One of my clients coaches the CEOs and leadership teams of brand name companies and also a state governor.
Last week he came to Costa Rica for three day to do some intensive one on one work with me.
He had a list of plans to work through, but my intuition was telling me “Nah. He doesn’t know it, but what he needs is some breathwork.” So we spent 80% of the time on the breathwork and then afterwards he found he knew most of the answers on his year planning anyway, so we just crystallised a few things.
We just got on a debrief call I asked how his week had been. He said this:
“My meditations are more intense, deeper, and can go into it faster.
I'm calmer. It's like everything has a new color in the world and
My perceptions with other people are heightened. I can notice energy when someone's energy is "off" but I also feel free from the need to try to change that..
When someone in my team didn't complete a job the way I'd intended I found I didn't feel let down or angry or disappointed any more, I could see my part better too - where I hadn't communicated clearly. I knew what to do so that we corrected things without him feeling he'd failed.
It's strange, it's like I'm trying to understand my new superpower.
People have been asking me "Aren't your tired?" I have been telling everyone "No I'm so energized! Even after after 4 back to back long flights."”
I’ve been teaching breathwork using SKY breathing (Art of Liviing) and I never get tired of hearing feedback like this.
Breathwork and meditation is a lot like bitcoin. Most people don’t use it, most people don’t think they need it, most people are looking for solutions around the edges without seeing the root cause, but it’s the best of its kind.
Secret time: the philosopher I based my approach to helping shift the Bitcoin&Energy narrative was Bruce Lee
For 10 years I coached entrepreneurs and CEOs to pitch. Bitcoin gave me the chance to step back in the ring.
*except is from my book "One Pitch"
People have been asking me to open source the ways I’ve used to orangepill the large swathe of people who have swallowed the FUD and have environmental / “it’s used by criminals” type reservations about bitcoin.
This is most of the early majority. AKA: the next wave of adopters.
This week I finally was able to clear some space and write it up, so here it is.
Enjoy!
OrangePilling The Early Majority – Batcoinz
Turns out if you are angry, venting doesn’t help reduce it and nor does exercise, in fact both may increase it.
(Ohio State University meta-study that analyzed 154 studies on anger)
What did the study find worked? slow yoga, breathing exercises and meditation.
ScienceAlert
Venting Doesn't Reduce Anger, But Something Else Does, Study Shows
Venting when angry seems sensible.
It’s a great project. And I know a few plebs have done something similar. Anyone else here on Nostr had experiences using miners to heat their home during the winter months in the way described below?
View quoted note →Different style of lost in my blog today. Posting on Nostr first
The Implementation AGE? – Batcoinz
Issue #21 of the Bitcoin ESG Forecast is out: "Game Theory Begins"
Check your email and spam folders. 👇
www.batcoinz.com/p/021-game-theory-begins
Happy ending.
Earlier today Environment America put up an article called "Bitcoin’s purposeless power problem" which was full of defunded claims about Bitcoin’s environmental impact.
They have now removed their article from their site after I wrote to them pointing out numerous factual errors, with citations and data.
Several people have asked how I stay calm while dealing with FUD on Bitcoin+energy🤣
It's largely due to a breathing & meditation practice I do I can share more if you're interested in a 45min intro session: Thur 7.30pm 14 Nov CST
You can comment/DM "I'm in" if you’re keen
Additional background if needed:
There are 4 sources of energy (as in human energy levels, not the kWh variety I also write about)
-- Food
-- Sleep
-- Knowledge/ meditation
-- Breathing
Of these the most under-utilised is effective breathing Sure we know how to breath insofar as we can sustain life, but can you breath in a way that optimize life?
James Nester, author of Breath: the new science of a lost art, says “Even if you’re eating right and exercising, if you’re not breathing right, you’re not going to be healthy”
(Interview with Joe Rogan, 2020)
Health is not simply the absence of disease, it is a state of relaxed yet alert agility in both body and mind
24 years ago I accidentally stumbled on a breathing technique that proves a powerful aid in the many projects I found I had the capacity to take on afterwards without the stress that had previously caused me to avoid such endeavors
I found I had so much energy afterwards, I wondered “why do so few people know about this, the breath is the basis of everything - life itself!” I had the thought during that first breathing course “I should teach this to others”
Years later that I did indeed start teaching SKY breathing courses through the Art of Living foundation.
I’ve just taught course #100
If you’d like to come, shoot me a reply below and I’ll shoot you the link. I’d love to share a little of what has helped me so much over many years.
Someone just tried to give up coffee, without success.
Here’s my take on that. There’s nothing wrong with coffee. However if you’re having it for the energy it gives you, I’ve found there are more effective ways to get that energy. When it comes to habits, replacing a habit is much more likely to work (feels like evolution) than removing one (feels like self-denial)
There are 4 sources of energy (I’m talking the energy a human feels, not kWhs!)
1. Food
2. Sleep
3. Breath
4. Knowledge/ a calm state of mind
Of these, the most unexplored and the most impactful I’ve found is the breath.
I stopped having coffee (and other stimulants) after starting a daily practice of breathing exercises. It wasn’t even a big deal or an effort. I just found I didn’t need it. From time to time - maybe once a year I might have a coffee because I like the taste, and the aroma, and when I do, I really enjoy and savor it. But I no longer need it. I don’t crave it.
For me, a critical pet of freedom is reducing and removing what I feel I “need”. Freedom for me means there is nothing and no one in life that has control over me. If I need, or believe I need, anything or anyone outside of myself, then I am not free.
Anyway, the particular breathing practice I found most effective after trialling a few was SKY breathing, as taught by the Art of Living foundation. Back in 2007 I completed my training to be able to teach this technique to others, and as a volunteer in my spare time just recently completed the 100th course. I was fortunate enough to discover the technique by accident more than 20 years ago, before breathing practices were fashionable. But I just did a quick search and found that it’s now had over 100 papers published on its heath and well-being benefits.
Bitcoin can give many freedoms. And … the highest freedoms, Bitcoin cannot give you. No asset or technology can. You can have all the self-custódiese Bitcoin, but …
If your mind continually from past events, to future plans, and you are unable to have it stay anchored in the present, then you are not free
If you get triggered and your emotions are decided by the words of others, then you are not free
If you get irate and frustrated whenever someone criticises bitcoin then you are not free
If you have many unrealised desires and ambitions that you believe you need to be fulfilled before you can be content, then you are not free.
If your mind gets unsettled when events do not go the way you want without delays or imperfections etc, then you are not free
If while maintaining money, you fear losing it in the future, then you are not free
If you feel fear when you lose some money or resources from your life, then you are not free
If after realising one financial goal you feel compelled to quickly set a bigger one, then you are not free.
The final rabbit hole is consciousness
I don’t have time not to meditate
When dad passed away my (much) younger brother was 11. Recently he asked me for some life advice. I ended up writing 7 short pieces for him.
He was very grateful for them and said it would be great to share this with others. So here is the 3rd piece. (You can find the first two on my nostr feed also).
3. Complete the job
This word is full of mistakes. As awareness increases, we see more mistakes! What to do?
Transform anger to action
Years ago I saw many social and injustices that made me angry. I went on so many protest marches. I shouted, sometimes chanted slogans into loud speakers. One day I asked myself what I was contributing to the world. In that moment I realized that my actions were like that of a child who kicked over another child’s jenga blocks because he didn’t like the structure (and perhaps also because the act of venting gave a certain pleasure in that moment).
But what was left, even if successful, was a pile of blocks, and two children fighting with eachother.
I decided that I wanted to be the child who played nice with the other kids to build cool towers, not the child who tried to destroy other people’s towers, however worthy of being kicked over I judged them to be.
This decision led me eventually to form several funds that specialised in impact investment, particularly technologies that had a strong positive environmental impact.
As with criticism, sometimes pointing out mistakes is necessary. However the job is only half done until we offer a solution. If we cannot see a solution, offer to work with the other party to find one together.
2nd in the series about when my (much) younger brother asked me for some life advice years after our dad passed away (he was just 11 at the time)
2. Treat yourself, and others, as a good coach would
Some of my greatest mentors have been people who’ve took me aside when I did something foolish and explained to me what the impact of my actions was, and what the likely impact would be if I continued.
It was hard to hear. But nowhere near as hard as not hearing would have been.
A mentor grows people as a gardener grow plants. They understand that the water of wisdom must be complimented with the sunlight of compassion and are vigilant to uproot the weeds of blame.
Weeds can overwhelm a well laid garden just as blame can overwhelm well intentioned advice.
For years I applied this knowledge to others but not myself. I blamed myself harshly, reserving the worst standard of coaching for myself and forgetting that I was subject to the same rules of how people grow: by the water of wisdom, the sunlight of compassion and free from the overwhelming weeds of blame.
Sometimes I still catch myself speaking harsh words to myself that I would never utter to a friend, or even an enemy! In these moments I ask myself “do I want to be responsible for limiting my own growth?” “Do I want to discriminate against one person, me, and give this one person the worst of me?” “Is this what I would I say if I cared for someone and wanted to help them grow?” These questions are enough to end self-blame. This does not mean “do not criticise”. There are times when compassion demands that we voice a criticism, but in order that this criticism does not harden into blame, it should come only from the lips, not from the heart.
As for blaming and complaining of others and of event, it is only possible to blame when awareness is low. When awareness is high, blaming ends. For example: many times I’ve run a process in workshops where people share their life story. When people are aware of a fuller picture of a person, blaming and complaining ends. It’s not an intellectual decision, blaming and complaining subsides spontaneously as awareness increases.
Meditation is the most effective tool i have found to increase awareness. Which is why it is said that people after a period of meditating report that compassion rises and the complaining mind subsides.
When dad passed away from cancer, I was 35, but my brother-from-another-mother was only 11.
He’s an adult now and recently asked me if I had some life advice.
I wasn’t ready for his request, so didn’t say anything very useful. But then I reflected more on this. What would I say to a brother young enough to be a son? What can I share that may be valuable to others?
I wrote to him and told him I wanted to put the effort into my response that the sincerity of his question deserved and that I would share 7 things that came to mind. I just shared the first one. It’s helped bring us closer across different sides of the world. He also said what I wrote has been helpful and so with his consent I’m sharing it.
1. Selfishness is self defeating.
I’ve always tried to make decisions based on the principal “what’s for the greater good”. I’ve found that this generally ends up being for our greater good too.
The first time this principal was tested was 25 years ago. I was leading a software team. One of the developers wanted to work for the R&D team. This would mean we lost our top developer which would mean the performance of our team would go down. But it was his dream and I could not hold him back. I worked together with him and others in the company to map out a path for him to transition into the R&D team. Far from hurting me, somehow in some way I do not understand still my career only moved ahead. I took another developer into my team that no team wanted and who the company wanted to fire because if an incident when he upset a customer with his direct manner of communication. I sat down with him and was able to work out what the issue was and coach him. Because we discovered the root cause, he went through a complete shift in his mindset and we never had another issue with him on customer sites. 6 months later I was running two software teams.
When we behave selfishly, we act against self because all things are connected. God, life force, energy or consciousness moves through all things. When we act selfishly we are saying “I am not connected to this universal consciousness” in that moment. The seed of this action is disconnection. The seed of the thing becomes the thing. We cannot plant a lemon seed and expect a mango tree. So a disconnected action can only yield more disconnection in our life. The reverse is also true: as we take actions that are generous, we feel more belonging and connection to everyone and everything.
Guidance of “how I should act” comes directly from our understanding of the nature of reality.
It took me two months to work out bitcoin was good for the environment
It took me two years to work out how to tell that to others.
This is the talk where I finally cracked the code on how to do it.
New article: Bitcoin and the Death of Energy Misinformation --->
Bitcoin “Crossing the Chasm” and the DEATH OF ENERGY MISINFORMATION – Batcoinz
This is based on my recent keynotes from Amsterdam and Frankfurt