Evening Rituals: Finish Every Day
How do you finish your days? How we end the day is as important as how we start it. The more cues we can give ourselves to slip into more positive and peaceful mindsets before bed, the better our days will be.
The connection between rest and fulfilling waking hours is strong. Give yourself the best chance to get the most out of where you are right now.
The importance of a night routine
Routines can mean the difference between a successful day and a disappointing day, and a good day starts the night before, and evening and night routines that set us up for success look different for everyone.
If we want to start the morning with a positive attitude, the best way is to end the day with a ritual when we go to bed.
My personal routine is two-fold: First, I sit in bed and do some breathing exercises. One of my favorites is one I learned from Dr. Andrew Weil, which is the 4-7-8 breathing cycles. We breathe in four by the nose, we hold for seven, and we release by the mouth counting at eight, and we repeat that four times.
I’ve noticed an improvement in not only how quickly I fall asleep, but also how positive I am in the morning.
My second short ritual is to read a specific quote:
“Finish every day and be done with it… You have done what you could; some blunders and absurdities no doubt crept in; forget them as soon as you can. To-morrow is a new day; you shall begin it well and serenely, and with too high a spirit to be cumbered with your old nonsense.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson.
This quote was taken from a note to his daughter, encouraging her to face each day with a positive attitude.
Though penned in 1854, the wisdom of this quote is timeless, and I’m grateful for it each night.
Experiment to find what works for you
These are only two examples of evening rituals that have worked for me. There are countless ways to build an evening routine that suits your unique situation.
Journaling is a classic, but it could also be as simple as a nice epson-salt bath or reading.
Teas and some stretching can also do wonders for a better night's sleep and finishing the day strong.
Let yourself experiment with different versions until you find the right fit—there’s no one right way to build a ritual as long as it brings you peace and sets you up for a great day.
What do you do to wind down in the evenings? Do you have an evening ritual?
Feel free to check out my full episode for further insights on evening rituals!
Anthropology and the Future of AI with Giles Crouch
“We live in what I call today, a phygital world, physical and digital.”
– Giles Crouch
I had the delight of speaking with Giles Crouch, a digital anthropologist with over 25 years of experience in the technology sector. He applies cultural anthropology principles to understand human interactions with digital technologies, spanning areas such as blockchain, social media, AI, and robotics.
We discuss:
- Understanding digital anthropology
- The evolution of technology and culture
- AI and human identity
Understanding digital anthropology
Digital anthropologists apply ideas of cultural anthropology and technology anthropology to our digital world—or, as Giles puts it, the “phygital” world.
“We do so much in the digital world increasingly that we need to understand what it means to be human in an age where we have all these digital technologies from genetic engineering to artificial intelligence tools,” he says. “That's what I study.”
Giles helps companies understand how to build more human-centric technologies, bringing more humanity into developing products, platforms, and tools.
“Over the years, I've launched well over 15 technology products into global markets, and I continue to work with startups in the technology world,” he continues. “Even some well-established technology companies apply the rules of marketing and cultural anthropology into digital tools.”
Even so, times are changing. Though the early days of anthropology were driven by a Western European colonialist type of thinking, it's evolved, and that Western European emphasis is going away.
“We're looking at anthropology in a more inclusive and diverse way because we're connected in the world today unlike we've ever been in the history of humanity,” Giles says. “We can communicate simultaneously across multiple time zones instantaneously. And that’s never happened before.”
The evolution of technology and culture
The way that we survive as a species is through culture. We figured out we can’t control biological evolution, it takes too long for us to survive as a species without support.
“We invented culture as a means of survival. It's a code if you will. The software programming humans use as our survival mechanism is an analogy [for culture],” Giles says. “And technology is so deeply intertwined with what it means to be human today, as well. Funny enough, it didn't even really start to take technology seriously until Marcel Mauss and a few other anthropologists at the time said, ‘Technology is a really important part of what it means to be human.’”
Technology comes out of something we imagine. We see a problem, we want to solve it. We figured out that the best way to do that was through the use of tools. How exactly, we don't know.
“We often assumed that human exceptionalism, that humans developed fire as a technology,” Giles says. “But maybe not, because we now know that Neanderthals gathered in social groups and they too used fire, so maybe we took the idea from them. Or it was another hominid species that we haven't yet discovered.”
We're not certain about when technology came to homo-sapiens as a species, but somehow we took those ideas and evolved them, adapted them.
“We realized that technology is an extension of what it means to be human. And we use symbols. We use gestures, actions, norms, behaviors, all these things combined, and the result is technology,” Giles continues.
Many technologies developed throughout the last 1,000+ years are culturally specific. Giles uses the example of the Haida Gwaii in British Columbia who developed a unique system for getting crabs off the bottom of the ocean.
“It's funny because we think evolution has stopped in humans, but not really. What we've recently discovered is that human brains have shrunk by around 13% over the last 10-12,000 years. A lot of theories are coming out: Why did our brains shrink?” Giles says.
The theory has been that our bodies are going to get smaller and our brains are going to increase in size—a la E.T.—but instead, they are shrinking. Quite an unnerving reality.
“One of the theories of [brain shrinkage] is that it’s because of technology. As we develop more technologies, we remove the cognitive load that we once needed in order to survive, and we set that onto the technologies we developed. That's one theory,” Giles says.
Another theory is that it’s due to agriculture and that we started to live as communities, which still means technology because we needed technology to farm.
Whatever the case, technology has ripple effects beyond what we can tell in the present time. Only prolonged monitoring can reveal the truth of how and why these evolutions persist.
AI and human identity (+ how our language is shifting)
AI is not an entity, no matter how we tend to think so. It isn’t a single software or technology but rather a suite of tools that has been around for decades in one form or another.
“The difference is now they're accessible to everybody. Before that, if you wanted to use machine learning, natural language processing, all these tools, it was very expensive,”
Giles says. “Large Language Models change that because all of a sudden we could communicate with machines.”
We apply these ideas of Large Language Models and anthropomorphize them as we have always done with technology.
“One thing that's interesting, though, is the way we're changing our language. We used to, and we still do, but we anthropomorphize trains. We call a boat She, we give a train a name. Sometimes we name our car. We called technology things,” Giles says. “Now we're referring to ourselves as technologies. We might say, ‘Sorry, that doesn't compute.’”
We're almost trying to automate ourselves while we're trying to define what AI really means in these Large Language Models, with generative AI.
AI such as ChatGPT is trained on Western European cultural aspects. Western cultures tend to be individualistic, or as Giles puts it, a “Type One” culture. Type Two cultures such as Asian and Nordic cultures are more about a collective.
“So when they [type two cultures] look at artificial intelligence, they look at it and ask ‘How does AI benefit society as a whole? My community and my relationships with my family?’” Verses when we're in a Western world, and that's the type of AI agents that we're interacting with today, they're very individualistic,” Giles says. “And I think that's a problem because it only frames culture in one singular reference.”
AI doesn't have culture, emotion, or empathy. It has nothing related to what we define as humans. It's simply a predictive tool, but we can be tricked in our minds through the stories that an AI can tell because it has an endless supply of stories from which to draw to create a convincing show of humanity.
We must not lose our discernment and critical thinking amid the shiny new tools rushing into the mainstream.
How do you feel about the way humanity is changing? Does it give you a thrill to think about the possibilities, or are you reticent?
Be sure to check out Giles’ full episode for further insights into AI and culture, and learn more at Medium.com/GilesCrouch!
Neil Redding: Co-Creating a Better Near Future with AI
“We live in what I call today, a phygital world, physical and digital.”
– Giles Crouch
I had the pleasure of speaking with Neil Redding, a near-futurist and Innovation Architect with 30+ years of experience in unlocking the transformative power of emerging technologies.
We discuss:
- How AI agents are evolving into participants
- The co-creation of reality (and why that’s important)
- How AI could change the way we shape reality
Press Pause and Sharpen: Unlocking Your Full Potential
“That is the goal here: to empower you to press the pause button, increase your self awareness, and experiment with something new. ”
– Ana Melikian, Ph.D.
That promotion you want but feel unqualified for. The habit you want to form that you know would improve your quality of life but you just can’t seem to maintain it. The book you’ve been meaning to finish since college.
We all have things we want and strive to attain, we all have a voice in our head that is less than kind about our shortcomings that sometimes convinces us we’re incapable of achieving what we wish to accomplish.
I’m here to help you see a different way forward by unlocking your full potential.
Because the truth is: you have everything you need.
Exploring the Three Main Mindset Definitions
“Mindsets are habits of mind.”
– Ana Melikian
There is more than one way to view mindsets. We have multiple lanes of study to follow in the realm of mindsets, mental blindspots, what it means to reach our full potential, and more.
Today, I want to walk through three of the main approaches used for discussing mindset, and how they differ.
I discuss:
- Mindsets as beliefs (the growth and fixed mindset)
- Mindsets as processing styles (using different styles for certain situations)
- Mindsets as cognitive filters (frames of reference)
HELPing Homeless Kids: Dawn Marie Rapaport’s Transformative Organization
“There's a bigger purpose for you.“
– Dawn Marie Rapaport
I had the pleasure of speaking with Dawn Marie Rapaport, the founder of the Homeless Engagement Lift Partnership (H.E.L.P.), transforming the lives of families with children for over 13 years. Her personal experience with homelessness fuels her empathy and dedication, driving her to help families transition out of homelessness.
We discuss:
- The birth of a life-changing organization
- The evolution of H.E.L.P. Snackz: from idea to impact
- Harnessing community support and volunteer power
AI – How does it make you feel?
AI is a 100-foot wave. It's going to disrupt everything directly or indirectly.” – Ana Melikian
AI continues to be a hot topic around every corner. As I’ve written before, I believe we can use this type of technological advancement as a tool to support a balanced life, and we can choose to embrace certain elements of AI instead of fearing it.
Today, I discuss:
- Using AI avatars in presentations
- Surfing the 100-Foot AI Wave: a team effort
- Bringing humanistic voices to the AI conversation
Celebrating Craft in Business & Life with Adam McKee
“Celebrating craft, celebrating what you're good at, is what I wanna spend my life's work on.”
– Adam McKee
I had the opportunity to speak with Adam McKee, the owner of Contemporary Woods, a family-owned small business that serves its local community by delivering fine craftsmanship with integrity and creativity.
We discuss:
- The concept of celebrating craft and its impact on personal and professional life
- Strategic and tactical learning in business development
- The importance of culture and core values in a business setting
Defying Expectations: Embracing Challenges and Overcoming Limitations
You will find the critical points in your life where you defy expectations.
– Ana Melikian, Ph.D.
When was a time in your life when you defied expectations? That could mean expectations you placed on yourself or others placed on you.
Expectations can dictate how we view ourselves, our accomplishments, and even our self-worth—embracing a mindset of defiance can lead to extraordinary personal growth and accomplishment.
In this piece, I explore the pivotal points in my life where I’ve defied expectations and how that has shaped who I am today.
Overcoming Contradictions and Reclaiming Health with Udo Erasmus
“98% of the atoms in your body are removed and replaced every year.” – Udo Erasmus
I had the pleasure of speaking with Udo Erasmus, co-founder of Udo’s Choice, a multi-award winning product line featuring fresh omega oils, probiotics, digestive enzymes, and super greens, which can be found in Whole Foods and other health food stores worldwide. Udo designed the machinery for making oils with health in mind and pioneered flax oil, a billion-dollar industry.
He is also an author and acclaimed speaker and holds an extensive education in biochemistry, genetics, biology, and nutrition, including a master’s degree in counseling psychology.
We discuss:
- Exploring contradictions and unity in life and science
- The journey from pesticide poisoning to nutritional enlightenment
- The importance of balanced ratios (including how Udo’s Oil® was born)