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Hello world!
“When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves.” Viktor E. Frankl
Hello world: Welcome to Mirth and Motivation!
FOOD FOR THOUGHT
Respite Reminder: I’m Taking My Advice. Will check occasionally. Back soon!
Welcome to Mirth and Motivation!
Mirth and Motivation is a lifestyle and motivational blog offering an eclectic mix of mirthful and motivational pieces: Life Tips / Advice, Affirmations/Wellness, Women’s Lives, Food, Travel, Interviews, Inspirational posts, Reviews, Peace, and social media ruminations on people, places, and events that shape our lives. That said, I invite you to stay awhile, read some posts, and share your thoughts with this growing online blog community.
I started this blog 17+ years ago, as a way to help agents/staff at the company I worked for stay motivated. This was my first blog post on this site, hence the dodgy title. After the market crashed and we were downsized, I decided to keep it going. Therefore, the main goal was, and remains, to encourage myself and others to keep moving forward. It has been a long and rewarding journey.
WHAT HAVE I LEARNED?
Over the years, I have learned a lot about blogging, its many positives and pitfalls, and how important it is to stay focused on our own Why or raison d’être. We can choose to focus on one of the fundamental rules of blogging: making connections with others by adding value through our message/content, comments, and social interactions. We can also choose to turn our attention elsewhere. It is entirely up to us.
Nevertheless, one thing I know for sure is that if your heart is invested in what you blog about, you will stay the course. Remember to stay true to who you are and why you blog. It can’t just be about monetization. Add value. Help others. Stay Encouraged.
Another thing I know for sure is that we all want to be heard, appreciated, and respected; empowering messages are far more appealing than incendiary attempts to attract blog attention. If your blogosphere surfing brings you here, relax, kick back, and share a positive tidbit on your worldview.
HOW DO WE STAY MIRTHFUL AND MOTIVATED?
Read more…
“Life is either a daring adventure or nothing.” Helen Keller
Motivation Mondays: 12 Life Hacks for Living Well
12 Life Hacks for Living Well: Simple Monthly Lessons for a Healthier, Happier Year
At Church on Sunday, my pastor spoke about developing a spirit of discernment to help us choose when to speak up and to do it mindfully. He raised some key points that stood out for me and even made me laugh because sometimes I need to remind myself to let things go. Some of his vignettes were the following:
But you may ask, what does that have to do with the 12 hacks for living well? Everything. Every day, we are bombarded with ads and messages to do and be more, and we internalize them and give them life, either verbally or internally. Both can impede our progress and affect our ability to live well on our own terms. We are constantly being told how to improve our lives: Exercise more. Sleep more. Spend less. Save more. Declutter. Meditate. Travel. Drink water. Eat your vegetables. Call your mother. Put down your phone. While most of it is good advice, the longer I live, the more convinced I become that living well isn’t a checklist, and it isn’t about doing everything perfectly.
My own life has taught me that lesson repeatedly, and yet, like everyone else, it is an uphill battle to shut out the noise, choose mindfully, trust the process, and stick to my action plan. I’ve had chapters I planned and chapters I never could have imagined. I’ve experienced joy and loss, good health and health challenges, achievement and disappointment. I’ve been an educator for much of my life, yet some of my greatest lessons have come not from a classroom but simply from living. Over time, I have learned that it is never too late to surprise yourself and that living well is a choice we can make at any stage of life. We can start today!
I didn’t become a marathon runner until I was 62. It was not on my to-do list. Had I told a younger version of myself that I would someday run marathons around the world, I’m not sure she would have believed me. Life does that. Life reminds us that we are never quite finished becoming.
Over the years, I’ve come to believe that some of the most valuable changes we can make are surprisingly simple. They aren’t really “hacks” in the traditional sense because there are no shortcuts to a meaningful life. Instead, they are small practices and shifts in perspective that can make life healthier, calmer, richer, and more fulfilling. In short, they help us simplify our lives. So instead of trying to transform everything at once, what if we focused on just one idea each month? What if we borrowed task/time and neuro-agility chunking from Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) and applied it to our one-task-a-month goal? We would train our brain to break tasks into doable plans/chunks each month so that, in twelve months, we complete twelve practices, with the results opening doors to twelve opportunities to live a little better.
Below are my 12 tips/tasks/hacks, each assigned to a month of the year. Of course, you don’t have to stick to the month; it is simply a guide. Begin today!
January: Begin Before You’re Ready
How often do we postpone something because we don’t feel ready? We wait until we have more time, more money, more knowledge, more confidence, or less fear. I’ve learned that we don’t always become confident and then begin; sometimes we begin, and confidence follows. That lesson became very real for me when I started long-distance running later in life. I didn’t begin because I was convinced I could run a marathon. I began with uncertainty, curiosity, and plenty of questions about what my body could do. I started anyway. What about you? Did you jump feet first into a task or a new direction? How is it going, and what are you learning along the way?
A perfect moment to start a business, take a class, travel somewhere new, change careers, write that first page, or pursue a long-held dream will rarely arrive. Sometimes courage is simply deciding to begin while you’re still a little afraid.
Life Hack for Month #1: Choose one thing you’ve been postponing and take one concrete step toward it. Not ten. One. Start today.
February: Invest in Your Relationships
The older I become, the more clearly I understand that our relationships are among our greatest forms of wealth. Our friendships need attention, our families need nurturing, and our treasured relationships need time. Sure, life gets busy, and it is surprisingly easy to assume the people we love know how we feel. Let’s make it a habit to tell them anyway. I’ve lost people I loved deeply, and loss has made me more conscious of the importance of appreciating people while they are here. This year alone, I lost several close friends, including my best friend, Linda, from my childhood days.
Call the friend you’ve been meaning to call. Have dinner with your friends and family without staring at your phone, and send the thank-you note you’ve been putting off. Celebrate someone’s success and listen without immediately trying to solve the problem. Don’t wait until someone is gone to tell everyone how wonderful they were; tell them now, and when necessary, put that muzzle on before you say something you will regret in the heat of anger. As the popular saying goes, give people their flowers while they can still smell them.
Life Hack for Month #2: Reach out to someone you care about simply because you care.
March: Move Your Body Every Day
Movement remains one of the greatest gifts of my life. For me, movement included dance, martial arts, golfing, yoga, swimming, jogging, hiking, and eventually long-distance running. But living well doesn’t require anyone to run 26.2 miles or even one mile. Bloom where you are planted and embrace what interests you. You can take a leisurely walk. Do daily stretching or dance in your kitchen, garden, swim, practice yoga, ride a bicycle, or take the stairs when you can. The ball is in your court, and the choice is yours, so do it.
Through my own experiences, I’ve learned that our bodies may have limitations, but limitations don’t automatically mean inactivity. We can learn to work with the bodies we have rather than constantly wishing for different ones. The best exercise isn’t necessarily the one that burns the most calories or earns the most applause. It’s the one you enjoy enough to keep doing. Consistency is key, and as long as it gives you joy, do it. Don’t get caught in the social media FOMO trap. You are not missing out on anything. Choose how you wish to move because movement can strengthen the body, clear the mind, and lift the spirit. It reminds us that being able to move at all is something worth appreciating.
Life Hack for Month #3: Find a form of movement you genuinely enjoy and make it part of your life.
Motivation Mondays: My Brother’s Keeper
“When brothers quarrel, strangers inherit the land.” African Proverb (Ethiopian origin)
Motivation Mondays: My Brother’s Keeper
Motivation Mondays: My Brother’s Keeper
“And the Lord said unto Cain, Where is Abel thy brother? And he said, I know not: Am I my brother’s keeper?” Genesis 4:9
“Religion reminds every man that he is his brother’s keeper.” Martin Luther King, Jr.
Are you your brother’s/sister’s keeper? Recently, one of my sisters shared the video above in which a community, scared of what they believed was a monster in their only source of water – the community well- decided that a brave man in the community should go down the well and face the demon. No one volunteered. After an awkward silence, a man stepped forward and said he would carry out the task only if his brother were the first man closest to the well, holding the rope that lowered him (the volunteer) into the well. Watch the video and find out why.
What makes us our brother’s/sister’s keeper? The video had me thinking that we should all have the opportunity to be our brothers’ and sisters’ keepers, but it must be grounded in unshakable trust. We can stand up for each other and stand in faith for each other, but it must be based on a commitment not to back down in the face of challenges. Why? You might ask. Ponder it, watch the video, and then tell me why it is imperative.
My Brother’s Keeper by Clive James
My brother lives in fear
Of the hidden cries he seems to hear
Somewhere ahead the King of Hell
Somewhere below a kitten in a well.
Am I my brother’s keeper?
Am I my brother’s keeper?
My brother lives a lie.
When his laughter splits the summer sky
Somewhere inside he skips a breath
Somewhere in there he dies the little death
Am I my brother’s keeper?
Am I my brother’s keeper?
Every second morning now for years
My brother has put on my brawn and brain
To wander through the universe in pain
And my happiness of yesterday
Is walked and scorned away
Before he returns to me in tears
My brother lives a life
In the narrow shadow of the knife
Somewhere behind a hill of skulls
Somewhere below a beach of dying gulls
Am I my brother’s keeper?
Am I my brother’s keeper? via CliveJames
Motivation Mondays: In Silence
“A guide has entered this life in silence. His message is only heard in silence.” Rumi
Motivation Mondays: In Silence
Why You May Need More Silence When Your Inner World Changes — Carl Jung
Sounds of Silence
Four monks decided to meditate silently without speaking for two weeks. By nightfall on the first day, the candle began to flicker and then went out. The first monk said, “Oh, no! The candle is out.” The second monk said, “Aren’t we not supposed to talk?” The third monk said, “Why must you two break the silence?” The fourth monk laughed and said, “Ha! I’m the only one who didn’t speak.”
What does silence mean to you, and when do you use it? Silence is not inaction. It allows us to reflect and respond effectively. In our ever-busy world of cellphones, social media, and endless chatter, our creativity needs an oasis of calm to contemplate and explore ideas. If we don’t give ourselves space to be contemplative and make decisions with clarity and consideration, we’ll keep regurgitating the same old stories and ideas. We need room for silent reflection and space for innovation. If we don’t allow ourselves such places of quiet, we won’t allow our muse room to share something new with us. If we don’t give ourselves time to withdraw, regroup, and respond, we become like the monks in the story above. True silence opens doors. Stepping back takes effort, but you can’t force it. Let’s see it as self-rejuvenation.
Every year, all year long, we hear endless suggestions on how to be greater, better, smarter, richer, and more, more, more of everything. As the overwhelm slowly creeps into our space and finds a home in our psyche, we need to stop and breathe. We need to form a truce and give the pronouncements a break for an extended moment of silence. I am not talking about a forced, fake kind of silence. No. I mean a mindful, intentional decision to make space for silent moments of renewal.
We need time to soul-search and make decisions that are true to our nature. We’ve become so caught up in the noise, the hype, the crafted false story, and empty promises that we don’t give ourselves room just to be present. True motivation and great inspiration emanate from a place deep within. The noise doesn’t touch that place, and we can connect with that level of inspiration and creativity only if we take time to step back and observe our surroundings and the activity in them. There is great power in silence. Explore it.
How do you observe silence? Does it help calm or upset your day? “As a man thinketh, so is he.” Sometimes we make a great show of our vows of silence, which, quite frankly, tends to reveal more about our ego than our wish to be quiet/silent. Taking time to reflect and catch our proverbial breath leads us down the road to observing silence. For true silence is not something we prompt; it happens of its own volition, in its own mystical, intelligent time. It’s a balancing act that evolves, and it’s never stagnant.
Sometimes we choose to be silent during meditation/prayer; other times, events stun us into silence, taking our breath away and leaving us speechless. When our spirit meets true silence, we respond without prompting. Whatever we believe in joins us there: God, energy, our own spirit, instructing us to pause, to be quiet, to be silent. What is ironic is that the moment we decide that we want to be silent, to enter a meditative state, our minds become active with the anticipation and even anxiety that precedes a conscious decision to turn the decibel level down; and eventually off. Instead of forcing the situation, relax and go with the flow. Show yourself the compassion it deserves, as silence need not be forced.
In Silence by Jalāl al-Dīn Muḥammad Rūmī (30 September 1207 – 17 December 1273)
A guide has entered this life in silence.
His message is only heard in silence.
Take a sip of his precious wine
And lose yourself.
Don’t insult the greatness of his love,
For he helps all those who suffer, in silence.
Polish the mirror between the breaths.
Go with him, beyond words.
He knows your every deed.
He is the one
who moves the wheel of heaven, in silence.
Every thought is buried in your heart;
He will reveal them one by one, in silence.
Turn each of your thoughts into a bird
And let them fly to the other world.
One is an owl, one is a falcon, one is a crow.
Each one is different from the others
But they are all the same in silence.
To see the Moon that cannot be seen
Turn your eyes inward
and look at yourself, in silence.
In this world and the next,
Don’t talk about this and that;
Let him show you everything,
shining as one . . . in silence.
by Maulana Jalaluddin Rumi
“I have learned silence from the talkative, toleration from the intolerant, and kindness from the unkind; yet, strange, I am ungrateful to those teachers.” Khalil Gibran
Motivation Mondays: In Silence
One Hour with RUMI — The Journey That Will Change Your Soul Forever
How do we use silence to negate ourselves and others? While observing silence offers tremendous rewards, there are times when we must not remain silent. In fact, the more we ignore an issue, the more we resist a condition, the more it persists and festers. When we refuse to be silenced by our oppressors in the workplace, at home, in our schools, and elsewhere, we are taking a stand to end the abuse against us and also against others. Every time we stand up and speak out against acts of violence, discrimination, and the negation of our existence, we are also speaking for the voiceless and facilitating change. When we see something and say nothing, we might excuse it as none of our business, but the actions we ignore can someday lead to more pain and suffering for people close to us or, frankly, for us.
To be proactive about ending violence, workplace harassment, and other forms of abuse/discrimination, we must all become engineers of change. This requires reflection, especially self-reflection about our own moral compass. Each of us must answer the following questions and search our conscience on why we choose to sit back and turn away from the suffering and denial of basic rights and aid for others: What are we doing for others? How is the tyranny of silence affecting our relationships and other areas of our lives? We can be impactful without being militant. We can exert influence without tyranny. Read the quotes and poems, watch the video, and reflect on them.
Breaking The Silence by Lovina Sylvia Chidi
Shush! Silence
I’m breaking the silence
As I finish this sentence
Six months ago
My heart said yes
My head said no, go slow
In my silence I hid the truth, expressing fear
In my silence I hid my feelings, registering no care
In my silence I hid my thoughts, refusing to share
Any of my ideas
Prosperous is the silence
Abundance of it can turn life
Into a nasty experience
Shush! Silence
I’m breaking the silence
As I finish this sentence
Ceaselessly I’ve combated with my conscience
Endlessly in silence, I exposed my defense
Allowing all to penetrate my territory without a valid license
I should have said no with my voice
I should have asked why by making some noise
In silence, I created an air of suspense
And they capitalized on it in my absence
In silence, all my thoughts mingled
Some of which should have been singled
Shush! Silence
I’m breaking the silence
As I finish this sentence
Silence I demand
Give back to me my independence
