About the Jonas

(That’s me on the left)

Here’s the world I want to live in (and thusly, why I write)…

I want to open up the internet every day and see people. Real people. Not just listacles and clickbait… But people.

I write for the person who’s trying to make a creative living while enjoying their craft and living a conscious, meaningful life.

I want to live in a world with really good fathers.

I want to hang out with more spiritual, (but not superstitious) people. I enjoy being around those who are incredibly self-aware and who find the world around them undyingly interesting.

I want to live in a world with people who realize that life can be kinda shitty, but who laugh, love, and live fully in the face of it.

I want people to write, not because they want to be writers, but because they realize they ARE writers by birthright.

This is the world, and the people, I write to inspire.

“Okay, well, what about you (since, like, that’s what we clicked on)?”

Oh, right, sorry…

I’m Jonas Ellison (as you can see by the url of this site, of course). Every day, I post to my Medium publication, Higher Thoughts, (which has a readership of 14,000+ people and has been translated in 4 languages – yes, yes, I’m super proud of it, okay, sheesh).

As for what I write about, being a daily blog, it’s hard to narrow it down to just one topic. My blog is my asylum. My private room in back of the shop.

Basically, I write my way through life.

Some days I’ll write about my profession, which is currently helping businesses and artists with their online messaging. But mostly, it’s about the in-between-ness of my life. Writing is my daily practice that helps me notice my life. Some days, I’ll write about my existential dilemmas and spiritual ramblings. Other days, I’ll write about being a dad and a husband. And sometimes it’s just purely random.

I guess the only real common theme in my writing is… Me.

I show up fully to every sentence. As imperfect and unpolished as it may be, that’s what most of my readers seem to like so much about it.

I’ve contributed to several publications such as The Huffington Post,The New York Observer, No Sidebar, The Gift of Writing and The Daily Dot.

Other boops and bops about me

I write custom commissioned pieces for people who need inspiration, either for themselves or for someone they know (or for their team).
I have an Q&A column I’m now accepting submissions to that you should check out (yes, please, ask me anything – even the juicy stuff).

On a more personal note…

I’ve just told you what I do, but as for who I am – I’m just a dude who was born under the Carter administration, barely graduated high school, and dropped out of community college after 2 years (yes, I’m still technically a Freshman).

I lost my mom to cancer when I was 16 and my dad to the same disease when I was 34. Needless to say, I try to stay as healthy as possible.

I used to be a golf pro until I got sick and tired of catering to obnoxious, shallow, drunk assholes.

In 2009, I earned my black belt in Aikido, but am scared of my own shadow and can’t stand confrontation.

Over a decade ago, I met the girl of my dreams, married her, and followed her to Chicago while she finished college (yep, I married the smart one). We moved back home a few years later and had a (very feisty) kid. Now we live in the eastern shadows of the Sierra Nevada mountains where we drink too much coffee and try to take over the world from our laptops.

(See, here’s us looking all happy and stuff…)

On any given Sunday, you might find us watching Gilmore Girls reruns. Occasionally, you’ll see me chasing a little white ball around a grassy field, wielding a blunt object with an angry look on my face (yes, I’m still a golfer, but I’m not rich, I don’t drink much, and I don’t think I’m shallow).

In closing

I hope my words and ruminations connect with you.

If you like what you see, please subscribe to my daily email list and consider leaving me a tip here (I owe a lot of people money).

Also, if you’d like to be fodder for my advice column, go ahead and ask me anything (yes, anything). And if there’s anything else I can do for you and/or yours, get at me here.

As Ever,

Jonas Ellison
Reno, NV