Hi folks,
It's a welcome return (I hope!) for Finemore's Five for Friday! This week I have mostly been...
Exercising:
I have been chatting with a few clients about appropriate training exercises so here is a link to a good basic spinal stability routine by Stuart McGill Phd.
Contemplating:
Listening to Chris Ryan’s podcast in conversation with Stanley Krippner concerning consciousness. Chris mentions his personal metaphor for life and describes life as like a falling raindrop. The beginning of life is the birth of an individual raindrop from the mass of water in the cloud. The end of life is the impact of that raindrop but there is a mergence back to the body of water.
Listening :
Can’t stop playing this cover of a Gil Scott-Heron song this week from Esther Phillips Home is where the Hatred is. She also does a great cover of Bill Wither’s classic Use Me. Listen on Spotify here.
Eating:
Fresh English samphire. Very easy to cook. Tastes great and is good for you. Just throw it in boiling water for a couple of minutes or steam it or pop it in a closed pan with butter and pepper. In season now and great with fish or shellfish.
Quoting:
This week I have found myself mentioning this quote from the Dalai Lama, ‘Love is the absence of judgement.’ This simple wisdom applies to everything in your life that you appreciate but also importantly to your appreciation of yourself and the things that you do.
Thanks and have a great weekend,
Simon
Finemore's Five for Friday (15)
Hi everyone,
Here's this week's edition of FFFF. Enjoy.
This week I have been mostly:
Looking forward:
To the start of the Test Cricket series between us and the South Africans. Nothing like a 5-day game on TV to force significant marital negotiations. A new England captain, Joe Root. C’mon lads.
Listening to:
A new album by Kevin Morby called City Music. You can pick your vinyl copy at Jam Records in town.
Reading:
Black Rednecks and White Liberals by Thomas Sowell. I have been wanting to read this book for a while, it challenges assumptions about culture in the US with interesting theories on the commonality of culture across race and social division which has historical relevance to our ancestors (those seafarers of the south west involved in the slave trade, piracy and those who emigrated to the ‘new world’). How powerful culture is and how it conditions behaviour.
Contemplating:
A passage from the book I mentioned previously, Neither Wolf nor Dog by Kent Nerburn.
To summarise badly, Dan the Lakota Sioux elder comments on the white people that came and how important freedom is to them. Dan suggests that freedom was not important to the Indian tribes as they understood what it was to be free. Honour was more important to the Indians than freedom. The white people left Europe to escape their cages in search of freedom but brought their cages with them. The white people imposed cages upon the Indians, parcelled up the land and put lines and fences to cage the Indian tribes. Brought fences to cage themselves in on small pieces of land with a small cage they called a house.
Exercising:
My favourite muscle group for lateral and low back stability: the Obliques. This time a modified push up/plank. In a plank or push up position simply lifting one leg and draw imaginary squares in the air with your pointed foot while keeping your back level (no twist), repeat with the other leg. Alternatively, bringing one leg up bending the knee alongside the body like a dog cocking its leg, repeat with the other leg.
Until next week,
Simon
Finemore's Five for Friday (12)
Hi folks,
Hi folks been hard to write FFFF this week as I have mostly been disMAYed but moving on...
Listening :
Continuing my 90’s revival with a band I listened to at school Bellybutton by Jellyfish - great bubblegum pop largely overlooked.
also Listening to:
This podcast : http://podcasts.joerogan.net/podcasts/kelly-brogan
Joe in conversation with American Psychiatrist Kelly Brogan. Interesting conversation about her journey from being part of the American Pharmaceutical machine to implementing purely lifestyle interventions for the last 10 yrs. She even talks about vitalism and Chiropractic! It’s a good listen and, "there is no such thing as a free lunch."
Wishing :
That I hadn’t spent so much time being appalled by biased political commentary and wishing that we had popular independent media channels, a powerful media watchdog and therefore a perspective on the truth.
https://www.opendemocracy.net/2017
http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/news/denzel-washington-fences-red-carpet-interview-fake-news-media-a7472521.html
Eating :
Raw unpasteurised butter from France. Whenever my mum comes down the line from across the border (Devon) I ask her to bring some for me (from Waitrose). It comes from cows fed on the mineral rich grass of salt-marshes and is too delicious. I could almost eat like a choc-ice. Tastes great. Not that we don’t have great Cornish butter but this is raw and somehow tastes even better. If anyone wants more information on why butter is best please ask.
http://www.waitrose.com/shop/DisplayProductFlyout?productId=215247
Contemplating :
Tony Robbins has said, “The brain inside our heads is a 2 million-year-old brain…. It’s ancient, old survival software that is running you a good deal of the time. Whenever you’re suffering, that survival software is there. The reason you’re suffering is you’re focused on yourself.”
The best antidote to suffering is often to focus on another, to help another. There is a difference between I-llness and We-llness.
Until next time,
Simon
Finemore's Five for Friday (8)
Hi folks,
Here's todays Finemore's Five For Friday for you. I hope you enjoy it and have a great weekend.
This week I have been mostly ...
Drinking
My version of 'Bulletproof' coffee. Very simply, the point of this recipe is to encourage your body to run on Ketones and not Glucose for energy (like clean burning wood as opposed to petrol).
Have this coffee in the morning and nothing else but water. The MCT oil will encourage the production of Ketones as fuel. First I use Bulletproof coffee beans, optional but there are less mould toxins which may be a factor in the crash or jitters that some people get from drinking coffee. So make your coffee as you normally would then add to a blender:
- 1 teaspoon of grass fed butter (organic or kerrygold)
- 1 tablespoon of MCT Oil (I use Bulletproof Brain Octane Oil - better for producing ketones)
- 1/4 teaspoon of Maca powder
- Cinnamon and/or a tiny pinch of Cornish Sea Salt to taste
(I also add some Bulletproof collagen powder - good for promoting cartilage repair)
Pour in your coffee and blend for 20 seconds
The result is a frothy, creamy coffee that will keep you going until lunch that helps you switch to fat burning.
Exercising
Dead Bugs on a long foam roller. Great for spinal stability and abdominal strength.
Lay on your back on top of the roller, your spine running the length of the roller so that you are balancing on the roller. Put your arms out as stabilisers.
Bring both legs up and bend at right angles as if you were in a chair (hips and knees flexed at 90 degrees).
Keeping your spine pressed against the roller bring 1 heel down to lightly touch the floor and back up with your leg in exactly the same position (only moving your hip joint), then repeat with the other leg.
Repeat 20-40 times. Feel the strength in your tummy.
Listening
Album IV by BadBadNotGood - collaborative jazzy album with great vocal tracks like ‘Time Moves Slow’ with the lead singer of Future Islands. Summer sounds.
Eating
Big Tony’s Pesto. Made by one of my friends who lives near me. Tony uses all the fresh wild garlic that is abundant at the moment in Cornwall. Adds basil, pine nuts, parmesan and olive oil. Great for a cheat day (carb day) pasta with organic spinach and cherry tomatoes. Not hard to make, healthy and uses local wild ingredients. Yum.
Appreciating
The concept or wholeness, that we are already whole and that we have everything we need. Practising ‘enoughness’.
Being grateful for ‘what is’ and not focusing constantly on ‘what isn’t’ (thanks to Stew Bittman DC for these concepts).
Until next time,
Simon
Finemore's Five for Friday (3)
Hi folks,
Today's Finemore’s Five for Friday comes to you from Bucharest. I'll bring you up to speed with what I'm doing out here next week, in the meantime here's the latest for you to ponder over the weekend.
This week I am mostly reading...
‘One River’ by Wade Davis is a tale of scientific exploration in the 1970s as the author follows in the footsteps of his mentor Richard Evans Schultes, the world’s leading authority on the hallucinogens and medicinal plants who in 1941 disappeared for 12 years into the Amazonian rain forest of Columbia in a dug-out canoe. Inspirational.
This week I am mostly listening to...
A Sheffield revival. Pulp's Common People and the Artic Monkeys' Whatever...
This week I am mostly appreciating...
Our capacity for altruism. Whether considering the three people in Lidl who stepped out of a queue to help me pick up every blueberry that I had spilt over the floor or the ‘Effective Altruism’ movement which enables us to have faith that the charity donation goes where we intend. For example it is estimated to cost £2835 (or £28 a month for a year) to save a human life if given wisely.
How many lives could you save in your lifetime? How many of us are donating regularly to charities unsure of what percentage of that donation is being spent on further fund raising or charity infrastructure?
http://www.effectivealtruism.com or you can listen to this podcast : https://www.samharris.org/podcast/item/being-good-and-doing-good
This week I am mostly enjoying...
Surprisingly good instant coffee (served with cream - hurray) and in-flight food on a Tarom flight from London to Bucharest. No charges for food or wine, like stepping back in time. Hoping to enjoy a Cinzano with Leonard Rossiter and or Joan Colllins (that reference is too old for most). Passing through Heathrow Terminal 4 was also a relatively pleasant experience.
This week I am mostly working on...
My vision. You don’t achieve, create or complete anything without thinking of or visualising the desired result repeatedly. We all imagine outcomes. Some of us even imagine and realise unfortunate outcomes. The clearer we are in our vision of what we want the more likely we are to create it. For example you will never heal without investing in that possibility; the placebo effect is real and observable. Be careful what you wish for.
Have a great weekend and see you soon.
Until next time,
Simon
PS - Would love to know what you think of these or if you've got any questions you'd like answering send them through and I'll do my best to oblige.
Finemore's Five for Friday (Last Friday that is)
Hi folks,
Welcome to Finemore’s Five for Friday, my weekly roundup of the five things I can’t stop doing this week, I’m enjoying or are simply on my mind.
This week I am mostly listening to...
GRANDADDY - pending the release of their get-back-together album, I can't stop playing their single 'Evermore.' I love the synth sound as it opens, looking forward to seeing them live at the Roundhouse in London on the March 3rd (tickets still available). Dance or nod appropriately. Listen to Evermore by Grandaddy on Spotify.
This week I am mostly eating...
Kale from Cusgarne Organic Farm. Love this stuff. Just throw it in a covered pain with plenty of grass-fed organic butter and some chopped organic garlic. Salt and pepper to taste. Eat. Here’s a 5 min omelette with kale, mushrooms and eggs all from Cusgarne and all organic. Yum.
This week I am mostly appreciating...
How we all have power over the course and direction of our lives and the fulfilment of our dreams. The thoughts we have determine our perceptions, our dreams and our actions. If you want your life to take a new direction then you must think a new thought to gain a change in perspective and a change in your actions. We have the power, to change the way we think, be careful how big you dream.
“You are only as young as the last time you changed your mind.” Timothy Leary
This week I am mostly reading...
Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl. It is a personal account of Dr Frankl’s experiences during WW2 in Auschwitz and other concentration camps. This might sound like a heavy read but his description of human resilience and the power of perception in the face of death is uplifting and inspirational.
This week I am mostly exercising...
My Quadratus Lumborum (low back stabilisers) : Sit upright on the floor, legs straight out in front of you and lift one buttock and walk it forward then the other buttock until you have travelled 10ft, then walk back again. Done (you can hold a small kettlebell to your chest as you do this).
I hope you've enjoyed the first instalment of Finemore's Five For Friday, have a great weekend and I look forward to seeing you soon.
Simon