeless wanderer .

3. Thad McKraken from disinformation published a post recently titled Why I Don't Do Psychedelics Very Often Anymore that resonates strongly with me. It serves as a wise reminder to tread lightly when it comes to psychedelics. 

4. Regarding the recent situation between police and community in Baltimore, The Baltimore Sun published an article about how Freddie Gray was a victim of the war on drugs. If you want to improve police/community relations in America, you simply must support drug war reform.

5. As a fan of the jam band genre of music, I thought this article about Why Music Needs More Phish on Windpanther was spot on.

6. If you're interested in trail running you simply must check out The Ultimate Resource Guide for New Trail Runners from Doug Hay at Rock Creek Runner. It is an amazing resource guide that includes book, podcast, movie, and website suggestions, as well as gear advice and nutrition recommendations. Highly recommended.

7. Some new trend data that has been reported on Food Navigator-USA.com is showing that the vegan diet is becoming more mainstream, especially among millennials, whose values include environmental preservation and a sense of social responsibility.

That's all for this edition of Weekend Thoughts. Have a great week next week and we'll all reconvene here next Saturday for another thought session.

The Benefits of the 30-Day Challenge

Image by Philip Chapman-Bell, courtesy of Creative Commons licensing.

A 30-Day Challenge is a highly-effective method for personal growth that involves trying something new or developing a new habit. The concept is fairly simple: choose something that you would like to do every day (or another specified frequency) for 30 days, commit to that action, and stick to it!

The first time I heard about the concept of a 30-Day Challenge was from Steve Pavlina, one of my favorite personal development bloggers who has been a huge inspiration for my continued personal development. I have attempted several types of 30-Day Challenges which have resulted in newly-formed positive habits, the stoppage of detrimental habits, and a range of new worldviews and perspectives.

Some of my favorite 30-Day Challenges that I have experimented with include trying vegetarianism (which eventually led to a 30-Day Vegan Challenge as well), committing to a daily meditation practice, writing every day, giving up coffee, flossing my teeth every day, waking up at 5AM every morning, and studying a foreign language, Not all of my 30-Day Challenges have been completely successful, but they have all taught me about myself and allowed me to experience something new for a short period of time. This can be a helpful tool that allows the participant to gauge whether or not he or she benefits from the new behavior.

We all know the challenges of starting a healthy habit or breaking a bad routine. Most of us have had this experience with New Years Resolutions, for better or for worse. Before the resolution starts, we are excited and motivated, but that positive energy can wear off before the habit itself is established.

One benefit of the 30-Day Challenge is that it is a (relatively short) medium-term commitment. It isn't difficult to try something for 30 days, because there is no need to commit to a lifelong change (which can be overwhelming and stop you before you even get started!). It's possible that the new habit will stick for longer than 30 days, but that will not happen in every case.

30 days is enough time to get past the beginning stage when the habit feels unusual and is not fully ingrained. There is less of a chance that you will prematurely stop the habit when you commit upfront to the new behavior for a minimum of 30 days. Getting past those few initial weeks when the habit feels strange can be difficult, but after about three weeks many habits begin to feel routine.

If you are interested in attempting a 30-Day Challenge of your own, here are some ideas:

1. Go vegetarian for 30 days. If you don't feel comfortable with that, how about trying to participate in Meatless Mondays for a full month?

2. Start a daily yoga or meditation practice.

3. Read or write an hour per day.

4. Unplug the TV or shut off Internet access for 30 days.

5. Give up caffeine or alcohol for 30 days.

6. Wake up early every morning.

7. Write in a journal every day.

8. Do a 30-day fitness challenge.

9. Turn off your cell phone for 30 days.

10. Go out every night to a new place. This is a great way to explore a new city or reconnect with a familiar one, and will definitely make for a lot of fresh memories!

These are just some ideas to help you get started. I have found 30-Day Challenges to be extremely beneficial for me and will continue using them to better myself and experience things that I wouldn't normally have the courage to try. I hope that this post encourages you to step out of your comfort zone and try something new. The new you could be right around the corner, just waiting for your current self to come around the bend!