Karma in Practice

I'm taking "you get what you give" to heart this year. Having already resolved to "be more conscientious" in 2015, I'm adding some goals, admittedly stolen from inspired by Kelsey Gryniewicz's post "15 Ways to Start 2015 with Kindness".

I'm not going with all 15 ideas, because let's be honest, change takes time and that's just too much kindness in one shot ;). I whittled it down to nine that really spoke to me, two of which will look familiar (and I've kept up with!!!).

1. Year of Kindness Box - the idea is to fill up the box with things like thank you notes (Who writes those any more? Sadly, hardly anyone), compliments received (I can't believe I already have something for the box), moments of kindness witnessed or done, inspiring quotes, etc. Then I get to review at the end of the year or any time I'm having an off day. (side note: hello artsy-crafty project!)
2. Create a Gratitude Journal - well you've already seen this on my resolutions list. I'm glad I went with doing a weekly journal instead of a daily, because I've already failed on my other daily aspirations. Much easier to set aside 5-10 minutes once a week, instead of a few minutes every day. I know, lazy me.

   

   Simi's Weekly Gratitude Journal - 2015

3. Three Compliments - Compliment the first three people you talk to. If I stuck to the first three, it would always be my family. I think I do this any way, but it won't hurt to be more conscientious about it.
4. 52 Thank You Notes - Write a thank you note every week to a different person. I've "missed" the first two, but I'll definitely be doing this all year. And no email business. I picked up cute thank you cards from Target (a lot of them!) before I even read about or considered this "challenge." Thank you fate.
5. Daily Positivity - Every day, think of a random person. Send them a positive positive message (text, email, social media post, phone call, letter, etc.). This is another one of those I'm sure I do this every day without thinking about it, but, again, it'll be good to put some real thought into it on a daily basis. Putting positive energy in the world should only mean that positive energy comes back, if Newton was really, really right ;).
6. Volunteer - Another one that had already been on my list. Now to figure out how to accomplish this.
7. Smile - Smiling is all sorts of good for you: release of endorphins, boost your immune system, and more. Say cheese!
8. Self-Kindness - Do one kind thing every week for yourself - enjoy a treat you love, exercise, do something you love and rarely have time to do. For now, this is going to be my Art/Craft project of the week. If and when that becomes a part of my routine, I'll move on to something new. 

Now, to figure out what my bad habits are and which one to break. Introspection is hard! Who's going to help me with this one? ;)

2015 Resolutions

There’s something reassuring about having an outline of a plan for the coming year. Putting my resolutions on the web helps keep me more accountable (barring 2014) and gives me the satisfaction of checking things off into the “Done List”.

I've yo-yo'ed back into the double digits with my resolutions this year. I’m being a bit more diligent with the planning and success criteria with each. Hopefully that will result in more passes than fail whales. *fingers crossed*

2015 Resolutions

1.      Keep a closer eye and tighter fist on my finances. There may have been copious spending in 2014; some splurging, some necessities, and some way in advance, “just in case” purchases. Now that I’m a grown up with a career path and everything, I suppose it’s time to be a bit more fiscally responsible by

a.       Doing the 52 week money saving challenge.

b.      Limiting myself to 5 extras/splurges per month.

c.       Potentially getting a second source of income. Writing articles was fun for a bit. Or a personal shopper? There isn’t much of a market around here for that. I’ll figure it out.

2.      Do the PopSugar Ultimate Reading Challenge. If my math is right, that’s 52 books, so one book per week. And we’re already past week one. Oops! Better get on it. Any recommendations readers?

3.      Be creative

a.       Do one DIY or household project (digitizing all print photos) per month. This is more on the handy side.

b.      Do one craft project per week. This is more on the artsy side.

c.       Write a minimum of five lines per day. I’m definitely behind on this. Better start working on the 20 pending lines and work on today’s five as well.

4.      Break a bad habit.*

5.      Be more conscientious

a.       Maintain a weekly “Things I am Grateful For” journal. (First craft project of the year!). The original journal idea is a 365 

b.      Be more in touch with those who matter, especially my grandparents. The more advanced communication becomes, the harder it seems to get to be really in touch with those who matter.

c.       Do a good deed/get involved in social service or a volunteering effort. I used to do a lot of volunteering when I was in high school; while life wasn’t perfect, there was a sense of peace that I think volunteering gave me. I’m also a glutton for instant gratification, and nothing works better than giving back to the community.

6.      Learn a new skill. As usual. Poaching an egg is on my “bucket list” (see number 9).

7.      Vacation with Mishal. We haven’t hung out since Bermuda, which means it’s been too long. Time for another epic time together. What’s your favorite place to go for a relaxing time? I’m in the mood to just chill and take a breather from life.

8.      Visit a new place. This should, by default, be fulfilled by number 7.

9.      Revise bucket list and cross off one item. Poach an egg, make Crème Brule, try making a soufflé, visit a whole sub-bucket list of places, etc., etc... I’m still working on it.

10.  Take a risk* – huge maybe! In theory, it sounds good. I’ll let the year play itself out and see what opportunities come my way.

11.  Secret resolution – to be revealed if it’s a success. ;)

*Inspired by the 2014 resolutions on http://taytayhser.blogspot.com/

My journey online, through the years

It all started with Yahoo!, where anonymous strangers met in chat rooms pretending to be something they weren't, looking for something they couldn't get and exploring the freedom of hiding behind a screen.

The late 90s were all about hotmail and yahoo: instant messaging was new and cool with their colored fonts and smiley faces, chat rooms let you be anyone you wanted to be, talk about anything you really wanted to talk about, and world-class creeps lurked at every corner.

The creeps still linger today, but I like to think I'm a more sophisticated virtual social entity now. We're more savvy, more open, more honest with our online identities. Maybe it's a bit naive and risky to put out your real name and post a picture of yourself instead of a powerpuff girl (yes, at one point, I had a powerpuff girl DP). But it's also been extremely liberating and rewarding.

Virtual society is so diverse and open minded now, it's not scary to be utterly honest anymore. There will always be the jerks who criticize and shoot off their mouths with nothing reasonable to say. But there are so many more people who give concrete feedback, show genuine care & concern, and just plain get you. That makes being scarily honest worth it.

The early days of "social lurking" were about dipping your toes in here and there, putting up false fronts, about making not so genuine or lasting connections and sporadic interactions. (And if you didn't lie in a Yahoo! Chat group then you're either a saint or too young to have actually Yahoo'd ;D)

Today the online experience is more about networking, discovering, marketing, being a brand, being honest and getting honest feedback. It's all about sharing: experiences, information, ideas and more. It's how we connect, stay in touch and maintain old relationships. It's where we make new relationships, find new friends, discover future employers/employees. Since we've started being more honest and open I have "met" some fantastic people online, and have even made one of the strongest and most lasting friendships of my life.

This change over the past 10ish years makes me wonder what the next 10 will bring...?

Say cheese!

If you take a peek at my photoblog, you'll notice I favor a certain style of photography. It's called macrophotography. Basically I like taking closeups of inanimate objects.

After a month and a half of nearly nothing but macros, I can see I'm becoming stagnant. I took up the 365-day photo-challenge for a few reasons, mainly because I like taking pictures. But I also took it up to challenge myself in various ways, and today I've realized that I have to shake up my photo-style as well.

It's definitely time to branch out into other styles such as landscapes, portraits, fashion, etc. But I'm nervous...new things always make me nervous. I have grown so comfortable in this one form that I'm reluctant to move on to something new. But new habits are only formed by repetition, so I'm setting a new goal for myself. I must take at least one non-macro photo per week. This way, I'll get more experience in other forms. But since I'm still an all-around amateur, so bear with me through the experimenting.

Any of you lovely readers into photography? Do share links to your work if you post online. Or leave a thought about my work so far or any ideas you have of what else I can take pictures of.

Thank you!

Facebook Free

I am officially, and very happily, Facebook free!

I'm no longer obligated to accept a friend request from someone I happened to have taken a class with eons ago or some 5th relative-x 20 times removed and then worry about which pictures are appropriate to share or what status is politically correct for everyone.

Several reasons led me to make the decision to leave Facebook for good. Some of those reasons include:
- a feeling of loss of control over what I was sharing and how far it reached (yes I like BestBuy, no I don't care for my face to be used in an advertisement that shows up in the newsfeed)
- an overload of information by others (I really don't care about what song you're listening to on Youtube right now or how many diapers your baby has gone through in the last day)
- having all new opt-out only "upgrades"
- a sense of a breach or loss of my privacy (this is a hot-button issue that is gaining a lot of attention and convincing many others to delete their Facebook accounts)

My day used to begin with Gmail, Twitter, Facebook and Google News. Now that I'm down one used-to-be-permanently pinned tab in my browser, I find it has freed up a considerable chunk of time. Surprising, since I didn't think I spent that much time on Facebook anymore.

At first I didn't know what to do with the extra time. It was very tempting to join another social network or a different forum to fill the space, but I've "been there, done that" and it was time to move on. Instead, I'm making a mental list of all the significantly more productive things I can do both online and offline (ie: blogging, research, catching up on real news, cleaning, journaling, etc.).

I'm very excited to have made a positive change in my life. This will help me pursue more productive and fruitful endeavors.