Hi, my name is Steve. I am a dad to two amazing children who keep me laughing and constantly on my toes. I am an entrepreneur at heart and have a deep love of life and learning. Some of my passions include music, soccer, and trying to understand quite literally how everything works. We live in Chicago and are members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which lies at core of who I am.
The last few years of my life have been a period of refinement. Those close to me know that a lot has changed in my world during this time – a tapestry of grief, loss, hope, despair, pain, growth and love. But despite the many outward changes, perhaps from a long-term view one of the most significant changes that has taken place during this process of refinement has been a major paradigm shift in the way I view life itself. The pains and beauty of life have simultaneously become more pronounced, I feel them more acutely, and I have found my capacity for love and joy have both increased. What I want in life, what I want from life, and how I approach life have all been fundamentally changed, and I believe changed for the better.
I have created this blog because I believe some of these insights and some of the continuing insights that come from this paradigm shift could be valuable to my family and friends as we continue in this shared journey of mortal life. And I consider anyone seeking or desiring to seek goodness, a friend. In the same way I also enjoy learning and find value in the insights other people bring to the table through their experiences, and hope this can be a two way street.
I think there are many things that we could and will want to discuss here. As I reflected on it I believe the center and essence of those conversations will be love and joy – the two great purposes of life. What is love? What is joy? How do I obtain love? How can I experience joy? Why does it matter? Why does life matter?
To that end, in the upcoming and first non-introductory post I would like to share an experience with you that gets to the heart of these questions, and that has provided me a simple and yet very meaningful model for understanding the experiential phenomena we call love and joy. My hope is that this model might provide a foundation and framework to introduce you to the paradigm shift I’ve had in the way I view and approach life, a shift that has brought greater love and joy into my own life.
And whether this blog ends up being a few posts or many posts, whether it is read by a few close friends or more, I believe it will be a journey worth taking and look forward to doing so together.