“Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself.”
~ Leo Tolstoy

It’s always easier to “Monday Morning Quarterback” the world than it is to do the “right” thing in a difficult situation. Nothing sells like drama — via fear and outrage porn. You can shout from the rooftops all the ills of the world; and you may be right. Yet, nothing has changed by your saying so.

Election season in the United States is upon us. The party declaring that “democracy is on the ballot this year” is running a candidate who was nominated for both their current and perspective positions — no voting, no democracy. Meanwhile, the opposing party is decrying “the rich” and bias of oligarchs while receiving massive funding from the (financially) richest person on Earth.

This site, and post, aren’t intended for political commentary. They are, however, very much intended for personal inquiry. The folly of being too “conservative” is that one remains retroactively attached to an arbitrary bygone era of which they identify with as being culturally and morally acceptable. On the other hand, when one becomes too “progressive” they loose their footing on the present; and by always only promising or hoping for the future, little action or change is made in the moment.

On a sporting front, a similar phenomenon happens with “visualization” — one of many trite and nauseating buzzwords intercepted by both the mental health and fitness communities. The problem is that it’s way more fun to “visualize” the podium (celebration) than it is the pains required by the process of getting there.

In essence, everyone wants to be a winner and very few people are willing to do what is needed to win. You can readily substitute “winning” for whatever local, global, or personal change you’d like to see.

To bring us full circle, we all know a fair share of “used-to-could-ers.” You know the type — they tend to gather in dive bars and talk about “the glory days” as if they’ve been rendered incapable of change for the intervening decades or for the foreseeable future. Even worse, their sense of impending doom and helplessness is contagious.

One could look to The Bible for inspiration — “Lest a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains just a grain of wheat (1).”

Or we could look at the biology of nature. For a caterpillar to complete metamorphosis into a butterfly it literally has to digest it’s former self. Likewise, if it remains safe in it’s chrysalis it will eventually starve and die. By the same token if a passing by human aides a “stuck” butterfly, it’s wings won’t grow strong enough to support itself in the future and it will soon die anyway.

Cheerful as always, I know. Alas, change has always been, and will remain, an inside job.

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What I’m Reading & Listening To:

Vagus Activation by Cold Face Test reduces acute psychosocial stress responses (2022)

2 minutes of exposing the face (specifically forehead to cheekbone area) to a -1’C cooling mask increased activation of the parasympathetic nervous system (via “dive response” through vagal and trigeminal nerves); exhibiting a calming effect evidenced by increases in HRV and reductions in both cortisol and heart rate.

Cooling interventions for athletes (2017)

This is a great review of pre- intra- and post- exercise cooling interventions both pertaining to different methods as well as feasibility and efficacy. Coupled with the above study, we can create very targeted and affordable interventions (via cold water or frozen packs applied to the face / eye region).

What’s New:

I appreciate everyone’s patience while I shuffle content around on the site. Revising and refocusing are a continuous process. At present, content is split into three primary categories: Lifestyle, Training, and Newsletter.

Lifestyle topics include grappling, fitness, and nutrition from a wide-viewed, non-procedural perspective. Training topics include training logs and downloadable training programs. The latter replaces the former “downloads” section and is exclusive to premium members (e.g. you cannot access it with a free trial / preview). Content there will be under heavy (re)development in the coming months.

Newsletters are, of course, their own unique rants and reflections that hopefully paint a “behind the scenes” picture that incites inquiry as previously tagged psychology posts have.

Savage Zen Athletics

Savage / Zen Newsletter No. 90