Of course, in order to be a good blogger, one has to be consistent, one has to post regularly. Obviously Ms. Sanity has been falling down in that regard. Ms. Sanity’s Mother has noticed this behavior for many a year now–she calls it the “Refusing to write a letter unless all the pencils in the house are sharpened, and you have the most beautiful stationery to use phenomenon,” when of course, the recipient would just be happy to get a durn letter from Ms. Sanity.

Mum’s right on the money there. One should just write the letter. And I know for a fact that I am not the only one with this phenomenon.

I was horrified and pretty annoyed with myself on this Thanksgiving Day when I realized that it has been 29 days since my last post. That’s simply not acceptable. See, when I make a post, I want it to be thoughtful. Original, well-written, preferably well (or at least marginally well) illustrated.

Here are some of my excuses. See if they mesh with any of YOUR excuses. (My father would say: There are always REASONS, but rarely excuses.)

• I’ve been busy.
  Well, we are ALL busy, in one way or another. If Ms. Sanity wants to be a blogger, she needs to blog, yes?
  
• I wanted my posts to be good. Exceptional, even.
  Well, my readers are looking for helpful, hopefully thought provoking information from me, and perhaps a little entertainment here and there, not proof of my substantial brilliance. (heh)
• I wanted to do research and provide LOTS of useful information in my next post.
  Well, even one piece or useful information or one link can make a difference to someone’s life. It doesn’t have to be fifty links! Helping out even a little is better than my silence, yes?

So, now: the flip side is this. I will do my best stop the habit of trying too hard, and perhaps you need to do the same. (Some of us, perhaps including yours truly, may need to watch out for “trying too hard not to try too hard,” but that’s a whole other post….)

Nike’s relatively inspired slogan “Just Do It,” is actually more than a good way to sell shoes. It’s a mantra many of us would do well to hold in mind, and act upon. So here’s my “Just did it” post… and I wish everyone, everywhere, a day or at least a moment of thanksgiving, as we celebrate here in the USA. Have a lovely day.. and don’t try too hard. Good enough is really, good enough, and something is almost always better than nothing…Nobody is perfect, anyway, no matter how hard one tries.

Occasionally I see a thoughtful comment or an infomed and rational opinion about it, and to further that end for people that want to really do a bit of homework about this issue (rather than insanely repeat other people’s talking points…) here’s a few links where you can get some information and make up your own damn mind. Ms. Sanity suggests that instead of just  believing health insurer funded public relations/urband legend lies in your email (which might be said to be from someone’s brother in law)–check to see that the facts are straight.

In the forwards I’ve seen, they’re not even close!An excellent post and analysis about the practice of “recission,” (based on recent comments to congress by a health insurer CEO)…which is when they DROP paying customers because they get sick. This is so well written that even people like me who struggle with wrapping their heads around the math can get what he’s talking about. Link is here.

Yes, there are some people who are worried, angry, totally against reform all on their own and who are not part of an “astroturfing effort.” However, it sure looks like some of the “I’m agin’ it…” stuff happening IS quite literally being run by some PR hacks. Witness this:

Conservatives for Patients’ Rights, the operation that’s running a national campaign against a public health care option, is now publicly taking credit for helping gin up the sometimes-rowdy outbursts targeting House Dems at town hall meetings around the country, raising questions about their spontaneity.

CPR is the group headed by controversial former hospitals exec Rick Scott that’s spending millions on ads attacking reform in all sorts of lurid ways, a campaign that’s being handled by the same P.R. mavens behind the Swift Boat Vets.

Link to the post I excerpted from is here. It’s a post (with some comments) worth reading.

A writer at the wonderfully named blog called “Please Cut the Crap” has posted a most excellent refutation and analysis on some of the email stuff  making the rounds. Here is a MOST excellent refutation of this specific email I’m talking about which is still  apparently flying around the intertubes…. see: http://pleasecutthecrap.typepad.com/…

Yeah, exactly…. please cut the crap, okay? Yes, there are things to be concerned about with regard to health care and its’ reform in this country.  Yes, other countries have challenges as a result of their “health care as a human right” approach. But you know what? Every single person (and I know and talk to many because of the work that I do) who lives in a country with universal health care feels that they have it much, much better than any American but the uber-rich.  They pity us and they don’t understand why we are not effectively having a Bastille Day.

Let’s open our eyes, folks, and be sane. The UK has had universal health care since around the time my PARENTS were born (the late 1940′s.)

Having said that, we don’t have to follow anyone else’s model exactly. (Such as it doesn’t have to be structured like the UK’s exactly or Canada’s or whatever. ) But we do have to do something.  This situation cannot stand. It is up to we Americans to do something about it. But before you go screaming about how awful some sort of health care safety net might be. (Me, I advocate for single payer…) .. take twenty minutes and learn the facts behind all this stuff and the incredible amounts of money that the pharmaceuticals and health insurance companies and so on are playing to keep. The health insurance lobby–I kid you not–has been reported by several reputable outlets to be spending more than 1 million dollars a DAY to block this reform.

Do you think they’re spending all that money because they’re concerned about morality or anything of that nature??

In my mind the only question is whether we are going to collectively get saner about this in the very near future or whether a whole hell of a lot more Americans are going to be devastated or dead due to the health care status quo.  I’m having a hard time believing it’s anything other than the latter. If you are not well informed on this issue you better get that way real quick like your life depends on it. Because it might.

Please prove me wrong.

Instead of using their Federal credit cards to go to brothels and such, these folks are helping their fellow man. Cool!

In today’s busy world it seems that most of us are juggling a great deal. Work, family, friends, and very often in this economy—a side business or two. It can all get to be too much.

And of course our culture, unlike several others, doesn’t typically allow for the long term vacations that, say, many working people in Europe will get—e.g. six weeks or so of paid vacation a year. One would think looking forward to a rest like that yearly could help keep your batteries recharged.

We’ve got to deal with the culture we’re living in, of course, and that means that we need to keep re-charging our physical, emotional, and spiritual batteries on an ongoing and regular basis.

Your faithful Ms. Sanity has assembled some links that may help you to do just that. Complete – as you might have guessed – with a bit of snarky commentary involving current events.

http://www.lifeoptimizer.org/2009/06/18/managing-your-energy/ I’ve linked here to a particular post on this overall most excellent blog on keeping your act together. This post covers the basics…if you aren’t paying attention to the list of things in this item, there’s little chance that you’re going to feel good and function well.

http://www.powerfull-living.biz/blog/ Life coach Lorraine Cohen has many useful and thought provoking ideas about how to live a fuller, more balanced life. Check her out.

This guy apparently was one of the Republicans who were all claiming that  Bill Clinton’s dalliances rose to the level of treason and high crimes and misdemeanors… and whoa, wait, look at him (Sanford) now. (hey, at least everyone KNEW where Clinton was…)

Personally, I don’t think that someone’s marital life or sexual escapades or anything else generally has an impact on whether or not they can do their jobs. I do have a big problem with hypocrisy, though, and with the “it’s ok if you’re a ____ (insert political party here)” attitude. (I do not think that Bill Clinton’s actions were “OK” just because he’s a Democrat. Tacky and in extremely poor taste? Sure. High Crimes and Misdemeanors? Umm, on what planet?)

Usually when people say “It’s not about the sex, it’s about the lying,” as one comedian pointed out not long ago–It’s really about the sex.  But I think in this case I feel ok speaking for nearly every one of the progressives/liberals that I know in saying: We don’ t care about the sex, we don’t care at all who you are sleeping with, Mr. Governor, Mr. President,  Madame Speaker. We just want you to do your damn jobs, and don’t be hypocritical in the process. Is that really so much to ask?

Well, apparently it is, for the moment. But the times they may be a-changing, who knows.

It’s long past time that we stopped pretending that public figures don’t have affairs, have seedy sex, make mistakes, and so on and so forth. The Democrats, Greenies, and doubtless even the screaming loonie party (in the UK) (I never get their name right…) probably do it too. Can’t we just stop being hypocrites, concentrate on doing our jobs, and get on with it? We’ve got people living in tents in America now and a car wreck can leave you homeless and your families financial future ruined.

I don’t give a damn about this guy’s personal life, and I don’t think you should either, but in the meantime, I think people like him (read: all politicians) should ALSO stop trying to meddle in everyone else’s personal lives. We’ve got bigger freakin’ fish to fry, we really do… with all apologies to Mrs. Sanford, who no doubt deserved better.

The Bankers are Not Your Friends

I don’t know that much about Senator Dick Durbin, (though I am glancing over his voting record as I write this) but I did run across this interesting little quote from him today.

Durbin is a Democratic Senator from IL, and apparently he said recently:

“And the banks – hard to believe in a time when we’re facing a banking crisis that many of the banks created – are still the most powerful lobby on Capitol Hill. And they frankly own the place.”

Senator Dick Durbin

How interesting.  I suppose it’s hardly surprising,  since even after the freaking financial meltdown, the banks are still “where the money is…” but it sure seems to me that essentially the banking boys ought to be personae non grata on Capitol Hill, since by nearly all accounts, they directly caused this crap.

Looking at Durbin’s evaluation by special interest groups (courtesy of “Project Vote Smart,”) in 2008 the National Tax Limitation Committee gave Senator Durbin a grade of F in its special report. Hmm, I can venture an educated guess that the National Tax Limitation Committee is a conservative leaning organization in large part centered around keeping the collective wealth of this nation in the pockets it currently resides in. (That is, under the control quite literally of far less than 1% of the population.)

So, if that organization thinks Durbin is no good, my guess is, that he probably has a good head on his shoulders.

At any rate, the quote from Durbin ought to be thought provoking, and since he’s been “On the Hill” since 1996, I would think that he knows what he’s talking about.

The bankers were not the “friends” of this country in 2003, or 2007, or in 1999, when they successfully got the Glass-Steagall act of 1933 repealed under the Clinton Administration…which led directly–if convolutedly–to the current financial meltdown.

They certainly are not the friends of this country (or for that matter, of the world) today.

Oh, yeah, wait. They do make huge campaign contributions.  That’s why they’re still listened to, I suppose. Never mind, my bad. That makes it all right then…

A Sane Project?

I’ve been interested in this relatively new website called “White House Two,” which is meant to give the man or woman on the street the opportunity to voice their priorities for the country to the White House and to their “fellow Americans.” Nearly 8,000 people have joined the site, including yours truly.

Not surprisingly, it’s questionable how much attention will be paid to all this by the real white house/actual powers that be, but even so, I have found it to be an educational and interesting read. It’s located here. For a little more about it, read on. Another interesting aspect is that it has a system of “political capital” which you “earn” by being involved on the site, setting your priorities, interacting with others, and so on. One of the uses of that “capital” is that you can create advertising to actually sway people to endorse the priorities that YOU think are important for this country.

I have been fascinated, learning about the priorities of others, (even those I disagree violently with) and seeing the points at which we agree. It’s also the clearest picture I’ve seen anywhere of what the Obama administration is currently (publicly anyway) holding as their set of priorities.  And not surprisingly, you can compare and contrast the “real” white house’s stated priorities with your own.

I think anything that gets people to think about what’s going on in their country and to interact with each other about their priorities is a good thing, and I think this website is a very useful tool for that.

And I have certainly learned more about some issues that others espouse, such as the “Fair Tax” (wildly “endorsed” on this site, by the way) and a few others. Check it out. The more people that participate, the better.

For you social media buffs, it also will integrate, apparently with Facebook, and you can also find some of the Twitter people on there. I’d be interested to know what people think about it!

Free Your Mind, And the Rest Will Follow

In today’s relatively manic world, it’s very common for many of us to feel as though our lives are out of control. The good news is that if we are feeling that way, it doesn’t have to be permanent. Read on for some simple advice that any of us can use to help simplify our lives – today.

As a preview, I’m starting with #10, which in essence is simply to “single- task.” Many of us, including me, proudly proclaim that we are multi-tasking on a near-constant basis. Studies have shown that people actually get MORE done, when they do one thing at a time.  Read on for more.

Many of you may not be familiar with the wonderful blog “Zen Habits” by Leo Babauta.

Accordingly, and with his permission, I’d like to share ten tips he offered on relatively fast actions any of us can take today to move toward  a life of more simplicity.

His suggestion, and I believe it’s a good one, is to not try to do all ten of these things at one time, on one day. We all have to “start where we are.” Getting one thing done toward a simpler life, is a step in the right direction.

1. Make a short list. Take out a sheet of paper and fold it into a small square, perhaps 3×5 inches. Or take out an index card. Now make a short list of the 4-5 most important things in your life. What’s most important to you? What do you value most? What 4-5 things do you most want to do in your life? Simplifying starts with these priorities, as you are trying to make room in your life so you have more time for these things.

2. Drop 1 commitment. Think about all the things in your life that you’re committed to doing, and try to find one that you dread doing. Something that takes up time but doesn’t give you much value. Perhaps you’re on a team, or coaching something, or on a board or committee, or whatever. Something that you do each day or week or month that you don’t really want to do. Now take action today to drop that commitment. Call someone, send an email, telling the appropriate person or people that you just don’t have the time. You will feel relief. I’d recommend dropping all commitments that don’t contribute to your short list (from Item #1), but for today, just drop 1 commitment.

3. Purge a drawer. Or a shelf, or a countertop, or a corner of a room. Not an entire room or even an entire closet. Just one small area. You can use that small area as your base of simplicity, and then expand from there. Here’s how to purge: 1) empty everything from the drawer or shelf or corner into a pile. 2) From this pile, pick out only the most important things, the stuff you use and love. 3) Get rid of the rest. Right now. Trash it, or put it in your car to give away or donate. 4) Put the stuff you love and use back, in a neat and orderly manner.

4. Set limits. Read Haiku Productivity for more. Basically, you set limits for things you do regularly: email, RSS posts, tasks, feeds, items in your life, etc. And try to stick with the limits. Today, all you have to do is set limits for a few things in your life. Tomorrow, try to stick with them.

5. Simplify your to-do list. Take a look at your to-do list. If it’s more than 10 items long, you can probably simplify it a bit. Try to find at least a few items that can be eliminated, delegated, automated, outsourced, or ignored. Shorten the list. This is a good habit to do once a week.

6. Free up time. Simplifying your life in general is a way to free up time to do the stuff you want to do. Unfortunately, it can be hard to find time to even think about how to simplify your life. If that’s the case, free up at least 30 minutes a day for thinking about simplifying. Or alternatively, free up a weekend and think about it then. How can you free up 30 minutes a day? Just a few ideas: wake earlier, watch less TV, eat lunch at your desk, take a walk for lunch, disconnect from the Internet, do email only once today, shut off your phones, do 1 less thing each day.

7. Clear your desk. I can personally attest to the amazing feeling that a clean desk can give you. It’s such a simple thing to do, and yet it does so much for you. If your desk is covered with papers and notes and gadgets and office supplies, you might not be able to get this done today. But here are the basic steps: 1) Clear everything off your desk and put it in a pile (either in your inbox or on the floor). 2) Process the pile from top to bottom, one item at a time. Do not defer decisions on any item — deal with them immediately and quickly. 3) For each item, either file it immediately, route it to someone else, trash it, or note it on your to-do list (and put it in an “action” folder). If it’s a gadget or office supply, find a place for it in your desk drawers (or get rid of it). 4) Repeat until your pile is empty and your desk is clear. Be sure to get rid of any knick knacks. Your desk should have your computer, your inbox, perhaps a notepad, and maybe a family photo (but not many). Ahh, a clear desk! 5) From now on, put everything in your inbox, and at least once a day, process it in the same way as above.

8. Clear out your email inbox. This has the same psychological effect as a clear desk. Is your email inbox always full of read and unread messages? That’s because you’re delaying decisions on your emails. If you have 50, let’s say, or fewer emails in your inbox, you can process them all today. If you have hundreds, you should put them in a temporary folder and get to them one chunk at a time (do 20 per day or something). Here’s how you process your inbox to empty — including emails already in your inbox, and all future incoming emails: 1) process them top to bottom, one at a time, deciding and disposing of each one immediately. 2) Your choices are to delete, archive, respond immediately (and archive or delete), forward (and archive or delete), or mark it with a star (or something like that) and note it on your to-do list to respond to later (and archive). 3) Process each email like that until the inbox is empty. 4) Each time you check your email, process to empty. Ahh, an empty inbox!

9. Move slower. We rush through the day, from one task to another, from one appointment to another, until we collapse on the couch, exhausted, at the end of the day. Instead, simplify your life by doing less (see Items 1, 4 and 5) and doing them more slowly. Eat slower, drive slower, walk slower, shower slower, work slower. Be more deliberate. Be present. This isn’t something you’re going to master today, but you can start practicing today.

10. Single-task. Instead of multi-tasking, do one thing at a time. Remove all distractions, resist any urge to check email or do some other habitual task like that while you’re doing the task at hand. Stick to that one task, until you’re done. It’ll make a huge difference in both your stress level and your productivity.

The key words, to this helpful advice, in my opinion, is to “Be present. This isn’t something you’re going to master today, but you can start practicing today.” In our “gratification now” American culture, this is, I think, an excellent and profound reminder.

Make today a good one, one step at a time!

In it, among many other useful thoughts and ideas, I came upon his exhortation that we should all  “Increase our capacity to help other people increase THEIR capacities.”  In other words–to get better at helping others, well, get better (presumably better at whatever it is that they want to be better AT.)

Now I am not egotistical enough to think for one second that I can help everyone with everything. For instance if you want to get better at math, you are barking up the wrong blog, I’m a verbal girl if there ever was one.

I suppose the premise for this blog in toto was to hopefully gently point out some parts of modern life which are insane, and steer the reader to more, well, sane points of view/actions/thinking/tactics.

But I’d really like to know… what are the things that the readers around here would like to get better at? Do you want to know more about social media or blogging? Or how to not go insane when you’re worried about money? Or how to spot absolute insanity in a  prospective romantic partner?

Do tell. And I’ll do my best to help. I may not know the answers, but I am great at finding people who do!

It seems to me that if even a tenth of our culture became fixated on at least occasionally “increasing their capacity to help others increase their capacities” our country and world would be MUCH stronger, as a result.

What say you?

Puritans are so 1700. Don't censor me!

Look, I’m all for people having religious freedom, I really am.  I’m all for people believing whatever they want. I am, however, more than a little tired of puritanical people making decisions about what other adults can see and hear, say on television.

For instance we happened to be up at about 12:30 the other night watching something or other, and the word “damn,” had been edited out. Damn!  I also am not impressed when those warnings come up at 11:30 p.m.  (e.g. “This show is not suitable for children.”) AND it’s also censored. It annoys me to no end. Responsible parents have their *#^$%#)(# children in bed at a decent hour. (Look, I just censored MYSELF!) Just because some people don’t see fit to put their kids to bed at a humane hour, I have to suffer through movies where “you bastard” gets censored to “you rat head!” It’s insane!

Look, I just don’t understand why our sensibilites are considered to be so delicate that we can’t handle language on television. If the puritanical among us get all gooey when someone says “bastard,” then there is an easy solution. Change the frigging channel!

I have some hope that my generation (which is mostly still not the powers that be, I’m speaking of people born in the late 60s’) will move the cause of NON-Puritanism further.

I mean, I don’t like hardcore violence or snuff films. Ergo, I don’t watch them. I’m not leading a campaign to have them all CENSORED. Where do these puritans get off?

In other words, I’m one of the millions out here that can handle profanity. It’s the way people talk. Film makers and the lot shouldn’t have to do backflips to try to evade the language police. We are grownups out here in the hinterland. We can decide for ourselves if something is too racy.

We’ve got far bigger societal problems to tackle besides freaking language and content on television.

But you don’t have to take it from me, ask Lewis Black. Now there’s a man who gives me hope.

All your data belongs to...whoops, never mind.

I saw a great comment on Twitter lately; having to do with the recent kerfluffle over Facebook’s (now reversed)change in their “Terms of Service,” where for perhaps a period of 24 hours it said something like “All your data are belong to us forever and always if you put it on Facebook.” Within hours, after people got justifiably annoyed about that, Facebook changed their mind and backtracked.The great comment was “Why do we freak out over so little?” and it’s a point well taken, I thought. Economists are suggesting with straight faces that we start hoarding scotch and gold, people are losing their jobs ever two seconds all over the frigging world, 17,000 more troops are apparently heading to Afghanistan, yet people are freaking the hell out over facebook? (now, I’m saying this as someone who did react to the Facebook crap by thinking, well I’m never going to that site again, but then I’ve not been on there in ages anyway, since someone I don’t particularly want to talk to “found” me on there.)

Still, the twitterer (whose name escapes me, sorry.) was spot on. Priorities people. Facebook can do what it wants. Or not. Seems to me we’ve got FAR more important things to focus on. And we do. Individually and collectively.

For an upbeat thing, check out this “Random Acts of Kindness” initiative here.  It’s a way more important thing, whoever the people are that started it.