Back after a short break, this week we cover a lot of philosophical ground. What does the Golden Rule mean to you? Treat others as you want to be treated or… treat people the way they treat you? Also, Trump’s assassination attempt, weight loss medicines, and more!
Last night, a bunch of Free Staters who are in Vegas for Freedom Fest decided to go on a side quest to Area 15, where the amazing Omega Mart interactive art installation is. While you don’t have to be on ‘schrooms to appreciate this awe inspiring experience, it doesn’t hurt! (It doesn’t, according to the two young gentlemen I encountered who claimed they’d been there for 4 hours. I did eventually see them leave right after me.)
You enter into a Wonka-wonky supermarket. Instinctively, I headed straight to the vegetable section. Hardwired good habits FTW! The first thing that caught my eye was the large pile of avocados… I headed over and picked one up. It crumbled in my hand. Empty. A coin purse! From there, I knew I was in for a fun, mind-bending, delightful and surprising adventure!
From there, of course, you’ll need to make sure you’re stocked on laundry detergent and other household goods.
And snacks! (And emergency clams! Because EVERYONE needs emergency clams!)
In the meat section, you start to get a sense things may soon start to go awry soon… As you slide past the plastic guards into a portal, a portal into another world…
To be continued…
Squee! PorcFest is coming up! This, the Year of Our Porcupine 2024, is the first time since 2009 that I have not helped load the PorcFest truck.
I have mixed feelings about this. The “people pleaser” in me (that I’m slowly murdering) is panicking that I SHOULD HAVE BEEN THERE. The “I’m growing into new and different things” part of me is sighing a deep sigh of relief.
I am deeply grateful to everyone who showed up. Thank you!
I am grateful the Free State Project has grown to where I don’t feel personally responsible for every single thing that happens (or doesn’t happen).
I am grateful to all the leaders who have stepped up over the years to make PorcFest the amazing success it has become. To each and every one of you who have come before, THANK YOU.
A special thank you to Constance Spencer, Olga Sorens and Chris Lopez for being the Dream Team this year to bring us such a laudable PorcFest XXI lineup, with liberty luminaries like Ron Paul (virtual), Naomi Wolf, Jeffrey Tucker, and a host of other incredible speakers and thinkers. I can’t wait to learn new things!
Please come visit me at the Team Porcupine Real Estate OWN Hub at RV-74, where we will be doing talks starting on Wednesday about NH real estate, investing, short term rentals, buying land, etc.
As my focus shifts from day-to-day FSP management (hallelujah, Eric Brakey!) I am eager to help new movers find their home. Check out Porcupine Real Estate’s LIBERTARIANS UNITE newspaper on the campground for fascinating articles, and our full weekly schedule. Free coffee onsite every morning!
This is going to be the best PorcFest… YET!
How do I know? That YET is important. That YET is doing a lot of work. That YET is the key to a growth mindset and is a very important key to excellent interpersonal relationships when dealing with voluntary teams.
Why?
Because that “yet” allows you to include everyone who has come before while anticipating the improvements and innovations that will be revealed this year. That “yet” honors all the people who have contributed to making TWENTY ONE YEARS of PorcFests happen.
So many egos.
So much drama.
But here’s the reality, guys… THIS IS JUST LIFE.
There is NO PERFECT MOMENT. There is NO UTOPIA. There is NO VALHALLA. There is no ONE DAY I’LL…
There is only NOW, and what YOU are doing in every moment.
Yes, PorcFest is a fun time to let your hair down, but it is also YOUR chance to practice mindful personal responsibility.
The flip-side of freedom is HOW ARE YOU SHOWING UP IRL?
Please be considerate of your fellow campers. Please respect the campgrounds 11PM silence (yes, you need to switch off your music). If you want to hang and chat, there is only one spot: down on the field at the bonfire.
Live free, but also, don’t be an asshole. 
Let’s get rocking for a weeklong celebration of our beautiful project. Let’s put our best feet forward to embrace and welcome potential Porcupines to our libertarian homeland. Let’s show up with beauty and love. Let’s shine like the beacon of liberty we are. It starts and ends, with YOU! 
We know the drill: If you fall, pick yourself back up! And I did. Can’t decide what’s more bruised, my leg or my ego?
This is not an April Fool’s joke, this IS a delicious orange and feta lamb heart salad with radishes, shallots, and pumpkin seeds. 
The trick is to cook the heart in a hot pan for ONLY a minute on each side.
I trimmed the white bits off (Obi said NOM) and then cut the heart into 3 pieces per internet instructions.
The three pieces vary in thickness so be sure to cook the thinnest piece the shortest (30 secs per side) and let everything rest for 5 minutes before salting and slicing.
Organ meats are incredibly good for your health!
Once you learn how to prepare them correctly, you’ll wonder why you haven’t been indulging for years.
If you’ve been avoiding getting into the organ meat consumption business because you hate the taste of liver, know this, I prefer heart to liver by orders of magnitude, so try it!
What’s the worst that can happen?
I 
NH! One of the best things about living in the Free State is being able to immerse yourself in pristine Nature at a moment’s notice.
“Forest bathing,” a term coined in Japan in the 80s, has many benefits:
* boosts your immune system
* lowers blood pressure
* helps with depression
* reduces cortisol & adrenaline (stress hormones)
* turns down fight-or-flight responses.
For me, it is a time to be alone with my thoughts (no earphones) while also trying to be present in the now, and sometimes, to practice patience (see photo).
I recently rediscovered the meaning of the word “saunter,” which stems from “a la sainte terre” referring to pilgrims who walked to the Holy Land. Synonyms include “rove” and “wander”.
I like these more than “hike,” which sounds so assertive and purpose-driven, which, of course, has its place, but not on a misty, drizzly morning of woe.
Yes, I get mopey too.
Everyone does.
But I have learned to arrest that feeling before it takes significant hold.
The moment I recognize The Blues setting in, I know it behooves me to Get Outside!
We don’t want to admit that improving our physical and emotional state isn’t nearly as complicated as we’d like to make it.
In fact, it’s so simple, we often refuse to do it, but Ouma was right: “Go play outside!”
Breathe the pure air. Listen to the pine-dampened forest sounds, the birds’ calls, the squirrels’ chatter, the babbling brook. Notice the hawk soaring overhead. Spot the most miniature of mushrooms fighting to rise to meet the sky. Raise your face to the sun, and say, I am here to learn about life, to learn about love, to discover how to love it all, which starts with learning to love myself, flaws and all.
Are YOU taking care of YOU?
Yeah, I know it looks like the mug shot of a meth-headed hooker who got caught with a dime bag by her regular cop who needed to make quota, but it was the best I could muster at the gym this morning. 
Face pull: 20×13; 30x12x2
Cable scapula dumbell raise: 5x12x2; 5x6x1
Low row: 70x12x3
Lat pull down: 70x12x2; 70×5
Cable chin up: 55x12x3
Stretches
Broke my 3-day fast last night with meatballs (Bardo Farm lamb, pork, beef w/parmesan), daikon, and homemade broth.
Since I was in it to win it, meaning in that high-energy, “can-do” phase you often encounter when fasting, I batch-cooked 3 additional meals, ensuring that Yesterday Carla has Tomorrow Carla’s back.
In my quest to rewire negative self-talk (cognitive behavioral therapy), I’ve made it a habit to acknowledge this “Time Travel Gratitude Loop” when I grab a pre-planned meal from the freezer, especially on nights when I don’t feel like cooking, because I know my food is a healthier choice for me than takeout.
Why do I fast?
* Health benefits including autophagy;
* Extra energy directed at extra tasks (e.g. great time to clean the fridge);
* Ritual for contemplation/meditation;
* It’s a mental test.
Before jumping into fasting, I suggest you:
1. Do your own research;
2. Consider becoming fat-adapted first (i.e. low-carb/glucose managed)–it’s x100 easier when you don’t have carb-withdrawal cravings too, so start there for long-term success;
3. Build up incrementally by doing intermittent fasts (e.g. skip breakfast);
4. If/when you fail, roll with it, learn something, then try again!
The Number One thing I love about fasting is the relationship it reestablishes between my mind, body, and spirit.
There is a deep sense of awe you feel when you realize:
1. You can do hard things;
2. You are in control and it truly is mind over matter;
3. Hunger comes in waves and quickly recedes thus reminding you to treat the experience more like you are a surfer, and not a drowning man;
4. Fasting isn’t as hard as you thought it would be… leading you to wonder what else may be conquered next.
Tell me down below what you’re hoping to conquer next, whether it’s intermittent fasting until lunchtime a few times a week to, say, literally learning to surf.
Big or small, we are all hopefully striving to improve at least one thing in our lives! Let that one thing be… YOU!
Today’s the final day of a 3-day quick fast (started on Monday 8p). It’s also Thursday, so gym time!
For those following along, you may recall my goal last year was to fast 5 days every month for a year.
I made it until June, then discovered I had severe anemia, so put the fasting on hold while I sorted that out.
After months of experimenting, I finally boosted my ferritin by 25%, putting me on the low line of the normal range.
So back to fasting! Why? So many benefits, including autophagy, which has cancer-preventing benefits.
Today at the gym, I again upped my weights by 5 lbs and just lifted until I couldn’t anymore. Just 1 set each.
While waiting for Louis, I tried one of the water massage tables. Not bad.
***
What is autophagy?
Autophagy is a natural, self-preservation mechanism whereby the body removes damaged or dysfunctional parts of a cell and recycles other parts toward cellular repair.
Autophagy is the body’s way of cleaning out damaged cells, in order to regenerate newer, healthier cells, according to Priya Khorana, PhD, in nutrition education from Columbia University.
“Auto” means self and “phagy” means eat. So the literal meaning of autophagy is “self-eating.”
It’s also referred to as “self-devouring.” While that may sound like something you never want to happen to your body, it’s actually beneficial to your overall health.
I was looking for something entirely different when I ran across this photo of me in my early Thirties in a waterfall in, I’m pretty sure, Thailand (but could have been Laos or Vietnam) but more to the point, I’m sharing this because rarely does one run across a photo of yourself in a bikini and go, You know what I should do, I should share this pic with the whole world, but then, once in a while, you DO run across that pic, and you’re just in the right mood and frame of mind, and you’re now just old and wise enough to appreciate yourself in your youth, which you did not do back then when you should have, so now Old Prime Carla has your back! LOL
Today’s lesson: Rarely should we be as hard on ourselves as we are. Unless you’re not even trying. Then, BUCK THE FUCK UP!
EDIT: I originally posted this on Facebook, but now changed that “Old Carla” to PRIME CARLA, because I believe we are what we think, and I’m not old yet–I’m not even half way! Those who caught my emceeing at Anarchapulco will get the “Prime” joke, which goes something like this: When you can’t read your cue cards on stage without glasses and you’re trying to be smooth and proffesh, while trying to balance the cue cards and your “Old Lady glasses” between speakers, and so finally, you just end up just yelling, “THESE ARE MY ‘IN MY PRIME’ GLASSES, PEEPS! IN MY PRIME!!!”