Mustard Miso Butter, Teaching, Evolutionary Theory of Loneliness, and Inner thighs
3/19/25 HALT on Hump Day
Nobody makes good decisions when they feel Hungry, Angry, Lonely, or Tired. HALT on Hump day looks at ways I manage those things in my life. Hopefully you’ll find something that will help your life.
HUNGRY
We use miso butter in our house to take our steaks to the next level. It’s pretty simple to make: mash your favorite butter with this miso paste (the purple one) & slather it on your meat.
I use the reverse sear technique, and I tell everyone I can about it as often as they’ll listen.
It’s so good I started to use the same technique on my pork chops, but I leave them on the grill a little longer.
And instead of the usual miso butter, I also mash in some country Dijon mustard. Mustard miso butter.
Holy shit. Go do this right now. It’s amazing.
ANGRY
3 things I 100% know about big projects:
They will teach you more than you thought when you start.
You multiply your knowledge if you teach someone else.
Figuring out what to share can be a challenge.
I like this prompt because it gets me thinking about the most important things I’ve learned and what I wish I would’ve known when I started. It’s a way for me to solidify the knowledge I’ve gained, and I’ve ended up using the answers to this prompt in real conversations.
What’s a piece of advice you’d give to someone tackling a similar challenge? How would following this advice transform their journey?
LONELY
Ever wonder why being lonely feels so awful?
John and Stephanie Cacioppo developed the Evolutionary Theory of Loneliness to explain it.
They make the following assumption: people have a better chance of survival surrounded by others than they do alone. I buy it.
Their argument continues to say humans developed the emotion of loneliness to push us back to groups when we feel (or are) isolated.
In a way, it functions like feeling hungry or thirsty. Loneliness continues to ratchet up displeasure until we find social connections.
I will come back to the ramifications of this and how it manifests in subsequent posts because it’s an important theory to consider as we look at our own relationships.
For now, though, I want to encourage you to think about any destructive choices you made when you felt lonely. It happens all the time. Some may include keeping destructive relationships alive because it seemed better than not having a connection at all. Or, in my case, I would try to dull the pain of loneliness with alcohol (or your drug of choice).
To pull myself out of it, I found making a proactive decision to reach out to people to ward off loneliness before it can start. Call someone, plan a lunch, go get coffee, join a club, or whatever. Put something on the calendar.
TIRED
I’d say my mobility instructor kicked my ass this week, but I have to be more specific.
She put us through an inner thigh exercise I’ve never seen before, certainly never done, and will never forget.
And I’ll do it again because it felt great (afterwards).
It’s simple:
Lay on your back.
Hold a yoga block (the long way) between the bottoms of your feet
Squeeze, and keep it low to the ground.
You can stop there for a groin workout.
Just squeeze the block between your feet.
Say as many bad words as you want. It gets hard.
Oh, and if you want to do some core while you’re at it, when you get to the point when you want to give up, slowly extend your feet outwards until they’re just off the ground. Bring them back just as slowly.
Thank you for reading. If you liked something in here, send it to a friend. There’s a good chance they will smile, I’ll definitely smile, and I bet you will, too. Trifecta!