Holstee Manifesto

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Many of you may already be familiar with the Holstee Manifesto. It has inspired many individuals in the last few years to live their life, and live their passion to the fullest. Last week, I came across this Fast Company article about mindfulness that mentioned the Holstee Manifesto.

A bit of background from the Holstee website about how the Manifesto came about: “Together with good friend and founding partner Fabian, a new journey starts for Holstee. This small team sits together on the steps of Union Square to write down the things in life they want to work towards, value and not forget, an inside document that would later become the Holstee Manifesto.”

It was a good reminder for me as I had forgotten about Holstee and it reinvigorated my thoughts to slow down more. I have a tendency to go.go.go, and not slow down too often. The article mentioned six ways the guys at Holstee handle mindfulness:

Presence // Architect your life // Personal time // Ask “why?” // Know your food and appreciate meals // Understand the impact of what you buy

In this go.go.go world, I try to keep up. I could do a better job at staying present, talking less, and creating more boundaries around my time. There are so many ways in our lives that we can slow down, and yet we do not. I find that I often cram as much as I can into each day. On one hand I live my live life to the fullest, and enjoy each and every day, but does doing that also take a toll? What would it look like to just be a vegetable for an hour a night, rest, relax, and ponder your day? Yet, the Holstee Manifesto says “Life is short.” So maybe as long as you are doing what you love the rest does not matter.

What do you think?

Lash out or lead with poise

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You know when you have one of those days when every possible curve ball is thrown at you, going at the fastest speeds and you cannot imagine how you are ever going to hit it out of the park? Somehow you do, and somehow you do it with poise. Are you like that, or do you know someone like that? Or, do you wish that is how you handled life?

Poise is attractive. It is sexy. Why? It shows that someone can hold themselves together, keep their calm, and not let the situation affect them. I can give you an example. My husband, that man has poise. He will probably hate me for calling him out for having poise, but call a spade a spade right? Hundreds of times over the past 10+ years I have heard him handle people over the phone. He is direct, polite, does not get flustered or angry, yet firm to get what he deserves. Boy, do I have a lot to learn.

There are a lot of aspects of my life where I feel I carry myself with poise, but for some reason (usually surrounding customer service issues) I can sometimes lose my cool, or my composure. Why is that? What sets me off? Often I feel like a victim, that the company has overcharged us and will not reverse the charge, or the customer service agent is rude, unhelpful, or will not fix something that is truly the company’s responsibility. It is easy to slide into that victim mentality and lash out aggressively in hopes that it will fix the issue. Does it work? Sometimes. I have to say that lashing out has worked and leading with poise has also worked.

Maybe the goal is to work towards more poise, and pulling out the feisty aspects when needed?

Must be over 21 to remove nail polish?

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I might have been a Barbie girl, but I am not much anymore. Now I am a flip flop, comfy clothes wearing, keep it simple kind of girl. Having said all that, in the summer I like to paint my toenails. I have never been one to paint my fingernails. I like to keep my fingernails trimmed short, clean and free of polish. Toes on the other hand have an entirely different standard. I’ll tell you why. Feet are gross, and by connection so are toenails.

Since I am a flip flop girl, I spend most of the summer in my flip flops, which means my toes are freeing it all on their own. Since toes are gross, I have resorted to toenail polish. Generally speaking I keep them dark red, or my current color of a greyish blue. So when I came across this newsworthy information I was flabbergasted. Due to issues with using the acetone in nail polish remover for meth, CVS stores now require those purchasing nail polish remover to be over 18, show an ID, and you cannot purchase more than two bottles. I remember there were similar issues with Thera Flu, and now you can rarely find it in the store when you desperately need it.

Note: As of last Friday, CVS has reversed its decision and now it only applies in California, Hawaii, and West Virginia.

What will my toes do in the summer if nail polish remover becomes scarce? What has this world come to? Will we have a future of layers and layers of polish due to nail polish remover scarcity?

#firstworldproblems

A life full of opportunities, building, and being smart

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I want to talk about this. I want to talk about this poignant acceptance speech by Ashton Kutcher flying around the Internet and Facebook. You have probably already seen it. I want to say a few things about his speech. Ashton is twice as old as many of the teens watching the Teen Choice Awards. He is also a midwest boy (Iowa) and went through a lot as a kid with his sick twin brother, his parents divorce, and the trouble he got in as a teenager. He is not just Hollywood fluff. He has lived.

I loved what he told teens in 2013. Teens that might be obsessed with those that have money and power. He did not talk about that. Not about all the glam, money, and fame that he has had in his life, but about working hard. That life does not just come to us, that we have to work for it, show up, grow into our next phase. My favorite part is when he said the sexiest thing is being smart. I hope that those teenagers watching understand what he means. Here are a few excerpts, but be sure to also watch the video below:

Opportunities:

“And I’ve never had a job in my life that I was better than. I was always just lucky to have a job. And every job I had was a stepping stone to my next job, and I never quit my job until I had my next job. And so opportunities look a lot like work.”

Being Sexy:

“The sexiest thing in the entire world is being really smart, and being thoughtful, and being generous. Everything else is crap. I promise you…it’s just crap that people try to sell to you to make you feel like less. So don’t buy it. So be smart, be thoughtful, and be generous.”

Build a life:

“Everything around us that we call life, was made up by people that are no smarter than you. You can build your own life that other people can live in. So build a life, don’t live one.”

PDX: my art home

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Portland has my heart. Other than the small Indiana town I grew up in, Portland is the only other place I have lived for at least a decade of my life. From the ages of 15 to 25 I lived in a few different states while living away from home in high school, college, and my first few professional years. I never had a gut instinct of where I wanted to live my life, there was no city or town that captivated me. I can remember friends in college that could not wait to move to Seattle, LA, or New York. Not me, there was no place that I knew I would call home.

Portland is home now. Every time Chris and I travel, we exhale and breathe ahhh when we arrive back on NW soil. We are endeared by the creative food (not that we always partake, ahem, bone marrow on toast, elk tongue with beetroot, blue rabbit with acorn dumplings), the interesting people, the weather. Yes, we even do not mind the nine months of rain. One of our favorite things about Portland is the art. Last week I learned about a cool event called: Forest for the Trees, which is coming to PDX August 19 – 25, and includes artists from all over the world. It is a public mural project, allowing artists to collaborate for a week via outdoor murals. I am all for it. I can think of quite a few buildings that could use some lovin!

Be sure to check out the blog on their website. The artists have teamed up with a variety of companies to showcase their art. You’ll see videos from the artists mentioning creative sustainability, energy in old wood, and being conscious of your social environment. Another check mark on my list of all the things I love about Portland. I am looking forward to checking out the work that comes out of this week!