How to understand life and make smarter decisions

If you are alive, you have a body.

And if you have a body, you’re likely aware that having one can be quite an adventure.

Sometimes your body provides you with pleasant sensations and happiness, and other times it may give you pain and agony.

At times you feel in control of it, and other times it may feel like it controls you.

That’s all part of the adventure—the game of life, with all its highs and lows.

Learning more about your body, and the overall ecosystem that your body lives in, can put you more in control of your life and help you make better decisions.

Why?

Most of the decisions you make every day are related to and influenced by your body.

You’re constantly making decisions related to your physical health, your safety, your emotional well-being, your job and economic situation (the purpose of which is to provide for your body), etc.

These various decisions are all geared toward improving the survival and well-being of your body.

And the more you know about your body, how it’s designed and what it’s capable of (and not capable of), the better you will be at making decisions that affect your body and the better you will be able to utilize your body in living a better life.

Your body affects your life in a big way

A body can feel great one day and not-so-well the next.

It gets hungry and thirsty from time to time.

It craves things—food, sugar, alcohol, ice cream, sex, sleep; to name just a few. And often for no apparent reason.

It also breaks or gets ill from time to time, and then heals itself—or sometimes not. Occasionally it breaks an arm or gets the flu or a case of chronic arthritis or that nagging cough that just won’t go away… or worse, is gripped by something more horrible such as cancer.

But a body also provides some amazing sensations and happiness—the thrill of tearing down the road on your Harley motorcycle, the tantalizing anxiety of going for that first kiss with the person of your dreams, and endless other pleasures that go hand-in-hand with life.

With all that we use our body for, to experience all the pains and pleasures of life, it makes sense to keep our bodies in top shape, fit and healthy; to provide us with the best possible—and the longest possible—life experience.

So where’s the owner’s manual for our bodies?

If living a good life is so closely related to utilizing our bodies in an optimum manner, then it makes sense we would want to know as much as possible about how our bodies operate.

The more you understand about what makes your body tick, and what its capabilities and limitations are, the better you can live. You can feel more in control of your health, and make smarter life decisions.

At one time or another, you may have asked yourself questions such as:

• How many calories should I eat to maintain a healthy weight?
• How much water should I drink to stay properly hydrated?
• How do I reduce the negative effects of stress on my life?
• Should I get the flu vaccine?
• What foods should I be eating to help avoid cancer?
• Why am I feeling this particular way today?
• Am I addicted, and if so, what can I do about it?
• Is my sex drive normal? How can I improve it?
• What can I do to live a longer and healthier life?

These and other similar questions are all questions related to biology—the study of living organisms.

Imagine being told as a child to get into a car and drive it down a busy highway at top speed… without anyone showing you how to drive a car, or even where the gas pedal and steering wheel are. Operating a body in life is much the same experience.

By learning about the parts of the body, and how they function and interact with each other and with environmental factors, you can operate your body much more successfully—making wiser decisions and feeling more in control.

The more you know about cars and how they behave while being driven, the better you will be at successfully cruising down that busy highway without getting into a wreck. The same is true regarding your body and successfully navigating this hectic chaotic journey we call life.

The subject of biology is truly the closest thing we have to an owner’s manual for the human body and the ecosystem and social system in which it lives. And this is one owner’s manual that is well worth reading.

High School Biology usually isn’t enough

Unless you had one of those rare gems of a teacher who was passionate about the subject and could relate and communicate well with students, you may feel your education in biology was a bit lacking.

Remembering back to high school biology class, many of us have vivid memories of dissecting a poor frog. But do you remember the exact biological effects of stress on the body’s glandular system? Or what factors most predispose the human body to succumbing to disease, and why?

These are things that would be useful to know in your adult life, where you are constantly making decisions about eating habits, lifestyle, etc. in an attempt to stay healthy and have adequate energy for all your activities.

There are several reasons why you may have struggled in biology class—and believe it or not, it’s wasn’t really your fault.

Do any of the following scenarios sound familiar regarding your biology learning experience?

• Your teacher never truly explained what biology is really all about, and didn’t make it real to you why you should study it and how it can benefit you?
• Your teacher used a lot of complicated biology-related terminology and didn’t take the time to ensure you had a sufficient understanding of each term for you to easily grasp it?
• Your teacher went too fast, not giving you a chance to fully understand each concept before moving on to the next one?
• Your teacher attempted to teach you biology from books and dry lectures, rather than going out into the field where you could actually experience it first hand?

These unfortunate classroom situations, as well as others, can get in the way of learning this fascinating subject—and of having fun while doing so.

If you didn’t walk away from high school with a full understanding of biology, there’s probably a thing or two you could learn that just might make your life a little better.

You can learn biology… and have fun doing it

In case there’s any doubt in your mind, please realize this important fact:

You are smart enough to understand biology—and you will find it useful and interesting.

You just haven’t been given a chance to prove this to yourself, due to poor teaching or lack of adequate educational resources.

If you have a curiosity about the living things around you—your pet, your houseplants, the trees and birds outside, other people—then you have an interest in biology.

If you have ever searched online for information about proper eating habits or nutrition, you have studied biology.

If you have a fitness coach at your local gym who helps you do the right exercises to tone the parts of your body that need it, you are involved in studying and applying biology.

If you’ve ever researched health issues and remedies for aches and illnesses, you have researched in the field of biology.

Most of us are studying some aspect of biology every day without even realizing it. And we do learn it; sometimes even having fun while doing so! We are interested in it, and we find it useful.

The way we go about studying biology makes all the difference in our enjoyment of it, and in how well we understand it and can apply it to our lives.

My goal is to make biology fun and interesting

My intent in putting this website together is to create a valuable resource for anyone who wants to improve their life—and the lives of others—by getting a better understanding of biology.

I am in the process of creating a multitude of multimedia content (illustrated articles, videos, infographics, etc.) that will help make biology fun and fascinating to learn.

My goals for this website include:

• Help you realize the value and benefits of understanding the various aspects of biology. Not why it benefits your teachers or your parents or anyone else—but why it specifically benefits you. In other words, I’m going to show you how biology applies to your everyday life, and how you can use your understanding of it to live a better life.
• Fully explain all those crazy and confusing terms that you never understood in biology class. And not just explain them, but show you what they are, so you can get a full conceptual understanding of them.
• Demonstrate biological concepts in a way you can understand, starting with some basic concepts and building on them step-by-step to give you the full picture at a pace you can comfortably navigate with full understanding.
• Provide you with lots of photos, illustrations, videos, etc. to make these biological concepts more real and easier to understand. I want you to experience biology, not just read about it. Visual aids can make all the difference between confusion and understanding.
• Provide additional resources and further reading that will give you a wider understanding of biological concepts, from a variety of viewpoints.

So… shall we get started?

Hopefully you’re feeling right now like you just might want to go ahead and get started on this adventure of gaining a better understanding of biology, and using this knowledge to improve your own life as well as the society you are living in on this amazing planet of ours.

Get started by taking a look at my blog, and find a topic that interests you.

Note that this website is a work in progress, and I will be adding more content on a regular basis. Please bookmark this site and check back regularly to see what new goodies I have for you!