Author: Craig Constantine

Labeled your issues must be

1 Day Ago

My title is a play on something Yoda said.

Importantly, affect labelling is also more effective when it involves self-reflecting on and identifying authentic positive emotional experiences. This is different from when people try to trick themselves into feeling better by just stating that they feel good when maybe they don’t. The importance of using affective labelling in an authentic way is consistent with other research showing that people tend to enjoy higher wellbeing when they feel like they are being authentic to themselves and not faking parts of their life.

~ Christian Waugh, from Asking one simple question can entirely change how you feel

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This article picks apart neatly, the big nit I’ve always had with positive thinking: Reality is real. When something has pissed me off. Naming that—literally saying out loud, to myself when I’m alone, “I’m pissed off”—really does help. Positive thinking never works for me, “I’m happy!” when I’ actually mad, just makes me feel stupid for denying the reality of my lived experience.

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Balance – with Alex Lukens

2 Days Ago

Balance – with Alex Lukens

Craig Constantine and Alex Lukens discuss movement practices and personal growth as they explore the notions of finding balance, and the importance of doing less in order to achieve more.

Doing less is okay and it’s still effective… There’s an identity attached to overdoing, overachieving, and winning.

~ Alex Lukens

Craig and Alex explore the realm of movement practices and the quest for balance. They discuss the challenges of adopting a heart-centered approach and the fear attached to doing less in personal pursuits. Alex introduces the idea of developing a maximally efficient and minimally effortful movement practice by combining the philosophies of Chinese kung fu and Judo.

Your movement practice can be maximally efficient and minimally with minimal effort as long as you put the work in and the discipline up front.

~ Alex Lukens

He draws parallels between movement practices and other disciplines, such as music, emphasizing the role of repetition, simplicity, and discipline in achieving profound results.

Takeaways

Discussing different approaches to journaling — Journaling can be used for various purposes, such as personal reflection, organizing thoughts, planning, and emotional processing.

Balancing ideas in journaling — It’s important to balance the flow of ideas coming into and out of the journal, ensuring a productive use of journaling.

The role of intuition in journaling — Journaling based on how one feels at the moment can lead to more authentic and effective entries.

Emptying the mind through journaling — Journaling can create a negative space, allowing for a clearer and more focused mindset.

Morning anxiety and rewiring thoughts — Addressing and changing the initial thoughts upon waking can significantly impact the rest of the day.

The connection between movement and thinking — Movement can be a tool to process and organize thoughts, leading to a clearer mental state.

Impact of journaling on daily interactions — A clearer mind from journaling can lead to more engaging and enjoyable interactions throughout the day.

Creating a personal style in coaching — Developing a unique approach to coaching that balances the heart and mind, influenced by martial arts philosophies.

Working with high achievers — Helping overachievers find balance and avoid burnout by addressing both physical and mental aspects of their lives.

The misconception of physical exertion — Understanding that exertion is optional and not always necessary for effective movement or exercise.

Fidgeting and natural movement — Incorporating small, natural movements throughout the day can maintain mobility and physical health without structured exercise.

Integrating martial arts philosophies into coaching — Using principles from kung fu and judo, such as hard work over time and maximum efficiency with minimal effort, to guide clients.

Simplicity through repetition — Achieving simplicity in movement and practice through consistent, disciplined effort.

The importance of lessening mental exertion — Recognizing that reducing mental strain can be as important as physical practice for overall balance.

Developing a movement practice — Encouraging clients to create personalized movement practices that are efficient and effective with minimal effort.

Curiosity about others’ movement practices — An interest in learning about different approaches to movement and how others develop their practices.

Challenges of guest outreach in podcasting — Identifying the logistical and relational challenges involved in scheduling and conducting podcast interviews.

Exploring themes through podcasting — Using podcasting as a method to explore and understand various themes and ideas from different perspectives.

The concept of minimal effective dose — Applying the principle of minimal effective dose to various aspects of life, including movement and journaling.

In-person training and connection — The value of meeting and training in person to enhance understanding and connection in coaching relationships.

Resources

fortysevenstyle.com: The web site for Alex’s Fortysevenstyle work.

Exercised: Book Alex mentions, by Daniel Lieberman.

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(Written with help from Chat-GPT.)

Calm companies

3 Days Ago

Calm companies provide meaningful work, healthy interactions, and flexibility for people’s lives. If your kid is home sick, you can set work aside and take care of them. If it’s a beautiful day, you can go for a run on the beach.

~ Justin Jackson, from We need more calm companies

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It was only a little over a year ago (as noted in my Calm Technology post) that first heard of calm tech.

Calm technology is designed to be unobtrusive and blend in with daily life. The opposite is technology that is distracting and disruptive, creating agitation and stress.

And of course, what would one—hopefully—build using calm tech?

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Back in my day

5 Days Ago

I think I’m doing better work than ever, and it is getting noticed, it just doesn’t tip the needle anymore. I’m not suffering for traffic, but “new” traffic is definitely coming from unusual and unpredictable places that are nearly impossible to capitalize on.

~ Brett Terpstra, from Back in my day…

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The root of the problem is simply that the pendulum swings. Back in my day (me saying that, although the “day” is the same as Terpstra’s) it took a bit of technical chops to really be using the internet. Those with the chops, also tended to build things; not necessarily build from scratch, but at least use the tools others built from scratch to build things. The big thing we all built was the Web. Today, people don’t much use the Web, and precious few still build the Web.

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On depression and meditation

6 Days Ago

David Lynch has a variety of notions about what it takes to make art, but suffering is not among them. “This is part of the myth, I think […] the more you suffer, the less you want to create. If you’re truly depressed, they say, you can’t even get out of bed, let alone create.”

~ Colin Marshall, from David Lynch Explains Why Depression Is the Enemy of Creativity–and Why Meditation Is the Solution

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The cure for depression? My experience is that the only thing that works to avoid depression, in the long run, is meditation.

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Will it last?

8 Days Ago

[How do you know if something will last or not?] Well, you don’t! That’s a form of arrogance! I think that if you can somehow tell some kind of truth or at least get to some sense of truth… Then it will last. Because then you’ve reached some kind of primal understanding of something that will transport you over time. But I don’t sit here and say, “Is this going to be great and last?” I don’t think so. I just try to make it something that has a sense of something that matters, you know, that makes it of value.

~ Eric Roth, from Eric Roth

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Eric Roth wrote the screenplay for Forrest Gump, an adaptation of the book.

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Lists

9 Days Ago

To-do lists tend to be long; Success lists are short. One pulls you in all directions; The other aims you in a specific direction. One is a disorganized directory and the other is an organized directive. If a list isn’t built around success, then that’s not where it takes you. If your to-do list contains everything, then it’s probably taking you everywhere but where you really want to go.

~ Gary Keller

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Time well spent

10 Days Ago

‘Dagon’ has all the elements of a classic Lovecraft tale. Here, as in many of his later works – including ‘The Call of Cthulhu’ (written in 1926), The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath (1927), and At the Mountains of Madness (1931) – optimistic endeavours for knowledge, even the simple act of seeing what’s on the other side of a hill, are thwarted by incomprehensible terrors and a horrifyingly arbitrary cosmic order. These revelations shatter the minds of Lovecraft’s truth-seeking characters, including doctors, archaeologists, lost sailors, metaphysicians and scientists of all kinds.

~ Sam Woodward, from Terrifying vistas of reality

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Some people must think that reading a bunch of Lovecraft’s work was time I wasted. I loved it. I didn’t find it scary (I’m not sure I’ve ever found any book scary. Movies, on the other hand, can scare the hell out of me.) But I deeply enjoyed Lovecraft… and yet I could never quite express why. After reading Woodward’s thoughts I’m thinking I enjoyed the experience—being myself one of those “doctors, archaeologists, lost sailors, metaphysicians and scientists of all kinds”—of seeing people like me get the hell scared out of them.

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Autopilot

12 Days Ago

The reality is, behaviour change is hard, and many people have not been taught effective goal-setting. For example, someone might know that they’re unhappy and have intentions to change, but they focus on something too broad (‘I want to be happy’) or on what they don’t want (‘I don’t want to be depressed’). An ill-defined focus can lead to trying many things without following through on any one thing.

~ Kiki Fehling from, How to stop living on auto-pilot

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I see countless examples of mindlessness any time I venture out into the regular world. But I also see examples of mindfulness! They’re not as common, but some people I encounter are awake. Some people I encounter are interested and interesting. Some people’s presence makes the immediate area a better place.

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Life skills

14 Days Ago

It struck me that this has become a kind of dividing line between success and failure within my team. Those who haven’t worked out haven’t been able to start the clock or return the ball very quickly. It’s not just my team—it’s a source of frustration that fills the letters and dispatches of just about every great general, admiral, and leader throughout history.

~ Ryan Holiday from, You Can’t Succeed In Life Without This Skill

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I’ve never had the nothingness problem. I’ve always been a starter (and an over-achiever, and an over-thinker.) For me the challenge is always to find ways to create change, without destroying myself and health in the process. Set goals, yes. But also leave no-goals-today space. Have aspirations, yes. But don’t assess my self-worth based on my distance from those aspirations.

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Zen and the brain

16 Days Ago

During rare, spontaneous moments, experiences of very special quality and great import emerge from the depths of the human brain. To each person, these awakenings seem awesomely new. What they convey is not. It is the simplest, oldest wisdom in the world. The message is that ultimate meaning is to be found in this present moment, infusing our everyday lives, here and now. But one can’t predict such major peaks of enlightenment. Their insight-wisdom is next to impossible to describe. Even so, these fragile events inspired our major religions in ways that still shape our cultural development.

~ James Austin from, Zen and the Brain

Because in reality, none of us actually understands how our minds work. We only know that sometimes, our minds do some pretty amazing things. It would be great (we, I hope, all think) if I could tweak my mind to do that a little more often.

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