Bee’s Musings

I’m a screen junkie. If it has a screen, I like it. I’ll carry it around with me and use it, even when I’m not supposed to (like texting from the ER). So, when I read about 52 Nights Unplugged, I was intrigued. Basically, Ariel (the blog author) has decided to give up everything screen-related for one night a week. I’m sure it will help her engage more with her friends face-to-face (not via text/IM/MySpace/Facebook/etc), get more done around the house, and make her screen-singed eyes very happy.

She’s documenting her progress, along with her rules on her blog. I’d love to try it… but as of today, I just can’t walk away.

My friend Heather posted this a while back on her MySpace blog, and when I re-read it today, it really resonated with me. And I wanted to save it in some small way, so I posted it here. (It has a lot of God references in it, and if you are a believer, or not, its still powerful.)

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Since yoga teacher training started this past weekend, and my boss is out of town (off the continent, even) for the next 2 weeks, I definitely am searching for more ways to get a few more things done every day. Maybe it’s something about doing yoga for 20+ hours a week (plus study time!) that makes me wonder how I can cram even more into an already busy day.

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I was told the other day that I was being snarky. Now, I know I’m a sarcastic person (yes, I just heard you all roll your eyes out there and say “No, really…”) but I never thought of myself as snarky.

Here’s the definition of snarky:
A colloquialism meaning short-tempered or snappish.

After getting that definition, it reinforced my desire to essentially be a better person. I don’t want to be seen as short-tempered or snappy - even when sometimes people deserve it. (Darn it, there I go again!)
Here’s to nicer posts, coming soon. (Either that, or all my snarkiness is going to show up here… not sure which yet.

I’ve spent most of this evening working on my websites (BrandiCJohnson.com and eMediaDaily), and emailing with my good friend Dave, who is working on a paper for law school. At the top of my faithful gmail Account, there was the “Quote of the Day” which read:

Andre Gide- “Be faithful to that which exists within yourself.”

It reminds me of the quote I write every night in my journal - as is the inner, so is the outer. When we are consantly striving to meet the needs and demands of today’s society, we forget to be true to our inner self. Some people call it the “authentic self,” others call it their “soul.” But whatever we call it, we need to remember that at the end of the day, the only person who is with you your entire life is yourself. And if you betray yourself, you have no one left.

Why is personal responsibility missing in so much of today’s society? I mean, honestly.

At work, one of my co-workers asked repeatedly for the tools to do part of her job. Now that she has them, she claims to not have time to use them. Or can we make them push the information she needs to her inbox, so she doesn’t have to *gasp* take the time to log into a website and find the information there.

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In the past few days, I’ve found my patience with people to be running thin. The people driving who dont use turn signals. The people in the store who stop right in front of where you’re looking. In general, I’m quickly losing faith in the human spirit, and the ability of people to even remember the golden rule, let alone live by it.

In times like these, I like to read Mother Theresa’s poem entitled “Anyway”

People are often unreasonable, illogical and self centered; Forgive them anyway.
If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives; Be kind anyway.
If you are successful, you will win some false friends and some true enemies; Succeed anyway.
If you are honest and frank, people may cheat you; Be honest and frank anyway.
What you spend years building, someone could destroy overnight; Build anyway.
If you find serenity and happiness, they may be jealous; Be happy anyway.
The good you do today, people will often forget tomorrow; Do good anyway.
Give the world the best you have, and it may never be enough; Give the world the best you’ve got anyway.
You see, in the final analysis, it is between you and your God; It was never between you and them anyway.

I read a really great blog post today from Fast Company, about how to “Start Before You Know Where to Start.” I’ve been struggling a lot lately with knowing where to start with new projects, sometimes both personally and professionally. So many things seem overwhelming - a scary prospect for me, since I’ve always seen myself as someone who could do virtually anything if I set my mind to it.

I’m not going to say that the FC blog really is helping me to overcome this feeling. I’m hoping that all these feelings pass on their own.

But check out the blog. It is really good. And its got a quote from Nietzsche - you should read it at least for that!

Oh, how I love the site 43 Folders. This tasty little nugget “Priorities Don’t Exist in a Vacuum” just reinforces how frequently our society (and especially our places of employment) try to prioritize our lives based on only one factor: perceved importance.

GTD discusses a great point relating to this - there are truly 4 factors related to when something can be accomplished. They are:

1. Context
2. Time available
3. Energy available
4. Priority

Basically, the idea is that while something may be important, each of these factors must be taken into consideration when making the decision about whether or not you can accomplish a specific task.

“You are in the unique position to decide what’s do-able at any given moment”

I’ll have to remember that.

PS. If you haven’t read GTD (Getting Things Done), its an interesting read. Or just check out the rest of 43 Folders. While sometimes they’re a little too focused on specifics, I often find great tidbits of help and humor within their pages.