The New Age Review: Three Years and 100,000 Page Views Later

This month, just a couple of weeks short of its third birthday, The New Age Review broke 100,000 all time page views.  And, while I know there are blogs out there getting this many page views in a week or even a day, I consider 100,000 (100,222 as of this morning) a milestone.

I remember checking my stats in the early days of the blog, and seeing that no one had visited the blog. I remember how exciting it was when even one or two people read an entry and the sense of validation and purpose I felt when those numbers, oh so slowly, began to grow.

I wrote those early posts because I needed a place to talk about what I was learning and because I believed that somebody out there might need to be led to the books and resources that had helped me so much.   When people commented and emailed me to say that something I had shared helped them, I was ecstatic.

In spite of that however, The New Age Review isn't really about reviewing the material I write about. It's about experiencing it.

Put another way - my reviews, or the best of them at any rate, are largely experiential.  

I made a decision very early on about the way I would review things.  I decided that while I would acknowledge material not resonant for me, I would not write pointedly negative reviews focusing largely on criticism. 

Not everyone understands when I can't (or won't) do a review.  And luckily I can usually tell if something is going to work for me or not.  But even when I can't I stick to my process because it fits my review style.

Working and applying the material in order to report back on that process only works if that material resonates.  Taken this idea a step further, I think that experiential reviews provide a clear picture of how a given resource works.  And why.

Sometimes the resource works because it triggers a new idea or approach to something.  Sometimes, it is an agent of change or transformation.  Both of these are good.

Not everything I write here is review oriented however.  Over time, much of what I share is simply my experience as I attempt to evolve into somebody better.  

Lately, this had led me to think about changing the name of the blog but this morning I decided I wouldn't. And it occurs to me for the first time, that The New Age Review DOES review metaphysical resources very nearly exclusively.  Some of these resources just happen to be the direct influence of spirit and the lessons the universe so generously provides.

As my approach to spirituality becomes more and more experiential it's likely that my reviews will as well.