A Challenge + The Power of Noticing
Before we start… I have a writing challenge for you.
I love writing these e-mails, so I want you to get a taste of how it feels!
Take no more than 5 minutes and have a go at using my newsletter template for YOURSELF!
write down your movement of the week (what you liked, why you chose it)
write down your insight of the week (can be super simple “don’t tie shoes like that” or philosophical)
write down 3 highlights of the week
Why? Reflecting on what's important helps us attract more of it. Keep reading for more on this.
Movement of the Week: Adductor Leg Raise
Two things I definitely never used to do enough of, that helped my hip and back pain:
Direct training of my adductors (inner-thighs)
Direct training of my abdominals (with special attention to rib-pelvic relationship)
As a general rule, training abs tends to help people’s backs feel better. This is because:
A. The better the abs function, the less relative loading the spine has to deal with… especially if we’re actively seeking to gain more rib-pelvis awareness and control, rather than just going through the motions.
B. The better the adductors function, the greater range of strength we gain at the hip (this means strength and mobility). In fact, training the adductors will help you gain more stretch and strength in the glutes, because (put simply) they spiral around the leg in opposite directions. The further you shorten the spiral one way, the more you lengthen and potentiate the spiral to pull back the other way.
C. The hips aren’t a static part of the body… their movement is always relative to the trunk. In fact, functionally speaking, the hip could be viewed as a relationship between femur and pelvis. So we must be aware of the trunk position if we’re going to train the hips properly, and vice versa.
So, integrating the two (abs and adductors) helps us dial in our movement potential.
Here’s a progression series to try:
Insight of the Week: What You Notice Expands
Why is it that when I was shopping for a Ford Transit van, I suddenly started noticing them everywhere?
And why is it that when I didn’t want to think about my financial stresses, all I could seem to think about was my financial stresses?
It’s because what we notice expands, whether we like that thing or not.
Whether you love “x” or you hate it— you’re giving it your attention. You’re saying to your brain “This thing is relevant. It has consequences on my life.” And introduces a polarity towards it — an attraction or repulsion — and so it has a degree of power over you.
We can use this constructively or destructively. Consciously or... not.
For me, when there’s something I don’t like, I prefer finding ways to make it irrelevant, rather than remain in the polarised “I don’t like this” state. I practice neutralising it by shifting my awareness to what I do like and want to focus on instead.
This way, I can still take the practical actions I need to, but the emotional charge holding me back and clouding my judgement fades into insignificance over time, as I invest myself fully into the things that I truly want to grow.
The part of our brain that manages all this is the Reticular Activating System (RAS)
It seeks information that validates our beliefs, and filters inputs from the world around us to fit within that interpretation. It doesn’t operate in negatives. It doesn’t understand “not”. So, “don’t think of a pink elephant” just becomes filter of “notice anything that looks like a pink elephant”.
This is why I’ve never been to a protest. My activism involves relentlessly creating the life I desire for myself and others, not fighting against what is. Difficult emotions have become signals driving me towards what I want… clarifiers, not enemies. I want to create my own games and invite the world in, rather than play the games set out by those whose values I don't share, and whose systems I don't particularly like.
This works in many other areas too... especially relationships, where we can flag and celebrate the dynamics we love, and keep funnelling energy into those, rather than getting sucked into a vicious cycle of noticing and resisting what we don't like. What we resist, persists.
“You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete.” — Buckminster Fuller
Weekly Update: My highlights this week
— hanging out with Andy (@heyandywhite) and Liz (@javelizz)
— learning from them, how to throw (they’re both headed to the olympics this year for Javelin)
— learning at an incredibly fast rate… in an upward spiral of emotional capacity gains
— realising that when a group of humans commit to an intention together, it’s insanely powerful
— finally systemising years of work (my own, and Liz’s work) with the help of Notion (epic app)
— teaching in person (co-hosting a workshop with Liz, with some of my favourite people in attendance) and realising that online business is incredible, but barefoot-in-the-grass business is even more incredible and feels more like just living and less like work
Overall theme: the right people make things exponentially better — and often, you can help the people around you become the right people by opening up to them.
Much love. Till next week!
Jack