What is The Ocean?
Welcome to The Ocean, a free newsletter about personal development, self-awareness, hope, and resilience.
Who is it for?
The Ocean is for those who want serenity and inner peace.
It’s for those who are tired of running after the shiny and temporary objects that Life throws at us at every turn.
It’s for those who value inner conversations, lasting wisdom, and good ways to live a simpler life in better health.
The Author
My name is Uğur Akıncı (“Ugur Akinci” in English). Born and raised in Turkey but lived and worked for almost half a century in the United States. A “citizen of the world” in a way but with footnotes and asterisks all over the place.
The Ocean is my metaphor for Life. It’s deep, choppy, hiding a lot underneath the surface.
The Ocean will take you to faraway and fascinating places if you know how to sail your boat.
And it’ll get you in trouble before the first lighthouse if you don’t know how to navigate.
I learned a few things the hard way during my seven decades on earth and I’m still trying to sort some of it out.
There are things I am happy about and proud of, and things that I regret. For sure.
But I also received unforgettable lessons and a few gifts that I’d like to share with you. That’s the meditation and conversation we’ll have each week here in The Ocean.
What You Can Expect
Here is a list of the topics you can expect me to cover at least 3 times a week (Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays) if you choose to support by becoming a subscriber:
Perspective on living as a bi-lingual (Turkish-English) writer, with deep roots in both Turkey and the United States. (“We are all bastards of history.” — Salman Rushdie)
Things I’ve learned about leadership, personal responsibility & integrity, personal development, courage & resilience.
My take on youth and old age, birth and death, sickness and health.
Gender issues, my long marriage to the same person, having a family and a child. My grave errors in raising a child.
Occasional forays into heady stuff that I can’t help thinking about from time to time, like structuralism, abstract expressionism, minimalism, and intellectual history in general.
UFOs as a test case of the scientific method.
Commentary on books, paintings, and other artworks that leave an impression on me.
My fascination with celebrities (my late mother was one) and my autograph collection.
My on-and-off-and-on romance and struggle with smoking.
Joys and pain of playing a musical instrument (guitar and flute).
Why and how I became the only Brown Ph.D. in history who sold cars, trucks, display ads, and orthopedic beds for a living.
My long-time obsession with humor writing and a very short career as a standup comedian that no one knows about.
Inner peace and spiritual growth.
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I welcome you with respect and love.
(Respect comes first since where there is no respect there is no love.)
