Welcome to Mirth and Motivation!
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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…
“No day shall erase you from the memory of time.” Virgil, The Aeneid
25 Years Later Remembering the Lives Lost on September 11
CNN10 Special Edition: Remembering 9/11, 25 Years Later
September 11: The Names We Carry
Twenty-five years later, we remember. We honor the nearly 3,000 lives lost on September 11, 2001, and hold close their families, friends, colleagues, first responders, survivors, and all whose lives were forever changed by that tragic day. Billy Collins’ profoundly moving poem The Names reminds us that behind the enormity of 9/11 are individual human lives—”citizens, workers, mothers and fathers,” daughters and sons—each with a name, a story, and people who loved them. Its quiet beauty gives language to a grief that still lives in our collective memory and reminds us why we keep saying their names.
The words/quote by Virgil are permanently displayed in the 9/11 Memorial & Museum, with letters forged from recovered World Trade Center steel. The Museum describes the quotation as expressing the promise that those who were lost will never be forgotten. Do visit the 9/11 Memorial & Museum when you visit NYC. It is highly recommended. Remembering 9/11 and the loved ones of all who lost their lives on that tragic day. Read the poignant poem below. We remember. We honor. We will never forget.
The Names – Poem by Billy Collins via Poem-Hunter
Yesterday, I lay awake in the palm of the night.
A soft rain stole in, unhelped by any breeze,
And when I saw the silver glaze on the windows,
I started with A, with Ackerman, as it happened,
Then Baxter and Calabro,
Davis and Eberling, names falling into place
As droplets fell through the dark.
Names printed on the ceiling of the night.
Names slipping around a watery bend.
Twenty-six willows on the banks of a stream.
In the morning, I walked out barefoot
Among thousands of flowers
Heavy with dew like the eyes of tears,
And each had a name —
Fiori inscribed on a yellow petal
Then Gonzalez and Han, Ishikawa and Jenkins.
Names written in the air
And stitched into the cloth of the day.
A name under a photograph taped to a mailbox.
Monogram on a torn shirt,
I see you spelled out on storefront windows
And on the bright unfurled awnings of this city.
I say the syllables as I turn a corner —
Kelly and Lee,
Medina, Nardella, and O’Connor.
When I peer into the woods,
I see a thick tangle where letters are hidden
As in a puzzle concocted for children.
Parker and Quigley in the twigs of an ash,
Rizzo, Schubert, Torres, and Upton,
Secrets in the boughs of an ancient maple.
Names written in the pale sky.
Names rising in the updraft amid buildings.
Names silent in stone
Or cried out behind a door.
Names blown over the earth and out to sea.
In the evening — weakening light, the last swallows.
A boy on a lake lifts his oars.
A woman by a window puts a match to a candle,
And the names are outlined on the rose clouds —
Vanacore and Wallace,
(let X stand, if it can, for the ones unfound)
Then Young and Ziminsky, the final jolt of Z.
Names etched on the head of a pin.
One name spanning a bridge, another undergoing a tunnel.
A blue name needled into the skin.
Names of citizens, workers, mothers and fathers,
The bright-eyed daughter, the quick son.
Alphabet of names in a green field.
Names in the small tracks of birds.
Names lifted from a hat
Or balanced on the tip of the tongue.
Names wheeled into the dim warehouse of memory.
So many names, there is barely room on the walls of the heart.*This poem is dedicated to the victims of September 11 and to their survivors. Billy Collins
“No work is insignificant. All labor that uplifts humanity has dignity and importance.” Martin Luther King Jr.
Motivation Mondays: 10 Facts Why Labor Day Is More Than the End of Summer
1. Labor Day began with American workers. The holiday grew out of the late-19th-century labor movement and was created to recognize the social and economic contributions American workers make to our country.
2. Labor Day honors American workers. It celebrates the socio-economic contributions workers have made to the strength, prosperity, and well-being of the country
3. The first Labor Day celebration happened in New York City. On September 5, 1882, approximately 10,000 workers gathered for America’s first Labor Day parade. They marched through Manhattan, then joined their families for a picnic, concert, and speeches.
4. We aren’t completely certain who came up with the idea. Two labor leaders, Peter J. McGuire and Matthew Maguire, have been credited with proposing a holiday for workers. More than 140 years later, historians still debate which man deserves the distinction.
10 Facts Worth Knowing About Labor Day
Labor Day: 10 Facts Why Labor Day Is More Than the End of Summer: Every year, we celebrate Labor Day on the first Monday of September. This year, we celebrate Labor Day on September 7. For many of us, Labor Day means a three-day weekend, backyard barbecues, family gatherings, sales, travel, and one last opportunity to enjoy the pleasures of summer before autumn settles in. Still, Labor Day has always meant something more. It is a day set aside to honor work and the people who do it. The original celebrations weren’t simply about having a day off. Early Labor Days included parades demonstrating the solidarity of organized labor, followed by festivals for workers and their families. Speeches later became an important part of the observance.
What do you know about Labor Day? Many workplace protections Americans now take for granted grew out of the broader labor movement. Organized workers and reformers fought over generations for improvements involving wages, working hours, workplace safety, child labor, and other working conditions. In addition to the important Labor history that shaped the world of work and opened doors for women, immigrants, and countless others who had been sidelined over the years, this day marks the celebration and collective effort of workers, laws/lawmakers, and activists who fought to ensure that we remain safe at our workplaces, that children are not forced to work, and that adults are not relegated to work in dingy, unsafe settings for dreadfully low wages. Throughout this post, I have added some facts worth knowing about Labor Day.
“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 a 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 has 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.
