Angry about America?

I bet you are, especially if that's where you are or are from.

This year I'm sure you're getting bombarded with all these ideological hot takes from different thinkers, influencers, and gurus about the utterly discordant state of things in the (very dis-)United States. I'll spare you mine, and give you some pragmatic stuff here instead.

I read this great book about chronic pain, which is a problem epidemic in its specter. The book explains how anger, especially suppressed or chronic anger, manifests as chronic pain. This makes me think of the sordid state of my country in the current year...

In America people are mad.

We are a divided and angry country and it's just getting worse. Tens of millions are seething angry with President Trump or with watching Western civilization break down (or both), and very few are channeling that raw emotion productively, or doing meditation before bed to release all that pent-up rage. Venting vitriolically on social media (IN ALL CAPS) is not the way to release anger about politics, in fact, it probably just perpetuates the chronic anger (especially when you get in a pointless Facebook argument with your aunt!) I predict that America's chronic pain problem will just get worse. Judging by their social media activity, lots of previously happy-go-lucky, cool-headed Americans that I've known have become 24/7 political rageaholics. Political pundits and talking heads in the media are fond of telling us...

If you're not angry, you're not paying attention.

And it's sort of true. I repeatedly exhort my audience, friends, and family (especially those in America) to pay attention, resist normalcy bias, and invest in full-spectrum antifragility because the world is just getting more entropic and Darwinian. 

4 lifehacks for the politically engaged (and enraged)

If you want to get all fired up about politics go get some exercise, make love, do some meditation, or at least take an anxiolytic supplement at the end of the day.

A few years back, I just stopped following anyone on social media who posted things that ticked me off, and I now waste a whole lot less time in pointless arguments and I don't get my cortisol spiked nearly every time I log on to social media. To avoid ending up in a "echo-chamber" I listen to a couple of podcasts from the other side of the political spectrum).

I did what people always threaten to do the day after an election of a Presidential candidate they don't like, I moved away to another country that aligns closely with my politics and ideological worldview, and it's great here!

• It's safe to walk the city streets (even at night).
• I don't have to worry about tyrannical police officers.
• The cost of living is low; inflation of groceries, utilities, etc is NOT bad here.
• The people are friendly.
• The food is good (and mostly all organic).
• The government didn't go full 1984 in response to COVID.
• My family's health insurance is unbelievably cheap while the healthcare is affordable and good (not that we really need it, being Biohackers).
• Oh, and the taxes are low (surprisingly low!)
  

I'd also urge you to try "tapping" to resolve stress, anxiety, and anger about the real-life Idiocracy that we now seem to live in, I break it down how here.

Tapping is an application of Emotional Freedom Techniques, it's kind of wuwu, but it's free, and there are no risks or downsides. This book thoroughly documents numerous case studies of it working wonders (sometimes instantaneous), providing badly needed relief for those suffering from treatment-resistant chronic pain.

Apply a few of these hacks and you'll stay saner this year and (are just about guaranteed to not get into a fistfight on election day!)