Ice Bath and Mental Clarity

"A chaotic existence, an undisciplined mind, a short attention span - these are the enemies of wisdom"
-Ryan Holiday

Just to preface, I wrote this after a farily intense ice bath / sauna / meditation session. It may be slightly esoteric and not for everyone. Hope you find this useful or at least entertaining...


A chaotic mind is one that breeds fear and anxiety. What you focus on in life will always manifest in your journey. Anxiety is fear, and fear is pain; if you have a chaotic, untamed mind, you will have a painful life. Intense focus on the now during meditation trains the mind to eliminate unnecessary anxiety-inducing thinking.

I have found that the ice bath has been an accelerant to me realising this. The cold can be incredibly painful but profoundly peaceful once mastered. The physical pain can be weathered quite easily when you have intense focus on the now. When you have trained the mind through meditation to focus on the breath and nothing else, the pain disappears. This is the ultimate tool to carry with you throughout life. When you realise that even the extreme physical pain is irrelevant, every other problem is trivial. It teaches you that the pain you experience is merely your reaction, not the reality around you.

What you fear is what you attract. This has been a powerful point of understanding for me in my life, and when I have reflected on my years, I have seen that occur repeatedly. Whether its relationships, investing, or anxiety, routinely, what I have feared is what I have attracted. When you fear rejection, you get rejected. When you fear losing money in the market, you panic sell. When you fear anxiety, you get anxious. Now lets flip that on its head. You are able to focus on the now which dissolves your fear. Attracting women is easier because they can sense your confidence; steadfast conviction in your investing allows you to weather brutal drawdowns and see long term upside; you don't spiral with your thoughts about getting anxious so you have no anxiety. These are just some of the things that can change with mental clarity but I'll talk about the most important one now.

Life will be the hardest thing you do. That means it's not going to be easy at times. When that is the case, you must be equipped with the tools to deal with it. If you have a chaotic mind, you won't be set up for dealing with it which could spell disaster. Mental clarity will fix this for you. Everyone has their own way of achieving it and that is fine. Some find it in meditation, prayer, long walks, etc.

When I cold plunged today, I experienced extreme tranquillity for minutes, such that I have not been able to achieve during meditation so far. All the things I have been overthinking disappeared, I closed my eyes, I breathed, I found peace.

The cold has been a great teacher to me and I strongly recommend it to others.