‘Pragmatic’ because the focus for this live human being is on what works. ‘Practitioner’ because it is a good word to capture the very wide range of ideas, techniques, practices, and values that I have used to reduce suffering and increase happiness for self and others. And, very importantly, because as a ‘practitioner,’ I’m not identifying with any one school, technique, religion, tradition, or group of practices.
All practices and techniques can be understood as voluntary, self-directed efforts at personal change. All have been learned from someone else, and along the way I’ve added a few twists which perhaps you may find helpful.
I’ve recovered from addiction through a twelfth step program, studied and practiced NLP, and in recent years pursued a wide variety of meditative practices including mindfulness, vipassana, and concentration.
I try the techniques, assess the effects in my own inner experience and outer behavior, and then draw my own maps. This blog documents the results of this work.