Imagine being lost in the highlands at night and you just stumble upon this guy, alone, and he tells you to sit down, offers you a warm drink, tells you stories and eventually sings and plays some ancient tune until you finally drift off to sleep. And awaken on the morrow to find him mysteriously gone having left no trace.
You mentioned that we are evolved to function in a tribe of hundreds of people, instead of being alone in a tribe of millions. I think you are totally right there. And one should form a fifth habbit to tackle that problem. Forge and maintain meaningful relationships.
I've certainly found this true of myself. Notably, however, a hunter-gatherer had no need to manually forge those relationships in most cases - Very often, they already existed. The simple act of living in a tribe would have made all the relationships you needed - And conversely, being cast out of that tribe was effectively a social death sentence, along with a not small chance of actual death lurking just behind it. We have more choice in who we associate with these days, and I feel our brain is less equipped to handle that. Certainly, it's accustomed to depending on steady casual proximity to strengthen emotional bonds between friends and family - Something that can be hard to recreate these days in a safe environment.
Actually he's very wrong about this. What distinguishes humans from other species is precisely the ability to coordinate with an uncountable number of strangers from any "tribe" or walk of life. This is possible because humans are the only species that can generate and believe fiction - I suggest you to read "Sapiens" by Harari, it's a great book on this very topic that goes into great depth on why and how your point of view is wrong.
@@brabra2725 I read Harari and I think that part of his point was that yes, abstract thinking and the ability to invent stories that bring us together made it possible for us AS A SPECIES to coordinate actions in huge numbers and therefore achieve things impossible for other species - but it doesn't necessarily mean that it translated into greater happiness for individuals. He even compares it somewhere to the plight of domesticated chickens: yes, in terms of survival of the species they are incredibly successful in that their numbers are huge. But one would hardly argue that individual chickens locked up in industrial cages have a better quality of life than they would have in the wild, in a smaller group. So even though us humans certainly benefit generally from living in a bigger society, we are also primed to need our smaller communities where we can form meaningful individual relations. Being just a lonely cog in a huge machinery (however wonderful and intricate the machinery is) is simply not enough for our mental needs, and that is confirmed by basically almost every study on the quality of life ever.
I love this. Don't forget that beyond the every day cycles of problem-solving, we humans have done something else for at least 30,000 years: make and appreciate art. Take our observations and experiences and recontextualize them into song, dance, story, sculpture and painting. We respond to challenges in the outer world but we also created our own inner world.
The cave paintings in France spring to mind. I am not sure if it was neanderthal, or cro magnon, or a mixture, or whatever? But they followed the curves and contours of the caves to illustrate the animals hunted. Intelligence? Definitely. Sympathetic magic? Well, great art is channelling the sub conscious, is it not? And if you are able to utilise that in a tribe, where creativity leads to physical results, it seems like the kind of spirituality I long for. Just my thoughts. PS, you are Scottish. Neil Oliver, the archaeologist/historian, has helped me and countless others with his online presence during lock downs and beyond. His intellect, and insight have been invaluable. In times past he would've made a great clan elder. And you, my friend, Fandabi Dozi, would be a great warrior. So glad I found this channel.
Something that feels like is missed in this video is that the "inner hunter gatherer" isn't really limited to thinking about predators or prey as being creatures in the wild. If you're searching for iron, that is your prey. The "inner hunter gatherer" is satisfied when you finally have hunted down and obtained the iron. As you said, art has also been desired by humans. You're still looking to hunt/gather something: a view of something beautiful/interesting/inspiring. Those stirred emotions of "this looks/sounds/smells/feels/tastes nice" is what is being hunted/gathered. So it isn't that technology "seduces" or "manipulates" you. You're using it because you want to use it, just like a bow, to hunt down and gather information, emotional (negative/positive) feedback, etc. But just like how you can hunt game to extinction, you can get too greedy because the hunt became all you wanted to do.
The video reminds me of the "Wild Child" poem by Van Jeanne Willis. "They caught all the wild children, and put them in zoos, They made them do sums and wear sensible shoes. They put them to bed at the wrong time of day, And made them sit still when they wanted to play. They scrubbed them with soap and they made them eat peas. They made them behave and say pardon and please. They took all their wisdom and wildness away. That’s why there are none in the forests today.” Van Jeanne Willis
Hi Tom, you might find this interesting. I've read that in some ways, stone-age hunter gatherers were the richest humans who ever lived. They had all the skills they needed to live by the time they were 10, and were masters by the age of 16. And they lived in absolute abundance, because there weren't enough humans to have depleted all the resources. They had rivers teeming with fish and forests teeming with game. All they had to do was avoid bears and injuries, and they basically spent their whole lives crafting and sporting, with lots of leisure time. I think this forgotten age is what yours and my soul are yearning for, we can sense that it was once possible and perhaps we are trying to recapture it.
Recent studies of Masai tribesmen in Africa showed they spent 15 hours a week 'working' ie hunting/gathering/tending herds; 15 hours a week family care, then the rest was free time to talk, sing, do art, laze about enjoying nature etc.
@@rogerwilco1777 no, they don't die at the "ripe old age" of 42. That's just the average life expectancy. It is heavily driven by infant mortality, which skews the average down. Their expected age at death for those that make it through adolescence is around 72.
@@NeilCWCampbell yeah, infant mortality accounted for a lot of deaths, but those that made it to adolescence, lived to a quite old age. The difference from us being that they got there generally much healthier and much more robust, without the crutch of modern medicine.
Hello, Fandabi Dozi. I have to thank you. I have been convincing my wife to work out with me for a year, but due to her health issue, she felt that she could not do it. I tried to explain that working out would make everything better, including her health condition, but to no avail. She agreed, but she was just not motivated enough to work out. About 3 months ago, I have shown this video to convince her that working out really does reduce stress and start a positive cycle. She listened, and now she lost 30 pounds and started to be able to work out on her own. Now she stretches her muscles, goes for a walk, and even does martial arts with me. Thank you so much. I don't know how to pay you back.
I remember when I was a lot younger I used to draw, craft, build, and be creative without the technology we see now. I was a lot more active too. I'm going back to that, and I'm more satisfied. After watching this video it makes more sense to me.
1. Refined instincts, learning more about how phisical things work and ingraining that knowledge into my body to minimize injury. 2. Funtional strength, being strong enough to move and build. 3. Intentional living, doing what i need and then want to do instead of sitting on the sofa. 4. Thoughtful about simple things, not excepting that anything just is and trying to see what true reality is. Too many older guys can't seem to move in any way so i want to learn how to move without hurting old me while I'm young.
Watching this while cycle touring through Canada, couldn't be more appropriate. I've noticed my attention span has improved a huge amount. Spend the evenings just kind of doing a 'debriefing' by the cook stove. Listening to the sounds of the forest and spending a lot of my brain power on things like maintaining the bike and wondering where I can get supplies from along the road. I don't think I've ever been happier. Nice video Tom!
I couldn’t agree more! A very important one for me is to push myself to the limit, the way I like to do this is I go for a walk as far as I think I can physically go and only then do I walk back home. You never know what you can do until you do it!
My brother and I were out in the woods a while back, and he found a big stick on the ground. Unable to resist the urge to do so, he immediately picked it up and started whacking a tree until the stick splintered. He then made a caveman roar. Me and the boys were laughing our sides to orbit. Manliest shit I’ve ever seen.
As a survivalist, martial artist, and medical professional, I found this video highly entertaining, informative, and educational. The fight or flight response can be attributed to every aspect of living. Like you said, receiving a negative comment can either depress you or anger you. ... You have it right with a correct balance and harmony.
Well. Thank you Sir for condensing into a short and concise video what my 66 year old self has been struggling to come to terms with for some time now. You Sir… are a Healer.
I've been struggling with ptsd for sometime now, this video has helped a lot to give me some focus to help combat it thank you! I'll update you on the progress
My 4 hunter gatherer skills : focus and patience / observation and curiosity / empathy with all life / trial and error . My three modern problèmes : distraction / unnecessary tools / over abundance
I think you meant to quote Anton Chekhov, and the actual quote reads: "Any idiot can face a crisis - it's day to day living that wears you out." Great video, and very thought-provoking. Take care.
WOW!😮😮😮 by FAR the GREATEST youtube video I have EVER seen. You sir have far surpassed the rest. Exceptional, well thought and executed. Thank you for this ancient wisdom! 🙏🦅
As a byproduct of Scottish and First Nations fondness for eachother, this channel really illustrates to me why it's no wonder the 2 cultures got along so well. Also thanks for this, this kind of thinking and methodology is exactly what I believe and shapes my worldview, and having someone articulate it in an intelligent way is far superior than my ADHD 20 year old ramblings
@JP As a scottish-american who has always been interested in the history between the two cultures I can confirm that scots were just people like everyone else. Historically, they've committed atrocities and also been victims and friends to different peoples. Something positive I can say though is that there did seem to be a level of comradarie that was fairly common (but certainly not the rule) between highlander immigrants and various tribes they ended up living beside. The first highland games in north america was between highlanders and a native tribe (I think it was an iriquois tribe, but I don't remember for sure). Another great example is the scotch-irish in appalachia and their relationship with the cherokee. When the cherokee were finally forced out west a lot of the local scots were angry and sad to see them go. You'll still hear stories about it today
@TBD That could be possible. It wouldn't have been your average scot though, and definitely not the highlanders where most of scottish culture was still held. It would have been members of the highest ends of scottish nobility who were descended more from normans, french, and english families that settled in scotland through the middle ages. People who still often spoke french in court through the renaissance and probably never learned gaelic at all, and likely never set foot in the highlands. So you're looking at two different flavors of scots there.
@@franckorphanos2998 that’s just antiwhitism and bigotry against White folk. No White Guilt. Stop trying to blame folk today for things that happened in the past - just because of their race...
Brilliant! I’ll be sharing this far and wide. Too many people look around themselves and think this is how things have always been. They don’t understand 97% of human existence has been spent outside “civilization”, as you pointed out in your “day” analogy. This is GREAT work! Thanks!
For a fellow who present himself as "having a simple mind", You do a very impressing job of fliosophizing around the topics of "Man's" place in the universe, Reason of life, Health, and so on and so forth. I adore Your humourous way of addressing those very toxic topics. I am the very example of your domisticated wildman: I have domisticated myself with more than thirty years of computer work, at the time I made a profession from my hobby, and I am type two diabetic since twelve years mainly due to my sedentary life. I celebrated my sixtieth a few months ago and wish that I had had Your advices available half a llifetime ago... I started watching Your Highlander Heritage series some years ago and was totally taken with it. I am a fan! Please do continue Your Journey! You obviously has a lot to contribute to our domesticated tribes. I will follow Your development with great anitcipation. Best wishes!
This is why you're one of my favorite UA-camrs!! You described my situation perfectly. My inner hunter-gatherer yearns for the outdoors and wildness. When my inner hunter-gatherer doesn't get attention, my anxiety/depression/OCD gets a lot worse and I experience a lot of suffering. I did the ol' cubicle grind for almost 6 years and it almost ended me bc of the misery it caused me. I'd sooner live in a lean-to and forage than go back to that. It's wonderful knowing others are wired much like me. We didn't evolve for +20,000 years to wear ties and sit in a box for 9 hours a day.
To be fair, we didn't actually evolve "for" any particular reason. It's just millions of years of passive "these died, these survived" causes and effects. Nature is entirely uncaring itself. It's living things that care, and can choose to do something for a reason.
@@Vaeldarg OP's entire point went right over your head. Our brains were wired by 200,000 years as modern humans, and at no point were we wired to live in vertically stacked boxes, drinking treated sewage water, binding ourselves into a suit and tie to sit in front of a glowing screen for 9 hours. That's been a 50 year blip, which makes evolving to the environment a moot point since humans will likely outlive the environment. Humans anthropomorphize things like evolution and the universe. That doesn't make us ignorant to its workings. We don't actually think there's a reason for evolution, or that the universe actually has intention when we anthropomorphize the cosmic clockwork and ebb and flow of nature. If I say that something chose the path of least resistance, or took the path of least resistance (for example, water flowing downhill), I'm not actually implying that it had any autonomy or choice in the matter, it's just how people talk. I know evolution doesn't make decisions, I'm still going to say that "evolution decided that bigger was better in this case" or "evolution favored speed over strength" even though it's not a godess favoring critters. Nobody ever said evolution is a thinking force that does things with a purpose. Although evolution does happen for a reason and that reason is adaptation, if we really want to be pedantic about how we're phrasing things. I hope that clears things up.
@@Cretaal So you say evolution does happen for a reason and the reason is to adapt......but you think how we've adapted is invalid because "our brains are not wired for it", even though "our brains were wired by 200,000 years as modern humans"......you should probably think through what you're trying to say before wasting all that time trying to say I'M the one missing the point. Also, adaptation isn't a "reason", it's a side-effect. Mutations occur -> certain mutations allow better survival. Eventually you get brains capable of learning instead of relying just on mutations at birth.
@@Vaeldarg Quote where I said that I think our evolution is rendered invalid, or admit that you're arguing strawmen. If you can't make your point without putting words in everyone else's mouth, you've nothing of value to contribute. Your misconceptions of our arguments is your ignorance at play, not ours. You've now proceeded to completely miss my point as well... Congratulations! I love you wannabe Dawkins clones crying "akcshually!!!" at everyone else because we aren't trying to make believe scientist. Nobody's trying to argue your vague grasp of the evolutionary process to declare their humanity, go back to your sandbox.
Fantastic video, especially the epilogue. I'm glad there are people who understand and still have this inner hunter-gatherer in them. Although I live in the center of a big city I'm going to buy a bow and arrow and a staff to break the box
One of the great activities for focus, patience, meditation and developing a mind that notices detail is learning about useful and edible wild plants. You can take all the time you like and it's incredibly peaceful. Gets you on a hike too.
Archery has smashed my depression. My whole family does it now. Although tbh we’re Welsh and apparently we practiced every Sunday for over a thousand years, so makes sense. Weird feeling an ancient vibe in yourself tho.
Absolutely epic vid bro. As a Celt I've always viewed Bushcraft as a form of Cultural Survival. I know a lot of people believe that to survive you must adapt........but if the wolf becomes the poodle has he survived? As a Northern European I've always felt that the difference between our approach to Bushcraft and the popular colonial version is that we're the natives.....as apposed to being on safari.
This is gold ! I don't often post on youtube but this video is perfect. It include all aspects of good principle for life. It end on a good note for our home world. The shot are beautiful and strenghten the meaning of the message. Well done Sir !
Today you uploaded this video. This is also the day that I stopped my summer job. I'm going back to college next week. Watching this at home is a good transition. My summer job was educating visitors about the Iron Age, at a living history museum. Most of the museum Focuses on the late Stone Age. Thank you Tom. Thank you for reminding me to keep going and to develop my skills.
This is awesome, saving to re-watch in the morning. Cheers! I've re-watched this a couple of times now - and have the Tristan quote written & stuck on the wall... I even got my teenage son to watch this. Thanks again for such eloquent words of wisdom. Love from New Zealand x xxxx x
Tom; this is your best video yet, yet making all your others built it. If I were to try and put it all into one word, that word would be 'balance.' And that is something we have definitely lost both as individuals and as a society. Thanks for this reminder.
I have studied martial arts and wilderness survival since childhood, and this is the best presentation on why both is so important that I have seen to date. Thank you for you efforts in bringing this to us.
That was a wonderful video! Thank you for sharing your thoughts on that topic, I think it is going to help me a lot! This video should be seen by way more people cause I found it very inspiring. Keep up the good work!
You are such an awesome grounded dude! Instantly subscribed. It makes my inner hunter-gatherer happy to see this. Especially be a weirdo in the forest part. It's so important to rewild oneself.
Tom thank you for this video! I've transitioned from a very physical job outdoors in the last two years to a job that's nearly 100% at a desk. Along with Covid and moving to a new place, it's been hard physically and mentally. I'm learning bow-making and hiking more as a start along with a standing desk. Going to start implementing some of your tips into my daily routine. Really truly appreciate you sharing!
I think this is one of the best videos I've ever seen on you tube! Unfortunately a chronic illness diagnosis last year has meant I'm no longer able to be active without nasty consequences. So I'll have to ponder how to move again. Maybe tai chi or something. I'm not able to get out into the wild any more, but maybe i can do something in my backyard! Leave the phone inside and watch the clouds perhaps. Thanks for the awesome video and the food for thought!
This video really hit home for me. I've had to relearn how to be happy in life after my military service. Escaping the noisy highways, computers and constant suffocating flow of irrelevant information has been detrimental to my mental and physical health. Getting out on the water to kayak fish, or Escaping to the woods to create and explore has been the ultimate medicine. Our human souls need this to heal and grow. Take your shoes off and reconnect with the dirt that we once came from.
@@gandalf2256 right, because everything is binary these days and there are always only two options... God forbid you might want to only sometimes do or use something or have nuanced opinion on something.
laughing me head off at the fearsome predator! But we're wired for a third response, play dead or 'freeze'. It's a mammalian response so further up the cortex from the basic run/slap response. Branch of neuroscience i've been learning about is 'Polyvagal Theory' - worth a look.
A very comforting video to accompany my morning coffee. Makes me less anxious to start my day somehow. Thank you :) And also cool idea with split "personalities" This really could be a good series
This is simply amazing. I have found these same problems and solutions as well. You just clarified my own findings and feelings so clearly that this is something I will share everytime I talk about these things with a friend.. or foe. Greetings from Finland.
Being as im half Native American & half Welsh/Scots-irish. I guess ive always straddled the line between the old ways & the new. I was taught the ways of both. Herbal medicine, the ways of the wood etc. One thing is for sure, these skills our ancestors relied on are just as useful today as ever. We must keep them alive & pass them on or they will be lost to us.
Thank you for the humor. I find that I feel more like myself when going for a walk or enjoying the nature in a park. I truly feel much more alive and aware of my surroundings in a forest. Also, I am more relaxed and feel at home there, too.
I would add a couple things as I travel now retired. Finding fresh water or even water I can filter. Being alert all the time in the wild. Things happen out of seemingly nowhere, good to have an alert dog to help. Be ready to defend yourself and develop this mindset. Keeps some of the bad stuff when they (two legs or four leggeds) see you are no easy target. Cool channel!
I watched this video some weeks ago, and I have to say I think it's the most inspiring video I've ever seen. I have NEVER commented in any UA-cam video, but I think this one worths it. Thanks a lot man. Keep the awesome videos!! Greetings from Spain! PS: sorry for any mistakes. I know my English is not perfect. :)
An amazing video Tom. The research, the way you put it together and the fun you put in it are excellent. Definitely going to impliment this into my life. Thanks so much for all your hard work. Nate
First time watch....Loved it!!.. I'm just getting in to bush craft after coming from a long career as a re-enactor ( 17th cent & 15th ) and being am old Infantryman (RGJ). I found your vid very enlightening. I like the way you Think!.. I'm getting on a bit now ( poor old sod) but still spend as much time as I can off the dog walking trails as possible in the woods in me home county of Bucks. In the quiet secluded parts of the woods I'm always amazed by how feral it all is...no dogs .. no people.. woodland silence. And deer! Will be watching with anticipation for your next lesson in being. Keep up the good work mate!. Recce Green Jacket.
I thoroughly enjoyed this video, Fandabi !!! I hope your viewers practice what you have presented here as it will pay off here in the present and will pay dividends to their health and wellbeing later in life. Well done Sir !!!
These are things that I have recently forgotten to allow myself. I appreciate you and all you do, it gives me comfort and hope to know that you grow from it. Thank you for this reminder to be home and know what that means for me and mine. I will try my best to get myself back to the point that I am able to see this in all things. Much love Fandabi Dozi and best of luck on your journey.
This is excellent. Humorous, insightful, educational, and relevant. I too often live with a foot in both worlds and struggle with the balance between work and "work".
Very well done - educational and entertaining! This video tied together many of your other videos, and covered the biology and psychology behind “why” it is important. I started learning survival skills as a kid in Boy Scouts (USA), and originally studied Wildlife Biology. However, when I couldn’t find employment, I went back to school for MS in Computer Science. I spent 37 years as a software/systems engineer - so your #1 was a “job hazard”. I used traditional archery, bow hunting, and making walking sticks, canes, and staffs as “low tech” activities to balance my job (#4). I found your videos when searching for history, making, and use of the quarterstaff. I am also interested in using stick fighting practice & forms as a method of regular exercise (#2 & 3). Thanks again.
Thank you for making this video, its one of the best things I've watched on YT for a long while, and it made me laugh a lot. I work in addiction and run an anxiety workshop and talk to my clients about the delayed return environment a lot and our inability to cope with modern living, they love it when they realise how much of our problems with dealing with everyday life is due to our biological evolution and find ways to better cope with it in a more natural way. I like your suggestions on phone/tech usage and will be borrowing them! I've also recently got back into playing around with sticks because of your videos too, i never realised why having a stick just feels so right and why it is something that is so instinctual as a child! So thanks for opening my eyes to that too. Subbed to your channel.
I am so appreciative and grateful this was on my suggested videos! every point you make is thorough and eye opening. Thank you for this and for being so balanced in your opinion!
We share similar philosophies & I love your more philosophical content, I like to think we would be friends in life. I picked up casual vagabonding around N.America when I was ~16, primarily visiting national forests. For me it was & is about learning to use my body, engage my inner hunter-gatherer & develop survival skills. As an adult, archery & martial arts are almost religion. Thanks for this upload, it's helped remind me of my course & I'm sure it'll benefit many others, too.
Absolutely love this! Thank you Fandabi Dozi, for hitting the nail on the head. You've inspired at least one real human being here in South Africa, where I am striving to keep this very same balance. So amazing in such a crazy and alienating world, to find someone who speaks my language on the other side of the planet! Stoked.
Wooow!!! Your Videos are so well thought, entertaining, honest, deep and „important for the World to think about“ :) I’ve been watching them occasionally for some Years and now I found myself living in a Van and doing Survival😂😂😂
Brother! I have been enjoying your channel for some time now, and I love your videos, but this one is NEXT LEVEL stuff!!! GREAT JOB! Thank you so much! I am going to have my sons watch this for sure, so they can understand how important it is to disconnect from this constant bombardment of technology.
*Wow, absolutely agree! We shouldn't reject civilization, but still honor the past!* *IMO the second 2 hunter-gatherer abilities aren't as important today, but the overall application of ancient skills that you showed was almost perfect!* The modern world is dark and grimy only if you make it that way for yourself! P.S. wow you're ripped! Instant respect! One who respects his body, respects his life.
Dear Sir - this video is frankly astonishing. It's really well put together, with charm and wit, and deep truths and practical advice. It's a treasure, and I thank you for it, the message I've been needing to receive. I'm a highlander myself, of sorts, living in the Rocky Mountains in the US. And I have some Scottish blood from my great grandad, so a trip to Scotland has been on my bucket list all my life. A sub-bucket item is now to meet you in person so I can shake you hand. Peace
👍👍👍👍👍👍 I like the way you think. Your perspective gives me a new way to look at things. Once upon a time I did pretty much everything you listed. I even acted like a weirdo; it's fun and invigorating. The only reason I don't do any of these things anymore, except go barefoot in the woods, yard, garden and in my home is that I am crippled up and can't. I never considered the reasons you you suggested here. I just did them because it made me feel good, alive and it was fun. I enjoyed it. Now you have given me a new perspective to ponder on. Thx. May you continue to enjoy this incredible freedom you just told us about til your final sleep.
I had my suspicions with some previous videos. But you have just officially became my favorite UA-camr. You encapsulated everything I have been thinking, feeling, and wanting to get involved with/back to. This is exactly what I align with and it's so refreshing to hear someone so well spoken; not only describe it so accurately, but actually practice it and incorporate it into their daily life. Well done sir, you're on the right path. I wish you the best on your travels.
Dude; that was excellent . You presented our human evolution in a condensed and alluring juxtaposition. Just what my 26year old daughter and I were discussing yesterday. What synchronicity...
just discovered you and it was an instant sub. love the mix of light hearted comedy with great information. keep at it, mate. look forward to seeing more videos
I agree with everything you said and try to practice it every day (daily walks or runs, weekly hikes, going hunting just to sit in the forest and so on) I would add something. That being even though an active and outdoors lifestyle helps with mental health it is NOT a cure for mental illness. It does help an average person to feel better on daily basis but it won’t help and even could hurt if you try to treat actual mental illness. I know this from both my university education and personal experience. Physical activity and spending time in the wild helped me deal with depression, anxiety and insomnia but as soon as I would get back from doing whatever depression and anxiety would hit me even harder. Things only turned around for me when a friend talked me into seeing a psychiatrist. Professional therapy, pharmacotherapy and your own ways of dealing with stuff are all equally important and should be used together. Not one instead of the other. If anyone reading this believes to suffer from some form of mental illness please reach out to your primary health care provider or directly to a specialist.
Yep. Leisure activities make you feel better temporarily, but they are also a way of distracting yourself from your [actual day-to-day survival] problems. Much better to be active than doom scrolling on your phone, but I feel like both are coping mechanisms, it's just one is healthier and less compounding than the other. It's not like ancient people had less mental health issues than us. Just like today, stress and fear (and genetics) would have been the main drivers of bad mental health. Ancient stories are rife with unhappy people, suicide, domestic violence, alcoholism, psychosis, and despair. My mother was refugee and came from pretty much neolithic level of living standards as a child. Her community was pretty well self-sufficient. People coped, but many didn't and were dysfunctional and had extreme mental health issues. The stories she has just of day to day life are pretty harrowing. Doing this stuff as leisure is the last thing on her mind. Going camping and being cold and going back to getting fumigated by an open fire are the last things she wants to do. It is a joke to her people do this for leisure. And lets, be real, that's exactly what this is; The whole survival lifestyle thing has turned basic survival grind into a leisure activity, healthier than doom scrolling, but it amounts to the same thing: It can be, aside from being fun, just another way of distracting ourselves and running from our actual problems of stress, fear, and genetics in the real world. I think it's enough that it's enjoyable, it doesn't need to be marketed as a self-help strategy.
@@bidas4487 I try to be careful about oversimplifications. Humans have never NOT used various psychoactive substances for various reasons. Like anything, psychiatric medications can be over-prescribed or mis-used. But they can also profound positive, even lifesaving effects for people. The more options there are, the greater freedom we all have to follow our own paths Peace
I'm hit so hard by how much I agree with this. It was not a coincidence that I found you suddenly. I'm definitely going to take your advice to heart, thank you.
Fantastic video! Thank you so much! Just a request: I would absolutely love to see more information about the plaids worn by women, as well as more information about how Scottish women lived in the past. Keep up the great work!
very wise this video of yours and very useful. I too am a lover of excaping in nature, but knowing that it is not easy to live there, I have learned to greatly appreciate the comforts that you too have shown: running water, electricity, gas, doors and windows and well-made roof. , comfortable beds and the technological entertainment available, but above all it reminded me that technological use must be disciplined so as not to become dependent or sick. A thousand thanks.
Great video. I find anxiety goes up the less experienced a person is. Not that they need to be able to do everything, but that the base knowledge is not enough to have confidence in the person, and their ability. Worrying about what can go wrong instead of using past experience to problem solve or understand that in time the issue will not remain. Technology is invented to make life easier. With electronic technology it is now the great inhibitor. One person has trouble remembering phone numbers or has to many to remember,the contact list is created . Now people cannot remember phone numbers for people they call all the time. Simple example, but look at every app on a phone to help, has caused larger issues than it solved. I cannot remember my parents or siblings phone numbers now, I don’t know my kids phone number. If I get into trouble and don’t know these numbers I cannot problem solve the same way as I could as a kid. I know 10 numbers to call if I had trouble. I can only call 1 person now, it is the only phone number I remember. This increases my anxiety about going out and I have never had anxiety before. Problem to solve and use your message to work on it. This happens more and more as we offload our thinking into a device and then avoid boredom at all costs.
It was on the this video I hit subscribe . First time I’ve seen you and I’m sold on your channel . Excellent job can’t wait to do a deep dive on your channel .
Learning and practicing physical skills is a great way to take a break from from modern problems. Especially if you can find something that combines physical strength and physical skill. My passion is shooting, be it guns, bows, even sling shots sometimes. It requires so much concentration, that it blocks everything else. I work a physical job now, and though I haven’t deleted myself, I’ve broken free from FB, Twitter was always garbage, and I only briefly used it, but now I’m so much calmer. I only message friends as a way to tell them something that doesn’t need their immediate attention, and call them when it does, or when we have the time to chat. It’s made me so much calmer. UA-cam is my remaining problem, but I at least try to keep it useful sometimes, by watching about half informative stuff, and try to use channels that are really small, so that there is some human interaction going on in the comments. Life’s been going way better than it was.
This is so powerful and full of wisdom that its almost hard to believe it came from a young man as yourself. But please do me a favor and follow up with more context for this . Because you clearly have alot of wisdom that you can share to everyone.
That's one of the greatest videos I accidentally bumped into in my recommendations, I'm grateful that UA-cam exists:) The content is so fulfilling and makes so much sense in connection to what I've been thinking about for years, yaaa, thank you, incredible human!
Imagine being lost in the highlands at night and you just stumble upon this guy, alone, and he tells you to sit down, offers you a warm drink, tells you stories and eventually sings and plays some ancient tune until you finally drift off to sleep. And awaken on the morrow to find him mysteriously gone having left no trace.
Wouln't be the first time, and hopefully not the last either.
@@GannAinm yo what?
So he's Tom bombadil?
Well that's nice but your still lost.
@@LeatherSoup-c5j "yo mama how bout dat?"
- if ya know ya know
You mentioned that we are evolved to function in a tribe of hundreds of people, instead of being alone in a tribe of millions.
I think you are totally right there. And one should form a fifth habbit to tackle that problem.
Forge and maintain meaningful relationships.
I've certainly found this true of myself. Notably, however, a hunter-gatherer had no need to manually forge those relationships in most cases - Very often, they already existed. The simple act of living in a tribe would have made all the relationships you needed - And conversely, being cast out of that tribe was effectively a social death sentence, along with a not small chance of actual death lurking just behind it.
We have more choice in who we associate with these days, and I feel our brain is less equipped to handle that. Certainly, it's accustomed to depending on steady casual proximity to strengthen emotional bonds between friends and family - Something that can be hard to recreate these days in a safe environment.
*Absolutely!*
Actually he's very wrong about this. What distinguishes humans from other species is precisely the ability to coordinate with an uncountable number of strangers from any "tribe" or walk of life. This is possible because humans are the only species that can generate and believe fiction - I suggest you to read "Sapiens" by Harari, it's a great book on this very topic that goes into great depth on why and how your point of view is wrong.
that is a very important one. common interest groups are very good for finding friends.
@@brabra2725 I read Harari and I think that part of his point was that yes, abstract thinking and the ability to invent stories that bring us together made it possible for us AS A SPECIES to coordinate actions in huge numbers and therefore achieve things impossible for other species - but it doesn't necessarily mean that it translated into greater happiness for individuals. He even compares it somewhere to the plight of domesticated chickens: yes, in terms of survival of the species they are incredibly successful in that their numbers are huge. But one would hardly argue that individual chickens locked up in industrial cages have a better quality of life than they would have in the wild, in a smaller group. So even though us humans certainly benefit generally from living in a bigger society, we are also primed to need our smaller communities where we can form meaningful individual relations. Being just a lonely cog in a huge machinery (however wonderful and intricate the machinery is) is simply not enough for our mental needs, and that is confirmed by basically almost every study on the quality of life ever.
I love this. Don't forget that beyond the every day cycles of problem-solving, we humans have done something else for at least 30,000 years: make and appreciate art. Take our observations and experiences and recontextualize them into song, dance, story, sculpture and painting. We respond to challenges in the outer world but we also created our own inner world.
this is a great point to add, i believe expressing our creativity is an aspect of survival and connection to nature
@@erin-eh2sl creativity is an aspect of being human as we are created in the image of the Creator.
The cave paintings in France spring to mind. I am not sure if it was neanderthal, or cro magnon, or a mixture, or whatever? But they followed the curves and contours of the caves to illustrate the animals hunted.
Intelligence? Definitely. Sympathetic magic? Well, great art is channelling the sub conscious, is it not? And if you are able to utilise that in a tribe, where creativity leads to physical results, it seems like the kind of spirituality I long for. Just my thoughts.
PS, you are Scottish. Neil Oliver, the archaeologist/historian, has helped me and countless others with his online presence during lock downs and beyond. His intellect, and insight have been invaluable. In times past he would've made a great clan elder. And you, my friend, Fandabi Dozi, would be a great warrior.
So glad I found this channel.
Something that feels like is missed in this video is that the "inner hunter gatherer" isn't really limited to thinking about predators or prey as being creatures in the wild. If you're searching for iron, that is your prey. The "inner hunter gatherer" is satisfied when you finally have hunted down and obtained the iron.
As you said, art has also been desired by humans. You're still looking to hunt/gather something: a view of something beautiful/interesting/inspiring. Those stirred emotions of "this looks/sounds/smells/feels/tastes nice" is what is being hunted/gathered.
So it isn't that technology "seduces" or "manipulates" you. You're using it because you want to use it, just like a bow, to hunt down and gather information, emotional (negative/positive) feedback, etc. But just like how you can hunt game to extinction, you can get too greedy because the hunt became all you wanted to do.
@@Vaeldarg deep but so true
The video reminds me of the "Wild Child" poem by Van Jeanne Willis.
"They caught all the wild children,
and put them in zoos,
They made them do sums
and wear sensible shoes.
They put them to bed
at the wrong time of day,
And made them sit still
when they wanted to play.
They scrubbed them with soap
and they made them eat peas.
They made them behave and
say pardon and please.
They took all their wisdom and wildness away.
That’s why there are none
in the forests today.”
Van Jeanne Willis
I really loved this poem, thanks for sharing!
Wow! Love it! Thanks for sharing!
I came for the craft projects and bushcraft tips.
I stayed for the philosophy lessons!
Hi Tom, you might find this interesting. I've read that in some ways, stone-age hunter gatherers were the richest humans who ever lived. They had all the skills they needed to live by the time they were 10, and were masters by the age of 16. And they lived in absolute abundance, because there weren't enough humans to have depleted all the resources. They had rivers teeming with fish and forests teeming with game. All they had to do was avoid bears and injuries, and they basically spent their whole lives crafting and sporting, with lots of leisure time. I think this forgotten age is what yours and my soul are yearning for, we can sense that it was once possible and perhaps we are trying to recapture it.
Recent studies of Masai tribesmen in Africa showed they spent 15 hours a week 'working' ie hunting/gathering/tending herds; 15 hours a week family care, then the rest was free time to talk, sing, do art, laze about enjoying nature etc.
@@sultanbev They also tend to die around that ripe old age of 42.. which i think is the lowest life expectancy of anyone else on the planet?
@@rogerwilco1777 no, they don't die at the "ripe old age" of 42. That's just the average life expectancy. It is heavily driven by infant mortality, which skews the average down. Their expected age at death for those that make it through adolescence is around 72.
Until they died at the ripe old age of childbirth
@@NeilCWCampbell yeah, infant mortality accounted for a lot of deaths, but those that made it to adolescence, lived to a quite old age. The difference from us being that they got there generally much healthier and much more robust, without the crutch of modern medicine.
I love this so much-please make “inner hunter gatherer” a series!
Seconded
@@soilliam Thirded
@@Brubarov Fourthed
Fifthed, and...
Sixthed!
Hello, Fandabi Dozi. I have to thank you.
I have been convincing my wife to work out with me for a year, but due to her health issue, she felt that she could not do it. I tried to explain that working out would make everything better, including her health condition, but to no avail. She agreed, but she was just not motivated enough to work out.
About 3 months ago, I have shown this video to convince her that working out really does reduce stress and start a positive cycle. She listened, and now she lost 30 pounds and started to be able to work out on her own. Now she stretches her muscles, goes for a walk, and even does martial arts with me.
Thank you so much. I don't know how to pay you back.
Money, give him money 🤑
I do appreciate the toy bear making an appearance as a deadly predator
I remember when I was a lot younger I used to draw, craft, build, and be creative without the technology we see now. I was a lot more active too.
I'm going back to that, and I'm more satisfied. After watching this video it makes more sense to me.
1. Refined instincts, learning more about how phisical things work and ingraining that knowledge into my body to minimize injury.
2. Funtional strength, being strong enough to move and build.
3. Intentional living, doing what i need and then want to do instead of sitting on the sofa.
4. Thoughtful about simple things, not excepting that anything just is and trying to see what true reality is. Too many older guys can't seem to move in any way so i want to learn how to move without hurting old me while I'm young.
Watching this while cycle touring through Canada, couldn't be more appropriate. I've noticed my attention span has improved a huge amount. Spend the evenings just kind of doing a 'debriefing' by the cook stove. Listening to the sounds of the forest and spending a lot of my brain power on things like maintaining the bike and wondering where I can get supplies from along the road. I don't think I've ever been happier. Nice video Tom!
Love that, I also feel like being on the go is satisfying and refreshing to the mind.
This is really good to hear
Take me with you man 😂👌🏻
I couldn’t agree more! A very important one for me is to push myself to the limit, the way I like to do this is I go for a walk as far as I think I can physically go and only then do I walk back home. You never know what you can do until you do it!
My brother and I were out in the woods a while back, and he found a big stick on the ground. Unable to resist the urge to do so, he immediately picked it up and started whacking a tree until the stick splintered. He then made a caveman roar. Me and the boys were laughing our sides to orbit. Manliest shit I’ve ever seen.
Truly a beautiful thing to observe a wild GigaChad in its natural habitat
As a survivalist, martial artist, and medical professional, I found this video highly entertaining, informative, and educational.
The fight or flight response can be attributed to every aspect of living.
Like you said, receiving a negative comment can either depress you or anger you.
...
You have it right with a correct balance and harmony.
Well. Thank you Sir for condensing into a short and concise video what my 66 year old self has been struggling to come to terms with for some time now. You Sir… are a Healer.
I've been struggling with ptsd for sometime now, this video has helped a lot to give me some focus to help combat it thank you! I'll update you on the progress
Ptsd is horrible, i know it because i am also going trough it. I wish you well.
Yo! Hows it going today bruv?
My 4 hunter gatherer skills : focus and patience / observation and curiosity / empathy with all life / trial and error . My three modern problèmes : distraction / unnecessary tools / over abundance
I think you meant to quote Anton Chekhov, and the actual quote reads: "Any idiot can face a crisis - it's day to day living that wears you out." Great video, and very thought-provoking. Take care.
WOW!😮😮😮 by FAR the GREATEST youtube video I have EVER seen. You sir have far surpassed the rest. Exceptional, well thought and executed. Thank you for this ancient wisdom! 🙏🦅
As a byproduct of Scottish and First Nations fondness for eachother, this channel really illustrates to me why it's no wonder the 2 cultures got along so well. Also thanks for this, this kind of thinking and methodology is exactly what I believe and shapes my worldview, and having someone articulate it in an intelligent way is far superior than my ADHD 20 year old ramblings
@JP As a scottish-american who has always been interested in the history between the two cultures I can confirm that scots were just people like everyone else. Historically, they've committed atrocities and also been victims and friends to different peoples. Something positive I can say though is that there did seem to be a level of comradarie that was fairly common (but certainly not the rule) between highlander immigrants and various tribes they ended up living beside. The first highland games in north america was between highlanders and a native tribe (I think it was an iriquois tribe, but I don't remember for sure). Another great example is the scotch-irish in appalachia and their relationship with the cherokee. When the cherokee were finally forced out west a lot of the local scots were angry and sad to see them go. You'll still hear stories about it today
@TBD That could be possible. It wouldn't have been your average scot though, and definitely not the highlanders where most of scottish culture was still held. It would have been members of the highest ends of scottish nobility who were descended more from normans, french, and english families that settled in scotland through the middle ages. People who still often spoke french in court through the renaissance and probably never learned gaelic at all, and likely never set foot in the highlands. So you're looking at two different flavors of scots there.
What’s a First Nations?.. sounds antiwhite...
@@franckorphanos2998 that’s just antiwhitism and bigotry against White folk.
No White Guilt.
Stop trying to blame folk today for things that happened in the past - just because of their race...
Partner is First Nations and I’m a Brit - wildly different backgrounds but here we are today ❤️
This deserves 10 times the views, and is worthy of a series.
Context delivery is brilliant.
Nothing beats staring at a tree. Love the ending of this video. Quite moving and poetic.
Brilliant! I’ll be sharing this far and wide. Too many people look around themselves and think this is how things have always been. They don’t understand 97% of human existence has been spent outside “civilization”, as you pointed out in your “day” analogy. This is GREAT work! Thanks!
For a fellow who present himself as "having a simple mind", You do a very impressing job of fliosophizing around the topics of "Man's" place in the universe, Reason of life, Health, and so on and so forth. I adore Your humourous way of addressing those very toxic topics. I am the very example of your domisticated wildman: I have domisticated myself with more than thirty years of computer work, at the time I made a profession from my hobby, and I am type two diabetic since twelve years mainly due to my sedentary life. I celebrated my sixtieth a few months ago and wish that I had had Your advices available half a llifetime ago...
I started watching Your Highlander Heritage series some years ago and was totally taken with it. I am a fan! Please do continue Your Journey! You obviously has a lot to contribute to our domesticated tribes. I will follow Your development with great anitcipation.
Best wishes!
This is why you're one of my favorite UA-camrs!! You described my situation perfectly. My inner hunter-gatherer yearns for the outdoors and wildness. When my inner hunter-gatherer doesn't get attention, my anxiety/depression/OCD gets a lot worse and I experience a lot of suffering. I did the ol' cubicle grind for almost 6 years and it almost ended me bc of the misery it caused me. I'd sooner live in a lean-to and forage than go back to that. It's wonderful knowing others are wired much like me. We didn't evolve for +20,000 years to wear ties and sit in a box for 9 hours a day.
To be fair, we didn't actually evolve "for" any particular reason. It's just millions of years of passive "these died, these survived" causes and effects. Nature is entirely uncaring itself. It's living things that care, and can choose to do something for a reason.
"described my situation perfectly" Mine too...
@@Vaeldarg OP's entire point went right over your head. Our brains were wired by 200,000 years as modern humans, and at no point were we wired to live in vertically stacked boxes, drinking treated sewage water, binding ourselves into a suit and tie to sit in front of a glowing screen for 9 hours. That's been a 50 year blip, which makes evolving to the environment a moot point since humans will likely outlive the environment.
Humans anthropomorphize things like evolution and the universe. That doesn't make us ignorant to its workings. We don't actually think there's a reason for evolution, or that the universe actually has intention when we anthropomorphize the cosmic clockwork and ebb and flow of nature.
If I say that something chose the path of least resistance, or took the path of least resistance (for example, water flowing downhill), I'm not actually implying that it had any autonomy or choice in the matter, it's just how people talk. I know evolution doesn't make decisions, I'm still going to say that "evolution decided that bigger was better in this case" or "evolution favored speed over strength" even though it's not a godess favoring critters.
Nobody ever said evolution is a thinking force that does things with a purpose. Although evolution does happen for a reason and that reason is adaptation, if we really want to be pedantic about how we're phrasing things.
I hope that clears things up.
@@Cretaal So you say evolution does happen for a reason and the reason is to adapt......but you think how we've adapted is invalid because "our brains are not wired for it", even though "our brains were wired by 200,000 years as modern humans"......you should probably think through what you're trying to say before wasting all that time trying to say I'M the one missing the point.
Also, adaptation isn't a "reason", it's a side-effect. Mutations occur -> certain mutations allow better survival. Eventually you get brains capable of learning instead of relying just on mutations at birth.
@@Vaeldarg Quote where I said that I think our evolution is rendered invalid, or admit that you're arguing strawmen. If you can't make your point without putting words in everyone else's mouth, you've nothing of value to contribute. Your misconceptions of our arguments is your ignorance at play, not ours.
You've now proceeded to completely miss my point as well... Congratulations! I love you wannabe Dawkins clones crying "akcshually!!!" at everyone else because we aren't trying to make believe scientist.
Nobody's trying to argue your vague grasp of the evolutionary process to declare their humanity, go back to your sandbox.
Fantastic video, especially the epilogue. I'm glad there are people who understand and still have this inner hunter-gatherer in them. Although I live in the center of a big city I'm going to buy a bow and arrow and a staff to break the box
One of the great activities for focus, patience, meditation and developing a mind that notices detail is learning about useful and edible wild plants. You can take all the time you like and it's incredibly peaceful. Gets you on a hike too.
You nailed this video dude - well done!
Archery has smashed my depression.
My whole family does it now.
Although tbh we’re Welsh and apparently we practiced every Sunday for over a thousand years, so makes sense.
Weird feeling an ancient vibe in yourself tho.
hey, im from wales too. do you shoot at a range or do u guys have ur own thing?
Lovely
This has to be one of your most thought provoking videos yet! Love it, keep it up.
Absolutely epic vid bro.
As a Celt I've always viewed Bushcraft as a form of Cultural Survival.
I know a lot of people believe that to survive you must adapt........but if the wolf becomes the poodle has he survived?
As a Northern European I've always felt that the difference between our approach to Bushcraft and the popular colonial version is that we're the natives.....as apposed to being on safari.
Thank you so much for sharing Tom, I really appreciate your work and you should be really proud of it!
Just discovered this channel, watched 3 videos, and I'm already hooked. The "inner dialogue" at the beginning had me laughing pretty hard.
This is gold !
I don't often post on youtube but this video is perfect. It include all aspects of good principle for life. It end on a good note for our home world. The shot are beautiful and strenghten the meaning of the message.
Well done Sir !
Thank you for taking the time to go over your thought process. I found myself thoroughly nodding in agreement every 15 seconds.
Today you uploaded this video. This is also the day that I stopped my summer job. I'm going back to college next week. Watching this at home is a good transition. My summer job was educating visitors about the Iron Age, at a living history museum. Most of the museum Focuses on the late Stone Age. Thank you Tom. Thank you for reminding me to keep going and to develop my skills.
One of the best videos I have seen on YT in ages. Multi-Layered levels of useful content here. Great work. ; )
I just couldn’t watch this through without constantly skipping back to re-absorb parts of it, it’s just genius 😌
The greatest video I’ve seen in awhile! You’re basically speaking on what everyone needs to hear!!
This is awesome, saving to re-watch in the morning. Cheers!
I've re-watched this a couple of times now - and have the Tristan quote written & stuck on the wall... I even got my teenage son to watch this. Thanks again for such eloquent words of wisdom. Love from New Zealand x xxxx x
Best video we have ever seen.. so glad we found you.. thank you Tom…💜💙🤗
Tom; this is your best video yet, yet making all your others built it. If I were to try and put it all into one word, that word would be 'balance.' And that is something we have definitely lost both as individuals and as a society. Thanks for this reminder.
I have studied martial arts and wilderness survival since childhood, and this is the best presentation on why both is so important that I have seen to date. Thank you for you efforts in bringing this to us.
That was a wonderful video! Thank you for sharing your thoughts on that topic, I think it is going to help me a lot! This video should be seen by way more people cause I found it very inspiring. Keep up the good work!
You are such an awesome grounded dude! Instantly subscribed. It makes my inner hunter-gatherer happy to see this. Especially be a weirdo in the forest part. It's so important to rewild oneself.
Tom thank you for this video! I've transitioned from a very physical job outdoors in the last two years to a job that's nearly 100% at a desk. Along with Covid and moving to a new place, it's been hard physically and mentally. I'm learning bow-making and hiking more as a start along with a standing desk. Going to start implementing some of your tips into my daily routine. Really truly appreciate you sharing!
I think this is one of the best videos I've ever seen on you tube!
Unfortunately a chronic illness diagnosis last year has meant I'm no longer able to be active without nasty consequences. So I'll have to ponder how to move again. Maybe tai chi or something. I'm not able to get out into the wild any more, but maybe i can do something in my backyard! Leave the phone inside and watch the clouds perhaps.
Thanks for the awesome video and the food for thought!
This video really hit home for me. I've had to relearn how to be happy in life after my military service. Escaping the noisy highways, computers and constant suffocating flow of irrelevant information has been detrimental to my mental and physical health. Getting out on the water to kayak fish, or Escaping to the woods to create and explore has been the ultimate medicine. Our human souls need this to heal and grow. Take your shoes off and reconnect with the dirt that we once came from.
Yet here you are on the internet, pogue.
@@gandalf2256 right, because everything is binary these days and there are always only two options... God forbid you might want to only sometimes do or use something or have nuanced opinion on something.
@@EctoMorpheus that makes no sense. Grow up, pogue.
This show has everything. It's relatable, informative, and funny, plus its really useful information. Congratulations, amazing work.
This is brilliant. I've been following you for a few years now, and this film is proper timely for me, thanks fella 🙂
laughing me head off at the fearsome predator!
But we're wired for a third response, play dead or 'freeze'. It's a mammalian response so further up the cortex from the basic run/slap response.
Branch of neuroscience i've been learning about is 'Polyvagal Theory' - worth a look.
Great video. I've always said we're still just hunter gatherers living in the information age, I love the directions you give for making it through.
A very comforting video to accompany my morning coffee. Makes me less anxious to start my day somehow. Thank you :) And also cool idea with split "personalities" This really could be a good series
This is simply amazing. I have found these same problems and solutions as well. You just clarified my own findings and feelings so clearly that this is something I will share everytime I talk about these things with a friend.. or foe. Greetings from Finland.
Being as im half Native American & half Welsh/Scots-irish. I guess ive always straddled the line between the old ways & the new. I was taught the ways of both. Herbal medicine, the ways of the wood etc. One thing is for sure, these skills our ancestors relied on are just as useful today as ever. We must keep them alive & pass them on or they will be lost to us.
what tribe are you from? I’m adopted and I know for certain if my Scottish (I know Irish) but also Cherokee. I still have to find the lineage though.
...be lost to us and need to be re-learned :)
Thank you for the humor. I find that I feel more like myself when going for a walk or enjoying the nature in a park. I truly feel much more alive and aware of my surroundings in a forest. Also, I am more relaxed and feel at home there, too.
Really engaging video, with plenty of stuff to reflect on; thanks!
“Just getting used to carrying a rucksack”
So much in one little phrase. Great video. Recommending it.
Learning how to safely and comfortably carry a rucksack is an important skill. If you weren’t taught it as a child, start practicing now.
I would add a couple things as I travel now retired. Finding fresh water or even water I can filter. Being alert all the time in the wild. Things happen out of seemingly nowhere, good to have an alert dog to help. Be ready to defend yourself and develop this mindset. Keeps some of the bad stuff when they (two legs or four leggeds) see you are no easy target. Cool channel!
I watched this video some weeks ago, and I have to say I think it's the most inspiring video I've ever seen. I have NEVER commented in any UA-cam video, but I think this one worths it. Thanks a lot man. Keep the awesome videos!!
Greetings from Spain!
PS: sorry for any mistakes. I know my English is not perfect. :)
An amazing video Tom. The research, the way you put it together and the fun you put in it are excellent. Definitely going to impliment this into my life.
Thanks so much for all your hard work.
Nate
First time watch....Loved it!!.. I'm just getting in to bush craft after coming from a long career as a re-enactor ( 17th cent & 15th ) and being am old Infantryman (RGJ). I found your vid very enlightening. I like the way you Think!.. I'm getting on a bit now ( poor old sod) but still spend as much time as I can off the dog walking trails as possible in the woods in me home county of Bucks. In the quiet secluded parts of the woods I'm always amazed by how feral it all is...no dogs .. no people.. woodland silence. And deer! Will be watching with anticipation for your next lesson in being. Keep up the good work mate!. Recce Green Jacket.
I thoroughly enjoyed this video, Fandabi !!! I hope your viewers practice what you have presented here as it will pay off here in the present and will pay dividends to their health and wellbeing later in life. Well done Sir !!!
These are things that I have recently forgotten to allow myself. I appreciate you and all you do, it gives me comfort and hope to know that you grow from it. Thank you for this reminder to be home and know what that means for me and mine. I will try my best to get myself back to the point that I am able to see this in all things. Much love Fandabi Dozi and best of luck on your journey.
This is timely, engaging, interesting and funny. Its also inspiring. Great content.
This is excellent. Humorous, insightful, educational, and relevant. I too often live with a foot in both worlds and struggle with the balance between work and "work".
Very well done - educational and entertaining! This video tied together many of your other videos, and covered the biology and psychology behind “why” it is important. I started learning survival skills as a kid in Boy Scouts (USA), and originally studied Wildlife Biology. However, when I couldn’t find employment, I went back to school for MS in Computer Science. I spent 37 years as a software/systems engineer - so your #1 was a “job hazard”. I used traditional archery, bow hunting, and making walking sticks, canes, and staffs as “low tech” activities to balance my job (#4). I found your videos when searching for history, making, and use of the quarterstaff. I am also interested in using stick fighting practice & forms as a method of regular exercise (#2 & 3). Thanks again.
One of THE most important videos on yt today.
Outstanding commentary, thank you and God bless.
What a fantastic video! Thank you so much for making this, funny, inspiring, and an important message.
Thank you for making this video, its one of the best things I've watched on YT for a long while, and it made me laugh a lot. I work in addiction and run an anxiety workshop and talk to my clients about the delayed return environment a lot and our inability to cope with modern living, they love it when they realise how much of our problems with dealing with everyday life is due to our biological evolution and find ways to better cope with it in a more natural way. I like your suggestions on phone/tech usage and will be borrowing them!
I've also recently got back into playing around with sticks because of your videos too, i never realised why having a stick just feels so right and why it is something that is so instinctual as a child! So thanks for opening my eyes to that too. Subbed to your channel.
Awesome video! Love the content, lots to learn and really great way how you do storytelling and editing. Very professional!
I am so appreciative and grateful this was on my suggested videos! every point you make is thorough and eye opening. Thank you for this and for being so balanced in your opinion!
We share similar philosophies & I love your more philosophical content, I like to think we would be friends in life. I picked up casual vagabonding around N.America when I was ~16, primarily visiting national forests. For me it was & is about learning to use my body, engage my inner hunter-gatherer & develop survival skills. As an adult, archery & martial arts are almost religion.
Thanks for this upload, it's helped remind me of my course & I'm sure it'll benefit many others, too.
Absolutely love this! Thank you Fandabi Dozi, for hitting the nail on the head. You've inspired at least one real human being here in South Africa, where I am striving to keep this very same balance. So amazing in such a crazy and alienating world, to find someone who speaks my language on the other side of the planet! Stoked.
your videos keep getting better and better, and they've always been great to begin with! ❤
Wooow!!! Your Videos are so well thought, entertaining, honest, deep and „important for the World to think about“ :)
I’ve been watching them occasionally for some Years and now I found myself living in a Van and doing Survival😂😂😂
Brother! I have been enjoying your channel for some time now, and I love your videos, but this one is NEXT LEVEL stuff!!! GREAT JOB! Thank you so much! I am going to have my sons watch this for sure, so they can understand how important it is to disconnect from this constant bombardment of technology.
One of the best videos I have ever seen on YT.
*Wow, absolutely agree! We shouldn't reject civilization, but still honor the past!*
*IMO the second 2 hunter-gatherer abilities aren't as important today, but the overall application of ancient skills that you showed was almost perfect!* The modern world is dark and grimy only if you make it that way for yourself!
P.S. wow you're ripped! Instant respect! One who respects his body, respects his life.
Dear Sir - this video is frankly astonishing. It's really well put together, with charm and wit, and deep truths and practical advice. It's a treasure, and I thank you for it, the message I've been needing to receive.
I'm a highlander myself, of sorts, living in the Rocky Mountains in the US. And I have some Scottish blood from my great grandad, so a trip to Scotland has been on my bucket list all my life. A sub-bucket item is now to meet you in person so I can shake you hand.
Peace
I love your videos and can never wait for a new video to come out
👍👍👍👍👍👍 I like the way you think. Your perspective gives me a new way to look at things. Once upon a time I did pretty much everything you listed. I even acted like a weirdo; it's fun and invigorating. The only reason I don't do any of these things anymore, except go barefoot in the woods, yard, garden and in my home is that I am crippled up and can't. I never considered the reasons you you suggested here. I just did them because it made me feel good, alive and it was fun. I enjoyed it. Now you have given me a new perspective to ponder on. Thx. May you continue to enjoy this incredible freedom you just told us about til your final sleep.
I had my suspicions with some previous videos. But you have just officially became my favorite UA-camr. You encapsulated everything I have been thinking, feeling, and wanting to get involved with/back to. This is exactly what I align with and it's so refreshing to hear someone so well spoken; not only describe it so accurately, but actually practice it and incorporate it into their daily life. Well done sir, you're on the right path. I wish you the best on your travels.
Absolutely beautiful Tom. We need reminding of this more often
Dude; that was excellent . You presented our human evolution in a condensed and alluring juxtaposition. Just what my 26year old daughter and I were discussing yesterday. What synchronicity...
just discovered you and it was an instant sub. love the mix of light hearted comedy with great information. keep at it, mate. look forward to seeing more videos
“We are made to be an active part of a tribe of hundreds. We are now alone in a tribe of billions”
Wow that’s a great line
"Inner hunter gatherer" has just entered my lexicon LOL Love the intro and the video man!
I agree with everything you said and try to practice it every day (daily walks or runs, weekly hikes, going hunting just to sit in the forest and so on) I would add something. That being even though an active and outdoors lifestyle helps with mental health it is NOT a cure for mental illness. It does help an average person to feel better on daily basis but it won’t help and even could hurt if you try to treat actual mental illness.
I know this from both my university education and personal experience. Physical activity and spending time in the wild helped me deal with depression, anxiety and insomnia but as soon as I would get back from doing whatever depression and anxiety would hit me even harder. Things only turned around for me when a friend talked me into seeing a psychiatrist. Professional therapy, pharmacotherapy and your own ways of dealing with stuff are all equally important and should be used together. Not one instead of the other.
If anyone reading this believes to suffer from some form of mental illness please reach out to your primary health care provider or directly to a specialist.
Yep. Leisure activities make you feel better temporarily, but they are also a way of distracting yourself from your [actual day-to-day survival] problems. Much better to be active than doom scrolling on your phone, but I feel like both are coping mechanisms, it's just one is healthier and less compounding than the other.
It's not like ancient people had less mental health issues than us. Just like today, stress and fear (and genetics) would have been the main drivers of bad mental health. Ancient stories are rife with unhappy people, suicide, domestic violence, alcoholism, psychosis, and despair. My mother was refugee and came from pretty much neolithic level of living standards as a child. Her community was pretty well self-sufficient. People coped, but many didn't and were dysfunctional and had extreme mental health issues. The stories she has just of day to day life are pretty harrowing. Doing this stuff as leisure is the last thing on her mind. Going camping and being cold and going back to getting fumigated by an open fire are the last things she wants to do. It is a joke to her people do this for leisure. And lets, be real, that's exactly what this is; The whole survival lifestyle thing has turned basic survival grind into a leisure activity, healthier than doom scrolling, but it amounts to the same thing: It can be, aside from being fun, just another way of distracting ourselves and running from our actual problems of stress, fear, and genetics in the real world. I think it's enough that it's enjoyable, it doesn't need to be marketed as a self-help strategy.
you lost me at pharmacotherapy, isnt it just a fancy word to admit you love brain frying magical happiness pills
@@bidas4487 I try to be careful about oversimplifications. Humans have never NOT used various psychoactive substances for various reasons. Like anything, psychiatric medications can be over-prescribed or mis-used. But they can also profound positive, even lifesaving effects for people. The more options there are, the greater freedom we all have to follow our own paths
Peace
@@gordonkennygordon You're right, have a good life
I'm hit so hard by how much I agree with this. It was not a coincidence that I found you suddenly. I'm definitely going to take your advice to heart, thank you.
Fantastic video! Thank you so much! Just a request: I would absolutely love to see more information about the plaids worn by women, as well as more information about how Scottish women lived in the past. Keep up the great work!
You're knowledgeable, funny, clear and make good content. I'm so glad I stumbled upon your channel. Thanks!
very wise this video of yours and very useful. I too am a lover of excaping in nature, but knowing that it is not easy to live there, I have learned to greatly appreciate the comforts that you too have shown: running water, electricity, gas, doors and windows and well-made roof. , comfortable beds and the technological entertainment available, but above all it reminded me that technological use must be disciplined so as not to become dependent or sick. A thousand thanks.
And moreover i thanks everyday, more times, God for all instruments of by body i have.
Great advice, man, keep the videos coming!
Great video. I find anxiety goes up the less experienced a person is. Not that they need to be able to do everything, but that the base knowledge is not enough to have confidence in the person, and their ability. Worrying about what can go wrong instead of using past experience to problem solve or understand that in time the issue will not remain.
Technology is invented to make life easier. With electronic technology it is now the great inhibitor. One person has trouble remembering phone numbers or has to many to remember,the contact list is created . Now people cannot remember phone numbers for people they call all the time. Simple example, but look at every app on a phone to help, has caused larger issues than it solved. I cannot remember my parents or siblings phone numbers now, I don’t know my kids phone number. If I get into trouble and don’t know these numbers I cannot problem solve the same way as I could as a kid. I know 10 numbers to call if I had trouble. I can only call 1 person now, it is the only phone number I remember. This increases my anxiety about going out and I have never had anxiety before. Problem to solve and use your message to work on it. This happens more and more as we offload our thinking into a device and then avoid boredom at all costs.
It was on the this video I hit subscribe . First time I’ve seen you and I’m sold on your channel . Excellent job can’t wait to do a deep dive on your channel .
I've always said that I'm constantly torn between the two halves of my being: The Hunter and The Cyborg.
Learning and practicing physical skills is a great way to take a break from from modern problems. Especially if you can find something that combines physical strength and physical skill. My passion is shooting, be it guns, bows, even sling shots sometimes. It requires so much concentration, that it blocks everything else. I work a physical job now, and though I haven’t deleted myself, I’ve broken free from FB, Twitter was always garbage, and I only briefly used it, but now I’m so much calmer. I only message friends as a way to tell them something that doesn’t need their immediate attention, and call them when it does, or when we have the time to chat. It’s made me so much calmer.
UA-cam is my remaining problem, but I at least try to keep it useful sometimes, by watching about half informative stuff, and try to use channels that are really small, so that there is some human interaction going on in the comments. Life’s been going way better than it was.
This is so powerful and full of wisdom that its almost hard to believe it came from a young man as yourself. But please do me a favor and follow up with more context for this . Because you clearly have alot of wisdom that you can share to everyone.
That's one of the greatest videos I accidentally bumped into in my recommendations, I'm grateful that UA-cam exists:)
The content is so fulfilling and makes so much sense in connection to what I've been thinking about for years, yaaa, thank you, incredible human!