Quitting My Job and Hitting the Road

July 31, 2017 By janersays in Grab Bag Leave a comment

I gave my “I’m quitting” notice at my job in June. I wasn’t feeling fulfilled and certainly wasn’t having enough time to focus on my writing (which is the reason I moved to Los Angeles in the first place). My last day was July 14th. Since then, I’ve traveled to Montana, NYC, and now Iceland. I’ll be back home to Los Angeles in less than a week. I knew I’d be getting a new job once I returned (not sure what job, though!), so I wanted to take advantage of this time while I could.

Travel always clear my brain, and re-sets my mental system. Seeing how other people live helps me figure out what I might want to do with my life going forward. In NYC, I got some inspiration when I met a hospice care counselor at a brewery and talked to her for over an hour about her work. If I wasn’t aiming to be a working television and film writer, I’d be very interested in getting my social work degree.

Anyhow, I’ll share two of my favorite experiences in Iceland so far:

Dettifoss: The most powerful waterfall in all of Europe. It really is awe-inspiring. You feel the pounding of the water trembling under your feet. I imagine it’s like Niagara Falls, though I’ve never been.

Solfataras: This is a sulphur geyser type place. It’s very, very SMELLY. Imagine bad eggs times a million. But it’s very cool, as there are a lot beautiful colors and vistas.

Travel Makes NYC Feel Like Land

July 29, 2017 By laurasomewherelse in Grab Bag, travel Tags: appreciation, new york city, NYC, thirties, Thirty, travel 3 Comments

I have a list of blog topics that I jot down when ideas strike me but I don’t have time to write an entire OMG post. When I go through this list weeks or months later, a funny thing happens. Old ideas don’t always make sense to me anymore. I forget where my head was at when I made the note. I literally have hundreds of these random topic notes. For example, I have one item labeled “a small concession in your 30s.” I assume this was to be the title of a post, and it’s maybe sorta catchy now, but for the life of me I’m not sure exactly what I was conceding at the time. I have some ideas now of what this could have been, but none of them necessarily sound familiar. There has not been an “ah ha!” moment.

One of my topic notes is “Travel Makes NYC feel like land.” When I saw it again after what must have been at least a month, I thought I must have meant “travel makes NYC feel like home”..or even, “traveling for work makes NYC feel like home.” Because I feel like I usually enjoy traveling for fun, and less so for work. But even with pleasure travel, I always end up taking myself with me, so if I had any worries before traveling, being away doesn’t necessarily solve them. Being away makes me aware of other things, which in turn does help a lot, but it’s different…if that makes any sense.

But maybe travel does make NYC feel like land. NYC is my place- I was born and raised here. I know the crazies on the subway well. I know the familiar must-do sensation of pushing gently but hardily to get into a crowded train car. I know what it feels like to know my stop has arisen on the subway, even when I’m asleep. I know the feeling of walking along Madison Avenue on the Upper East Side, even in winter, and feeling the warm comfort of staring at $4,000 dresses through crystal glass. I have funny memories of trying to sell rocks in Central Park as a kid and dreamy memories of listening to concerts on the park’s grass while wondering about life.

I guess sometimes I feel adrift when I travel away from my place, and NYC really does feel like land. My familiarity with New York in addition to getting to be here for awhile helps me feel centered lately. Especially after I’d been traveling for months straight without more than 4 day breaks and suddenly am able stay home for awhile- at least 3 weeks at a time. It takes awhile to clear out the imbalance from all the travel or to even realize it’s there. But I think waking up in my own bed day after day has helped me feel centered when I hadn’t completely recognized that I was off-centered. Having a similar schedule that I can control is similarly appealing. Seeing friends and family when I want to instead of being physically separated from them is very nice.

I never would have realized that NYC felt like land if I hadn’t traveled away from it so much. I might have been one of the many people who gets tired of the big, bustling city and takes it for granted…its easy to be that way. I get that way with other things and have to manually bring myself back to appreciation. But I was adrift in the open sea and then I finally was able to get back to my land, New York, and grab ahold for a second and say yessssssss… thank you beautiful city!!!! And New York feels like a refuge.

What can I give you guys from this experience? I don’t know- I’m still figuring out the lesson. I’m resting and enjoying for now. Perhaps that there’s a centering you can only find if you go elsewhere and finally return. That’s when you really appreciate your way back to where you began.

Is Your Mind Worried About Becoming Jobless and Homeless (or What is Meditation?)

July 19, 2017 By laurasomewherelse in Grab Bag, Health and Wellness Tags: how to meditate, meditate, meditating in your thirties, Meditation, Mingyur Rinpoche, thirties, Thirty, what is meditation, why should i meditate, youtube meditation Leave a comment

A few mornings ago I didn’t feel like meditating. So I went to Youtube, where I get some of my favorite meditation videos, and typed in ‘Meditation when you don’t feel like meditating.’

What came back were a series of videos about what meditation is. A few of them were created by monks, and were quite interesting. I always love when people talk about what meditation is and is not, because I sometimes get asked this question and I can’t think of the answer exactly- not off the top of my head .

Anyway, this Tibetan Buddhist teacher, Mingyur Rinpoche, had a 5 minute video that really clarified a lot of things for me about meditation. I’ll summarize his video here.

First, the problem most of us have with meditation is that there are a ton of thoughts racing through our heads as we’re meditating, and we feel like we’ve ‘failed’ if we can’t quiet them.

But, as Mingyur Rinpoche says, and as many of the best meditation teachers say, meditation isn’t about forcing your ‘monkey mind’ to stop.

We are trying to block all thoughts and emotions and to think of absolutely nothing.

But meditation actually isn’t about blocking thoughts and thinking of nothing.

Or can meditation just about blissing out and being peaceful and open? Why can’t I do that? Why can’t I bliss out and be peaceful and open, dammit? What is wrong with me?!

But meditation actually isn’t about doing that anyway, so relax.

Another problem many of us have with meditating is that our minds will start telling us stuff to do during a meditation, such as “I have to call Zach, I have to buy detergent, I can’t be wasting this time- I have to put my expense report together” etc.

But meditation isn’t about following each and every demand of your monkey mind.

So what the heck IS meditation all about then? If meditation isn’t about saying ‘hey GET OUT!’ to your mind and your thoughts… And it’s not about saying ‘okay, yes sir!’ to your mind.. then..?

Meditation is about making friends with your monkey mind.

So what does your mind like and want? AND what do YOU want? These questions need to have the same answer…Because you don’t want to just give your mind what it wants while you miserably follow (i.e I have to miserably think the same depressing thoughts over and over beccause I have NO CHOICE BECAUSE THAT’S JUST WHAT HAPPENS UGHHHHHHH WHYYYYYYYY.)

But screaming at your mind to STOP THINKING STUPID THOUGHTS GODDAMMIT JUST STOP IT STOP IT RIGHT NOW doesn’t work either. Your mind doesn’t like being yelled at or told to go away or to stop thinking- and it will sometimes royally disobey and do the exact opposite of what you’re screaming at it about.

So what does your mind like? It likes to have a job. “Without a job your monkey mind thinks it’s jobless and will soon become homeless” -Mingyur Rinpoche

Your mind is always active and wants a job. So when you give a job to your monkey mind, it’s a win-win situation. Your monkey mind is happy because it has a job, and you’re happy because you’re the boss. Your mind is your employee and you are the employer-not the other way around. And in this way, you’re free. You liberate yourself from the monkey mind.

So what does this mean????!!!

Meditation is giving your monkey mind a part- time job.

Just tell your monkey mind, “okay mind, we’re going to meditate, let’s do a job right now, let’s watch our breath.” or “let’s repeat these mantra words.” Don’t give your mind a full-time job…a few minutes a day of meditation is enough.

Also, don’t “punish” your mind if it doesn’t follow the ‘job’ all the time…just simply bring it back to it’s job. Your brain isn’t going to stop thinking just because you’re meditating, but when you give your mind a job and step back, you’ll be able to see those thoughts clearly and let them pass by. Mingyur Rinpoche says it best: In muddy water you can’t see anything, but in still water you can see all the fish swimming around.

So get still. And slowly, slowly, your mind WILL become more peaceful and pliable. And meditation really will bring you to a place where YOU are in charge and are friends with your mind…plus you may start to see some added benefits of newfound love, compassion, and clarity.

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Are You Saving Enough In Your Thirties?

July 14, 2017 By laurasomewherelse in Grab Bag, Money Tags: ally bank, barclays savings account, emergency fund, emergency savings, goldman sachs savings account, gs bank, saving in your thirties, Savings Account, Suze Orman, synchrony savings account, thirties, Thirty 4 Comments

Multiple friends recently asked me about savings accounts- the best places to have them as well how much to save. A few optimistic questioners asked if there were places where 5% or 10% in interest exists- or even more.

I’m sorry to let anyone down, but as of this moment, there are no magical savings accounts that will give you 5%+….or even 2%+. Not for regular savings accounts anyway. I wish there were.

If you want to withdraw your money anytime anytime in the near future, which is what emergency savings accounts are for, you need to have an account where your money is easily withdrawn. Other types of savings vehicles, such as CDs, (which are savings vehicles that let you leave your money in for a long time (not for emergencies)), used to promise at least a decent interest rate in exchange for locking up your money for years, are now offering paltry returns way below 2% (not worth it).

However, even though savings accounts today aren’t what they used to be, you should still have one. Here’s why. What if you have a medical emergency, or a major repair in your household? Or what if you suddenly lose your job or, god forbid, get hit by a car and become disabled? There are all kinds of money emergencies that come up out of nowhere. You need to be able to have some money to draw upon so you don’t become debt-ridden or bankrupted by a surprise expense. That’s where the emergency savings account comes in.

Financial experts disagree on exactly how many months of income you should aim to put away, but the responses average around 6 months, with more conservative experts, such as Suze Orman, advising 8 months of income in an emergency fund. So whatever you make a month, post-taxes, multiply by anywhere from 6 to 8, depending on how safe you’d like to be. That’s the goal for your emergency fund.

So if I make 3,000 a month after taxes, and I want a 6 month emergency fund, I should have $18,000 (3 x 6 =18) saved that I’m not touching to go get my nails done or go see Hamilton in the center orchestra. That money is for emergencies.

Now, your emergency fund should not be invested in the market or in real estate or in anything- it should be ready to grab at a moment’s notice. So where SHOULD you keep your emergency fund?

The people who asked me about savings accounts were currently keeping extra money in their banks, where it was making something like .003% interest. Now that’s REALLYYYYY low, even in the land of savings accounts. So below are places where you can currently get 1%- 1.20% interest on your savings, as of July 14, 2017. Here are the top ones from my research:

GS Bank (Goldman Sachs), which is at 1.20% right now. They’re online only, which is fine with me, and they’re what I use. You can start an account with as little as $1. Here’s the link to GS.
Syncrony is at 1.15% right now. They’re also online only. You can start an account with as little as $1. Here’s the link to Synchrony.
Ally is at 1.15% right now. Online only, and very popular.You can start an account with as little as $1. Here’s the link to Ally.
Barclays is at 1.15% right now. They have some branches if you link brick and mortar as well as online. You can start an account with as little as $1. Here’s the link to Barclays.

I get no commission from these links (I wish)- they’re just the best places to save based on the research I’ve done.

So, if you have absolutely nothing squared away for savings, never fear- just start right now. Whenever you get a paycheck, take 5% (or even 10% if you’re feeling ambitious) and put it into a savings account. Automate this if you can- I swear you won’t miss it!

Aim low at first. Try to get to $1000 to start for emergencies- that’s wayyyy better than nothing. Then build up. I haven’t personally hit my 6 months emergency savings account either, but I’ve begun.

I swear, with savings accounts, starting is usually the hardest part. But then you’ll be SO happy you have a buffer.

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OMG I'm Thirty

Everything You Should Know About Your Thirties

Monthly Archives: July 2017

Quitting My Job and Hitting the Road

Travel Makes NYC Feel Like Land

Is Your Mind Worried About Becoming Jobless and Homeless (or What is Meditation?)

Are You Saving Enough In Your Thirties?

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