Author: Thanehean

“You can read the life you’re living, but you cannot change a word” -Leonard Cohen

Free will. We all feel like we have it. We feel like we make decisions and either suffer the consequences of those decisions or reap the benefits of them.

We regret choices we’ve made in the past and have a strong intuition that we could have done otherwise. These intuitions are sometimes even backed up by our partners telling us how we should have done otherwise.

We feel we should have tried harder, pushed further or we wish we’d given up sooner. But, if we were put in the exact same position as before, could we have behaved differently, or is the sense of agency and control we feel just an illusion?

In this post I’ll pull on a thread that I hope unravels your preconceived notions about free will and agency. And perhaps even changes the way you feel about things like hate, regret and luck.

Continue reading “Free Will is an Illusion & Why You Should Care”

A walk around anywhere in London town will provide as much evidence as you need that the world has gone mad over all things organic. I ate in a restaurant in London recently and everything on the menu was organic (except for the coffee, and that was only because they’d run out of the organic stuff)

What the hell is going on? Am I the only one laughing at the folks paying through their noses for organic foods in restaurants or outlets like “wholefoods” and “Planet Organic”?

Everyone seems desperate to be able to say that they eat organic, have gone vegan or drive a Prius. People appear more interested in bragging to their mates about these activities than they are in uncovering whether there is empirical evidence for any benefits. So, I thought I’d help with that a little..

Continue reading “Organic Food, GMO & Detoxing Myths Busted (9 facts)”

It makes sense when you first think about it. People are overweight because they eat too much, right? We’ve all seen a small red seat at McDonald’s, straining under the weight of an immense person as they inhale their 3^rd quarter-pounder. There is a good chance that person is overweight because they eat too much and never exercise.

But, what about the person sitting at the next table? The person also on their 3^rd burger but who you didn’t notice because they were skinny. Are they just thin because they under eat and over exercise? They must have just come to McDonald’s as a once off, yes, that must be it. Or is there more to it?

Continue reading “The Truth About Why Some People Are Overweight (6 facts)”

CBD, you can’t go online or walk into any spa, drugstore, supermarket or health store without seeing some type of CBD product, it’s everywhere. It can now be found in coffee’s, chocolates, tea’s, bath bombs, jams, vaping oils, scented candles, milkshakes, smoothies, face cream, gummies, ice cream, oil, capsules, sprays, creams, doggie treats, hamster food and peanut butter. It feels like there is a race on to get CBD into as many products as possible to cater to the growing fad.

It’s advertised as a cure for physical and mental fatigue, anxiety, inflammation, depression, insomnia, chronic pain, nausea, seizures, schizophrenia, acne, diabetes, Parkinson’s disease, glaucoma, stress and cancer.

There are even CBD-containing sexual lubricants for women which aim to reduce pelvic pain or enhance sensation. Talk about a miracle! If CBD oils or products can cure, or even assist in curing, a quarter of the ailments claimed, then it’ll literally be the most incredible discovery of our generation.

Continue reading “CBD Oil: Miracle Cure-all or Snake Oil (14 facts)”

“People write novels and they just be so wordy and so self–absorbed. I’m not a fan of books. I would never want a book’s autograph. I am a proud non-reader of books” -Kanye West

In the last post, Top 5 Top 10 Lists for Men (Vol 1) we had a look at some Top 10 lists involving cars, adoptions, criminal records and atheists. While these subjects are not exactly “mainstream”, they are still slightly less gritty than the Top 10 Lists in this post.

In this post we’ll peel back the glitzy façade of fame and fortune to delve deeper into the underbelly of the more human side of famous men. You’d do well to prepare yourself for some emotional whiplash as we probe subject matter from top earners and IQ scores to celebs who have survived suicide attempts, illness and depression.  

And what better way to begin a blog full of darkness and mental illness than a list featuring Kanye West. Enjoy..

Continue reading “Top 5 Top 10 Lists for Men (Vol 2)”

“I’m tired of being told who to admire in this country, aren’t you tired of being told who your hero’s oughta be? Don’t tell me who I should be looking up to, I’ll choose my own hero’s thank you very much, and fuck Dr Phill too!” -George Carlin

Lists are cool. They’re fun, digestible and offer us a sense of order or tiers of importance. We all want to be at the top of a list that clearly distinguishes us from others. Top step, top notch, top of the pops, we love lists!

And top 10. Don’t get me started. From the ‘10 commandments’ to the ‘10 fastest cars on earth’ on earth, we can’t seem to get enough. Mention the top 11 though and no one’s interested. Who the hell wants to hear about the top 11 or top 9? People would think you were nuts. Top 5 sure, because 5 is half of 10 and we can deal with half of 10.

The reason we’re so taken with lists of 10 is undoubtedly because we have 10 fingers and 10 toes. It’s familiar to us. And far be it from me to mess with what’s familiar, give the people what they want I say. So, for your ‘listicle’ pleasure, please enjoy the 1^st installment of the “Top 5 Top 10 lists” including richest actors, celeb criminals, car collections, famous atheists and orphans..

Continue reading “Top 5 Top 10 Lists for Men (Vol 1)”

Stress: a condition that evolved to keep us alert and on edge while tiptoeing through the lion infested plains of Africa. This stressed condition would allow our “fight or flight” response to be triggered instantly and enable us to erupt into action (although, the ancestors who chose the “fight” option against a pride of lions were almost certainly removed from the gene pool).  

Nowadays though, stress comes to us more in the form of a slow, impending lava flow than an eruption. But, if left unchecked, it can pervade our lives, causing damage, not only to our minds and productivity, but doing serious harm to our bodies too.

Some of us are more susceptible to stress than others and although there are ways of dealing with stress, not all of these ways are obvious.

Continue reading “68 Facts and Tips About Stress and Stress Management”

“While money can’t buy happiness, it certainly lets you choose your own form of misery.” ― Groucho Marx

So, you’ve got a decent job and the bosses are happy with you most days. You’re putting a percentage of your salary into your 401(k), Personal Pension Plan or Retirement Annuity and you still have a little over for a new fishing rod or big screen telly (or a pair of earrings for the Missus/Mister). Life is good. But could it be even better?

Investing for your retirement and stashing a little extra away for the kid’s college tuition or a decent home for the rapidly aging mother-in-law is great but, what about you? Are there more ways you could be investing for some nice little returns with risks that don’t keep you up at night?

Continue reading “4 Smart Ways to Invest Money for Beginners”

“Love is the answer, but while you are waiting for the answer, sex raises some pretty good questions.” ― Woody Allen

We men have a pretty hard time figuring woman out. It sometimes feels like we’re analogue creatures in a world of digital women. They are wonderful, fascinating creatures, enigma’s wrapped in riddles, behind codes we can only hope to one day decipher.

Most men think one of the deepest mysteries is how to please a woman in bed. They even reference books like the “Kama Sutra” for ideas and different positions. We haven’t even figured out why it’s so damn important to us that we satisfy them. But we soldier on, like brave knights into a darkened forest without lantern or maps to guide us.

We’d no sooner discovered the clitoris when we were off in search of the G-spot. I know gynecologists that don’t believe in it! We were only able to appreciate what the clitoris was because they told us it was like a penis, but on the inside, and thankfully, we all know how that works.

Continue reading “25 Sex Tips For Men (Improve Your Skills)”

“Your brand is a perception or emotion, maintained by somebody other than you, that describes the total experience of having a relationship with you” – David McNally and Karl Speak

Your personal brand is one of the things about you that is impossible to escape. Not making a decision to cultivate a good one is a decision to allow a poor one to continue, you can’t not have a personal brand and image so, you might as well ensure yours is memorable.

There are two parts to a person’s brand/image. There is their personality, which encompasses ethics, kindness, empathy, punctuality and a range of other traits. Then there is the second part which involves how you present yourself and it’s this we shall be focusing on here.

Continue reading “14 Ways to Cultivate Your Personal Brand”