One of the things I want to explore in more depth is my philosophy regarding life and how I can live my remaining years in the most satisfying way. My plan for doing this is to write free form essays, which I will collect here, each in its own page to make it easier to find later.
For me, this philosophy of life breaks down, somewhat manageably, into these areas:
Spiritual – Here, I don’t mean my particular doctrinal or practical beliefs but rather, for me this philosophical area regards my thoughts about the spiritual and spirituality in general. It’s very much a “meta” analysis of my thoughts and beliefs and hopes in regard to the spiritual dimension of life. (And I already have another section on the site to explore my actual personal spirituality.)
Mental – In this section, I want to explore my thoughts about my thoughts. And about thoughts I see expressed online. I fully expect to spend writing time refuting stupid (let’s be frank) and non-productive thinking as well as exploring more effective thoughts and thought processes.
Emotional – Here, I think I want to explore my thoughts regarding my emotional health. I have struggled all my life with depression and have done my level best to handle it without any medications. But this should give me a good chance to explore more effective emotional strategies and tactics for handling emotional “dysregulation.”
Financial – This is an area of life in which I’ve had mixed success, at best. So I’d like to spend some time exploring good ideas for personal finance as well as more lofty things like being yet another person to refute Marx’s absolutely stupid and destructive ideas.
Personal – This is an area of life I am not sure I fully understand because I am not sure I have allowed myself to fully know myself. But the essays here will provide me with a good opportunity to get to know who I am, and also explore who I want to be.
Professional – Jim Rohn has been one of my biggest thought influences for nearly 40 years, since someone gave me a copy of a Jim Rohn cassette tape program. Jim’s influence on my professional life cannot be overstated and I want to use some of this space to explore his advice. But there are many other influences I want to acknowledge and explore along the way, too (e.g. Manager Tools). And I am also thinking I want to capture lessons learned as I head into the last 20% of my professional life.
Political – Through the course of my life, I have identified myself as a Reagan-style conservative, an old-school conservative, a liberty-minded conservative, a libertarian, a Libertarian, and most recently as simply a right leaning libertarian. Regardless of the label, there’s too much baggage associated with it to properly convey my thoughts regarding politics and the political world around me. One thing is clear, no matter what label is attached: I love my country and hate the government in its current dysfunctional “team sports” form.
There are likely to be others I come back to add to the list above. Like everything else in my life, these are a work in progress and I reserve the right to edit them to my heart’s content.