Poetry

What does a poet do but
Grasp the dust motes or leviathan
In trembling fingers
And
Pulls out her own heart fibers
To use as wrapping ribbon
While dripping tears of pride
And
Offers it to say
This was mine
But now it's yours.

Photo from ihatefog Flickr.

Inbox Zero

I've seen a number of folks posting the common question "how do I deal with my email?" It must be a popular New Year's resolution. Here's my solution, which I got somewhere about 4 years ago.  I like to cite my sources, but there's no way I'll find it again.  4 years is a geologic era in internet time. 

1) Pull out in some way (tag, create a new folder, etc.) email that you've gotten since January 1 that actually needs to be dealt with.  Not adverts about discounts for an online store that you might shop in by the next month, you'll have 4 more adverts by then. These are requests, bills, anything that requires action.

2) Create another folder or tag titled "2013 Unfiled." Put every other email in there. All 758 of them. 

Now you have a very clean inbox AND a searchable archive if you find that you truly did need something. 

A potential Step 3 is to create more/better folders/tags to dump emails in.  If you had 758 emails in your inbox, then the folder system is probably not up to snuff.  For example, I need to use my "Little League" folder more often, because baseball emails tend to pile up.  I need to keep them to keep track of practice time changes, etc.but then they later become irrelevant.

Next year, do the same thing. You'll have a "2014 Unfiled."  And each year there will be a bright shiny new inbox.  Then it's up to you when or if to delete the previous "Unfiled."

2010, I'm looking at you.

Minimalism

I've been doing some internet surfing and reading about minimalism.  It's a lifestyle, or set of practices, that espouses finding freedom in not being chained to stuff, or a job you despise, or even bad habits.  There are actually a lot of definitions, and it's difficult to even pin down what it all means because many of the practitioners just say, "Hey, this is what works for me, do what works for you." It's a very non-evangelistic movement, if it's a movement at all.

I went to a workshop on simplicity once and remember that the speaker talked about some of the same principles.  There was a lot that I liked about it, but I don't recall it giving any good "action items."  Perhaps I just wasn't ready to hear it.  I've been a pack rat all my life.  I keep a lot of stuff, and spend a lot of money on stuff.  I could think about it psychologically and decide that it's because of moving around so much. Perhaps I have a need to hold on to the familiar.  But ultimately the reasons don't matter. (Unless I develop a mental illness and start hoarding cats. Then it matters. But I'm not there yet.)  I hang on to too much stuff and there's clutter and dust that makes me sneeze.

I started with Zen Habits which is about more than minimalism, although minimalism is part of the message.  It also has writings about appreciating the moment, work tips, and more.

I then discovered the guys at The Minimalists. I love their real life, no BS writing style, and although I won't go to the minimalist lengths they go to, they have very practical, can do tips.  They talk about how to go about it.

From there, they linked to mnmlist, which is, as is evident, a minimalist blog.  The funny thing there is that it's run by the same guy who runs Zen Habits!

So what have I done so far?  Honestly, not much, except for an attitude adjustment.  From Zen Habits I got the concept of being happy for people.  It's a way to combat annoyance and stress.  For example, I was getting annoyed by a woman on the bus with her earbuds in singing to her music.  Loud.  Like really loud.  Then I thought that I'll be happy for her.  I was happy she was having fun.  I was also happy she had a good voice.  Also, I'm working on the attitude toward my stuff, or getting new stuff.  I ask myself if I really need it.  I also ask if that thing will make me happy.  I need to get new running shoes.  Eventually.  It will make me happy to have new, comfy, cushy, not worn out shoes.  But what I don't need is to race out and get them right away.  I will get them eventually. It may seem like a small shift, but I've always been the instant gratification type, and this new mode is different.

We totally cleaned out the Littlest Barbarian's room, and he was a champion at it. Don't want that.  Don't like that.  That's for babies.  I play with that all the time, keep it. Don't want that.  I learned a ton from him.  He's not all wrapped up in the false cosmic weight of his stuff. (We jettisoned 5 or 6 giant trash bags of garbage and 4 or 5 bags of donations to Value Village.)

Next stop:  the office.  What is in there that makes me happy?  Literally happy, like makes me laugh, or helps me to do something to make me happy?  Probably not much.