Day 102 / 108 Challenge

#102

"I bow for harmony between those who have learned and those who have not."

In data science world, they spend majority of their time cleaning the data input. Because the algorithm cannot be trained effectively if the data being used for training contains garbage information. For example, you would not want self-driving algorithm to learn that good driving involves disobeying the stop sign.

Rightful action, which is one of the core Buddhist teachings, involves just that. Our mind and body must consume the healthy things in order to live a happy life.

I am currently sitting on a train suffering, because of the excessive amount of food and drinks I had earlier at lunch. Junk in, junk out. Same suffering occurred when I had the chocolate covered cookies the other day. It felt good for the 10 seconds when I was eating them, but I had to suffer an upset stomach for hours after that.

In contrast, on my usual days when I stick to my meal preps, I feel great throughout the entire day. I may feel hungry temporarily, but the magnitude of suffering of hunger compared to an upset stomach from eating junk is substantially lower.

The same goes for our mind. If I hang around too much with negative people, or the ones who speak or act in toxic ways, I start to suffer by speaking or acting in those unhealthy ways. This kind of suffering can be very subtle in the beginning, but by the time we notice we are often too deep in our negative ways. And this can take us a while to detox. Similarly, if we consume unhealthy mindset through watching inappropriate movies, or listening music promoting unhealthy behaviours and mindset we will experience the same suffering.

What I just talked about may not have hit you yet. And it can be because we are not living our lives mindfully. Or it can be because we never experienced what the “good side” feels like, because we had been practicing unhealthy behaviours our whole lives.

That is why I recommend doing the challenges (75 Hard or my 108) paired with journaling. Document how you feel while you are mindfully living a healthy lifestyle. Both my friend and I who did 75 Hard Challenge together noticed how great we felt every day by practicing the “right action”. By eating clean, by exercising regularly, by nourishing our mind with reading, by cutting out all the other bad habits. Once you have experienced this long enough, you will have easier time staying away from unhealthy behaviours. Because you will realize how awful you feel compared to the good times you had living a healthy lifestyle.

In summary, practice right action, be mindful, and watch yourself naturally becoming a better and happier person.

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Challenge Log

Requirements
No Snacks No drinks or desserts exceeding weekly limit	Celebrated my friend's birthday with a drink
Water intake (max 2L)	1.75L
2x Pomodoro flows (read min. 10 pages)	Buddhist teaching
Productive activity (write a journal or a blog; create a product)	Journalling
Physical activity (min. 45 minutes)	LEG DAY 1. Squat 135/185/215lb 15-10-5 2. Front squat 95/135/185lb 15/12/5 3A. Hip thrust 180lb 3x10 3B. Side lateral raises 25lb 3x15 4A. Front and side lunge 45lb 3x6 4B. DB bench press 45lb 3x8 5. Hanging leg raises + 5s hold + 30s boat hold 3x10
Wildcard (any 1 of read/produce/exercise above)	(EXERCISE) More outdoor walk by cleaning the city at work event (READ) More reading

What I am thankful for today

++ I am grateful to work in a team that offers great flexibility, and enjoyable events.

++ I am grateful to have like-minded people in this world who strive to be good human beings.

++ I am grateful for music artists who spread positive mindsets.

Drink/Dessert tickets remaining: 1

Day 101 / 108 Challenge

#101

"I bow for harmony between the sick and the healthy."

Lately I had been anxious about time. I feel like I must be using my time wisely at all times, and spend my every waking hours into doing something productive. I felt like I was getting old without as big of a progress I should be making. Obviously, that lead to my stress level to skyrocket and I got to a point where I did not feel like sleeping.

Needlessly to say further, that was not a healthy way of living. Nor a happy one. Time passes by regardless. We cannot control time. There is no pause button to stop everything from being. So stressing about getting old and time passing by too fast should not make sense. By worrying about the things we cannot control, we create and invite pain for ourselves.

There is a famous saying to combat this pain as well, and it hits me different now that I know, "if you cannot avoid it, enjoy it."

So instead of worrying about time passing by, we should enjoy the every moment of it. As long as we are spending time in a meaningful way, and are enjoying the present, we are not only free from the unnecessary pain, but would actually be happy from them happening.

And this seems like a key to be happier in life. Not stressing over the unnecessary things, and trying to find as many ways to enjoy as possible.

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Challenge Log

Requirements
No Snacks No drinks or desserts exceeding weekly limit	Successfully avoided dessert temptations throughout the day.
Water intake (max 2L)	1.75L
2x Pomodoro flows (read min. 10 pages)	Estate process
Productive activity (write a journal or a blog; create a product)	Journalling
Physical activity (min. 45 minutes)	REST DAY - Outdoor walk
Wildcard (any 1 of read/produce/exercise above)	(EXERCISE) More outdoor walk

What I am thankful for today

++ I am grateful to have coworkers who are fun to have conversations with. I got to make new connections from the lunch event.

++ I am grateful to have contractors who are making the renovation process as smooth as possible.

++ I am grateful to have a comfortable bed that I can rest peacefully on.

Drink/Dessert tickets remaining: 1

Day 100 / 108 Challenge

#100

"I bow for harmony between the poor and the rich."

One of my colleagues recently got engaged, and he shared a lot of wisdom with me tonight. He got me to think about what I needed to know before finding a life partner.

Part of figuring out who I am, and what I want is, what kind of family do I want to raise or form? I never considered this before going into "date to marry" and I felt stupid for not doing so. My friend had a strong opinion on keeping his heritage, and he was looking to go back to his home country in few years.

I must say that I did not feel the same way. I felt like all of us are citizen of the earth, and quite frankly we should not have separate passports. We should be able to freely visit other countries. I understand that it is not practical, but at least that is how I treat and see others. I do not feel alienated by meeting people from different backgrounds or other cultures. I just see them as another human being born and raised in different "town" of the earth.

I have more thinking to do in this aspect of finding a right partner, but again, I feel like I am on a right path.

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Challenge Log

Requirements
No Snacks No drinks or desserts exceeding weekly limit	Went out for drinks with my colleague
Water intake (max 2L)	1.75L
2x Pomodoro flows (read min. 10 pages)	Federal tax budget
Productive activity (write a journal or a blog; create a product)	Journalling
Physical activity (min. 45 minutes)	PULL DAY 1. Chin ups 45/70/80/90lb 5-3-2-1 2. DB row 90lb 4x6 3A. BB curl 75lb 4x4 3B. BB skull crusher 75lb 4x6 4A. BB twist 20lb 4x6 4B. DB curl 15lb 4x8 5. 3s eccentric leg raises + 30s boat hold 3x10
Wildcard (any 1 of read/produce/exercise above)	(EXERCISE) Outdoor walk

What I am thankful for today

++ I am grateful to have a vehicle that I can use to navigate while outside weather is not ideal.

++ I am grateful to have enough money to enjoy food and drinks whenever and wherever I want.

++ I am grateful to have a friend that I can have meaningful conversation with.

Drink/Dessert tickets remaining: 1