Decisions, Decisions

I turned another year older this month, and along with celebrating my birthday with loved ones, I was thinking about a couple ways in which I've been trying to grow. One theme that has been inescapable this year is the presidential election, but with that, I've been paying more attention to state- and local-level politics.

National political figures always fascinated me with their legacies and personalities (starting with the fairy tale of the Kennedys' Camelot as well as the People Power Revolution in the Philippines, up to the Obamas). More recently I realized that I needed to pay attention to the policies that impact my community and me at more local levels, since these changes would probably have a more direct impact on me. This was partly driven by having moved to California, where there are dozens of state and county/city propositions on the ballot, and the devil, as usual, is in the details. I'd also like to avoid voting on the wrong side of history.

One weekend a friend actually rented out a church basement one weekend afternoon and summarized the ballot measures for folks. And thanks to the Twitterverse, I was directed to http://www.peterates.com which summarized and gave recommendations for the state proposals. I've been reading up on the San Francisco country proposals as well and am looking forward to casting my vote. Although I probably will never enter politics myself, I feel more empowered doing my civic duty and trying to become a more informed citizen and voter. After all, voting is a privilege, so I don't want to take it for granted.

.@gridmonte @anildash UX Designer Peter Stahl's guide is always a treat https://t.co/4KaerKaOiP

— Steve Portigal (@steveportigal) September 27, 2016

Tech Help

I've had a smartphone in my life for just over five years now. It's amazing that in a few short years your daily life can change so much because of new technology. All the toddlers growing up now won't know a world without smart phones and mobile apps! (My niece is already a pro with the iPad and she's only been alive for just over five years.) 

Due to work, family and personal obligations and aspirations, your life can get pretty busy. I always have my phone on me to look up info, snap a photo, and of course communicate with others. These are some ways I keep myself organized and motivated:

1. Schedule it on your calendar. Just give in to the cloud. It will just be that much easier to keep track of things, especially now that google reads your mail and automatically adds things to your calendar, and that calendars often link to map features so you can put in a precise location. Bonus points for blocking off your "me time".

Gmail Blog

1a. For conference lines, I use the Instant Meeting app, which syncs to your calendar and dials the conference codes for you automatically. If you have one of those jobs where everyone has a conference code, and/or you make your calls while on the road, this will save you so much time/brain energy:

meetingapps.com

2. Keep lists or notes (I really like Wunderlist and Swipes). Again, it makes it easier to keep track of things if you just record them. I have ongoing lists for things to do, groceries (which you can re-use by unchecking old items), books to read, vacation spots to look up, etc. Runner up is Swipes, which gives you that gratifying ability to swipe.

https://www.wunderlist.com/

http://swipesapp.com/personal/

3. Keep up with the world. Aside from work-related news and a couple general news headline emails, I subscribe to these daily email newsletters: The Skimm & The Broadsheet. They're both focused on women, in different ways - theSkimm was started by young women around my age to get the news in a digestible format and familiar voice to their peer demographic, and The Broadsheet has a more general news-y tone but gives you headlines on women in news/politics/business/culture. I look forward to reading both each weekday morning and feel like I'm not living under a rock.

http://www.theskimm.com/

http://fortune.com/newsletter/broadsheet

4. Keep yourself motivated. I found out about Shine texts in early December and now keep recommending it to friends. Right on the home page it says "We'll text you daily work hacks and reminders of why you're a badass." Uh, yea that made me up. So far, the texts have included gifs of Maya Rudolph, the Broad City girls, and Beyonce.

http://shinetext.herokuapp.com/

So there's 4 1/2 ways to simplify life and feel like you know what's going on. 

Original Thought, and Renaming This Blog

Lower Nob Hill

At a yoga session this past weekend, the instructor talked about our brains having no original thought, as well as how difficult it is to completely quiet the mind, even with yoga. Therefore, we could practice being aware of our thoughts and guiding them. After all, no one actually controls your unoriginal thoughts but you. (And also, when going through a challenging yoga practice, my thoughts were completely guided by what my muscles did and didn't want to do.)

Today we have so many platforms to express our thoughts and see what everyone else is thinking about every possible subject. There's so much content to consume, if we let ourselves. Social media can be great, but it also tempts many of us to spout off whatever is on our mind at a given moment, without any further consideration. Is that really the stimulation we want, for ourselves and those around us? For me, the practice of composing a longer post also helps me guide my thoughts and express them more coherently. It makes me slow down and pay attention, to be more mindful of what I send out to the world. Because of course it's also not just about  "me" or even "you" but the world around us.

And that is the overall purpose of my blog, and why I rechristened it this year as "Mindfully Modern." Throughout the content blitzes and hectic schedules, my goal is to remain discerning and to still be able to see the simplicity in life. Enjoy the world today, and reflect on it. Namaste.

Habit

Self-improvement - I'm a little obsessed. I'm continually trying to form good habits and stopping bad ones (or at least, forming more good habits to outnumber the bad ones!). They might be habits that aren't visible/obvious to other people but still have an impact on my productivity and well-being.

Here's an article to stop a bad habit, and an article to start some good ones:

On stopping self-criticism: small answers (love this blog)
I love how it's called "The Itty Bitty Shitty Committee" ha! Amy Poehler also had some great stuff to say about quieting "the demon voice" in her fabulous book.

10 Better Money Habits for 2015: lifehacker
cuz i'm a groowwwwn woman:

My problem with these convoluted, inspirational lists is that they offer no real value…

Over at Salon, Mary Elizabeth Williams offers up a few rules for being a grown-up that are much more pragmatic and attainable. Her advice boils down to taking care of yourself and not being a douchebag.

http://nymag.com/thecut/2013/11/adulthood-is-made-of-budgets-soup-and-manners.html

http://www.salon.com/2013/11/18/5_rules_for_being_a_grownup/