Next up in the list of the top 12 philosophical questions to ask yourself:

Are we living in the Matrix?

Ok, maybe I took a little creative liberty with that one. This question revolves around what is truth and what is reality and how we can know truth and reality.

This is another one of those brain busters where I am not qualified to give the correct answer.

My answer to this question is to focus on those things that I know produce a positive result.

To love and treat others as I would like to be treated.

To live a life of service to others.

To seek knowledge and wisdom.

Even if we are living in the Matrix and it is all a big sham, if we have done these things we will have had a better experience along the way.

And as you look to answer this and the other questions posed in this series, you must answer them for yourself.

We may not get to face the choice of the red pill and the blue pill, but we can choose what we focus on.

Make it a great day.

Jake

The more you praise and celebrate your life, the more there is in life to celebrate. – Oprah Winfrey

Today is our daughter Annie’s 4th birthday so I thought I deviate from answering the top 12 questions of philosophy.

Birthdays and anniversaries are great reminders of those wonderful blessings and miracles in our lives. They remind me of the little green mile markers along the interstate, marking our progress along the way.

They remind us of where we came from and where we are going.

They are also days of celebration.

The quote above reminded me that celebrating life is something we can do every day.

If you really think about it, every day probably is an anniversary or commemorative date of some wonderful thing that has happened in your life.

We just need to decide to celebrate them.

What are you celebrating today?

Make it a great day (that way you will have something to celebrate next year).

Jake

Next up in the list of 12 most important philosophical questions to ask yourself:

What is thought? Is it real?

Again, I am not going to try to answer this one “correctly”, merely from the perspective of what I think might yield the most positive attitude.

Thoughts are the beginning of all that is real.

A lot of what we see and experience began as a thought or an idea in someone’s mind.

And our thoughts shape our lives.

Earl Nightingale said it best in “The Strangest Secret”. We become what we think about most of the time.

If what we become determines our happiness, then we must take control of our thoughts use them to shape our future.

If we want different results, we must have different thoughts.

And in these thoughts we will find a future filled with all the possibilities inherent in the world of thought.

Virtually anything becomes possible.

Just think of what is possible for you….

Make it a great day.

Jake

Next up in the list of 12 most important questions asked in philosophy:

What determines the life and fate of each individual? Do we really have free will or is life set up before we even start?

This one is tough for me to answer from even an attempt at impartiality. I am such a believer in our ability to exert our free will that imagining life without it is very difficult for me.

We control our thoughts and our attitude and nothing else.

We don’t need to ask for a different set of circumstances in our life. If we would like a different result, we must change our attitude and our thoughts.

“But you have no idea of the disappointments in my life.”

Disappointments are not something special reserved for the poor and downtrodden. Those who have rolled the dice of fate and came up empty.

Disappointments happen to us all. Our happiness is determined in our response, not in what happens to us.

Take today to think about your own life. What could you focus on instead of the negative happenings?

Make it a great day.

Jake

JD – If one advances confidently in the direction of one’s dreams, and endeavors to live the life which one has imagined, one will meet with a success unexpected in common hours. – Henry David Thoreau

JW – Success isn’t how far you got, but the distance you traveled from where you started. – Steve Prefontaine

JM – Passwords are like underwear. You shouldn’t leave them out where people can see them, you should change them regularly, and you shouldn’t share them with strangers.

EB – To the extreme, I rock a mic like a vandal. – EB

I was listening to audio book yesterday that included the quote above from Thoreau. It is one of my favorite quotes, and I thought of a new element to it yesterday as I was driving home on the first nice spring afternoon.

Spring is the season of life for planting and starting the process of growth.

Our dreams are the beginnings of growth and possibility in our lives.

As you see the flowers start to bloom, the grass start to turn green and hear the birds chirp this spring think of you dreams. Think of those thoughts and ideas beginning to take root and begin to grow.

Picture the beginnings of your dreams in your mind.

That first 5 pounds lost.

That first week of exercise behind you.

That first $1000 in the savings account.

Plant that picture in your mind. Let it grow and come to fruition.

Make it a great spring.

Jake

http://youtu.be/m5TwT69i1lU

Maybe not a toe tapper, but it should get you started off with a smile.

Yesterday was a great reminder for me of just how true those words are…..what a wonderful world.

We have a wonderful new baby boy at home and spring has sprung. Sun shining, green growth outside sprung.

What a wonderful world.

Jake

Next up in the list of the 12 most important questions of philosophy for us to consider:

What role do human beings play?

The answer to this question can range from we are just another animal on the evolutionary rung here on Earth to we are specially created beings created in the image of God and endowed with all things God.

Regardless of where you end up on that spectrum, there appear to me to be a few undeniable truths about humans.

We are capable of amazing creation. Just look around you. Even the simplest things that we take for granted (houses, cars, airplanes) were unheard of several hundred years ago (a blink of an eye in the grand scheme of things) and are so much more than any other creature has created.

We are capable of amazing love. Again, just look around you. Love is everywhere. Every day people are serving their fellow human beings out of love.

We are capable of amazing personal growth. A human is capable of going from selfish to selfless, from broke to rich, from overweight to healthy, from ignorant to wise. Anything does in fact appear to be possible.

All of you receiving this email are human beings. You are all capable of amazing creation, love and growth (and a long list of others). As you contemplate your answer to this question and your view of yourself, never forget what you are capable of.

Make it a great day.

Jake

Next up on the list of 12 questions to answer as you set your own personal philosophy:

Does God exist?

Wow. From a philosophical, political and social point of view, this is a hot button issue.

I certainly have my own deeply held and sensitive feelings on this one, but I will try to offer something up that hopefully won’t push anyone’s buttons.

When it comes to your own attitude on life and your own happiness, maybe the most important part is simply admitting that you don’t have all the answers.

Whether you believe those answers lie in the realm of a supreme being or not, simply admitting that you don’t have to know everything is both humbling and freeing at the same time.

Being humble is such an important part of growth. Acknowledging that some of the answers to life’s difficult questions lie outside your own understanding is a great beginning for growth and exploration.

This knowledge gives you the freedom to work towards your own personal growth in a positive and uplifting way.

Maybe simply searching out your own answer this question will allow you to get to a place of humility from which to grow forward and build the life you desire.

Maybe taking a fresh look at this question will afford you the opportunity to look at things from a different angle.

Make it a great day.

Jake

First up in the list of the 12 questions to be answered through philosophy:

What is the nature of the universe?

First, let me start by saying I am not a scientist, I just play one on TV. Good one, I know. But seriously, my intention with these questions is not to present you with what I think is THE answer. My intention is to present the question, put a positive hypothesis out there and leave the actual answering of the question to the smart people (you).

The two thoughts that immediately strike me when thinking about the universe and everything in it are: beauty and growth.

There is beauty all around us. From the sunrise to the sunset on any given day, there are a million beautiful happenings around us in our universe.

It isn’t all beauty, but there is beauty there, if you look for it.

Looking for the beauty in our world will lead to a better day.

There is a lot of growth out there too. Plants, animals and people growing and reaching for their potential.

And this potential lies inside of each new opportunity in life, if you choose to see it.

Like beauty, the world is not only growth, but if you look for the growth and possibilities, I am of the belief that you will have a distinctly better day.

I am not saying these are THE answer to the question of the nature of the universe, just that these answers might lead to a better life.

The most important perspective on this question is yours. What do you think is the nature of the universe?

Make it a great day.

Jake

One’s philosophy is not best expressed in words; it is expressed in the choices one makes… and the choices we make are ultimately our responsibility. – Eleanor Roosevelt

At Mavidea we get some attention (both positive and negative) for spending so much time on "culture". Some say we spend too much time on it and others look to us as a model to copy.

I was thinking about how to explain why I thought it was important and I realized that searching for and creating a company culture was a lot like searching for and creating your own personal philosophy.

As we go about creating our culture we have to make some difficult decisions. Decisions about what is and isn’t important, what is and isn’t a priority, what we value.

In life, we must tackle those important questions as well.

We must choose between watching TV and reading.

We must choose between eating what we want or eating what is best for us.

We must choose between big city living and small town living.

And as Eleanor Roosevelt says above, these decisions express our philosophy on life and they determine the results we ultimately achieve.

The best part is…..we get to choose. We get to choose our own philosophy. We get to set our own sail in life (and here at Mavidea).

In the interest of helping you (and myself) tackle this subject of philosophy I found a list of the 12 most important questions in the field of philosophy.

Over the next week or two, I will send out the list of questions and do my best to put a positive spin on them and to challenge you to answer them for yourself.

Make it a great day.

Jake