Who Else Wants to Live in a Happier World? (Copy)
Published March 14, 2016 by Ryan M. Weisgerber
The planet we live on is now host to more than 7 billion people. While our perspectives and experiences are all completely unique, at our core, we’re not all that different. We all share a common desire to experience happiness, fulfillment, and a sense of security. Each of us encounters our own slices of astonishing beauty, painful and confusing hardships, and things that we end up falling in love with. And, we learn about loss and letting go through the inevitable changes around us.
All of this while shooting through space at 69,000 MPH.
Whoa.
Like a lot of people, I’ve spent a considerable amount of time searching for answers to the big questions in life. Questions like “What am I doing here? Wait, what is that person over there doing? What’s this mucky stuff inside of me people call ‘emotions’? What does all of this mean… and OMG WHAT SHOULD I DO ABOUT IT?!?!”
In my search, I’ve come across many sound methods for moving closer to genuine happiness and fulfillment. But, I’ve also encountered what seems like an endless ocean of baseless opinions and inaccurate information.
It sometimes feels like we’re all trying to learn the rules of a complex board game but were handed the wrong instruction manual.
I want to live in a happier world, and I know a lot of the people around me do too. I believe that we can all use as much help as possible in life, so I’ve created this website as a place to share stories about the things that have really helped me in mine.
Oh Boy, Not Another Self-Help Guru
Ok, let’s address the obvious question: who am I, and why should you care about anything I have to say?
Nobody knows all that there is to know about life, but we’ve all figured out parts of the puzzle. I’m not claiming to have assembled the whole puzzle (because that would be crazy), but I've had great success solving some really challenging parts of it.
I was born into an extremely abusive family with mentally-ill parents; I was taught my earliest lessons in life through the lens of a religious cult with a disturbing and deeply rooted apocalypse fetish; and for the past decade I have faced the most frightening and difficult challenge of my life in the form of an illness similar to Multiple Sclerosis or Parkinson’s Disease.
These experiences have not been fun. But through them I’ve learned a lot about overcoming the self-limiting beliefs I’ve picked up, about not being stopped by the ignorance and unconsciousness in others, and about moving more intentionally toward the life I most want to live.
So, I am not positioning myself as any sort of fancy existential puzzle wizard—I’m just a man who wants to help make the world a better place, and I have some pretty good puzzle techniques to share.
At its core, the writing you'll find here is about the possibilities inherent in refining (or if necessary, changing) one’s beliefs, habits, and perspectives. It’s about better understanding the nature of human mental and emotional capacities, and purposefully using these powerful abilities to benefit ourselves, the people we love, and the planet as a whole.
My writing is about the pursuit of personal greatness.
What do I mean by “personal greatness”? Is it fame, fortune, and riding off into the sunset on a super buff unicorn? Maybe. But more importantly, it’s about repeatedly choosing to express the best version of yourself possible.
When we live more intentionally, we increase the likelihood that we’ll experience more joy in our lives. And when the joy in our life increases, we naturally share it with the people around us, which helps to increase the joy in their lives.
The ripples of joy that start with us can be passed from one, to another, to another, until all of those joy-ripples become a giant tidal wave of joy.
Tidal waves of joy help crush the suffering and despair that are all too common in our world, and I want to live in a world where suffering and despair are extinct.
The S.S. Despair hates hugs.
This is no small goal, and it won’t happen overnight or through the efforts of any one person—but it can happen.
It starts with people like you and me.
What you can expect to find here
Some of the things I write about in exploring all of this are:
Perception & Belief: The things that we perceive and believe determine the choices we make, and by extension, the quality of what we experience.
Language: A major ingredient of our perceptions and beliefs are the words we use to describe ourselves, others, and the events we witness. How we use and understand words is a really big deal.
Imagination: The human capacity for imagination is virtually unlimited, and it can be used constructively or destructively. Better understanding the amazing power of our imagination is vital for creating the results we want to see in our own lives and in the world (and also to avoid killing off ourselves and everything else on the planet).
Creativity: Not the art type. Every choice that we make is literally a creative act. Much like imagination, this ability can either be used consciously to produce specific results, or without awareness. Using this ability without awareness frequently creates a malformed hodgepodge where we hoped our meaningful lives would be.
Intention: When we intentionally choose how we’re going to show up in the world, we are fully engaged in what I think is the greatest creative act we’re capable of. You are the greatest masterpiece you’ll ever create, and something so beautiful and important deserves great care.
Compassion: Compassion inspires understanding and unity, whereas judgmentalism breeds ignorance and separation.
Personally, I want more compassion in my life and in the world around me, so let’s talk about it.
Cuteness and Funny Stuff: I won’t be writing about cuteness and funny stuff per se, but my posts will include generous helpings of both.
Did I mention that I can’t change the world by myself?
It’s true! I can’t change the world by myself, but we can do it together.
If you’d like to join me on this journey, sign up for the Hug the Universe mailing list, follow me on Facebook, or on Twitter. Either way, you’ll be notified as soon as new articles, tools, and nifty freebies are posted.
Thanks for reading. I look forward to all the fun adventures ahead of us. :)