Too much sun can lead to DNA damage – sun burn and eventually cancer.
Too little sun can cause vitamin deficiencies – rickets.
Design yourself a living space with some sunshine. Not too much but definitely not too little. The Sun’s light impacts mood and physical health in a massive way.
I change the set up of my house quite frequently. It’s not something I thought I would become interested in, but interior design can impact your health, your mood, your daily movement.
The latest casualty is our bedroom. There is a small flight of stairs leading into the room. It used to be that as soon as you walked down the three or four stairs, our bedside table got in your way, then our bed got in your way. You had to make a hard left turn to get anywhere else in the room.
Now the bed and table are the other side of the room, freeing up the entry. The “Flow” of the room (ha! I’m writing about “room flow”) is so much better now that you can walk down the stairs and just keep on going. If you like you can keep going all the way through the room, unimpeded to the garden. It’s amazing how much difference this one change has made.
I also rigged up a sweet Hifi system in the bedroom using an old amp with Denon speakers and a chromecast. Check out the photos on the @chimpwithcans Instagram page if you like.
I can just feel the different vibe in the room. There is a “flow” as you arrive, and the music makes you want to stay.
Playing games is important to me. In my life, Games come up all over the place.
If I find something difficult then it helps me to think of it as a game. This approach makes things less stressful and lowers my anxiety. Elon Musk says we might all just be living in a simulation. Sometimes it helps to think of life in that way. A few examples of play as it manifests in my life:
Dreams remember they don’t mean much.
Snippets, memories, old desires and such.
Memories of memories become loops. Internal errors.
A Treasure hunter is on the beach tonight. Metal detector sweeps the sand while the waves crash hard.
Take the good and leave the bad.
Programmable robot.
Reboot your glitch.
Today I am starting to work on a new series of podcasts for the blog.
This is a misleading statement because as yet I don’t know what it’ll be about, who will be on it or how many I will do.
Perhaps more accurate would be to say I am starting to think about starting to work on the podcast!
One idea is to use the blog itself as a resource, looking back over the most popular posts I have written and use them as a guide for podcast topics.
But like I say – still early days. So watch this space, and prime your ears in the meantime 🙂
I’m sure I chose my website name, “Chimpwithcans”, for a reason. I just can’t think of it right now! Let’s try and figure it out.
Chimps are like us. We are like chimps. We evolved differently from similar ancestors, but our primal make-up (and behaviour) is little different. For example, chimps not only laugh like us, but also smile in silence; they are gourmands, they play, they are aware of the fact that they think and can distinguish between fair and unfair, as well as cultivating friendship.
Despite these similarities, the juxtaposition of a chimp with headphones on is intriguing to me. Can you imagine the infusion of culture, technology and art into the chimps brain through those cans? I like to imagine what the chimpanzee is listening to.
Music appeals to something very base and deep within our human psyches, and sometimes I fantasise that given a couple thousand years of evolution a chimp might get music the same way we do. Imagine how much better we would understand primates if we could dance with them?
Chimpwithcans (and the glorious artwork by Mr Aveling) is therefore about stripping away the complications of our culture and busy lives, and simply letting the music in to our primal core. It hints at imagination, curiosity and submission to the power of music in the ears. It’s how I see myself when i hear a good song.
Life catches up with you. Like a night out stumbling from one bar to another, social media can have no purpose and damage your life if you don’t pay attention. Facebook updates for giggles and laughs is not a long term strategy unless you are a comedian. Chasing likes and shares, while measurable, will not get you anywhere meaningful. It will distract you from making something useful and interesting.
I have gone through peaks and troughs with social media – After becoming disgusted with my online self, I purged all my accounts …and now slowly I am trying again with more purpose. Now I have reached some sort of balance with the following social/web presence to manage:
Less distraction, more creativity, more intentionality (big word no?).
If you listen to music, you have chosen not to do something else. Sacrifice.
In western culture today the idea of sacrifice is often over dramatized. The words conjure up images of lambs slaughtered, pain, blood, sweat, tears. What is not often explained or acknowledged is how sacrifice happens every second of every day. It is fundamental to achieving anything. It is something we should get our heads around and I think it is something many of us deny exists.
With music and Hifi this means we must choose what to sacrifice in the quest for audio quality and listening. Perhaps we need to eat beans and water for a few weeks to afford those new speakers. Perhaps we choose to listen to an album rather than play sport or talk to our kids. You can have your listening room in the house, but you’ll need to give up on the big social lounge.
Everything is a sacrifice of some sort. And that is the dance we are all doing! 🐵🎧
I like nothing better than to lay some toys on the ground for the kids and put in a good record. After a long day hacking around chasing children, it refills the cup.
I have never been to Denmark, but I have spoken to someone who moved there from sunny South Africa. The subject of Friday’s podcast is now freezing in Copenhagen, while we are sweltering in the Cape.
I went to Norway and Sweden once on a trip that culminated in a wedding near the arctic circle. Scandinavia is beautiful (in the summer) and I was curious on Rachel’s take after living through a couple of their winters.
Catch the chimpwithcans podcast on Friday to hear about Rachel’s story.
Moving is harder and more interesting than you think.
Chimpwithcans 