Sustainability Studio

- George Lorenzo

For the personal development project, some early resources are available at http://edpath.typepad.com/happiness/: "happiness: a blog about being healthy, self-sufficient, purposeful and loving." Many resources are listed and linked to in the right column.

The first assignment, which is related to  "happiness" on all of the aforementioned four pathways, is for you to write your personal "Manifesto." For an example, see http://edpath.typepad.com/happiness/2010/12/whats-your-manifesto.html. This is where I have posted my personal manifesto, which keeps groiwng the more I think about it. That's one of the benefits of writing a personal Manifesto. You'll see what I mean when you start one.

Basically, a manifesto is a listing of everything you believe in and have an opinion about. It takes a good deal of time and effort to think hard about a personal manifesto. What do you think about abortion, for instance? What do you think about religion? What do think about same-sex marriage? What do you think about the enviornment and how to preserve and protect it?

Many people feel uncomfortable about making their manifesto public, fearing the repercussions that could come from those who disagree with you. However, it can be a great self-learning exercise as well as a great means to simply unburden your deepest thoughts and feel more self-confident about who you really are inside. Give it a go - and let's try to discuss what parts of your manifesto were the most difficult for you to write. For me, it was the one about abortion.