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What Swimming Taught Me About Happiness

nytimes.com

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Re: What Swimming Taught Me About Happiness

#121

Post by taozhijiang »

pimmen wrote: post #81

The only thing that sucks with loving swimming is that the free market has a hard time reacting to the fluctuations in demand. If I want to open a gym I’ll buy a big garage or something, buy a lot of equipment and hire some PTs. If I want to open up a facility for swimming there’s a hell of a lot more up front costs in building a pool and recruiting life guards and swimming instructors. In this heat wave over Europe…

happiness is the welcome side effect of the things you do, so do the things you like, and happiness will come in nature.

Re: What Swimming Taught Me About Happiness

#122

Post by kingosticks »

Engineering-MD wrote: post #48
AtlasBarfed wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Triathlons: Swimming is the sea Cycling is the air Running is the earth You learn to appreciate and respect them all. Swimming is birth: thrown into an unfamiliar environment, you struggle to find your way Cycling is youth/midlife: You have your footing, now you speed through life with ease Running is old age: slower than you were in your prime, you learn persistence as your body weakens.

I feel your analogy needs a fourth sport to complete the 4 elements. But what sport would be represented by fire? Perhaps competitive shooting (gunpowder=fire)

The fourth sport in a regular triathlon is transition. You burn away any lead you had (as you can't get your shoes on etc) and emerge from the flames reborn as a new type of athlete.

Re: What Swimming Taught Me About Happiness

#123

Post by namanyayg »

kharak wrote: post #111
lm28469 wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Meditation and writing are goods ways to both relax and learn more about yourself. Learning an instrument, drawing, painting are also a very good ways to relax while learning a skill that will follow you all your life and be productive instead of passively consuming content. With internet we also have access to books summing up the knowledge of each era/geographic area. If you're asking yourself metaphysical question…

Forgotten to put reading into that list, I have weeks or months where reading is my goto activity (although less last 12 months). But honestly, despite my curiosity for everything, I don´t believe books can help me become a better version of myself. Books like Homo Deus by Yuval Noah Harari are interesting, but that´t pretty much it. Then you have books about how to be better at something (yourself), by forming good…

I find books on business beneficial. Self-help books do reach a saturation point as you said, they regurgitate similar advice.

I'm surprised meditation has no results! If I focus on breathing and maintain no thought (latter took practice) for 10 minutes, I get a very strong sense of peace and calm -- it's better than drugs. Do you not notice any reduced anxiety/stress?

Re: What Swimming Taught Me About Happiness

#124

Post by kharak »

namanyayg wrote: post #123
kharak wrote: post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Forgotten to put reading into that list, I have weeks or months where reading is my goto activity (although less last 12 months). But honestly, despite my curiosity for everything, I don´t believe books can help me become a better version of myself. Books like Homo Deus by Yuval Noah Harari are interesting, but that´t pretty much it. Then you have books about how to be better at something (yourself), by forming good…

I find books on business beneficial. Self-help books do reach a saturation point as you said, they regurgitate similar advice. I'm surprised meditation has no results! If I focus on breathing and maintain no thought (latter took practice) for 10 minutes, I get a very strong sense of peace and calm -- it's better than drugs. Do you not notice any reduced anxiety/stress?

I thought about it, getting more calm is definitely happening. But I attribute that to the breathing technique and not the "observe mind" part. I'm feeling hardly ever stressed, so don't see any need for it. Maybe I expect too much.

Thanks for your input, though! Appreciated.

Re: What Swimming Taught Me About Happiness

#125

Post by hjk05 »

LanceH wrote: post #44
hjk05 wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They exist and they are very annoying compared to regular old 50m lanes. You end up having to constantly overcompensate to one side (obviously) but also you suddenly have to either burn in a constant bias to your technique (bad) or be constantly aware of the boundaries, which ruins the normal flow of pool swimming. They are fun for families and kids who only ever do one or a half round, but if you like swimming just…

Regular pool, open two lanes, swim laps (up one lane, down the other). It's done with two lanes, so there is enough room to pass. I've seen it done this way several places.

I’m confused as to what you are suggesting here? Normally you swim right side of the lane and turn going back on the “left side”, with room to pass on the inside unless the lane is filled with two many people. What does using two lanes add, except ruining your turns?
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