Gregory Paul Johnson – Personal Update 201012 | 21 November 2010 | Tuesday
Summary. This is the monthly personal update for Gregory Johnson. Life categories listed alphabetically rather than in order of increasing interdependence described on the map page. This month, areas of life remain mostly unchanged.
* * *
Dear Friends,
Here’s my personal update for December. Two days ago, I arrived in India. In order to optimize my time here, I’m planning to limit my time posting updates and answering emails until I return to the US. However, to reduce stress, I’m making an effort this month to post my personal update and the year-end newsletter without waiting until the last day to do so.
This month’s life categories remain mostly unchanged, except for the Career entry.
- Activism. With regard to activism, I continue to believe the answer is to live the answer. As such, I believe that lifestyle activism and becoming the media are the most powerful methods for impacting the world. For this reason, sharing my photography, producing videos, and writing content for the ResourcesForLife.com website continue to be my primary means of activism and outreach. The site has had over a million visitors in the past few years, so it’s the most effective way for me to have a positive impact.
- Career. I’m thankful that my work at the University of Iowa is going well and my technology 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. I’m starting to do more work in helping people launch websites. One that I’m happy with recently is the Washington-DC-Metro.com website that my brother, Sherman, launched this past month. For some Google searches, on topics he’s written about, his pages are showing up in the top 10 among thousands of results. It’s a really nice website that he’s created (with a little help from me) using WordPress.com services. I’ve assisted with many websites in the past, but those were all with older methods of website hosting and design. I’m really excited about WordPress.com and it’s potential for helping non-profits and others launch inexpensive websites without a big learning curve or investment of time.
- Effective Living. I’m trying to stick with the Schedule for Life and the Holistic Living System which help provide maximum effectiveness and efficiency. I’ve not updated these systems for over a year, so an update is probably due later this year.
- Finance. I continue to look for ways to decrease my regular expenses and increase my income. I enjoy investing in Kiva, an organization that loans money to the working poor of the world.
- Health. I’ve gained about 30 pounds since moving to downtown Iowa City in August 2009, and I’m now about 70 pounds over my ideal weight. So, I’m looking for ways to take my weight management system to the next level. I currently track my fitness and meals on my LiveStrong.com holistic wellness tracking page, and I also maintain a nutritional supplements spreadsheet to monitor nutrient intake. For exercise, I’m using an elliptical system at home and I’m making an effort to use bicycling for transportation.
- Lifeways. My faith and religious practice is currently Adonaikido. Since the teachings, beliefs, and principles of Adonaikido are based upon various world religions, I’m expanding upon some of the Lifeways resource pages. As a result of my diversity of faith, many people still consider my beliefs and practices consistent with Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Jainism, and Buddhism.
- Relationships. Makur and I are doing well. We’re now living in a 360 square foot apartment in downtown Iowa City. I continue to be grateful for the relationships I have with family, friends, colleagues, and clients.
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 ten 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 ResourcesForLive.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.