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!
This is a Lifestyle/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 15+ 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 which is to make 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; I know that empowering messages are far more appealing than incendiary angling for 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?
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“The cause of Freedom and the cause of Peace are bound together.” Leon Blum
Motivation Mondays Revisiting Easter & Passover
Motivation Mondays: Revisiting Easter & Passover
Happy Easter and Passover weekend!
Growing up, Easter was central to my religious celebrations. I looked forward to the joy of Easter Sunday services, colorful eggs, and special meals—complete with chocolate treats shaped like bunnies and eggs. It was a time of celebration, family, and faith.
When I got married, Passover became part of my life as well. My first Seder at my in-laws’ home was a beautiful and meaningful experience—rich with prayer, storytelling, song, and tradition. Family members took turns reading from the Haggadah, and the seriousness of the story was gently balanced with laughter, shared reflections, a sip of wine, and delicious food. It created a deep sense of connection and reminded me that gratitude—to God and to one another—is essential.
Reflecting on both Easter and Passover, I am reminded that we are all children of one Creator. Faith, family, and shared moments of communion matter because they bring us together. Celebrating both traditions has deepened my respect for all spiritual paths. After all, we are each on a journey—returning to ourselves, guided by faith, love, and purpose.
This year, in the spirit of Easter and Passover, let us pray for global healing and an end to suffering. Let us extend peace and goodwill to one another and keep hope alive. We can all do our part. I will be attending online services, spending time in the Word, sharing meals with loved ones, and giving so that other families may also be fed.
A Shared Message of Renewal and Freedom
Passover (Pesach) commemorates the Israelites’ liberation from slavery in Egypt—a powerful reminder of faith, resilience, and freedom. Through the Seder, families retell this story using symbolic foods, prayers, and song, honoring both struggle and deliverance. “Remember this day, in which you came out from Egypt, out of the house of slavery.” (Exodus 13:3)
Easter, central to Christianity, celebrates the resurrection of Jesus Christ—a profound symbol of renewal, hope, and victory over death. It reminds us that even in our darkest moments, new life is possible. Together, these sacred traditions teach us about freedom, sacrifice, renewal, and hope. “He is not here; for he has risen, as he said.” (Matthew 28:6)
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Motivation Mondays: Goodbye March!
“Our life is March weather, savage and serene in one hour.” Ralph Waldo Emerson
Motivation Mondays: Goodbye March!
Considering all the events that occurred in March, some heartbreaking, others uplifting, mindshifting, or distressing, it is well to bid this month adieu. The thing with goodbyes is that they always leave a lingering and a longing behind… We do eventually move on, but then a fragrance wafts through the door on a sunny morning or a display of colorful polo shirts leaps at you, all quite innocently, at a local store, and the floodgates open our hearts wide again, reminding us of precise and specific moments with our loved ones engaged in some innocuous task. Ah, memory is a powerful thing indeed, and nothing brings it back as well as a scent or a sign… It fades, yes, but we don’t forget. Contemplate the poems below. May the coming months bless us all.
Late March by Edward Hirsch (Redacted)✨️
Saturday morning in late March.
I was alone and took a long walk,
though I also carried a book
of the Alone, which companioned me.
Down at the water, the queenly ship
started moving away from the pier.
Banners fluttered.
The passengers clustered at the rails on deck.
I stood with the people on shore and waved
goodbye to the travelers.
Some were jubilant;
others were broken-hearted.
I have always been both.
Suddenly, a great cry went up.
The ship set sail for the horizon
and rumbled into the future
but the cry persisted
and cut the air
like an iron bell ringing
in an empty church.
I looked around the pier
but everyone else was gone
and I was left alone
to peer into the ghostly distance.
I had no idea where that ship was going
but I felt lucky to see it off
and bereft when it disappeared.
“No winter lasts forever, no spring skips its turn.” Hal Borland
Motivation Mondays: Goodbye March!
How often do we put off things we want to do because we think the time isn’t right? How often do we ignore calls from friends or cut our conversations short because some other trivial distraction has caught our attention? How often do we put off establishing a sensible exercise or healthy eating routine? What about time spent in the company of family and close friends? Did you know there are many credible scientific studies showing that strengthening our relationships and friendships can prolong our lives and keep us healthy? A Harvard University report encourages us to focus on strengthening our relationships by spending time with our loved ones and discarding time-wasting activities. Another popular study showed that our friendships are a key social connection that can prolong our lives
Remember – By Christina Rossetti✨️
Remember me when I am gone away,
Gone far away into the silent land;
When you can no more hold me by the hand,
Nor I half turn to go, yet turning stay.
Remember me when no more day by day
You tell me of our future that you plann’d:
Only remember me; you understand
It will be late to counsel then or pray.
Yet if you should forget me for a while
And afterwards remember, do not grieve:
For if the darkness and corruption leave
A vestige of the thoughts that once I had,
Better by far you should forget and smile
Than that you should remember and be sad.
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“Those we love don’t go away, they walk beside us every day.” Anon
Motivation Mondays: Love’s Benevolent Protection
Love’s Benevolent Protection:
As I reflected on the recent loss of 3 people I loved and cared about, I stumbled on an old Instagram post and decided to expand on it with more insight and a few short poems.
Because familial and friendship love tend to be constant, it is often taken for granted. The love we share with those closest to us is like a comfort food that fills our stomach again and again in that assured, steady way we have come to expect. We don’t have to campaign for, negotiate, or manipulate it because it’s a knowing and it is always there…
We only stop to brace the enormity of it when we experience loss, any kind of loss, but especially the loss of loved ones.
Yet in our darkest hour, if we tap back to memories of good times and even bad times we shared together, we can find solace in our memories. Our memories are like a capsule, capturing cherished and not-so-cherished events that we can whip out or revisit when we need to. It can have healing qualities as long as we wish to hold onto them. When we are ready, we can put them away until another day. Such is the beauty and power of memories, and that is why so many of us make them during our lifetimes.
“She’s In the Sun, the Wind, the Rain” (Excerpt) by Christy Ann Martine
She’s in the sun, the wind, the rain;
She’s in the air you breathe with every breath you take.
She sings a song of hope and cheer,
there’s no more pain, no more fear.
Treasures: “Treasure your relationships, not your possessions.” Anthony J. D’Angelo
As a child, I learned that loved ones served as guardian angels once they crossed into the great beyond. We looked at our ancestral ties as eternal treasures and powerful connections to the land of our forefathers and trusted that they were alive and well, working closely with our Creator to ensure that we were all fully protected from life’s tragedies and unforeseen circumstances. We treasured those relationships, and they carried over into other realms of existence.
This belief was carried into adulthood as we experienced magical moments and incidents that we professed were surely ordained by God’s grace and the pleas of our grandmothers, mothers, and distant relatives rooting for us. The point is that true love, agape love, maternal love, filial love, and the pure, unadulterated, non-transactional love we share with our nearest and dearest have a profound and protective quality. They are eternal treasures that cannot be bought or sold ot cast away after a period of enjoyment. True treasures are not like possessions; they come with no expiration date and non-negotiable terms. They are the time we spent building and nurturing our relationships with our loved ones and others.
A Story: The Last Wishes of Alexander the Great…
On his deathbed, Alexander summoned his army generals and told them his three ultimate wishes:
1. The best doctors should carry his coffin …
2. The wealth he has accumulated (money, gold, precious stones) should be scattered along the procession to the cemetery …
3. His hands should be let loose, so they hang outside the coffin for all to see!
One of his generals, who was surprised by these unusual requests, asked Alexander to explain.
Here is what Alexander the Great had to say:
1. “I want the best doctors to carry my coffin to demonstrate that in the face of death, even the best doctors in the world have no power to heal…”
2. “I want the road to be covered with my treasures so that everybody sees that material wealth acquired on earth will stay on earth…”
3. I want my hands to swing in the wind, so that people understand that we come to this world empty-handed and we leave this world empty-handed after the most precious treasure of all is exhausted, and that is: TIME.
We do not take to our grave any material wealth or possessions. TIME is our most precious treasure because it is LIMITED. We can produce more wealth, but we cannot produce more time. When we give someone our time, we actually give a portion of our life that we will never take back. Our time is our life. The best present you can give your family is your time and your life.
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