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Stagnation is Death Annals of a Bladesinger A haunting melody weaves its way through the quiet forest. An alien in her homeland with a mind touched by the hand of darkness, the elven wizard hones her dangerous dance, ever vigilant, ever mindful. She practices her art not just for the protection of her people, but to soothe her tormented soul with the meditative, otherworldly whistle of bladesong. Journey to Bladesinger Master 2020 Stats: STR 10 || DEX 11 || CON 11 || INT 15 || WIS 16 || CHA 12 2020 Level: Bladesinger Apprentice Goal Stats: STR 14 || DEX 17+ || CON 14 || INT 18+ || WIS 18+ || CHA 14 Goal Level: Bladesinger Master Bladesinger Apprentice - Trains under a Master. Must demonstrate above-average intelligence, and wisdom to be accepted into training for a wizard, must show some promise in dexterity to be accepted by a bladesinger master. STR 8 || DEX 10 || CON 8 || INT 14 || WIS 14 || CHA 8 Bladesinger Knight - Able to train and fight independently. Must demonstrate above-average mastery of dexterity, and very high intelligence, and wisdom. Strength, constitution, and charisma must be high enough as to not impede progress. STR 12 || DEX 14 || CON 12 || INT 16 || WIS 16 || CHA 11 Bladesinger Master - Can train an Apprentice. Demonstrates exceptional abilities in dexterity, intelligence, and wisdom. Above-average abilities in strength, constitution, and charisma are required to perform at this level. Goal Stats: STR 14 || DEX 17+ || CON 14 || INT 18+ || WIS 18+ || CHA 14 Bladesinger Leader - Can serve as leader to other Master roles. Demonstrates all the abilities of a Bladesinger Master, with higher charisma for leadership qualities. Goal Stats: STR 14 || DEX 17+ || CON 14 || INT 18+ || WIS 18+ || CHA 17 How to Level Scores based on max 20 system, current list only filled to requirements for mastery from current stats, does not include information prior to or past current and master stats Strength (STR) - Calisthenics and Iron STR 11: Plank 1min, 4x13 Pushups, 4x25 Crunches, 30/20 bodyweight squats, 2x20 tricep dips, 2x30 one-leg calf-raises STR 12: Plank 2min, 3x15 Pushups, 3x30 Crunches, 2x40 15lbs one-leg calf-raises, DB Bench 30lbs, DB Squat 50lbs, Deadlift 40lbs STR 13: Plank 3min, 3x20 Pushups, DB Bench 40, DB Squat 60lbs , Plank 3min, DB Deadlift 60 STR 14: DB Bench 60, DB Squat 75lbs , Plank 4min, DB Deadlift 80 STR 15: DB Bench 90lbs, DB Squat 100lbs, Plank 5min, DB Deadlift 100 Dexterity (DEX) - Flexibility, Agility, Balance, Coordination DEX 12: Eagle pose, Warrior III, Hands flat on floor in waist bend, Baby Crow pose DEX 13: Front and side splits, Crow pose, complete NF Yoga DEX 14: Crane pose, Wall handstand (1min), start martial art or agility training DEX: 15: Flying crow pose, 8-angle pose, dragonfly pose, unassisted handstand (1min+), 1 year of martial arts training DEX 16: Level 5: Dophin Push Up Challenge DEX 17: Black belt in a martial art DEX 18: 3rd degree black belt in martial art AND first degree black belt is second martial art Constitution (CON) - Stamina, Endurance CON 12: Complete a 5k in under 45 min CON 13: Complete a 5k in under 35 min CON 14: Complete a 5 mile run in under 60 min CON 15: Complete a 10k run in under 60 min Intelligence (INT) - Academia and Language INT 16: Personal Trainer Cert AND Health Coach Cert INT 17: Complete a Master's Degree program AND reading intermediate reading level for 2 forgeign languages INT 18: Complete a PhD INT 19: Research published in 5+ academic journals INT 20: Research published in textbooks and taught in classrooms Wisdom (WIS) - Generativity, Activism, Social/Environmental Awareness +Be a founding member or leader in a non-profit organization +1 Teach a skill to at least 10 people (OR) mentor at least 10 people +Teach a college course +Create a college or arts scholarship fund +Convert >90% of Beauty, Cleaning, and Meal Prep products to reusable/recycleable/eco-friendly Charisma (CHA) - Leadership, Social, Performance, Confidence CHA 13: Perform a leading role in a community/unpaid show (OR) 1k sub on social (OR) Manager 1+ employees (OR) Promote to SR/Lead position CHA 14: Perform as a supporting role in a paid performance (OR) direct a community show (OR) Manage 10+ employee team CHA 15: Perform as a leading role in a paid performance (OR) release a music album (OR) 10k subs on social (OR) Manage 50+ employee team CHA 16: Publish best-seller (OR) 10k subs to a blog (OR) 100k subs to social (OR) Run a business of 100+ employees CHA 17: Performance award (OR) 100k subs to personal blog (OR) 1mil subs to social (OR) CEO of 1,000+ employee business

I don't know how serious folks here are about meditation and mysticism, but here is a paper attached to this post that I wrote for a philosophy class and it is most likely going to be the theme of my eventual doctoral dissertation. I got an A+ on it. Mysticism Without God? Do you need a belief in a god or gods to explain mystical experiences? It is my intention to show traditional Western mysticism with its "god-centered" three ways of purgation, illumination and union, from a strongly-rational and materialist point of view, in order to argue that it is materialistic psychological processes and not a gods grace that initiates and determines the process of mysticism. It is my argument that supernatural forces do not cause the mystical experiences of advanced meditators and that they have their source in neuroscience, or perhaps in some advanced, but not yet discovered cosmological physics. 3 Ways Final Paper (Edited).pdf

I'm going to be a little easy on myself this time around and not set hugely challenging goals, but just ones that need to be worked on! I've got the Four Nations championships on 3 December so I want to be physically and mentally ready. Get my head in the game. My mind is a large part of what's holding me back so I'm going to work through some sports psychology books and exercises to try to change my mindset. I still really struggle to see myself as a good lifter so I need to give myself a firm talking to and start to see myself as others do. Look after myself. Get to bed before midnight during the week. Have an Epsom salt bath at least once a week. Find a meditation app which works for me (kinda part of the one above too). Found one I like so far so meditate once a day. Eat to perform. Keep on tracking and assessing to try to get my weight on track. Plan meals for Monday to Friday on Sunday and make sure that they're doable with minimal effort after training. Chat. Try to get out and about on people's threads and not beat myself up when other people have a more popular thread than mine. I had a powerlifter from Canada visiting over the weekend (not someone I'd met before but she found me on Instagram and we trained together) and it was really interesting to see how others see me. I have a very low opinion of myself a lot of the time (too ready to listen to negatives and ignoring positives) so to hear that she'd had a load of messages from people after we both posted a pic of the two of us together after training was really heartening. I need to stop relying on the opinions of others for my self-esteem, but at the same time I need to remember that not everyone hates me. I'm not still the kid in class who is bullied. I'm not still the girl being laughed at for getting it wrong. Maybe I never was!

Hello all! I found this site years ago, but have been a little shy about joining the Rebellion officially. My fiance and I are getting married this year, and we're both trying to change our eating and workout habits (or lack thereof). Just the push I need to find some backup in my journey! I'm happy to be here and hope I can find some folks like me </unsolicited personal introduction> Anyway, I love science, psychology, tech, and interesting things about humans and our behavior. I listen to podcasts like Radiolab, You Are Not So Smart, and The New Man. They've all touched on something called a "Flow State" that is supposedly the ultimate level of focus and clarity. Being "In the zone" or a "zen state" of mind. Like Neo in the Matrix or something. Have you ever experienced this? Do you believe it's a real thing or just a new buzzword? Can you purposefully get into a Flow State? What are your thoughts about this?...

Establish personal topic: complete. Post quest specifics: [coming soon! As in tonight when I get back to my computer]

Hey guys, I was hoping some of you out there might have a spare 15 minutes for my friends Honours project. He's writing a thesis about sleep and attachments, and the more people who could spare a few minutes, the more significant "power" the results will have. I figure, I love health/fitness and I love pop psychology about things like sleep and relationships, so perhaps a lot of others out there will too. Here is a link to the survey http://cduhes.asia.qualtrics.com/SE/?SID=SV_1ZDErOFtAJMvYy1 Let me know if you completed it!

I think the topic of psychology around and after weight loss is an incredibly interesting subject - not just the psychology that leads to obesity and how to achieve weight loss by reversing it, but also the realignment of one's mental self with one's physical self after achieving and sustaining significant weight loss. There was a podcast I listened to recently that really made me say "damn, nailed it". Beware that this podcast is very much from a male perspective(I'm sure that the details vary for women, but the over-arching message probably applies.), and contains some colorful language - but speaking from the perspective of someone who's been through it, adjusting the way you see yourself and how you act to be inline with how others see you is a tough, tough process. I'd be interesting in hearing others' thoughts around the topic as well. I know realignment of my self-image with my physical appearance is an ongoing process for me, despite the fact that my weight is the same as it was 3 1/2 years ago at this point. The sad reality is that for many of us, myself included, fixing the physical stuff is a far simpler task than realigning one's mind. Anyhow, the podcast is at: http://www.fatburningman.com/john-romaniello-man-2-0/