Following Self-Help Gurus with Discernment, Working on Recovery

 Over the last few days I've grown to enjoy listening to YouTube podcasts by Jim Rohn and Rob Dial.  Both men have different agendas and messages they're trying to convey, and I'm good with their efforts even when I don't entirely receive them.  That people will either grow or weaken over time seems to be the main idea, and I appreciate the similar stoic philosophies underlying their talking points.  So our brains are there to protect us, and keeping ourselves in a state of comfort seems to fit the bill as far as our brains are concerned.  Consequently, I'm supposed to deliberately seek out discomfort and resist the obvious temptations to choose the easy course of action (or inaction).  Changing habits is very much a feasible proposition, and it's best to start small and not let boredom or pressure unduly and negatively influence me.  I don't dig Rohn's tendency to be all-or-nothing with his ideology, but here I am at age 69 with a most serious brain cancer diagnosis and the opportunity to build my mind and body back up into a fine state of VO2-max level cardiovascular fitness with plenty of resources and time for reading and study...maybe this will help with my lifespan and healthspan.  Now it's about working out and studying while watching my hydration, recovery, and attitude.  So I ran in place early this morning for eight minutes, with more to come...

Sleepy, but Got Up and About Early Anyway

 This morning I was only partially sleeping, hoping that when I finally awoke it would be later...a little past three.  Still, I felt in little shape to get up, although I did and promptly brewed some coffee.  I ran in place for ten minutes, dutifully writing the time down in my spiral notebook.  The temperature in the house is leaning to the cold side, and before long my plan is to reset it for 'cool' and return to bed and my barking, excited Daisy. It now being Tuesday morning the 10th of March, I foresee no new Rob Dial podcast for today...maybe Huberman or Rohn will produce another episode.  My hope with fitness is to cover the backyard with walking more efficiently.  I'd like to be able to write that I read more pages in the vicious, frustrating Khan fantasy book...not looking forward to enjoying it, though, with the anger of its main characters resembling that of the TV series Grey's Anatomy.  Just thank you for this day you provided me, Lord, and may I live it out more responsibly and graciously.  Let's celebrate a small victory...I got up and stayed up! Maybe later on I'll get Melissa to help me start up (and move) the white Camry.  May I avoid getting myself caught up in digging for dopamine, and allow boredom to grow my good habits and character.  It's not quite four yet, and I still remember the times 55 years ago when I had decided to arise before dawn in order to begin my school day in a wise, positive manner.  In a way, this is one of those kinds of days...

Memories of Historic Past Iran Conflict "Color" My View of the Present

 There's nothing like getting up a couple of hours before sunrise and getting started on the day.  Brewing a nice pot of flavored coffee works well with a ten-minute session of running-in-place on the living room rug floor.  My reading and studies seem to be morphing into more passive, visual and mental undertakings, and my little habit changes are becoming more directed toward the more manageable, less supremely ambitious sort.  Today is Monday, March 9.  Were I going to the 9th grade at Nova, I'd get my homework worked and gathered at the dining room table, setting the final morning alarm to give me a reasonable amount of time to clean and dress for school. As it actually is at this moment in time, I can sip my cup d K-cup flavored and brewed coffee and move over to watch a little YouTube TV.  And after a brief bathroom visit I can return to Jim Rohn's stoic personal development podcasts. Then it's back to bed for a while.  I'm getting sick and tired of the war news going on, with Trump trying to constantly insert himself in the press meetings.  

This Iran thing brings to memory when I was first going to college in the mid-to-late 1970s when the two campuses I attended became loaded with Persian overseas students.  To me they seemed to enjoy a promising, privileged existence (although none wanted to talk with me) and the idea that their home country was an autocratic police state that imprisoned and/or tortured dissidents seemed far-fetched...why, the Shah was our buddy, wasn't he? It wouldn't be until the violent rioting in 1978 eventually  kicked Shapour Bakhtiar out and brought in Khomeini for his long brutal, murderous reign.  And then came the hostage crisis.  After Khomeini began to crack down on the nation's socialists, I got a knock on my apartment door from a couple of Iranians who wanted me to sign on with their cause.  What's that, you go to town loudly running down me and my country to the world, and now we're all suddenly friendsy-pindsy because we think we might have a common enemy? In politics, trust is a difficult thing to build and only too easy to destroy...never again, Iran and Russia.  I honestly don't understand how most of our so-called allies can trust us to any degree after our current president's behavior toward them, espcially Ukraine and Denmark with its prized Greenland that Trump wants to add to his personal map of territorial conquests..  Now let's see...I look ahead right now for the next several hours, noting the potential for a a nice wide-open time span devoted to modest personal projects...A little attempt at walking endurance looks like a good option...