This post is part five of a six part series on how this blog was started.
This is a complicated post because there are probably dozens of ways one could play this game. I’ll begin with Ben Franklin’s Virtue pursuit (I hesitate to call his version a game because I don’t think he called it that.) As I mentioned in my very first post, Ben spent his entire life tracking his progress related to his 13 virtues. He created a little score card in a journal that he kept with him and in addition to weekly study he would grade himself daily on how he was doing with regard to each virtue. If you are ambitious enough to play this way, I whole heartedly applaud your effort and would love to hear about it! I am not quite up to the task myself and have come up with a modified format!
To begin with, I have elected NOT to evaluate myself on each virtue on a daily or even weekly basis. That is to begin with anyway. I decided it was important to go through the first quarter of the game, 13 weeks for the 13 virtues, and as part of the first week of study each virtue will get, I will also figure out what specifics and measurements I want to incorporate for the rest of the game. It is my intention to create an online survey/log system (which I will make available to you too!) that will allow for more formal tracking in the future.
I am interested in making this game VERY user friendly. I mean it is about BLISS so I want everyone to have fun while participating or even just following along! As part of my study into each of my virtues I will be coming up with what I’m calling “Bliss Initiatives” which will be concrete things you can do in your own life to foster a particular bliss virtue. Some of these things will be simple; perhaps something like Smile at three strangers today and others will be more time consuming; make a list of the things that bring you joy today or more complicated: hand make a greeting card and deliver it in person. My thought is for you to participate as much or as little as you want. Some weeks it may be possible to take everything on and other weeks you may only want to follow along as I try things out.
I don’t expect that I will be able to do everything I come up with either. We all have busy lives and this project is intended to inspire not overwhelm! Some weeks I may have a dozen lofty ideas but be unable to even complete one. Remember I am going on the belief that “we become what we think about” so even the inquiry is likely to have an effect. This is the very thing I am excited to blog about.
So, bottom line, there will be different kinds of participation:
- following along
- playing along with the “Bliss Initiatives” I come up with
- creating your own initiatives
- joining in on the companion Facebook discussions
And you are invited to play along as much or little as you want!
I stepped away and My Girl decided to add this:
b vvvjjjjvvbvb
“I do it while you are gone mommy”
Next Part Six – A Little Moxie!