Wild herbs and connecting to the inner body
Table of Contents

Hi 🙂,
this was an unproductive week.
I found the culprit in a violation of one of my fundamental habits, which
are: 1) walk every day,1 2) stay present,2 3) sleep 8h and get up around 5:15.3
A day that lacks any of these is in trouble.
I was in violation of 3).
How did I come to fall asleep at 2:00?
I don’t know🤷
Possibly a leftover from new years.
Either way, it was negligence on my part to keep it that way.
For me, this served as a reminder of the importance those fundamental habits have for my life and as a reaffirmation to stand my ground with them. I’ve already taken corrective action by moving up my sleep cycle.4
Commitments #
My ongoing commitments are:
- Eat raw 🇩🇪 at least until Mar01
- To become profitable at trading
- Read one book at a time until Mar19
- Publishing this newsletter every Sunday (10x streak😎)
What I’m working on #
For context, see /now.
- I attempted to start the next focus challenge5 on trading, but it was like wading through slime. So much resistance and distraction, despite clearing up all imagined roadblocks before. I will get on with this, when the time is right.
- I took my first steps into identifying wild herbs. It’s a lot of fun to get to know the plants growing around me! Today, I was munching on these in the forest:


Challenges #
Applying a specific learning or philosophy for a week (see project.)
Last one #
Last weeks challenge was: Read one book at a time
Finished the first book and have not started with a new one yet. I felt that this restriction gave me a useful motivation to finish up the topic and the book I was reading, as well as stopping me from diving straight into a project I’m not sure I want to commit to.
I will report more finding over time.
Next one #
Connect to the inner body in the morning and to reconnect with that connection through-out the day.
‘Inner body’ explanation
To stay present in everyday life, it helps to be deeply rooted with-in yourself; otherwise, the mind, which has incredible momentum, will drag you along like a wild river. [To be rooted within yourself] means to inhabit your body fully. To always have some of your attention in the inner energy field of your body. To feel the body from within, so to speak. Body awareness keeps you present. It anchors you in the Now.
– Eckart Tolle in The Power of Now, beginning of Chapter 5
I have attempted this before with mixed results. I am coming back to it, because of the power inherent to the concept. When I’m connected to my inner body, all of my thoughts seem ephemeral. They are only passing through, they are not me. I feel the separation between the thoughts and me, because I feel myself so deeply underneath it all. It does not like a return to the present after being distracted by thought, but instead, like I never left, like I truly remained present through-out.
New articles #
As a result of my research, you’re getting:
- Why do aliens matter? Regardless if they are real or not.
All the best,
Jonathan
PS: Please let me know if you have any comments, feedback or criticism.
You can sign up for this newsletter here, if you aren’t already.
Walking serves as a mental reset for me. Without it: I get headaches, my mind gets foggy and I become unfocused and distracted by thought.
I first got introduced to the magic of walking every day because I was searching for a cure to a minor back pain I had developed by being on the computer all day. Walking did the trick. ↩︎If I don’t make an effort to be present, I will become stressed and overwhelmed running after my thoughts. I will be in a bad humor, more afraid (of doing the things I have to) and will create or engage in unnecessary conflict. ↩︎
Without my 8h of sleep I can’t perform and will engage in more entertainment seeking, need to relax more and have a tendency to eat worse. Without getting up between 5:00-6:00 I don’t get to work during my most productive hours and thus cripple my output. ↩︎
One can only move their sleep cycle by 2h in either direction per night, without incurring penalties. Anything more will be a big disturbance to sleep quality, as your inner clock fails to adequately adjust. ↩︎
What is a focus challenge?
I commit to work on a topic (a subject) for a period of time. The leading principle is: Stay on-topic at all times. That means any task, project, action, media shall pertain pertain to the selected topic. Anything off-topic is to be noted for later without receiving much attention.
Exceptions apply for established habits, outside work, chores, FFF, etc.
Some applications of this principle:- I hid all my off-topic projects.
- I only listed to on-topic audiobooks and podcasts.
- I only read on-topic books.
- I only listened to instrumental music.
- I did not process any off-topic notes in my note-taking system.
- I did not make any online purchases.