+1: #562 The Sound of Joy

As we discuss in Movement 101, it’s really easy to be “active” and yet still “sedentary” if we drive to the gym, bang out a workout and then sit all day. As such, it’s important to find “opportunities to move” throughout the day. 

 

These days, I’m *really* good at getting up every 1,000 seconds—banging out some burpees or doing some grip training (I always laugh when I imagine me swinging from the set up on my ceiling 10 times a day) or just shaking my body out and stretching.

 

I’m also really good at making sure I honor my ultradian rhythms by taking a true break after 90 minutes of solid Deep Work. For me, that means NO tech during that break.

 

And…

 

I’m finally baking in a couple more micro-walks into my daily rhythms. As Katy Bowman said in one of our interviews, it’s not enough to get 10,000 steps. She says it depends on how we get them. Long walks are great, but we also benefit from the little micro walks. 

 

But that’s not the point of Today’s +1.

 

This is: While on my quick little 10-minute micro-walk the other day, a car drove by. Although it was a nice-looking BMW, it had a funny sound. Now, I’m one of the least mechanical guys on the planet, but it was pretty obvious that something wasn’t quite right.

 

Which made me think of Walter Russell.

 

Although you’ve probably never heard of him, Russell was an early 20th century genius. We talk about him and his wisdom in our Note on The Man Who Tapped the Secrets of the Universe. 

 

All of which leads us back to that funny-sounding BMW.

 

Russell tells us: “Joy and happiness are the indicators of balance in a human machine, just as a change in the familiar hum in a mechanism immediately indicates an abnormalcy to the practiced ear of the mechanic. An inner joyousness, amounting to ecstasy, is the normal condition of the genius mind. Any lack of that joyousness develops body-destroying toxins. That inner ecstasy of the mind is the secret fountain of perpetual youth and strength in any man. He who finds it finds omnipotence and omniscience.” 

 

So…

 

Today’s +1. 

 

How’s the sound of YOUR human machine? 

 

Are you purring with an inner joyousness? Or… Is something a little off?

 

If your inner engine is humming, high fives to you and your eudaimonic ecstasy.

 

If your inner engine sounds a little off: What needs work? Is it your energy? Your deep work? Your deep love? Be a wise, Optimizing mechanic. Identify the CAUSE of the issue. Bust out your Optimizing Toolkit and fix it!

 

Note: The last time I got a little funny-sounding? I was overtraining just a bit. Easy to fix.

 

You?