Welcome to the Light Side!

I’ve finally settled into my new home online, so it’s time for a virtual housewarming party!

Some things may not be completely in order here yet, and I’ll still be tweaking things a bit, but you should already have an idea of what to expect to see in this blog in the future.

You’ll probably see posts about my adventures in the world of Tarot, psychic, and paranormal, as well as musings about spiritual growth, personal development, and positive thinking because those are the things I’m interested in. Oh, this blog is also very personal, utterly unprofessional, and a bit tongue-in-cheek… just like its author!

Like everyone in this world, I’ve got my quirks. Read on for a list of some of the peculiar features you’ll find here. You can take this list as a warning or a promise, depending on your personal tastes.

The Quirks to Expect

• Long articles. If you enjoy reading long, loong, looong blog posts, you’ve come to the right place. If you don’t, you’ll probably want to go read some other blog. Well, Weekly Inspiration is the exception, so if you enjoy pretty photos accompanied by quotes, go check them out before you continue on your merry way.
• Timeless content. I’m not very interested in posting about current issues, such as politics, economy, wars, etc. unless I very strongly feel I have something to say about a current issue. I’m mostly going for more timeless article type posts here. Actually, while setting up this website, I wasn’t quite sure if I’d go for a blog format at all, or if a traditional website with articles organized by topic would have been better. However, I settled for a blog, because this site is very personal and many of my posts reflect my current level of growth.
• Slightly tongue-in-cheek. Self development and spiritual growth is serious business – so serious you shouldn’t take it seriously! I believe humor makes the world a better place, or at least one that is easier to tolerate. My humor tends to be of that dry, subtle variety, often poking fun at myself. Just because I make fun of something doesn’t mean I don’t appreciate it or that I don’t take it seriously. Quite the contrary: the more I love and appreciate something, the more I’ll poke fun at it!
• Pretty pictures! As you can see, I’m including an image at the beginning of each blog post. I’m doing it because I like them. I’m a very visual person. I enjoy colorful images. Looking at pretty pictures makes me happy and I want to feel happy and inspired every time I look at my blog. If you don’t like the images, it should be fairly easy to skip them and go straight to the content.
• Personal tone. I almost fell for the trap of trying to be “professional” with this blog. However, that’s just not my style. I’m not “professional” if it means being all business and no play! From my past experiences of creating content for the web, I’ve learned I’ve been successful when I’ve settled for a very personal tone and have actually shared something of my soul.
• Language. Believe it or not, I actually welcome nit-picky comments about the language I use in this blog. No, I don’t mean the occasional swearing or colloquialisms – they are always intended and I don’t need anyone to point them out – but simple grammar and spelling errors. The reason I actually want these errors pointed out at me is that I’m from Finland and English isn’t my native language, so I want to improve my English skills and learn from my mistakes.

More about Being “Professional”

I’ve written quite a bit of content for the web before, and the most important lesson I’ve learned was, be yourself!

Whenever I’ve been myself, I’ve been successful, even if that has meant sharing some, ahem, not quite politically correct opinions. Whenever I’ve tried to be “professional” and please everybody, no one’s been interested in my content. I know my style won’t please everyone, but that’s just how life is, you can’t please everyone. If you try to please everyone, you’ll end up pleasing no one, because it makes you uninteresting.

There are countless technically well made blogs and websites out there but I don’t remember anything about them because they’ve been totally soulless.

The websites and blogs I’ve enjoyed the most have been the ones that have let the writer’s personality and passion show. The author has had a distinctive voice, been passionate about what they write, and shared some of their feelings and opinions. I absolutely enjoy reading content like that, even if I don’t agree with everything they write. Actually, some disagreements make it more interesting because it gives me a chance to look at things and opinions from a different point of view.

The Trouble with Ads

As you can see, I’ve got a couple of ads on my site. I already had an AdSense account so setting them up for this blog wasn’t a biggie. You can expect to see me play around with the type and placement of them to find that delicate balance between getting clicks and having happy readers.

I know for sure I’ll be under-monetizing this blog. The placement I’ve chosen for my ads isn’t the best one, money-wise, but I don’t care. Aesthetics and happy readers always come first.

I could go on a long rant about those sites that slap a huge block of ads before any actual content, so you’ll have to scroll down the ads just to see the content, but I guess I’ll save my rant for another post. Suffice to say, I rarely bother scrolling down, unless I really, really want to read the content.

Feel Free to Comment!

If there’s any particular topic you wish to see covered, please let me know! There’s absolutely no guarantee, but if the topic fits this blog’s theme (Tarot, psychic stuff, spiritual growth, personal development, positive thinking, etc.) and I feel I have something worthwhile to write about it, I probably will.

I’ve checked the layout with Browsershots and it appears to be ok in all the major browsers, but if this blog looks totally messed up, please let me know so I can start tearing my hair out about it.

Happy reading! (See, my posts are long. Told you so! )