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THE MODERN HEALTH LETTER
THE ANT ON THE TREADMILL
I lived in London for almost 4 years.
8.9 million people.
Fast paste life.
Constant visual and auditory stimulation
And an infinite amount of distractions
For someone who grew up around nature, it took me over two years of living in a big city to realise and understand why humans will never be able to strive and find happiness in an environment that is separate from nature.
Once I was able to earn a stable income and find a flat in a decent neighbourhood, I started to feel like I settled into my life in this big city.
I finally was able to do what everyone else was doing:
At first, it felt good to finally feel like I belonged.
Then, I started wondering why I tried so hard to fit in.
The monotone treadmill of life.
Every day I was observing people rushing to work in the morning.
A coffee in their hand to compensate for the lack of sleep.
Getting ready to repeat the exact same day they had yesterday.
So was I.
I remember walking through the underground surrounded by hundreds of people and feeling like a small insignificant ant whose job, personality and purpose were no different from the rest of the nest.
I refused to believe that this was all life had to offer.
And I knew that I wouldn’t be able to condition myself into doing this for the next 40 years.
I had to find a different way to approach and live life.
Little did I know I would find the guidance I needed right where I forgot to look all these years.
Not in books.
Not in other people.
Not in podcasts or YouTube videos.
In nature.
One weekend, I felt the internal need to take the train and leave London.
I found a place close to the sea about 2 hours away by train.
It was a beautiful day of summer.
Sitting on that train, slowly leaving London behind me, it suddenly hit me:
How long has it been since I last sat with nature and with myself?
Way too long.
All this time I was too caught up with my busy life running around all day long but ending up nowhere.
It felt like we all jumped on this treadmill to run faster and faster.
Pressured by the expectations and goals of our boss or company.
Motivated by the illusion of finding happiness at the end of our run.
Not realising that this race will never end.
That there is absolutely nothing real to win.
But so much to lose:
I teach you all the skills and tools you need to transition towards a life built around optimal physical health and deep emotional awareness in the Modern Health Cours Pillar I + II.
These two aspects of health constitute the foundation of the good life we all deserve to give ourselves.
If you are ready to get to know your body, learn to explore, feel, heal and understand your emotions and open yourself up to a better and easier way to live life, join me here and secure your spot.
The first step back to self.
I arrived at the seaside and got ready for the 3-hour hike I had planned.
As soon as I stepped off the train, I could hear the sound of the ocean and my body relaxed instantly.
I haven’t felt this at peace in a long time.
I think I even forgot that I could experience any other state than the constant stress, hustle and bustle I was so used to.
I started walking and could observe how, as I immersed myself in nature, the thoughts and problems of my city life mattered less and less.
Naturally and effortlessly, these heavy and stressful aspects that were holding such a big place in my everyday life suddenly felt so superficial and insignificant compared to the realness and honesty of the natural environment I was surrounded by.
To cope and fit into the big city life, I had enhanced and inflated parts of my ego that were completely useless in the real world.
Nature is raw.
Nature is real.
Nature doesn’t fake, lie, judge or deceive.
Nature just is.
The presence and silent power nature possesses gently invite the most authentic parts of you to come to the surface.
It reconnects you with who you are and reminds you why all of these parts of you that are real, are the very reason why you are here in the first place.
Because nature doesn’t hold the concept of good or bad, it becomes easier to understand, accept and even embrace the fullest expression of our humanness.
To be accepted by society, we deny, repress and disown the darkest and most shameful parts of our being.
We learn to condition ourselves into a perfectly polished version of the most needed and most valued aspects of the society we live in.
One person after the other slowly detaches from the purest expression of their essence to put on the ant costume and jump on the treadmill.
With time, the ant nest grows, comforted by the idea of fitting in but feeling empty and miserable inside.
You didn’t get born to be an ant.
You didn’t get born to spend your life running on a directionless treadmill.
Nature and this world crave the real version of who you are.
The most beautiful parts of you.
The most terrible parts of you.
All of you.
the more unnatural our environment, the more we will need and depend on our ego to survive.
Implement my daily approach to life to make your mental + physical health
effortless.
The process of integration
Sitting in nature, I have come to realise that the more unnatural our environment is, the more we will need and depend on our ego to survive.
We built our society on an ego-driven model to fulfill our selfish and personal needs.
A lot of the time to the detriment of the needs of other beings and of nature itself.
The ego doesn’t perceive the other.
Neither does it respect nor care about the past or the future.
It’s all about what I want, need or desire now.
No matter the consequences.
Nature will teach you what the ego can’t understand :
This state of internal separation is what is causing you so much pain.
This state of internal separation is what is causing the external world so much pain.
The opposite motion of pushing away is the movement of bringing closer.
The opposite state of separation is the state of oneness.
Allowing yourself to look at the parts of you that you learned to repress and push away for so long and bringing them closer to you instead, is called integration.
This process is essential if you want to develop deep emotional awareness, get to know yourself and find inner peace.
It is one of the main processes of next month’s Modern Health Cohort-Based course (this is what constitutes Pillar II).
I would be honored to have you on this journey with me.
Evolve or die.
Another important lesson nature has taught me, is that everything changes constantly.
Nature itself is very respectful of this principle and this leads us towards two choices:
Everything that goes against the natural flow of change, growth and expansion, dies out and disappears in nature.
Us humans, have created an environment that is now so safe and comfortable that we don’t have to fight to survive our human form anymore.
Therefore, the chances for us to die physically have significantly been reduced.
The death most of us are experiencing is mental:
It’s the attachment to our fear and our ego.
The social conditioning that rules the numerous decisions and actions we make every day.
Our resistance to explore, understand, accept and integrate everything good and bad about who you are.
Most people might be very present and alive physically but are completely empty and dying on a mental, emotional and spiritual level.
Since we are all here living this human experience, why not live it fully?
Maybe it is time to take off the ant costume and find the courage to embrace being a human.
I will see you in next week's letter.
Until then, take care.
Oli
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Implement my daily approach to life to make your mental + physical health
effortless.