Quantify Environment:You Are What You think, what you Eat, Who You're With, & Where You Spend Time: Enhancing Your Surroundings for happiness & impact
Greetings! Bonjour! 您好!?
I am Gareth 王, am delighted to extend a warm welcome to this 30th edition of the newsletter. You may have been a 'quantify-self' person, measuring your HRV, VO2Max, distance ran/swam/ride etc. but have you considered #QuantifyEnvironment?
We inhale invisible forces daily that shape our destiny, though we are rarely aware. Our home, habits, diet, and community provide clues to what silently sabotages or uplifts us. By observing patterns and optimizing our environment, we can uncover the hidden causes behind our mind, body and spirit.
When we consciously take control to curate our days, we begin to transform our existence. Tiny choices compound over time to either drain our vitality or unlock our highest potential. The journey to hack our surroundings promises discoveries about the invisible hands guiding our fate. With closer attention, we can learn to rewrite our story and become our best selves. Are you ready to dive in?
Don't be shy, spread the love! Please share this newsletter with others and let's inspire others to Fix one thing at a time together?FixTheWorld.4Good.space?!!
or on?Substack?as apparently many people don't have access to Linkedin!??
How to Quantify Environment?
"Your beliefs become your thoughts. Your thoughts become your words. Your words become your actions. Your actions become your habits. Your habits become your values. Your values become your destiny." - Mahatma Gandhi
In our hyper-connected world, the external stimuli we take in shapes our mindset, habits, health, and purpose in profound ways. While the quantified self movement has focused on tracking personal biometrics, we must also quantify and optimize our total environment to actualise our highest potential.
I personally adopt a more expansive view of the “Quantified Environment” that encompasses diet, social circles, media inputs, and physical surroundings. Yes this must also include the air we breath in!
Subtle choices in each sphere compound over time to determine the trajectory of our lives. With intention, we can design our days to nourish mind, body, and spirit.
Diet - Food as Medicine
"Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food." The father of modern medicine, Hippocrates (although its proven he did not say that!)
Despite this accepted quote fabricated centuries ago, the sentiment still resonates today. Yet the Standard American Diet (that had been exported worldwide through advertising and hollywood, same for K-drama of noodles & Mukbang) of low nutrient, highly processed convenience foods actively fuels chronic disease worldwide.
Ultra-processed snacks, sweets, and fast foods spike blood sugar while providing few vitamins and minerals. Artificial ingredients overwhelm detoxification pathways. Sugar and refined carbs fuel diabetes and obesity. Pro-inflammatory omega-6 oils found in vegetable oil and feedlot meat disturb hormonal signaling. Pesticide residue on non-organic crops disrupts metabolism. Food additives from nitrites to artificial colourings and flavours burden the liver.
Optimizing your diet requires emphasizing whole, minimally processed foods from sustainable sources. For example, snacking on nuts and fruits instead of chips provides nourishing fats, fiber, antioxidants, and vitamins.
Prioritizing organic produces reduces pesticide bioaccumulation and exposure to environmental toxins. Choosing grass-fed beef over feedlot provides a better ratio of anti-inflammatory omega-3s. Replacing soda with herbal tea eliminates phosphate additives that negatively impact the gut microbiome, and prevent acid eating away your non-replaceable enamel.
Small daily improvements accumulate over time. Keep a food journal to increase awareness of your intake. Meal plan healthy balanced meals using whole food ingredients. Carry nuts or home made jerky for an on-the-go protein boost. Challenge yourself to reduce indulgences in sweets or fried foods when eating out. Don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good - every bite matters, so make each one really count. Nourish your body temple and feel your energy soar.
Physical Spaces - Create Sanctuary (in & outdoor)
The places we inhabit shape mood, cognition, and physiology invisibly. Crowded indoor spaces with poor ventilation foster disease contagion while depriving us of immune-boosting fresh air and sunlight. Toxic chemicals in furnishings and products create indoor air pollution linked to headaches, fatigue, and respiratory issues.
Noisy, bright cities overwhelm senses and prevent restorative sleep. Automobile dependence and sedentary lifestyles breed poor health from congestion and inactivity.
Why run right next to the traffic on the tarmac and inhale all the invisible pm2.5 and nitrous oxide (car pollutants) when you could run in the back road, or even better run in the nature/parks?
How to avoid? you can check Plume Labs app as I do before, but even better, I personally have tiny gadgets that monitor my microclimate (home, office, when I travel) of air quality in my vicinity, sadly plumb labs had been acquihired Romain Lacombe & team by AccuWeather (& Flow2 now no longer on sale!) next best thing I found is QingPing air monitor lite which monitors both pm2.5 and CO2 levels & also HomeKit compatible (& its much cheaper than FLOW2! but if you wanted dedicated CO2 monitor, SAF Aranet4 Home is best but much more expensive).
Feeling Foolish as Quantify Environmentalist!?
I admit I felt at times silly to bring a gadget to monitor air-quality, but consider my shock when I realised whilst I was enjoying an open air film next to river thames in iconic Royal Naval College (where they filmed les Miserable & Thor), we had more pollution than China during that evening!
Even at home, we can optimize spaces to support whole health through biophilic design and intentional upgrades. Bring nature indoors with living walls, air purifying plants, and full spectrum sunlight. Choose natural toxin-free mattresses, stainless steel cookware, cleaning supplies and furnishings. Incorporate meditation spaces, reading nooks, and comfy lounging areas. I also include body weight standing qigong, squatting and stretching routines, your body need to use the good air also!
Use smart full spectrum LED lighting tuned to circadian biology (our house is full of Lifx light bulbs). Enable movement through building physical activity into routines and choosing walkable neighborhoods. Keep devices out of bedrooms for better sleep. Escape regularly to nature for immune-boosting microbes, negative ions, reduced inflammation, and tranquility. Create restorative sanctuaries wherever you spend time.
For example, opening windows regularly circulates fresh air. Having houseplants filters airborne toxins and elevates mood. Cooking at home with organic ingredients avoids pesticides and preservatives. (remember gas stoves also create tones of toxin!)
Sitting by water, walking through woods, and stargazing reduces stress hormones. Making bedrooms cool and dark for quality slumber enhances cognitive performance. Sweating during yoga, swimming, or sauna sessions releases endorphins.
Find small ways to bring nature, activity, nourishment, and peacefulness into your habitat.
People - Curate Your Community, choose wisely!
Beyond diet, relationships largely shape who we become. Certain friends, colleagues, and mentors expand our consciousness through inspiration, challenge, unconditional support, and accountability. Others manifest or enable our worst impulses through gossip, negativity, and unhealthy behaviors. Consciously curating community supports growth and fulfillment.
Seek out peers pursuing excellence who stretch your thinking and believe in your potential even when you doubt yourself. Volunteer together to lift each other's lives through service. Find those who speak hard truths with compassion to help you grow. Laugh often and practice gratitude. Bond over shared interests, values, and experiences.
Limit time with fair-weather friends who are unreliable, possessive, judgmental or draw you into drama. Be kind, but don't let others take advantage of your time and energy. Reduce social media connections to high quality accounts posting meaningful content aligned with your values, not vanity metrics. Prioritize deep personal relationships over shallow social media interactions.
Leave behind groups dwelling in victimhood mentalities by taking responsibility for your mindset and circumstance. Don't enable those refusing to help themselves or lashing out at scapegoats in anger. Protect your energy by distancing from toxic behaviors. You lift yourself by lifting others, but can't force change for unwilling. Lead by example - your lifestyle inspires. Mindfully curate community and bloom beautifully.
Conclusion: Consistent Micro-Steps Transform Your Total Environment for Good
Gandhi urged us to be the change we wish to see in this world. The stimuli we allow into our lives shapes our destiny. With non-judgment, take micro-steps to steadily improve your diet, social network, media inputs, and spaces.
Gradually increasing whole foods, plant diversity, and organic nutrition boosts resilience. Exchanging even one weekly happy hour for a volunteering session lifts your vibe. Swapping talk radio outrage for uplifting podcasts shifts mindset. Little choices compound over time into radical transformation.
Strive each day to learn and serve more beautifully for yourself and others. Allow your unique gifts to shine bright. Prioritize health and relationships over wealth and status. Walk gently with reverence for our Earth home. You have the power to create an uplifting existence leading to equanimity, joy and transcendence. May your journey ahead be blessed.
Will you take on this opportunity to quantifying your own environment and Fix your world? if so, godspeed!