If you want to change your view on life, move a thousand miles away to a blighted urban city, work for a men's homeless shelter for not much more than a roof over your head and three (sort of) square meals a day, and write–about what you see and feel and think. 

Photo by Diego Cupolo

Observe individual behavior from the viewpoint of a humanist, someone whose job it is to uncover the facets of what makes us human and how we are all so alike and so different, at the same time. Add in humor, when you would rather cry than laugh, when the irony strikes you, when there's no other way to accept what is.

Write about what it's like to live in a city where people show their frustration not just with words, but acts of violence and where flipping the bird is a mild form of self-expression. Write about the dignity and honesty of individuals who own up to their faults and misdeeds without flinching, because it's what they know to be true. Write about seeing hope, one moment at a time, one person at a time, and then realizing that hope is ephemeral and dissolves when you step back into the war zone. Write about living on a budget, without cable, and with Hamburger Helper as a nightly routine.

In between the chaos and despair of trying to make life better for those at the bottom of society's food chain, retreat into the serenity of nature. Let yourself be enveloped by beauty.  Read what the zen masters (and a few smart aleck writers) have to say about life and living. Be silent. Be compassionate with yourself and others. Photo by Ryan Want.

Do this for a year.

This is exactly what my nephew, Ryan, did, when he took a position with the Jesuit Volunteer Corps last August, in Oakland, CA.

Last night, I stayed up past my bedtime to read about Ryan's year in California. You can read about it too, by visiting the blog that he kept throughout his experience. That's him in the picture on the left.

Ryan's writings go back to the roots of blogging, when it truly was a "web log" and a pure expression of one's thoughts, minus the self-absorption that you see in many blogs today.  This is no small feat. Kudos to Ryan for pulling this off with grace and a clear, honest voice that we can all relate to. He has a gift for telling it like it is without being self-serving or maudlin and with a maturity that most of us don't find until we are in mid-life.

It also doesn't hurt that Ryan has a streak of humor that has earned him the title of "family smart-ass." Biting humor can be a relief when faced with bleakness.

While I'm not about to move to another part of the country and volunteer my time to help the homeless, Ryan has me wondering what's possible if I shake things up a bit, get out of my routine, and live on the edge a bit more. Thanks, Ryan.

How are you purposely changing your perspective on life?