Date: 21st December, 2021
Date: 22nd December, 2021
Youthful mind + healthy lifestyle => slowdowns the aging process.
no physical exercise => -ve effect on body
no mental exercise => deterioration of neurons and neural connections => degradation in ability to react to our surroundings.
Stress = degenerative effect on cells
Stress = affecting digestive system
Practice mindfulness (no snacks while watching t.v., focus on breathing while doing yoga)
More sitting at work => reduces muscular and respiratory fitness => high appetite => no desire to participate in activities => lead to hypertension, imbalanced eating, cardiovascular disease, osteoporosis, cancer.
Few things that can be implemented:
Walk to work
Use feet instead of any kind of machine
Participate in social activities
Get right amount of sleep
Replace junk food with fruit
Play with pets/children or join a sports team
Be conscious of your daily routine
Date: 23rd December, 2021
Antiaging tool -> Sleep (production of Harmon melatonin , a powerful antioxidant)
benefits:
It strengthens the immune system.
It contains an element that protects against cancer.
It promotes the natural production of insulin.
It slows the onset of Alzheimer’s disease.
It helps prevent osteoporosis and fight heart disease.
Harmon production decreases after age 30. To compensate for this:
Eating a balanced diet and getting more calcium.
Soaking up a moderate amount of sun each day.
Getting enough sleep.
Avoiding stress, alcohol, tobacco, and caffeine.
A KEY ELEMENT OF IKIGAI
THE SECRET TO KEEPING THE BODY YOUNG IS KEEPING THE MIND ACTIVE AND IN NOT CAVING IN THEN WE FACE DIFFICULTIES THROUGH OUT LIVES
Date: 26th December, 2021
Find your IKIGAI
Ikigai: Finding happiness. An experience of being completely immersed in what we are doing (a state of flow).
Key Ingredient: Ability to reach this state of flow.
Growth in Corporate World:
a. Choose a difficult task but not too difficult.
b. Start with simple task. Add a little something extra, something that takes you out of your comfort zone.
c. Have a clear objective. Instead heading out to the sea with a map but no destination. (ps: state of flow comes from here)
d. Concentrating on one thing at a time - single most important factor in achieving the flow.
e. Pomodoro technique (25+5)
f. Train your mind to return to the present when getting distracted
To attain focus: meditation is the key
Date: 29th December, 2021
Words of wisdom from longest-living people (super-centenarians) in the world:
a. Learn to relax.
b. Be vegetarian
c. Everything's fine
d. keep your mind and body busy, you'll be around a long time.
e. Don't die. Have desire to live long.
f. Never stop learning
g. There's no such thing like retirement.
Find your ikigai again if you feel you are retiring/retired.
Date: 30th December, 2021
Secrets to longevity:
a. Don't worry
b. Cultivate good habits
c. Nurture your friendships every day
d. Live an unhurried life
e. Be optimistic
Date: 3rd January, 2022
IKIGAI DIET: Secret to what the world's longest-living people eat and drink
Japan has the highest life expectancy : 85 years for men and 87.3 for women.
Okinawa (Japan's province) :
- Here people have to walk or cycle when not driving.
- < 10 grams salt intake per day
Okinawa's Miracle Diet:
Eating wide variety of foods, vegetables.
They eat 206 different foods on regular basis. An avg of 18 different foods each day.
They eat at least 5 servings of fruits and vegetables every day. (Eating the rainbow)
white rice
No sugar. But sugarcane juice (anticarcinogenic benefits)
Hara Hachi Bu - 80 percent rule (fill only 80% of stomach ) or fasting once or twice per week. Fasting helps cleanse the digestive system and allows it to rest. - Buddism recognized this 9 centuries ago
Eating superfood (high nutritional foods) and avoiding calorie intake with no nutritional value.
Calorie restriction is one way to add years to the life.
15 natural antioxidants in the Okinawan diet:
Tofu
Miso
Tuna
Carrots
Goya (bitter melon)
Kombu (Sea kelp)
Cabbage
NNori
Onion
Soy sprouts
Hechima (cucumber-like gourd)
Soybeans (boiled or raw)
Sweet potato
Peppers
Sanpin-Cha (Jasmine tea)
Sanpin-Cha : green tea + jasmine flowers
it reduces blood cholesterol levels
reducing the risk of heart attack
strengthening the immune system
helping relieve stress
Green-Tea:
controlling cholesterol
lowering blood sugar levels
improving circulation
Protection against the flu (Vitamin C)
Promoting bone health (fluoride)
Protection against certain bacterial infections
Protection against UV damage
Cleansing and diuretic effects
White-Tea: (high concentration of polyphenols) more effective against aging
1 cup of white tea = dozen glasses of orange juice
Drinking green or white tea every day can help us reduce the free radicals in our bodies and keeping us young longer.
Antioxidants Canon
Shikuwasa: (fruit, extremely acidic, high levels of nnobiletin, rich in antioxidants)
citrus fruits - grape, oranges, lemons,
all citrus fruits protect us form arteriosclerosis, cancer type 2 diabetes and obesity in general.
Vegetables such as broccoli
berries, blueberries, goji berries - (rich in phytochemical antioxidants)
dried fruits - vitamins, antioxidants and give you energy
grains such as wheat and oats - energy + minerals
Olive oil - good for skin
Red wine
Date: 4th January, 2022
People who live longest are not the ones who do the most exercise but rather the ones who move the most.
Metabolism slows down 90% after 30 minutes of sitting. Enzymes that move the bad fat from arteries to muscles, where it can get burned off, slow down. And after 2 hours, good cholesterol drops 20%. => Getting up for 5 minutes is going to get things going again.
Yoga = elixirs of youth, extraordinary health benefits, great shield against stress and depression.
Choose a practice that you love and that makes you move
Exercises:
1. Radio Taiso exercise -> Japanese exercise for starting your day.
2. Yoga
Came from Sanskrit word 'Yoke' (crosspiece that binds draft animals to one another and to the cart they're pulling.)
Yoga strives to unite body and mind in the same way, guiding us toward a healthy lifestyle in harmony with the world around us.
Main Objectives:
- To bring us closer to our nature
- Mental and physical purification
- To bring us closer to the divine
Jnana Yoga, Karma Yoga, Bhakti Yoga, Mantra Yoga, Kundalini Yoga, Raja Yoga, Hatha Yoga.
Sun Salutation (Hatha yoga)
3. Qigonng (qi= life force/energy, gong = work)
Benefits:
- modification of brain waves
- Improved balance of sex hormones
- lower mortality rate from heart attacks
- lower blood pressure in patients with hypertension
- Greater bone density
- Better circulation
- Deceleration of symptoms associated with sennility
- Greater balance and efficiency of bodily functions
- increased blood flow to the brain and greater mind-body connection
- improved cardiac fuction
- Reduction in the secondary effects of cancer treatments
EARTH, WATER, WOOD, METAL, FIRE - exercises
4. Breathe better, live longer
six healing sounds- Xu, He, Si, Chui, Hoo, Xi
Date: 7th January, 2022
Resilience - our ability to deal with setbacks. Life is uncertain and flexibility is the source of resilient people's strength. They know how to adapt to change and to reversals of fortune.
Siddhartha Gautama (Buddha):
A wise person should not ignore life's pleasures. There is nothing wrong with enjoying them as long as they do not take control of your life as you enjoy them. You have to be prepared for those pleasures to disappear.
The goal is not to eliminate all feelings and pleasures, but to eliminate -ve emotions.
When Wealthy, full of resources, full of pleasures
- Practice -ve visualization.
Practicing -ve situations into practice (for example, living for a week without servants, or avoiding food/drink of wealthy people) => Practicing Stoic.
In times of loss: Keeping in mind about temporary, ephemeral and impermanent nature of the world. (Buddhist discipline)
Wabi-Sabi : Appreciate the beauty of imperfection (since it is an opportunity for growth)
Ichi-go ichi-e: Live into the moment. since this moment exists only now and won't come again. (not lose ourselves in worries about the past or the future.)
Antifragility: Beyond resilience/robustness
Step-1 : Create more options
- have multiple salaries, convert hobby into the option for secondary income
- In sphere of romantic relationships, big mistake is focusing on all the energy on partner and making him/her the whole world. These kind of people lose everything if the relationship doesn't work out.
So, cultivate strong friendships and a full life along the way. It will help to be in a better position to move on at the end of a relationship. This is antifragile.
Remember, extraordinary things or unexpected always happens, sooner or later.
Step-2: Bet conservatively in certain areas and take many small risks in others
For example, salary. 90% save somewhere and take small risks on 10% by investing them in 10 different options.
Step3: Get rid of things that make you fragile
Date: 8th January, 2022
Powerful forces and incentives (money, power, attention, success) distract us on a daily basis. don't let them take over your life.
Summary of the book:
Stay Active, don't retire
Take it slow
Don't fill your stomach (80% rule)
Surround yourself with good friends
Get in shape for your next b'day
Smile
Reconnect with nature
Give thanks
Live in the moment
Follow your ikigai