My Top 10 Podcast Favourites

One thing that I like to do, especially on Sunday mornings, to give my eyes and brain a break from the assault of the commercial-festered meme-warfare that is television and visual-web media, is to download and listen to podcasts from iTunes. It's easy to focus in on some subject specific, ranging from the trivial to the educational. Some I tune into for some specific steps to achieve a goal; others are just strictly for leisure and entertainment. Most are,thankfully, uninterrupted and commercial free. Here are ten of my (less explicit) kinds that I tune into.

1. Podrunner/ Motion Trax- These are two podcast series that serve up track mixes that are timed to your particular heartbeat and running pace. Naturally, I play these while I'm running. although the majority of them are techo and trance based, there are a variety of genres to pick from. The Motion Trax playlists are pretty upbeat.
2. iTunes U - Although it is catagorized seperately from the podcasts, they are still of that sort of format. Basically, you're able to audit university level lectures for free on any subject taught in a post-secondary institution. My only complaint is that American Universities are the dominant contributors to the iTunes U forums. I wish there was more Canadian, British, and Australian content, as well as translated lectures from French, German, Russian and Japanese universities.
3. Shift: Stories Behind the Stats - CBC radio programme discussing the demographic trends of Canada and the rest of the globe
4. Weird News Radio - The news stories that expose the stupider side of humanity. From people starting franchaises for exorcisms, to the idiotic things that criminals do to get caught: were he alive today, this would knock Darwin down on his ass, either laughing or crying.
5. Meditation Oasis/Meditation Station - Self-explanitory...use less words...think less...pay attention to your breath...clear your mind...tune into yourself more...focus...accept...repeat.
6. Zencast.org - Although I'm not officially a Zen Buddhist, nor was ever I raised as one, these podcasts are significant to me because their content best reflects the core of my particular personal belief system. Exercising mindfulness, learning to be present, being wary of cause and effect, and the workings of attachments and suffering within the context of the Four Noble Truths. Interesting stuff to contemplate.
7. The Jillian Michaels Show - The Nazi-esque trainer from The Biggest Loser gives help and hints for me to eat right for my load of exercise that I do.
8. The Human Performance Powercast - A little more guy oriented podcast about diet and exercise.
9. Out Of Their Minds/Spark - Other CBC programmes: OTM focuses on the innovators and inventors of some wild, weird, and sometimes wonderful technology. Spark deals with trends in technology and society.
10. Personal Growth Podcast - If it's my life's mission to grow everyday, this is one avenue to review things for doing so. I like the episodes of this one because they are short and direct.

New Goals to Make

Today I'm scheduled for my three month follow-up ultrasound, to check up on the condition of things that were discovered earlier this year. I've been feeling very well physically, and I've had no recurrence of extreme discomfort or pain since then. I don't want to jinx myself in saying that any anomalies or tumours have completely disappeared, but it feels like they have. I'm going to conclude that if the results are fine, I'll be satisfied to say that I'm healthy enough to pursue other goals. I think my personal objectives are not in the same sphere of normal compared to those of other people, as I am working with the premise that I'm mostly live as a loner, and I'm the only one taking care of me. Generally, they are in the realms of things that I'd think would make me a better person to make it easier to take care of myself and remain independent; to do something more than just surviving as a loner.

What are these new goals? I'm still working on them. So far, generally, they would be all rooted in the realm of fundamental things of what I would say are necessary to have a good life. There are five of these so called realms in my particular system of living that I would say are my essentials. I deem them to be:

1. Health – It's the major one I'm focusing on now, and the one that will be ongoing. No need to mention more than I have posted about the subject already. I've worked long enough around people whose lives are limited in many respects because, either by accident of birth or circumstance, or through their own addictions or ignorance, they've been rendered too immobile or dependant on extra care just to live. For me to witness all this, and then for me to do things to my own body which rob me of years and make me less than I could be is something I see now as just plain stupid.
   
2. Wealth – This point might surprise some people who think they would know me better, since it probably doesn't reflect so much in my home life, because I actively make an effort to keep my living space simple and Spartan. Truly, I do like money; I just don't like clutter and waste. I believe in having a sufficient abundance; I prefer not wasting energy managing anything I have of a great excess, good or bad. I want to do more to attract more money in my life; but I really don't ever want a stable full of white elephants. For me, more money equals more freedom. Squandering all one's money on showy status material, lots of possessions, especially expensive ones, just leaves you more anchored down by feeling more responsible for more things to manage, and more vulnerable to having more things to lose. Money is like any other artificially created human invention or technology: it has the potential for doing either good or evil. My philosophy of wealth and my corresponding targeted goals concerning it is mainly such: that there is nothing that would make me feel richer than the feeling of being free to live however I choose unencumbered, and being around people who interest me and sincerely enjoy my company, which brings me to the next point.
   
3. Good Relations- Whether they be ranging between the familial/friendships, platonic/sexual, strangers/people who are just plain strange, I do try to make it a goal to a least begin with engaging people with kindness. I'm well aware that I may not seem so approachable to begin with. I think I have a goofy-looking smile, so I'm a bit self-conscious of doing it with initial greetings, or wearing it all the time. It's something to work on. Ninety percent of the time, I'm arriving to work exhausted and leave there feeling even more so, so the old joie de vivre doesn't reflect very well sometimes (most times), no matter how pleasant I try to be. I have a few goals related to getting more rest and being less introverted, and trying not to allow myself to feel "all peopled out" after work, so I can make some more meaningful social contact during my personal time. Maybe a new significant other would do me some good [emphasis on maybe].
   
4. Wisdom- To use knowledge to gain as many advantages I can over the course of life, or to at least use it better for coping with it whenever things don't go my way. I will always make time for listening, reading, and tuning into such things. That's my habit. Well over 90% of the television I bother to watch is educational media. I read daily. I usually have three to seven books on the go at any one time. I have little use or respect for people who openly tell me that they don't care much for reading. My biggest challenge for fulfilling some of my wisdom goals is finding examples of respectable people to use as mentors to educate me in person. I have high standards for this, and it's tougher than you'd think it might be. I think I also need to seriously deploy some mnemonic training to filter down the time and energy I need to learn the massive volume of stuff I may be destined to study in the months ahead.
   
5. Happiness- Perhaps the most elusive of these pursuits, and the most abstract one. For now, the definition of happiness for me is whatever it is that pulls me out of a long rut of depressing routine. The definition needs to change, and so does my approach for getting it.