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.

---

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