Mindconnection eNL, 2011-05-15

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Years ago, something I noticed about really good climbers helped me radically improve my climbing ability. What I noticed is they were "in the moment." You may think I mean that they were undistracted by that project at the office or something else external to the climb. But that's not what I mean. Really good climbers focus on the very moment, the very microsecond, that they are in.

There are different types of climbing, and one type I particularly enjoy is technical climbing the "bouldering routes." This is where you solve a route (a set series of specific toeholds and handholds between you and a goal higher up). A route is a spatial puzzle, but also a physical one. You have to figure out where to put your weight at a given moment for a given move. A small foothold may give you far more "cling" than a big one, merely because of how you can place your weight on it.

On a recent climb, my climbing partner asked me about a bouldering route that he had been unable to solve, despite many tries. After watching him fail to ascend, I remarked that he needed to be fully "in the now" at each point instead of thinking ahead while trying to execute each move.

I then solved the route on my first ascent. The problem, I said, was he wasn't putting his center of gravity where it needed to be at the very moment he was on a particular hold--and this was pulling him off the face. Do not look ahead or behind, but be fully in the now. He then tried the route, and succeeded.

This same principle works for any other difficult task. It's not enough to just ignore outside distractions. For example, consider a NASCAR driver. We know these folks don't yak it up on cell phones or do their nails while racing around the track (it would be nice if all drivers followed that example). But they go much, much deeper into focus and concentration than that. They are fully "in the moment" and thus focusing all of their brainpower on the problem that is the one they have now. Not the problem they will have or did have. The one they have now.

This practice of being fully present is a brainpower multiplier. Think of the potential for your career, health, personal relationships, and other areas that are important to you.

One reason so many Americans have automobiles is the deliberately poor layout of our urban sprawl cities (with their idiotic and expensive zoning laws) makes having a car a requirement. But what about having two cars? In many households, this is a reality. A husband has one, a wife has one. Then the teen has one.

But cars spend most of their time just sitting. If you have a two-car household, how much extra does that cost and how much does that actually buy you? Consider:

• Insurance.
• Annual property taxes.
• Maintenance.
• Repairs.
• Storage and parking.

If you get yourself an accurate picture of these costs and then compare them to the same costs if you have just one of the two cars, you will wonder what you must have been smoking not to get rid of that second car long ago.

Sure, it may seem more convenient for you each to have your own personal vehicle. But if you're already sharing a bed, what is the big deal about sharing a car?

But suppose she works out west 20 miles and he works out east 20 miles. There's no way you can take turns dropping each other off. Ah, but you can car pool with others. Look at all of the potential pooling resources and figure something out. Consider telecommuting on different days, too.

By putting on your thinking cap to eliminate one car, you will most likely come up with ways to reduce the usage of even the remaining car. Instead of putting 15,000 miles a year on each of two cars for 30,000 miles a year, you will likely see ways to put only 10,000 miles on the one remaining car. So you cut your fuel usage by two thirds! Windshield time, always a waste of life, also reduced dramatically.

Look at your savings in maintenance, replacement tires, parking fees, tolls, insurance, taxes, and other costs.

Wow! It's not a few hundred dollars. It's the equivalent of a fairly demanding part time job. But you get the same money without doing the work and without paying SS tax, Medicare tax, and income tax on it.

Long commutes can be a problem. What if he commutes 50 miles and she works from home but "needs" the car for buying groceries, picking the kids up, etc.?

A solution my sister came up with for her long commutes was to actually buy a second vehicle. But it's used strictly for pooling, and it's a van. That essentially eliminates her personal vehicle as a commuting car, so she is in a sense down to less than one car (actual driving needs). When 10 people share the trip, the cost per person drops dramatically.

Thinking. Don't leave home without it. The money you save could be your own.

Anyone who should be on a jury stands no chance of getting on one. So when qualified people are called to go to the courthouse and wait around to be rejected, it's a pain. How do you cram a wasted half day into a 70 hour work week? The trend now is people just don't show up.

Thanks to that trend, non-government criminals have come up with a new scam. They figure most people still answer their phone (I generally don't answer mine), so they just start calling. The caller claims to be a jury duty coordinator. They tell you there's a warrant out for your arrest because you didn't show up for jury duty.

If you did skip out on this insane, costly, ludicrous process, the caller has a potential hook. But if you say you never received a summons for jury duty, the scammer tells you there's a record it went out.

Either way, this person then pretends to sympathize with you and offers to "cancel the arrest warrant." All s/he needs is your Social (in)Security number and date of birth. Give out of this information and you become an identity theft victim.

The reality is any jury coordinator already has all of the information needed to take any action for or against you. And it's highly unlikely they will do anything except tell you to get your butt down to the courthouse.

Don't give your your SSN or any other bits of info about yourself to some anonymous caller. If you can't resist the fear factor, then call the courthouse and ask to speak to the person who is in charge of the jury pools.

The FBI and the federal court system have issued nationwide alerts on their Web sites, warning consumers about the fraud:

• http://www.fbi.gov/page2/june06/jury_scams060206.htm
• http://www.snopes.com/crime/fraud/juryduty.asp

The use of more traditional products was a fringe movement, until some C-people in some of the larger corporations figured out they could make serious money by "going green." So they changed the packaging and started selling "green" products and "natural" products at a premium.

While some of these products actually are "green" and/or "natural" and safe for humans, that is not true of most such products. You could read the labels to see what the ingredients actually are, if you remember to bring a magnifier to the store.

Or, you could opt for a mix of traditional products (e.g., vinegar) and some of the "alternative" products (e.g., 7th Generation soaps).

Let's take a closer look....

Shortly after turning 50.

• Toothpaste. Many of these products are very abrasive and actually damage your tooth enamel. Also, if you read the label you will see a warning that children are not to swallow the toothpaste (because it contains fluoride, a potent toxin). You can find safe to use toothpastes if you look for them. Read the ingredients, and you'll see which ones these are.
   
• Mouthwash. Rather than damage your mouth tissue with the toxins typically in mouthwash, freshen your breath in other ways. A good toothpaste, for example. Or eat a piece of fruit to get rid of garlic odor or coffee breath. Or chew on a leaf of spearmint, mint, basil, or any of several aromatic herbs. Even a dill pickle will give you pretty decent breath.
   
• Scented sprays. These mask odors by using pleasantly scented carcinogens. Not a great trade-off, if you ask me. A box of baking soda, judicious use of fans and windows, a proper diet, and good hygiene eliminate odors at their source. Without giving you cancer.
   
• Scented bath soaps. Keep these away from your body. They won't make you any cleaner than plain old pure Ivory soap will. But they do create all kinds of health issues. If you have allergies, skin problems, trouble sleeping, blurry vision, or tax problems--stop using scented soaps! OK, scented soaps don't cause tax problems. But stop using them anyhow, if you do use them.
   
• Chlorine bleach. Ah, it smells so clean! So does napalm. Chlorine is not compatible with humans. Do not use it in or around your home. Period. If you need to disinfect, white vinegar works just fine. Bonus: unlike chlorine, vinegar is not a potent carcinogen. Yes, chlorine comes in your tap water. Be sure to distill, filter, or membrane it out.
   
• Bacterial soaps. Why this crap is even legal, I don't know. Ban these from your home and refuse to use them where they are supplied elsewhere. Plain soap and water is very effective at preventing the spread of infection. Bacterial soaps, on the other hand, are very effective at creating resistant bacteria. And they typically are harsh on the skin.
   
• Fabric softener. These products are basically animal fat infused with pleasantly-scented carcinogens. They don't soften the fabric. They merely coat the fibers with rancid fat. Disgusting. If you want soft fabrics, buy cotton clothing and dry it by hanging it up rather than by desiccating it in a clothes dryer.
   
• Spray Lysol. This stuff is alcohol, a highly flammable fuel. Do you douse your house with gasoline? Gee, why not? Keep spray Lysol away from your home. Not only does it not sanitize, but it creates a fire hazard. Not only does it create a fire hazard, but it also comes in variations that contain semi-pleasantly scented carcinogens.
   

This is only a partial list. You don't need to memorize what's bad to be safe. There are only a few basic products that you should be using. Think "simple" and you will eliminate a slew of nasty stuff while also saving a great deal of money. For example, compare the cost of a gallon of white vinegar to even a quart of the fancy cleaner at the store.

You can even use white vinegar to clean tile floors, instead of inhaling stripper. Unless, of course, your floor has a build-up of petroleum-based wax....

At www.supplecity.com, you'll find plenty of informative, authoritative articles on maintaining a lean, strong physique. It has nothing to do with long workouts or impossible to maintain diets. In fact:

• The best workouts are short and intense.
• A good diet contains far more flavors and satisfaction than the typical American diet.

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