Zipf's Law - Principle of Least Effort.

[darna]

I started some challenges in early 2020 and that just got derailed when the pandemic happened. And life just passed by literally.

 

Hoping to be more mindful and actually get something done, I am doing this challenge following Zipf's Law - Principle of Least Effort. According to Wikipedia:  "The principle of least effort postulates that animals, people, and even well-designed machines will naturally choose the path of least resistance or effort". 

 

Keep things easy so you set yourself up for success.

1. Run/Walk - 3x a week. Last year, my total mileage was 557.4 miles, mostly walking.

 

2. Journal - Write daily, either using the 5-minute Journal or morning pages method to plan the day. Write gratitude list.

 

 

 

3. Meditate - 3x a week in one form or another. This is probably the hardest of all the goals. I've been trying different ones but just not getting traction. 

 

4. Neck Mobility/Shoulder Mobility Exercises - Been having neck and shoulder pain. I have the exercises listed. 'Just need to do them. 

 

5. Read - Daily in audiobook or in print.

 

[Manarelle]

Good challenge. What are you looking for as far as meditation? I've tried it so many times but I don't sit still well, then I found a thing on walking meditation, if you're just looking for mindfulness and being in the present. 

[darna]

On 1/6/2021 at 9:35 AM, Manarelle said:

Good challenge. What are you looking for as far as meditation? I've tried it so many times but I don't sit still well, then I found a thing on walking meditation, if you're just looking for mindfulness and being in the present. 

Thanks. I'm doing the Everday Meditation from Aptiv which is free with the audible subscription. This has 20 episodes and I'm on Day 8. I'm still not sure if it is working or helping but I'm just going through with it. For my run-walks, depending on my mood, I either listen to audiobooks or music or prayers. What I am really looking is more into isochronic beats coupled with binaural beats with some guidance on visioning. It is something like the mental movies described in Psycho-Cybernetics by Maxwell Maltz, State Akin To Sleep by Neville Goddard, PURE technique by Frederick Dodson, etc. I guess I should stop looking for the magic recipe and just focus on one technique.

[darna]

'Not a huge mileage on Week 0. Lately, I've used the trick of walking instead of driving to get groceries. I wear an empty backpack. I have a very short to-buy list to avoid impulse buying (since it will not fit on my backpack), If I need more, then, I have to walk again the next day to buy the item(s).

 

 

 

 

 

[darna]

Some photos taken during the walks. I found some painted rocks along the Black Creek Greenway. Don't know who made them.   

[Manarelle]

Aw, very cool on the painted rocks! Unexpected points of color and happiness are awesome to come across. I hear you on meditation - I've never had traditional meditation really work for me,  but I've heard it both ways that sticking with it eventually gets you into the right headspace and that some people just never do. 

 

Love the plan on using the backpack to cut down on impulse buys - very solid motivation there!

[darna]

I'm a bit behind on my postings. I usually get a chance to post mostly on Fridays and weekends. I had a couple of realizations or sort of epiphany on Week #1.

 

Perhaps, there was a reason why I could never really get this meditation going. On Dec 31st, I got an audiobook on Lucid Dreaming. I write about what happened.

Have you ever had lucid dreaming? This is when you dream and realize you're awake inside a dream and you can direct your dreamscape. There are things you can do in your dream to verify you are in a dream and not awake. That is what this audiobook "Lucid Dreaming" was teaching me. Just when I was very sleepy, I started it and put on my bluetooth headphones. It had some talkies and I think some background sounds. Eventually, I fell asleep and there I was in a restaurant eating something with a friend. I cannot recall who but I think it was a female friend. We were on a table beside a window, eating and chatting. Outside, we saw this big semi truck loaded with logs with chains around it. It was trying to back out. I hear the beeping when a vehicle goes on reverse. Suddenly, the blinking red lights on the back of the truck kept getting closer and closer. I thought, this is not good. If the driver does not stop, it will hit the restaurant. Then, I remember the sound breaking glass and screaming at my friend to run. I turn around and I see the back of the truck looming over me. I thought... he's gonna run me over. And I woke up. Heart beating so fast, I thought I was going to have a heart attack. The audiobook is long over. It took a while for me to calm down and be able to go back to sleep again. I knew it was a dream or nightmare because I would not consciously think of a truck running me over while in my cozy bed. I'm not quite sure if it was lucid dreaming as I did not get a chance to direct it or follow the checks to identify if I am in a lucid dreaming state. The next night, I did not use the lucid dreaming audiobook. I had a dream. Not as violent as the night before. I remembered it for a couple of minutes. I should have written it down as I cannot recall it now.  I have since returned that audiobook and have absolutely no desire to Lucid Dream anymore.

 

Then, last night I sort of started meditating, visualizing, etc. I fell asleep and I saw this black huge creature looking beside my sleeping form. He suddenly came and tried to strangle me with a rope. I started screaming 'Help!'  I literally woke up screaming help! I wondered if my neighbor heard me. I was still sleepy but I didn't want to continue the dream. I prayed and asked Jesus to  protect me. I eventually calmed down and fell back to sleep. After this, I decided to stop all 'New Age' practices as these are really opening up yourself for bad things to come to you. If you research, there are very scary stories of people getting 'awoke', ie, kundalini awakening and they ended up getting 'attacked', needing meds, etc. 

 

Likewise, I have decided to stop my audible subscription. This ability to select and return books feeds this 'need' of what's next? There's always a new author teaching new stuff or there's this bestseller that's everyone's talking about. It never ends. Perhaps, that is good for some people. In the meantime, my Holy Bible is collecting dust in my night table. Hence, I've decided to do 'fasting' on reading other books and try to finish reading the Holy Bible for as long as it takes me. 

 

I guess this is  a long-winded post but I thought I'd share this story.

 

[darna]

I meant to post my weekly update as well.

 

I pass by the Cary Dog Park whenever I run/walk on Northwoods Greenway. It's a doggie heaven as their "humans" installed these fire hydrants for their beloved "canine" friends. I really doubt if these are working fire hydrants as they are all over the place. 

 

        

 

 

 

 

[Elastigirl]

Oh, those doggy hydrants are so cute! Wise call on the lucid dreaming. I do read other books, but my first priority is the Bible. No other reading until that is done.I hear you on the what's next too, sometime I think we just need to digest the information we've read before we add more. 

 

For my Bible reading I do it first thing in the morning. I  do a read through the Bible in a year plan (my first shot at it took 2 and half years) That way I don't have to make a decison, I just look at what I am supposed to read for each day and do the reading

[LIGHTH0USE]

A cheap trick if you want an audiobook and don't care too much about the sound quality, you can always just get a PDF of a book and let an app read you the text.

 

There are a lot of places where you can get free books, like:

• https://b-ok.cc/
• https://epdf.pub/
• https://archive.org/

And then the app I would advise to get is Libera PRO. Can also be gotten from the Google PlayStore, though will cost you some. The app is open sourced.

Otherwise, you could also program your own app

[darna]

Week 2 Update

- Run/Walk is ok but Neck Stretches and Shoulder Mobility is again an epic fail. 

[darna]

On 1/11/2021 at 8:34 AM, Manarelle said:

Aw, very cool on the painted rocks! Unexpected points of color and happiness are awesome to come across. I hear you on meditation - I've never had traditional meditation really work for me,  but I've heard it both ways that sticking with it eventually gets you into the right headspace and that some people just never do. 

 

Love the plan on using the backpack to cut down on impulse buys - very solid motivation there!

 

I have gone back a couple of times to the Black Creek Greenway and the painted rocks gang have been busy. 

               

[darna]

On 1/16/2021 at 12:50 AM, Elastigirl said:

Oh, those doggy hydrants are so cute! Wise call on the lucid dreaming. I do read other books, but my first priority is the Bible. No other reading until that is done.I hear you on the what's next too, sometime I think we just need to digest the information we've read before we add more. 

 

For my Bible reading I do it first thing in the morning. I  do a read through the Bible in a year plan (my first shot at it took 2 and half years) That way I don't have to make a decison, I just look at what I am supposed to read for each day and do the reading

 

Strangely... those doggy hydrants don't smell. This dog park is pretty well maintained by the city. 

I have tried the YouBible app earlier where they assign the reading so you can read the Bible in a year but just couldn't follow through. I finally found an Audible recording which has the proper chapters for both the Old and New Testament. I've downloaded it so I can listen offline while I'm on my run/walks. 

[darna]

On 1/16/2021 at 10:34 AM, LIGHTH0USE said:

A cheap trick if you want an audiobook and don't care too much about the sound quality, you can always just get a PDF of a book and let an app read you the text.

 

There are a lot of places where you can get free books, like:

• https://b-ok.cc/
• https://epdf.pub/
• https://archive.org/

And then the app I would advise to get is Libera PRO. Can also be gotten from the Google PlayStore, though will cost you some. The app is open sourced.

Otherwise, you could also program your own app

 

Thanks for the links. I've used archive.org before but I'll check out the others.

[Elastigirl]

20 minutes ago, darna said:

I finally found an Audible recording which has the proper chapters for both the Old and New Testament. I've downloaded it so I can listen offline while I'm on my run/walks. 

That's a great idea!

[darna]

Finished my Week 3 update.

 

Week 3 has been a busy week.

I baked a Sans Rival cake for my officemate's birthday and brought to her home (with a bouquet of roses and bolt-in toys for her kids) last Sunday. It was great to see them again.

Monday was a holiday but I have no recollection of anything useful done. My journal says cooked chicken liver and "vegetated"!!!

Finished a photo collage for mom on Tuesday. One more photo frame to finish.

We had an install on Thursday hence too much work to get things done. We nearly did not get the sign-off and it was a nail biter when we got it before the cut-off time. The stress caused my sugar cravings, indulged in them, and paid the price with the most itchy eczema flare-up on my right hand ring finger. Scratched the itch and that didn't help.

Ended up playing the piano for 2+ hours on Friday evening to relax. 

Got all cooking done this week-end for the rest of the week, portioned and froze them (chicken masala, stir fry mushroom, steamed sweet potatoes, baked pork meatballs, rice). 'Was craving for sweets, so I baked Brazo De Mercedes cake - half recipe and half the sugar. 'Turned out ok. The new rule - one slice = 1 glass of water as I don't drink as much as I should. 

 

[Manarelle]

Looks like you're pretty solid on everything but the stretches/ mobility. Would it help to link those to another goal? Like Doing one right after you come home from a walk or something? 

[darna]

On 1/26/2021 at 10:22 AM, Manarelle said:

Looks like you're pretty solid on everything but the stretches/ mobility. Would it help to link those to another goal? Like Doing one right after you come home from a walk or something? 

 

Yes, that's a good suggestion. I tried doing it after waking up but only did it once. But, I don't have a consistent sleeping time so I just rush in the morning instead. So, we have a Daily Stand-up Call at 10am for an hour. So, I plan to do the neck stretches and shoulder mobility at that time. So, we will see. 

[darna]

Here's the Week #4 late update. It's pretty good except for the Neck Stretches/Shoulder Mobility. 

[darna]

Week #5 Update.  I'm pretty happy I did 116.79 miles run/walk in Jan2021. Being accountable to my goals really helped.  My neck and shoulder pain is really bothering me. I definitely need to do something about it. 'Will have to build on it on the next challenge. Overall, I consider this challenge successful. 

 

[Manarelle]

Definitely a successful challenge, congrats! Something to look at on the mobility/stretch items - you were doing them 1ce a week at the start of the challenge, and you bumped up to twice a week by the end. I realize you'd like to get more, but it doesn't hurt to recognize that you did improve that along the way. Nice work! Looking forward to seeing your progress in the next one. 

[darna]

On 2/9/2021 at 8:22 AM, Manarelle said:

Definitely a successful challenge, congrats! Something to look at on the mobility/stretch items - you were doing them 1ce a week at the start of the challenge, and you bumped up to twice a week by the end. I realize you'd like to get more, but it doesn't hurt to recognize that you did improve that along the way. Nice work! Looking forward to seeing your progress in the next one. 

 

Thanks for the encouragement! Life is a work in progress. I've continued on my mobility goals in the next challenge.