Year: 2011

Announcing Jedi Life

Jon4 Comments

Dear Readers,

I’m happy to announce that Jedi Life, at http://jedilife.com, is now live. I’m excited about it. There are already several complete posts lined up,and I’m seeking guest posts as well. While Jedi Life is the successor to this blog, in some ways it is very different. The theme is “renew the body, free the mind, feel the Force.” Running, diet, nutrition, life hacking, all will be frequent subjects as will practical matters such as breaking bad habits, forming new ones, seeing through societal conditioning, and so on. Spirituality will be an important part of Jedi Life, but I intend it to be more accessible and actionable than my personal philosophical musings here.

I’m also writing an e-book, geared towards the completely out-of-shape, on how to get into shape, start running safely, and love it.

The Wild Things of God will remain here. At this point, I’m not sure sure how often (or if) it will be updated. I may continue to use it for more personal blogging, or just keep it as an archive of my life from 2004-2011. Keep it in your RSS, just in case. So what are you waiting for? Head over to Jedi Life, and give me feedback there! Also, I wouldn’t mind some free publicity. If you could “like” it or tweet it, I’d greatly appreciate it!

Thanks

Words to live by: Jobs on death

Jon1 Comment

Steve Jobs spoke in 2005 to Stanford’s graduating class on how mindfulness on death and the brevity of life aids focus and purpose in life.

When I was 17, I read a quote that went something like: “If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you’ll most certainly be right.” It made an impression on me, and since then, for the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: “If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?” And whenever the answer has been “No” for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something.

Remembering that I’ll be dead soon is the most important tool I’ve ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything — all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure – these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.

About a year ago I was diagnosed with cancer …

This was the closest I’ve been to facing death, and I hope it’s the closest I get for a few more decades. Having lived through it, I can now say this to you with a bit more certainty than when death was a useful but purely intellectual concept:

No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don’t want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life’s change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. Right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away. Sorry to be so dramatic, but it is quite true.

Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.

When I was young, there was an amazing publication called The Whole Earth Catalog … On the back cover of their final issue was a photograph of an early morning country road, … Beneath it were the words: “Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.” It was their farewell message as they signed off. Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish. And I have always wished that for myself. And now, as you graduate to begin anew, I wish that for you.

Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.

Listen to an excerpt on NPR.org, or read the entire address, or watch the video of it below.

Coming Soon: jedilife.com

Jon9 Comments

The “new direction” I wrote about earlier has become clear. I’m pleased to announce that within the next few weeks, I’ll be launching a new blog, jedilife.com. Its theme will be on physical, mental, and spiritual renewal. Besides being a blog of my own thoughts, it will be a self-help resource geared to everyone who wants to redesign their lives apart from the assumptions of consumerist society. I’m thinking an August 1 launch, but it may be sooner. Stay tuned and please share the news. Thanks!

jon

A New Direction

Jon6 Comments

Le blog c’est mort… Vive le blog!

It occurs to me that my slowdown in posting over the last couple of years has been an effect of changes in my life, resulting in some uncertainty about the direction it should take. However, I’m gaining clarity in this.

What I’m going to be writing about more is the challenge of becoming the person I want to be, and being more authentically the person I am. I’ll be writing even less about spiritual “ideas” (of course, I already have been writing less about that), and more about challenges in living. However, I might expand and separate some of my preexisting material into ebooks.

I’ll be writing more on things I find helpful and interesting, rather than traditional reviews (those have been sliding too).

In short, this will be a new blog; it may have a different name (or not, not sure yet), but it’s going to be a bit different. I hope you’ll enjoy it.