Rituals of Strength: Microdosing Fear and Pain

Rituals of Strength: Microdosing Fear and Pain

Human biology was forged in the fires of survival stress. For most of our collective history, struggle was the norm, and comfort was a fleeting rarity. Our modern world, however, has flipped this model on its head. Threats are rarely as urgent as those faced by our predecessors. Most of us have to cope with the burden of bills and finances, unruly bosses, and deadlines, whose consequences, although important, are not the inevitable death promised by ancient predators. The train might be late this morning, but a lion attack at the station is unlikely. The grocery store may be out of stock of a given item, but we haven't lost an entire crop, and we don't have to wonder how we’ll survive the winter. The problem is that these modern stressors still trigger the same biological responses in us. Our survival system has one setting—survive—and it doesn’t know how to cope with mild inconvenience. On top of this, our current environments are littered with stimuli that assail us constantly, with technology that extends our waking hours, bombarding our nervous system and depriving us of necessary rest. Most of us have far too little healthy stress and way too much deleterious chronic stress. Comfort and convenience are poisoning us, and slowly eroding our will. It is possible to rebalance our natural cycles, but it requires conscious intervention. We need the safe and calculated reintroduction of good stressors into our daily lives. In this book, you will learn simple steps that you can take to introduce elements of discipline into your day, to trigger those primal survival drives. By micro-dosing small, safe doses of fear and pain, you will grow your resolve, build your resiliency, and learn how to maximize your energy investments. Using the latest research, we will explore traditional warrior practices, rituals, and discipline, strip away the bunk and the mysticism, and identify what really works and why, so we can safely reap the rewards of these rituals of strength. These are practices I have dedicated a lifetime to exploring and refining. I invite you to join me in reclaiming your full hidden potential.