Welcome to this week's Upwarding newsletter. My blog, with more in-depth content, can be found here.

Picture

Whether it’s permanent or not, COVID-19 seems to be driving people out of cities, and the more remote, the better.  Farms are in, urban condos are out.

Mindfulness/Spirituality/Chill

Two verbal/mental hacks for greater happiness.  1) replace the words “I have to” with “I get to”. 2) when in a dispute, preface your thoughts/words with “the story I’m telling myself is”.  In the end, we all have our own stories and they very rarely understand the entirety of a situation.

Health/Wellness

Frequent sauna use might be the most effective behavioral intervention we have (other than exercise) to combat heart disease.  In a large and very strong longitudinal study, it reduced the risk of cardiac events by over 50%.  If you can’t run, you can still sweat.  For a more in depth study, listen to this podcast.

Investing/Money

A lot of investors hate gold since it yields nothing, but this excellent article makes a strong case for using gold as a hedge in today’s ultra low yield environment.  

Random Thoughts

One of the most powerful concepts for understanding human behavior is cognitive dissonance.  See here and here.  The theory concisely explains behaviors ranging from which rumors go viral, to whether someone is able to learn from their mistakes, to why George Bush invaded Iraq despite scant evidence of nuclear weapons.

In short, we will do almost anything to justify our belief that we are a good, kind, compassionate, consistent, and smart person.

Reflection/Quote

“It takes courage to do what you want. Other people have a lot of plans for you. Nobody wants you to do what you want to do. They want you to go on their trip” – Joseph Campbell

Stay well,

Chris