Happy Thoughts for Today: Surprises and Happy Terror

 Ponderings  1 Response »
Jul 042012
 

What is happy terror? It’s that kind of terror you feel in the face of a potentially positive change.

So, my happy thoughts for today are surprises and happy terror.

Surprises are important. Realistically, we would all be bored to tears if life were entirely predictable and routine. The occasional surprise breaks us from our mold and pushes us in new and interesting directions. Sometimes those directions are bad, but they are different, and that can be critical.

After all, in nature, if you’re not on a path of growth, you’re on a path of death. And not changing is a great way to stop growing. We’re separated from the wild dangers of nature, but I’d rather choose growth anyway.

Happy terror is that fear of change in the face of good things. I’ve always viewed it as that exciting sensation of being alive. Happy terror is that feeling you get when you jump out of planes or off of bridges with bungee cords attached to you.

Lastly, on a day as hot as today, another happy thought is that the benefits of cold showers aren’t just limited to building character, sometimes they help fight heat and humidity too!

The Benefits of a Cold Shower – Happiness Experiment 27 Conclusions

 Experiments  2 Responses »
Jun 172012
 

Firstly, I admit full guilt. You might have noticed I didn’t post any results for this experiment yesterday.

Speaking honestly, there hasn’t exactly been a whole lot to say.

When I started this experiment on the benefits of a cold shower, I was looking for both mental and physical benefits.

Conclusions on the Benefits of a Cold Shower

This experiment was both profound and a bit unsatisfying all at the same time.

The mental benefits of this experiment were immediate and profound. I found a number of resources that talked about using cold showers to build mental toughness.

The physical effects really didn’t manifest in the time frame of this experiment. That’s not to say that they wouldn’t occur – obviously a cold shower does get the blood flow pumping and wake me up, but for a serious contribution to weight loss, I would need to take LONG cold showers, or take more of them.

So, cold showers are great to build mental toughness, and they sure to wake you up. I’ll definitely be taking them occasionally going forward, as I find challenging myself to always be a good decision.

The Benefits of a Cold Shower – Happiness Experiment 27 Day 4

 Experiments  1 Response »
Jun 152012
 

Okay, it might have taken four days, but the impossible is starting to happen. I’m starting to find a comfort zone in the cold section of the dial for showers.

If you’re just joining me now, I’ve been experimenting with the benefits of a cold shower. To see how this had been going for me so far, check out yesterday in the benefits of a cold shower experiment.

But, back to my finding a crazy comfort zone.

I start off with the shower on cool and slowly advance it towards freezing cold over the duration of my shower. I’m finding that there’s a point about a notch or two above as cold as possible which is actually quite comfortable. It’s bracing. Bracing is a good word for this experiment.

Bracing is defined as:

Invigorating or refreshing. Strengthening.

As scary as it is, I might be growing to like taking showers this cold. They don’t have the hedonistic comfort of a warm shower, but they can serve a useful purpose. I certainly feel awake in the morning after I take one!

The Benefits of a Cold Shower – Happiness Experiment 27 Day 3

 Experiments  1 Response »
Jun 142012
 

Is mental toughness a muscle that you can get stronger with practice? More frightening, does that muscle get weaker if you don’t use it often enough?

This week I’m conducting an experiment on the benefits of a cold shower. To see how this experiment has been going so far, check out day 2 in the benefits of a cold shower.

I think that this experiment is waking me up to how little I push that toughness muscle on a regular basis. I think I really could be pushing my envelope more.

The Benefits of a Cold Shower – Day 3

While I still can’t attest to any physical benefits of this experiment, it’s really leading me to do a lot of thinking about facing fears and toughness.

I’m not sure what the end results of this week’s experiment will be, but I really consider anything that makes me think deeply about life to be a success of some sort or another.

And no, it’s still not getting any easier to turn that dial to the cold (in case you were wondering).

The Benefits of a Cold Shower – Happiness Experiment 27 Day 2

 Experiments  1 Response »
Jun 132012
 

If you’re just jumping in now, this week’s experiment is on the benefits of cold showers.

To see how things have gone so far, check out day one in the benefits of a cold shower.

Some of my experiments are deceptively easy, others are like a campaign of shock and awe against my own body. This falls under the second category at this point in time.

The Benefits of a Cold Shower – Day 2

Well, you’d think that this would get better with time. If they do, it’s not on the second day. This morning, turning the shower on cold still felt like a slap in the face.

My energy level was definitely higher for this morning, but it flagged in the evening. That might have more to do with a poor night of sleep than anything else though.

We’ll have to see how the rest of this week plays out!

The Benefits of a Cold Shower – Happiness Experiment 27

 Experiments  5 Responses »
Jun 122012
 

Lately it seems like the universe is conspiring to make me do the experiment I have planned on the benefits of a cold shower.

I’ve had this one on my radar ever since I first read 7 Health Benefits of a Cold Shower on The Art of Manliness. However, I freely admit that I’ve been afraid. This is one of those tough experiments that it’s tough to get terribly excited about.

There are a host of incredible benefits associated with cold showers: improved circulation, healthier hair and skin, depression fighting benefits, increased energy, weight loss, and the list goes on.

However, I want to say this up front: there are potential issues associated with cold showers for people with fevers, high blood pressure and heart disease. As always, I am the subject of my own experiments, and I don’t recommend following in my footsteps without consulting medical professionals.

The real kicker for me was the discussion on cold shower therapy by Joel Runyon. The idea of building mental toughness and conquering fear, when you combine that with all the other potential health benefits, I had to face facts and realize that this is the kind of challenge that can lead to awesome results.

Benefits of a Cold Shower – Day 1

I started the water as cool, and I must admit, I got a bit cocky. My brain started to rationalize. Maybe cool water was okay to start and I could work my way up, or maybe I still had time to try something else.

I stared at the tap, and I had a sense of deja vu. I’d felt exactly the same way when I was about to bungee jump, or before every stand up comedy routine I’ve ever performed. There’s an urge to run or hide that you need to conquer, and there is a mental muscle that you need to exercise to overcome that reflex. If you don’t work it often enough, it gets lazy, and the fear reflex can overcome your muscle.

So, the cool shower was pleasant, but then I finally cranked the dial all the way to the right. It was definitely a shock. I was awake, my heart was pumping, and I didn’t need any more help waking up in the morning. However, even though a cold shower is a small thing, I still felt a bit of that same sense of victory that I felt when I forced myself to walk up on stage to start my stand-up comedy routine.

Life is made up of small victories, and I had one this morning before I left my house. I’m not sure about all the physical benefits of a cold shower, but the mental benefits seem immediately clear.