Ultimate Blog Challenge, In what ways do you live intentionally?

Welcome to Day 19 of the Ultimate Blog Challenge 

In what ways do you live intentionally?

While it's easy to get caught up in the daily hustle and bustle, I like to take a minute every so often to remind myself that I should consciously soak up the moment, enjoy it and be grateful. 

Wait a minute, may we rewind and talk about what living intentionally even means? Some people take this very seriously. They make "intention" their word of the year and act accordingly. 

• For some it means to eat with intention. Make up your mind about what you're going to put into your body. Will there be animal products? Do you set a high value on organic products? Will you only trust what you've grown and cooked yourself?
• Others have intentional relationships. They carefully evaluate the people they interact with and intentionally cut the cords from what they perceive as toxic friends. 
• People want to intentionally contribute to a better world by reducing their carbon footprint, volunteering or becoming a minimalist. 

I wouldn't claim I am one of the above. To be honest, writing about it reveals that I actually live pretty unintentionally, except for what I said in the beginning.

Life is short, and every time somebody in your circle passes away you are painfully reminded of it. Still you can't just quit your job, sell your house and embark on a trip around the world. You have to find a balance between the daily peddling away on the hamster wheel and make your wishes come true. Realistically it may be small wishes, but still. At least that's my approach. I am not a huge risk taker, I like my stability and safety. 

On October 22, Federal Elections will be held in Switzerland. We get to cast our votes for members of the National Council and the Council of States. 

In the canton (state) I live in, which is the fourth largest when it comes to the number of citizens,  we get to fill 18 seats in Parliament: 16 in the National Council and two in the Council of States. 

I think it's comparable to Representatives and Senators in the U.S. Unlike the United States, however, Switzerland's political landscape is much more diverse. Today's National Council is constituted of eleven different parties, even though the main seats are distributed among six parties. Still a heck of a lot more than just Democrats and Republicans. 

Why am I mentioning the elections? 

Because yesterday, instead of blogging, I have spent several hours evaluating candidates. We got a thick envelope full of documents from each party, and some of the leaflets look like chambers of horrors ;-) 

Kidding aside, while it's overwhelming to even look at 713 candidates, let alone do research on them, I am amazed and appreciative of how many people intend to dedicate a good portion of their time to actively contribute to our political system. Many among them are in their early twenties.

I think the challenges of the past years, the pandemic, the climate change, the energy crisis, the supply chain delays and the high prices due to the inflation are important reasons for people wanting to take charge, and I applaud that.

So how does one choose 16 people out of over 700?

I am not a specific supporter of any of the parties. I can tell you which ones I would not elect because they are either too conservative or too idealistic for my taste, but that still leaves a handful of others, and every one of them has some commendable approaches and ideas.

Also I personally know and appreciate some of the candidates, even though we may not share the same opinion on certain topics. One of them is a high school friend, so she'll get two of my votes. Yes, there's a maximum of two votes you can give to one candidate. 

So for the remaining 14, I want to make intentional choices. See, I told you, there's a reason I'm talking about the elections. 

I am thankful that some people developed a tool that is very helpful. It's called SmartVote, and there's even an English version for you to check out. By answering 30 questions, you will not only get your own visual of your political profile, but you will be provided with a list of candidates whose views are most similar to yours. 

Now at least you've got some names and faces to go with. Unfortunately only a few of them used the opportunity to complete their profile with personal words on why we should vote for them. For an HR person like me this is the cover letter I attach great importance to.

That way I found some people I think I like. They are probably not very likely to win. At least the fact that they don't have a website where one can find out more about them tells me they probably don't count on being elected. So if they're not elected, the votes they accumulated will automatically go to the party they're associated with. 

I noticed that most of "my" candidates are teachers, psychologists or students. So I intentionally set out to find some counterbalance by adding people from the private sector. After completing my portfolio with a medical professional, an auditor, an economist, an IT guy who's also a firefighter, and a science person who holds a PHD and is an expert in energy systems, I'm pretty pleased with my work. 

I especially like one member of the "young liberal Green Party" who works for a doctor's office and in her spare time she volunteers with a bunch of animal welfare organizations. Clearly she walks the talk. Also I will vote for the Managing Director of the Swiss Association of the Deaf, and yes, she's deaf herself. 

I will not vote, however, for the complete nut job who is an avowed bell opponent. 

What?

You heard right. She's against bells. Church bells and cow bells. 

Because the Dutch woman felt disturbed by the early morning ringing of the church in the rural small town she lives in, she filed an immission complaint a few years ago. As an argument, the now 49-year-old stated that the ringing of the bells restricted religious freedom. Religious freedom also means that a belief system does not impose itself on others, she said.

Shortly after filing the lawsuit against the 6 a.m. ringing of the church bells, she also called for cow bells to be abolished. Cow bells are cruelty to animals, she claimed, and the noise they make is akin to a jackhammer being held directly to the cows' ears.

As a consequence in the community meeting in 2015, the citizens of her town overwhelmingly rejected her naturalization application. Of the 206 people present, 144 voted against the naturalization.

Yes, in small towns, citizens get to vote on who becomes a Swiss citizen and who doesn't. I don't think I have ever heard of a rejection though. She clearly messed with the wrong people.

I had totally forgotten about her until in earlier this year she communicated she wanted to move to the Spanish Island of Mallorca with her family because that's where her heart is. 

To everyone's surprise she now running for the Swiss Council of States?!?!

So we'll see how she does. More importantly though, how "my" candidates do. I will keep you posted.

For now, let's wrap up this post by asking you: In what ways do you live intentionally?