MNR Mackey

Hey All, Today I was struck by a very heavy feeling that is actually kind of hard to describe. Im a Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Technician who mostly does supermarket refrigeration which has me in very close proximity to the general public on a daily basis for 12 and 14 hours a day pretty regularly. Being exposed to large numbers of people in these troubling times has been very stressful with the high risk of contracting Coronavirus. Also, our work has been restricted to strictly essential work like keeping the larger systems functioning properly. This week Ive been working nights after the stores have closed to reduce contact with people. Ive been feeling it, my co workers have been feeling it, and today I went back to my company's office to submit some paperwork, and noticed that my service manager who's usually a very stoic, strong, enduring man seemed very much not himself, almost depressed. Ive known him for 5 years now and have never seen him like this. Hes very disciplined and emotionally solid and stands up well to stress but today he just seemed done in. Seeing him like this hit me pretty hard because it made me realize that if hes feeling the strain of the COVID19 emergency, the rest of us mortals must be as well. I hope all of you are practicing some radical Self Love during these challenging times. Theres little doubt in my mind that when this is all over, the world will not be the way it has been. Its going to be a very different place but, hopefully the majority of us see it as proof that we all need to exercise leadership and be there for and supportive of those who need it most. Stay strong.

A book about Christian contemplation

Leo, If, in addition to posting your videos to Youtube, you posted them on Actualized.Org as purchasable downloads (like a song on iTunes), Id personally buy your videos individually to have available offline. If each one costs $1, you upload every week and 1000 people buy your episode, that's $1000/week. You'd definitely get more than 1000 downloads. I listen to most of your videos as podcasts while driving long distances for work, but the Podcast app isn't great, downloading your videos on Youtube requires premium and I dont think it's the most direct way to support your work. I know about your Patreon page, but I think you could cut out the middleman with direct purchase from your website.

I believe downloading videos requires premium, but I listen to them without video on the podcast app where you can download them as relatively small file sizes.

@Arzola Thanks for pointing out what was right under my nose. Now that Im perusing that section of the booklist, I'm seeing that there's a gold mine of material there. Merry Christmas!

@Leo Gura Heeeeyyyyyy, Leo there! Been reading a few books based is philosophy lately such as Epictetus' The Art Of Living, Marcus Aurelius' The Meditations and Plato's Republic You've mentioned in your videos that you studied Philosophy, particularly Epistemology in University and I was wondering if you could be bothered to point me toward some texts and/or other resources so I can be better educated in this field. Anything at all would be very much appreciated. Merry Christmas A very appreciative fan

@Arzola Omfg... I have the book list (huuuuge fan, highly recommend) and didnt even notice there was a section on epistemology. I must have seen "Metaphysics" and unconsciously glazed over the "epistemology" bit. That's awesome, thank you. But also, I was wondering what material was assigned to Leo in his University education in the way of text books. Ive heard Leo mention that studying epistemology opened up a whole new world for him and helped him sort of get to the root of understanding for everything (makes sense, since it's the theory of knowledge (how we know what we know)). I believe this was mentioned in his episode "The Ultimate Model Of Human Knowledge" As an addition, Leo's list of books is truly a masterpiece. When I first bought it, there were a lot of books that appealed to me (the entry level basic self help stuff; (productivity, emotional mastery, etc.) but as I read these entry level books, then later came back to the list for more reading material, I noticed there were other categories that I was now interested in that previous I wasn't. If you haven't bought Leo's book list yet, it's worth every penny and more.

MLMs are just barely legal via exploitation of legal loop holes and are all entirely unethical.

We can't let ourselves fall into this trap of believing that eating a plant based diet will leave us deficient for nutrients just because there are little to no animal products in it. This only propogates the false belief that vegan's are unhealthy. When I told my mom I was vegan, she argued with me that it was not possible to meet my RDIs and she herself is a vegetarian. I track all of my food on Cronometer, I eat a huge variety of foods and Im well over my RDIs on every amino acid, vitamin, mineral and fiber. We have to educate ourselves, do our own research and not just believe what people around us are saying. I dont bother bringing up my diet to my aquaintances outside of this forum because I know it's the same mindless societally programmed garbage every time. These people that are telling you that whole food plant based diets are unhealthy and unrealistic, from my experience are overweight, have no energy and can barely run up a flight of stairs without gasping for breath. I know my diet is healthy and sustainable. It can be done. Be very careful about taking nutrition advice from those around you. Especially when they say one thing but their body composition and athletic abilities say another.

Hey guys, Fitness and nutrition have been a keystone habit in my life for over a decade now. I got started at 16 years old when I was 6'3" and only 160lbs (super skinny). I got super interested in bodybuilding when I saw a Magazine cover with some monster of a guy on it but at that point I wasnt aware of steroids. I personally have never used them and have no interest to. Lately Ive been more focused on maintaining my current weight of about 215lbs at low body fat and improving my overall athletecism. One thing I struggled with on my fitness journey was finding high quality resources for training and nutrition, as even the scientifically backed youtube channels and blogs, I've found, are just seething with dogma and can be quite toxic. Id like to share with you all, 2 sources that Ive found in the last 2 years that have made the biggest positive impact on my progress and stick-to-it-iveness. If anyone else has some resources they've found particularly helpful, please post them here ? This first video is from Simnett Nutrition. Derek Simnett is a Holistic Nutritionist, Vegan athlete and Calisthenic enthusiast who currently lives on Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada. He has an incredible wealth of knowledge in nutrition and I find his channel has a great positive vibe. This video talks about the health benefits of Bananas and is from his Amazing Food series under his playlists tab. I enjoy all his videos, but I thought this would be a great starting point for anyone unfamiliar with his channel. Derek's channel inspired me to become vegan, which Ive been for 7 weeks at this point. Check it out! Next, the training aspect. Being a tall scrawny, nerd necky, slouched posture type ectomorph (tall, skinny, difficulty with putting on weight body type), I struggled with this condition called Anterior Pelvic Tilt. As this video explains, it's when the hips tilt forward, causing the lower back to arch inward, and the lowey belly and butt to stick out. This video shows how to go about correcting this problem. Athlean-X is a channel ran by Jeff Cavalier, a physiotherapist and pro athlete trainer. This video is from his "How-To" playlist, but Ive gotten a lot of value from all of his videos. I watch one while drinking my home made pre workout shake, which I formulate my self with isolated ingredients, and integrate the lessons from that video into my workout for that day. (Learning = Behaviour change) Let me know what you think and please add to this list.

My Dad is a deadbeat. My parents divorced when I was 3 and my Mom had custody of me. My Dad moved to another Province for years with another woman and started another family, then they eventually moved back to my home town, but he still travels for many months for work. He has very weakly tried to maintain some sort of relationship with me, but I know he doesn't treat me the way he treats his other 2 offspring with his new family. My Mother didnt work due to disability and I grew up very poor. We had very little in the way of good nutrition and winter time, I rarely had a heavy coat or boots to wear. While I grew up literally cold and hungry, his other children wore very expensive Canada Goose jackets and Blundstones. Now that Im an adult, I can see how toxic this relationship is and I dont really see the value in maintaining it. Every interaction with him brings me into my lower self and he always deliberately gives me awful advice that Im thankfully concious enough to recognize as terrible. I know I should cut him out of my life but I dont know how to do it conciously. Ive thought of moving to another Province or Country and just ghosting him. How do I break things off the right way?

Thanks for all your help, folks. I know what I need to do.

Hey, guys, come on. This is a silly thing to be fighting over.

I KNOW I should just tell him, but he's also not a very rational, calm, person who really understands anything. He's a racist bigot who believes foreigners are coming to take our jobs (eye roll) and he can't stand to be wrong or have faults point out. Any kind of conversation requiring reasoning results in him yelling. He honestly wouldn't see any perspective but his own. I do appreciate your two cents. You're right. Im just going to have to suck it up and tell him how it is.

Arguing and debating are tools of the Ego. You're triggered because you're world views don't align. Have you tried just letting it go? How does his believing the world is flat affect how you live your life?

Im not really understanding the issue. Are you having difficulty landing a job? Or is it that you just really really dont want to have to work a job?

Hey, folks Im looking for some life and professional advice. When I was in high school, I really wanted to become a doctor. I didnt get amazing grades in high school, I believe I had a 79 average, but not good enough scholarships. Call it an excuse or whatever, but my home was not at all a good learning environment. My parents were divorced when I was 2 years old and my mother had some serious untreated mental health issues, as well as an afinity for dating immature, older alcoholic men. All of which were abusive to me. After high school, I did attentd the University of my choice which was not only in-Province for me (lower tuition) but also has a very prestigious school of medicine. My first semester was hard, but I did pass all my courses and was looking forward to the next. The next semester however, my financial struggles from the previous semester began to show and I had to start working more hours. As the semesters went on, I was given less from student loans due to the income I made during the semester. Eventually, I wasn't eligible for much of a loan at all, which meant I had to work pretty much full time just to get by, leaving no time for study. I have absolutely no financial support from anyone. After trying and failing with university, I spent 6 years in the army reserves and 5 years so far as a tradesperson. I do not enjoy my work. The trades are filled with toxic masculinity and low conciousness and I just dont want to spend my life working in that environment. Im currently working to pay off my student loan debt and save up money to go back to university to study medicine again, but at this rate, even if I keep working the 50-60 hour weeks that I work year round, Ill be 45 years old before I have enough saved to be able to afford to go back to school without having to work my ass off. That'll put me at 55 to 57 years old before I even graduate. Do you people think this is not worth working towards?

If this were created into an actual physical, hardcover text book, I would pay money for it. This is amazing. Great work!

Ive found that where I peg myself on the spiral tends to ebb and flow based on my mood. If Im having a real bad day and struggling to be conscious, I can see myself sliding down into Blue territory, mostly characterized by harsh moralization. When Im feeling very positive and energetic, Im mostly in Green and I can definitely identify with a lot of Yellow values. So I can't personally place myself in 1 stage entirely, I can range between Blue and Yellow.

St. John's, Newfoundland, Canada!