I just finished up a beautiful few days in New York City – hosted a corporate training, attended a friend's wedding, and caught up with old friends.
I never really "got" New York before. It was too loud – too...untamed.
Now I get it. The diversity is unmatched, perhaps in the whole world. And that brings a unique wide-eyed awe and excitement that – on one level – produces a weird balancing effect on the mind, and – on another – is endlessly fascinating.
I fly to Berlin tomorrow to begin my European summer adventure. I'm feeling really excited for it.
I hope you enjoy this week's {Body} • {Mind} • {Soul} Newsletter and have a beautiful Sunday, - Ethan ॐ
Ethan Hill Owner, Yoga with Ethan
Brain fog in the mornings
Fatigue and brain fog in the mornings are not solely due to poor sleep, caffeine addictions or gut issues (although those certainly don’t help).
According to Medical Medium¹, it’s largely caused by:
“A liver that’s saturated with toxic heavy metals, scented candles, air fresheners, fragrances, pesticides, herbicides, and other toxins that are providing fuel to the Epstein-Barr virus (EBV).
When EBV feeds on these poisons, the neurotoxins it releases explode through the bloodstream and spinal fluid, and from there, they can cross the blood-brain barrier due to their unique infiltration quality, enter the brain, and short-circuit neurons and/or damage neurotransmitters. These neurotoxins have the ability to diminish neurotransmitter activity and neurotransmitter chemicals themselves, meaning that when an electrical impulse tries to run down a neuron, the electrical impulse can misfire as it’s approaching any kind of contamination or inconsistency. The electrical impulse was carrying messages, thoughts, and information, so when it misfires, confusion and brain fog is the result of these messages becoming fragmented.”
¹ From Medical Medium: Cleanse to Heal
Practice Step-by-step instructions to turn theory into healing.
Isn’t it interesting how challenging experiences — workout regiments, parenting, childhood traumas — can feel quite awful in the moment yet be the basis for a deeply appreciated life later on?
Daniel Kahneman (Nobel Prize-winning psychologist) explains this through a fascinating lens: you are not one unified self, but two distinct entities sharing one body: an experiencing self and a remembering self.
The experiencing self lives entirely in the present moment — no memory of the past or concept of the future. This is the “you” that feels the sand between your toes, endures the cramped airplane seat, or stumbles through awkward conversations. Because it has no chronological perspective, its sole focus is on maximizing pleasure while minimizing pain.
The remembering self, on the other hand, is the storyteller, and often doesn’t mind discomfort. This “you” collects, edits, and organizes experiences into a coherent narrative about life. In doing so, it favors just two criteria when evaluating the value of an experience:
Peak intensity – the most extreme moment (whether positive or negative).
The ending – how the experience concluded.
The duration? Largely irrelevant.
In other words, a weekend getaway with one extraordinary moment and a pleasant ending will be remembered much more fondly than a three-week vacation with consistently good-but-not-great days, along with an unsavory send off.
The dichotomy between these two selves’ goals creates a fundamental tension: The experiencing self values comfort and ease right now. And the remembering self values compelling stories and meaningful achievements, often at the expense of present comfort.
So which self should you optimize for?
Meditate Bite-sized audios to help you become the master of your mind.
"If you are always trying to be normal, you will never know how amazing you can be." — Maya Angelou
Statistically, over half of all Americans are divorced, overweight, lonely, and in debt.
If this is what currently passes for normal, why would you strive toward it?
But even if you consider normal to be those who have “made it,” unwittingly sacrificing their inner peace in pursuit of power and pleasure — is this really what you want?
The solution is not to deliberately act weird or rebellious or contrarian, for in doing so you still end up handing your power back to this shapeshifting, hollow idea of normal.
Instead, it’s time you cleansed yourself of the normal/abnormal paradigm altogether. Without the burden of conformity, the energy you once spent maintaining appearances now fuels genuine exploration and growth. Your creativity flows unobstructed. Your relationships deepen. Your work gains meaning. You become so attuned to your authentic self, in fact, that "normal" becomes utterly meaningless — a thought anchored in the unsubstantial past.
Journal Contemplative questions on the nature of inner freedom.