Friday Five #13 – Being Present, Honeyguide & Flow

Hello!

Here is your Friday 5 roundup of this week’s facts, fun and f’ups…

🌈 How to live in the moment!

• When I lived in NYC, I walked as if I were asleep.
   
• It was like I was in autopilot mode which steered me along the usual routes between home, work, gym, stores, subway, etc. Routes that I travelled so often with my mind somewhere else, and everything and everyone around me passing by like ghosts; there but unseen.
   
• There were some moments between waking-up and going to sleep, that I noticed a radiant red-orange sunset, or blue sky of fluffy clouds, or a full moon rising over the Williamsburg bridge, but mostly I was pretty busy with living my life with work and going to the gym and sometimes going out.
   
• I didn’t realize that I didn’t realize what was around me, that I wasn’t paying attention much or connecting to the world around me, until… some friends in Dar es Salaam introduced me to freediving, and this changed the course of my life.
   
• I spent the next two years freediving obsessively and taking underwater photos. Spending up to 4-6 hours a day in the water on long swims and freediving, immersing myself in shoals of sardines, filming zeppelin-like pufferfish, finding sneaky camouflaged filefish, flounders and creatures you name it. (See some of my pics here)
   
• Every moment I spent underwater, I tried so passionately with my camera to capture the invisible connection I felt with the world around me. I was completely transfixed by the stunning beauty and timeless wisdom of these sea souls, and never did I realize that those moments would never leave me.
   
• Those moments of connection flicked on a light switch in my soul and from then on I was hooked on freediving. And slowly I started to wake up.
   
• The way I lived changed completely; I slowed down a bit, started yoga and things of that sort, travelled to some remote places, got lots of tangled hair, enjoying diving trips and adventures and eventually moved to Dahab! I felt happy and alive!
   
• I started paying attention to everything – the feel of the warm sun on my skin, the strength of the wind, the scent of jasmine in the air, the moon’s fullness and effect on the tides and people’s moods, the clouds and their potential beauty at sunset, the ordinary became extraordinary and my life over time became deeper, richer and more connected.
   
• “Our goal should be to live life in radical amazement… get up in the morning and look at the world in a way that takes nothing for granted. Everything is phenomenal; everything is incredible; never treat life casually.” -Abraham Joshua Heschet
   
• Thing is, you don’t need to go freediving or even go out of your way to live in the moment with wonder, you can experience it right here and now.
   
• Just stop what you’re doing and pay attention. Notice what’s around you; notice the colors, the lights / shadows, the people, the things, the scenery the materials, the sounds etc. Look with curiosity and be inspired by it all!
   
• Yes, life certainly has those big exciting moments but most of it is those everyday small moments. So without paying attention, life can quickly pass you by and your memories of it will be dull and boring. But if you witness even the smallest and simplest moments with curiosity, gratitude and present-ness, life will be so much more vibrant and extraordinary.

🐦 What’s the MOST developed, mutually helpful relationship in the world between a mammal and a bird?

• I came across this cool video about the honeyguide bird in Tanzania. This bird is known for guiding hadza honey hunters to trees that contain honey.
   
• It’s one of the most unique / human relationships on the planet. I hope to visit the hadza and see this honeybird in action the next time I’m in Tanzania!

💬 What quote I’ve been thinking about:

There is one grand lie – that we are limited. The only limits we have are the limits we believe.

-Wayne Dyer

🧠 What would you be capable of if you could use 100% of your brain?

• In the book, Limitless, David Eagleman, a neuroscientist, responds to the above question, “We would be capable of exactly what we’re doing now, which is to say, we do use 100% of our brain”
   
• Did you know that it’s just a myth that we use 10% (or 20% or 40%) of our brains! We use 100% of our brains and there’s loads of evidence that backs this up (too much to include all of it here), but here’s 5 points that refute the myth!!

1. Studies of damaged brains shows there’s no single part of the brain that can sustain damage without a loss of ability.
    
2. Even while we sleep, all parts of our brains show activity 😴
    
3. Our brains are energy hogs, using 20% of energy consumption – we wouldn’t need such an incredible amount of energy for an organ that functioned at 40% or less
    
4. The brain’s regions have distinct functions that work together. After scientists have mapped the brain extensively over decades, they’ve concluded that there are no functionless areas of the brain
    
5. The brain uses a process called synaptic pruning, If we didn’t use a large portion of our brains, we would have large areas of degeneration (which we don’t unless diseases are present)

🙃 What I did (or didn’t do) to get my flow back:

• I’ve been battling for the past 2-1/2 months with relaxation on my dives. The relaxation / ‘flow state’ has been non-existent on my dives since the beginning of December 😭
   
• This made every single dive quite tedious and a bit torturous I’d say, versus my usual ‘zen-like’ experience. (It really is zen-like!)
   
• So I used to go into the ‘flow state’ at the start of the free-fall right after charging the mouthfill, but then in December a bunch of things changed and the weather changed, and my ‘flow state’ disappeared! And I’ve been trying to get it back since!
   
• I tried everything to get my flow back from quitting coffee, to thyroid testing, changing wetsuits, changing warm-ups, adding a purge breath, adding longer exhales during relaxation, snorkel breathe-up etc and yesterday finally I found the culprit!
   
• IT WAS THE PACKING! In December I added 5-10 packs before all my dives, and something about the packing made the relaxation on my dives go completely out the window! Now if I do 0-2 packs, I got my flow back! 🥳
   
• Super excited, now I can dive deep again!

It’s a pleasure and honor getting to spend some time with you, I hope you have a great weekend!

Renee