I’ve noticed for some time that advice on how to save money, lose weight, pursue self-employment and have a good relationship are the most popular topics among my readers (see the list of most popular posts to the lower right). Looks like I need to do a post entitled My Cheapest, Low-Calorie, Aphrodisiac Recipes, with the promise that someone could then start a business with them. 
I’m a practical person as well as a visionary, and I appreciate that readers have pressing needs around money, health/weight issues and relationships. The diamond-cut life that I keep examining involves happiness, and those areas are central to happiness. At the same time, my blog is not a mainstream self-help blog. The diamond-cut life is about a bigger picture, a rapidly warming planet that we’re all a part of.
The best way I can explain this is via a comment I posted yesterday on a very popular self-help blog. The blog’s post was about a lifestyle redesign involving mind, body, heart and soul. It went into considerable detail on constantly nurturing all aspects of our lives. The comment I posted went like this:
“I agree we need to integrate our minds, bodies, hearts and souls. But I also think that your focus assumes our world, our planet will just continue to march along in its current state indefinitely. That’s not the case — global warming is changing things. We won’t always have all the choices and privileges you’re assuming. I think we can embrace that instead of deny it and fear it. That’s why I posted these top five New Year’s resolutions that make a difference to both self and planet.”
Our current lives and privileges and range of choices, including my own, are built on abundant resources, particularly fossil fuels, and a stable climate. All those things are going away, but 99% of the writing on the Internet and in the developed world assumes that abundant fossil fuels, and our lifestyles that are built on them, are here to stay. That’s a fairy tale. I’m thinking and writing outside that fairy tale, and inviting readers to come along with me.
And incidentally, I will soon do a post entitled My Cheapest, Tastiest, Low-Calorie Recipe. I realize the fact it is also low-carbon is of more interest to me than most of my readers, and I am smiling good-naturedly about that.
Hey, I care! I know that energy isn’t always going to be free, and I’m glad that you are contributing to the giant brainstorm that is figuring out how to live after that point.
BTW, do you follow The Archdruid Report? http://thearchdruidreport.blogspot.com
It’s one of my favorite blogs about the energy crisis and life afterward.
Laura, thanks for your comment and for the link. I just visited the Archdruid. Now, there is one deep thinker. I like the depth and his perspective . . . . . I’m just wishing the thoughts had a little more application — i.e. next steps to take. But tell me if I am missing something you are seeing.