Peter Macke

Hello,

I wanted to share a list of what I find useful and interesting.

Interesting Podcast:

Dr. K on the Dark Side of Empathy (Spotify Link, YouTube Link).

This one is only 30 minutes, so you can listen to it on your next commute. If you’re into psychology, mental health, relationships, Dr. K’s channel is a must watch.

Drawing from his experiences as a monk in Indian ashrams and medical training at Harvard/Mass General, Dr. K offers a rare combination of evidence-based advice and ancient spiritual teachings from buddhist and hindu philosophy.

Whenever I listen to Dr. K, I always walk away with something useful. Even if “the dark side of empathy” doesn’t sound like something you’d want to watch, you should still check his channel. There’s a wide range of topics – something for everyone.

What I’m Listening To:

Fred Again.. This Youtube link is form his 2023 Glastonbury set. Even if you don’t like electronic music I think it is a cool watch. I’ll be seeing Fred when he visits Denver in September, the first stop of his North American Tour. If you are going to his Ball Arena show HMU! (Spotify Link, YouTube Link)

Tomorrow’s Hiking Adventure:

Will be waking up at 3am tomorrow, driving out to the continental divide to hike 8.25 miles, 3600 ft up Mt. Grays and Mt. Torreys. They will be my second and third Colorado 14ers. Wish me luck

Quote I’ve Been Thinking About:

“Your boos mean nothing, I’ve seen what makes you cheer” – Rick Sanchez, Rick and Morty. I first heard this one watching the show. I was reminded of it again from Chris Williamson’s weekly newsletter several months ago. And recently, I’ve been thinking about it again. It makes me think about this:

Human Nature Insight:

Unless you are a psychopath or sociopath, you will at times worry about what others think.

There is nothing wrong with that – it is a feature, not a bug, of the human experience. Baked into our psychology by evolution.

Back when we lived in hunter-gatherer societies, we needed to be liked by our tribe. Rejection, being disliked by the tribe meant a possible ejection, which in hunter-gatherer days was a death sentence.

Rejection can lead to physical discomfort and even cause physical pain, as nervous system doesn’t really distinguish physical and emotional stress and pain. This is to protect us from doing something that would make the tribe upset.

But in the modern world, the one we didn’t evolve for but find ourselves living in, this can cause unnecessary anxieties.

Remedy: Care about the opinions of those closest, the people in your circle that have your best interests in mind, but outside of that, be cautious about what opinions you pay attention to.

Be objective and ask, is this disapproval really worth getting upset over? Likely, it is not.

Evolutionarily speaking, we are not designed to know about conflict A, B, and C happening on the other side of the world. About rising sea levels and the increasing acidity of the ocean. About whatever culture war issue your political party cares about. About (insert whatever issue that causes concern).

But just beyond knowing about all these things, people are expected to have an opinion about everyone of them too. We simply just are not wired for this.

This topic interests me a lot, and I am excited to explore it more in the future. It combines many subjects I have an interest in like evolutionary psychology and mental health.

It is more important than ever to learn how “let go” like the buddhists teach and “focus on that which you can control” as the ancient stoics taught.

I have been accused before of saying not to care. Only online because anyone who knows me well knows I have a big heart. I am not saying “don’t care”. I hate nihilism, the “nothing matters” attitude as much as Walter Sobchak (Big Lebowski).

I am just saying we should be very careful about what we care about. Don’t pick up opinions, desires, causes to care about accidentally or unconsciously.

Pick one or two things you really care about: a political cause, a business goal, an athletic goal, and cause to support, whatever it is you care about, and make that your thing.

A person who cares about everything effectively cares about nothing.

Some antidotes:

Disconnect. Put the phone down. Go outside and touch grass. This is good for mind, body, and soul.

Think deeply about your values, what kind of person you are. What would you in 1 year want for you? You in 5 years?

Practice gratefulness. Write out a list of 10 things you are grateful for in your life. At a really low point in my life, doing this daily helped me get through it.

Arthur Brooks is a Harvard guy currently teaching on this and seems to be doing very good work.

Optional: learn about evolutionary psych, the parts about our psych that are baked into us, and Jungian psych (Books: “The Moral Animal” “The Ape That Understood The Universe” and “Jung’s Map of The Soul“), Read Ancient wisdom from authors like Viktor Frankl, Epictetus, Aristotle.

The Importance Of Sleep & A Purchase Under $100 that Helped Mine:

“There are 24 hours in a day” is a lie.

Technically yes this is true, but really there are only 16 hours. This is because the average person spends a quarter to a third of their life in bed. On average, about 26 years of life.

Sleep impacts everything. Mood, physical and mental health, fitness level, recovery, energy levels, cognitive function. Everything.

You can do all healthy activities in the world, walk 12,000 steps a day, lift weights, avoid alcohol and tobacco, avoid processed food, but none of it will matter without good sleep.

You probably won’t have the discipline or motivation to do your healthy habits if you sleep is off though. The point is: everything you experience flows downstream from your sleep quality.

It is no coincidence that the most challenging period I went through was also a time I was getting the least sleep. A notable exception to the rule parents of newborns. Both mothers and fathers undergo significant hormonal, neural, and behavioral changes raising a new born to cope with the massive change.

So when I experienced poor sleep a few weeks in a row earlier this summer, I decided to pull the trigger on the 60$ IKEA pillow.

It sounds like a ridiculous amount to spend on a pillow. This is coming from a guy that used $3 Wal-Mart pillows last year.

But since buying this pillow for my girlfriend and I, our sleep has both improved significantly. My girlfriend’s Oura ring sleep score went up.

Maybe there is some placebo effect, but I do feel more comfortable with a premium pillow.

If you have $60 burning a hole in your pocket and haven’t been sleeping well, this may be for you.

More important than a pillow though is what I do when getting ready for bed.

How I Improve Sleep:

For me and most others, the most impactful variable in the sleep equation is temperature.

Tim Ferris has a good sleep protocol. Huberman’s is too regimented and unrealistic for me, but is still useful and worth looking at.

I like to keep my sleep protocol stupid simple.

A hot shower before bed to helps your body lower its internal temp.

A glass of ice water.

Sometimes an eye mask – I like this one from Amazon, on sale for $10 right now.

Keeping my room cool.

For me, the most important part of getting to bed onetime is avoiding phone use.

It can be hard because phone’s are addicting. It’s easy to stay up too late scrolling if I don’t pay attention.

Instead of doom scrolling, I try to read. Reading is great because it often puts me out after only a few pages.

Another thing I like is a podcast or audiobook with a sleep timer. I set mine for 30 minutes.

End

Thank you for reading!