About (please read me first) page picture

 

Welcome!

 

Furrywisepuppy is a little magic puppy with a huge ambition – to spread a bit of love, peace, happiness, health and wisdom to everyone around the world!

 

I, as the human author of this blog, after suffering from depression for many years, could’ve ended my own life many times. But I eventually decided to look for answers to this life by better understanding this world, this universe, people and life itself. My personal road to recovery started from this point. I’ve learnt many fascinating things so far and I’d like to share my ongoing journey to recovery, plus much of the things I’ve learnt, with you, to hopefully contribute towards building a better, more empathic and compassionate world involving people of all beliefs and backgrounds. I believe this can be achieved.

 

As of the commencement of this blog, I have so far studied over 120 MOOCs, or ‘massive open online courses’, on a wide variety of subjects taught by highly reputable academic institutions from all over the world; on top of a traditional university-level education. And this number will continue to rise with every year that this blog exists, and beyond.

 

Unless absences or changes are announced, this blog will generally present a new post every Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday until there are 16 posts in the calendar month – they’ll be about seemingly random bits of knowledge and insight based on this extended formal education, other readings and my own independent and personal thoughts, philosophies and life experiences. What I aim you’ll get out of reading this blog is a lot of valuable aggregated and crosschecked knowledge and wisdom that you might not find in one place elsewhere.

 

It will be written via the persona of Furrywisepuppy – you know, just for fun! He is an affectionate, gentle puppy who is a little shy yet also plucky. I hope for you it’s going to be overall rousing and silly at times, as well as deep and edifying. And I hope it’ll be like no other blog you’ve ever come across before!

 

My aim isn’t to claim that I hold all of the answers or to tell people what’s right or wrong but to encourage contemplation, new perspectives and constructive discussions with those around you. Main subjects will include psychology (psychology could in fact be said to be the main golden thread of this entire blog), science, philosophy, education, mental health and physical health, amongst others – to stimulate thought without passing judgements or closing off debates if others disagree, and to infuse the wonderment of exploring this universe and life that I realise is actually worth living. Most topics will be universal to everyone around the world but if specific cases are expressed then they’ll likely be expressed mainly from a UK point of view; yet do note that I have been raised with both western and oriental influences from birth.

 

A few personal posts about my own story with depression and my journey to this point will also be interwoven. This blog itself is a major part of my healing process as I gradually conjure up the courage to open up, reach out and restart my life from anew, letting go of what happened or didn’t happen in my past, and as I hopefully make new friends. Although it could be worked out with extremely little effort if one really wanted to know, my real name will only be formally revealed over time via the posts as I gather the confidence to. I hope that I can show you that no matter how bad life seems to get or has been, we can always pick ourselves up and start afresh at any age. If (or let’s be positive, when) I see a bright future for myself again then I hope to inspire others too; and you, my readers, will have become a key part of that.

 

Yet my real identity is not important because Furrywisepuppy and any associated characters have been created to be much bigger than one person alone for they represent the values of love, peace, happiness, health and wisdom!

 

I stand on the shoulders of many great giants, of all the professors, scientists and thinkers (smarter dogs) who’ve taught and influenced me. Yet much is also my own original thought and everything is ultimately written in my own words. Thoughts will reflect thoughts at the time of writing and may refine afterwards since learning never stops (your feedback will help me here). A puppy or other young animal is symbolic because we should all never stop growing. This doggy holds no dogmas! We should always learn something new every day and we’ll grow together.

 

This puppy is ‘wise’ in the sense that he knows there is still so much he has yet to learn and understand. And he is ‘furry’ because, well, he’s a little puppy! He knows that many things are more complicated than at first seem, and will remain humble for the things he knows he doesn’t know, as well as for the potential things he doesn’t yet know he doesn’t know. So Furrywisepuppy is a spiritual persona I’ve adopted, and I reckon we should all adopt such a spiritual persona, or similar, and remain inquisitive like young animals throughout our entire lives!

 

This blog is designed to be read sequentially from the very first post to the latest (using the ‘next post’ buttons below each single post page) because understanding some later posts may require first understanding some earlier posts – but of course you can read it all however you like. You may need to refresh the home page from your browser to find the latest posts. You can peruse the categories or archives lists in the side or bottom menu (depending on the size of screen you are viewing this blog) and read posts by topic (e.g. mental health or science & media) if you don’t want to read this blog like going through a journey of discovery with me. You can also use the search box to find posts by specific words or by the 4-digit post number if you can remember which post you last read.

 

The contents of these posts aren’t generally time specific and will likely still be relevant for years to come. I try to avoid commenting on in detail, or even mentioning, specific people, organisations or countries unless an example is too archetypal or evident regarding an expressed point. This is because I aim to focus on and illuminate the general or broad take-away lessons that can apply to any related situation of the present or future, rather than pick on particular individuals or groups and what they did in the past.

 

Everyone is welcome to read, comment and get in touch with me, from teenagers to retirees, and those who consider themselves nerds or newbs to the topics discussed, from anywhere in the world. The primary requirements are curiosity and a love for reading.

 

I love learning and advocate being a life-long learner and participating in MOOCs whatever age or stage of life is one is at – particularly courses from platforms such as edX, Coursera, FutureLearn and Udacity (in my own experience and unpaid, independent opinion). Education shouldn’t stop after school, college or university, otherwise one will miss out on so much as an active citizen (in a democracy or not), consumer and general person in society – so it’s not just pointless knowledge. But this blog is not academic writing or journalism. It’s not intended as a substitute for original scientific or academic sources, formal educational courses or traditional news – we perhaps complement each other. I can verify to my own satisfaction that my views have been influenced by only reputable sources but please take every post as merely a springboard or stepping stone along the journey of forming your own research, critical thinking and conclusions.

 

You may notice that there are no distracting adverts or irrelevant affiliate marketing because they feel inappropriate – this blog just wants to inspire thought, motivate you and spread a bit of love and togetherness. This blog is not currently trying to sell you anything, and may never will. The only way this furry blog currently makes any money for its upkeep is via your generous voluntary contributions so please contribute and tell other people about this blog if you enjoy this blog and want it to continue. Thank you.

 

If you’d like to follow me on Twitter then you’re more than welcome via @furrywisepuppy.

 

So without further ado, let’s begin this journey from the start!

 

Woof! (Woof means love)

 

The Best Things in Life are Furry

 

Expression via the Medium of Puppy and Kitten (sneak sneak!)