Gregory Paul Johnson – Personal Update 200909 | 30 September 2009 | Wednesday
Summary. This is the monthly personal update for Gregory Johnson. Life categories are now listed alphabetically rather than in order of increasing interdependence described on the map page. Not much has changed, but I’m providing this just to return to a monthly update schedule.
- Activism. The ResourcesForLife.com website continues to be my primary means of activism. My book, Put Your Life on a Diet, continues to do well, and I’ve added an online community area for discussions about it as well as a place for positive feedback. I see the most effective use of my time is through my online presence through the ResourcesForLife.com website. With regard to activism, I believe that the answer is to live the answer. As such, lifestyle activism and becoming the media are the most powerful methods for impacting the world.
- Career. I’m thankful that my work at the University of Iowa is going well and my consulting business continues to be busy. My current clients continue to be wonderful to work with, and I’m also gaining some new ones. I’m very grateful.
- Effective Living. My inbox currently has over 7,000 emails needing a reply. I have inbound paper mail, receipts, invoices, and other documents that are accumulating at a rate faster than they can be processed and scanned. So, given this trend, I’m looking for more effective ways to manage the increasing backlog of pending tasks. I’ve been deepening my understanding and practice of effectiveness principles, tools, and techniques. The website conversion is part of this effort. I have a renewed commitment to the Schedule for Life and the Holistic Living System which help to provide maximum effectiveness and efficiency.
- Finance. I continue to look for ways to decrease my regular expenses and increase my income. I continue investing in Kiva, an organization that loans money to the working poor of the world. I’ve also begun seeing some revenue come in from Google AdSense ads that I’ve placed at the bottom of a few pages on the website. Using Google AdSense ads allowed me to conduct a study of website advertising.
- Health. My weight continues to be stable. I suppose that’s better than gaining weight. However, I really want to get my weight down. I’ve slowly been putting on weight over the past year. As a result, I’m now looking for ways to take my weight management system to the next level. I’m thankful to have seen some progress with my percent body fat declining. I’m using the Nike+ and Apple iPod to keep track of my workouts and publish this information to a new personal fitness page.
- Lifeways. After many years of having a fairly elaborate religious belief system, I’m now pursuing the development and practice of a way of life that would be founded entirely on “a life of action” based on principles of humanism, science, right action, and best practices. This new practice is called the Holistic Unification Lifeway Practice. My goal is for this new life system to be in harmony with many existing religions and philosophies. For example, I will continue to abstain from eating pork (and other meats for that matter). However, my basis for this won’t be in observance to the Torah, Bible, or Qur’an, but for health benefits, better agricultural land usage, and out of compassion for animal life. I’ll continue to be fond of and supportive of Judaism and Buddhism, my two favorite religions. (I view Christianity as a form of Judaism).
- Relationships. I continue to be grateful for the relationships I have with family, friends, colleagues, and clients. Makur (BPGL, Facebook) is now in Iowa City and am very thankful to have her in my life.
Many thanks to all of you who are continuing to keep me in your thoughts, prayers, and meditation time. ~ Gregory
About the Personal Update
For about nine years, the first and most important communication I would send out each month would be a personal update covering seven areas of life described on the Map Page of the Resources for Life.com website. I reference this monthly practice in my Schedule for Life. Over the years, my personal updates went out each month to about 10 family members and friends who I consider to be my “advisory board” – a group of people with several hundred years of collective wisdom. As well as looking for feedback and guidance, I also saw these updates as a way of making a regular personal life assessment. As of September 2007, I began publishing these monthly updates here in my online Journal. The seven areas of my personal life have solidified in recent years, so there’s not much “news” to report, but as there is, I’ll report it here in these updates.
Summary. Many years ago, the New York Times made an administrative decision that wasn’t necessarily in the best interest of its readers, but did promise to produce more revenue for the corporate executives running the operation. The paper chose to begin running pop-up ads, a practice that most people find offensive, annoying, and an irresponsible waste of bandwidth. Some of the ads were misleading, others were offensive, none were content relevant. I quit visiting the New York Times website years ago back when they proved through their poor advertising practices that they place money before quality journalism and readership respect. Their new motto could have been, “All the news that’s fit to print, and some annoying pop-up ads, too!” Unfortunately, the New York Times has engaged in this practice up to the present day and there seems to be no indication they will ever stop.
Summary. This is a short thought provoking writing about how the Internet shapes the collective thoughts and memory of humanity. If you are reading this, you are part of the collective. Welcome.
