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. 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 the WordPress site, hence the dodgy title. After the market crashed and we were downsized, I decided to keep it going. The main goal was, and remains, to encourage myself and others to keep moving forward with our lives and embrace the ups and downs we all face. Creating and writing MirthandMotivation 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.
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?
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“October had tremendous possibility. The summer’s oppressive heat was a distant memory, and the golden leaves promised a world full of beautiful adventures. They made me believe in miracles.” Sarah Guillory
Motivation Mondays: 12 Reasons to Embrace October
12 Reasons to Embrace October: I love October because the tenth month of the year brings honest, grounding clarity. Autumn has arrived, and the final quarter beckons. As summer’s intense heat fades, October asks us to step out of the frantic rush and into something more intentional. It doesn’t demand we sprint without stopping; instead, it invites us to examine our pace, anchor ourselves in reliable routines, and find beauty in the moments we choose to pivot. October is a beautiful month to fall into. It is a month of brilliant transitions, where every leaf reminds us that letting go can be a masterpiece of grace and color. Whether we want to realign our wellness goals, dive back into creative expression, or find grounding in our daily walks, October offers the perfect backdrop to turn the page. Below are 12 powerful reasons to welcome and embrace the unique energy of October:
1. The Power of Beautiful Transitions: This is the season I take long drives up the Hudson Valley region to enjoy the changing colors of foliage everywhere. Nature reminds us that change doesn’t have to be jarring. The vibrant shifts from deep greens to brilliant reds and rich golds prove that transitions can be handled with absolute grace. Similarly, we can embrace grace in the small pivots and changes we choose.
2. A Return to Grounding Routines: What routines ground you in this season? For me, it is my daily prayers and yoga stretches. Plus, Autumn makes getting up for my morning writers group a welcome start to the day. As summer’s unpredictable schedules fade, October brings back the quiet comfort of structure. Reclaiming a steady, predictable morning routine brings deep psychological satisfaction.
3. Crisp Morning Air for Clear Thinking: I love Fall/Autumn mornings. The drive to a workout class or a contemplative walk might seem indulgent, but it is necessary for our self-care. The sharp, cooling morning air acts as an immediate reset button for a busy mind. Even a brisk, deliberate power walk in crisp October air brings a level of focus that warm weather can’t replicate.
4. Mindful, Nourishing Fuel: October opens up the kitchen to intentional, nutrition-focused cooking. It is a season of warm, simmering bowls of soup, healthy seasonal grains, and fresh ingredients that fuel recovery from the inside out. Soups are one of my go-to Autumn foods, and I make a wide range that comforts and nourishes me. Let’s not forget fuel for the mind; read more, explore more spaces and places within and without. Expand the mind.
“In October, a maple tree before your window lights up your room like a great lamp. Even on cloudy days, its presence helps to dispel the gloom.” John Burroughs
Motivation Mondays: 12 Reasons to Embrace October
How do we find balance in the Season of change? Let’s start by revisiting our daily routines to create a structure that fits seamlessly into the changing season. A few tweaks here and there make the difference. Add or remove a class, find new trails to visit or paths to take. Structure isn’t a cage; it’s the scaffolding of our growth. As the autumn wind sharpens, our focus deepens, turning quiet morning routines into a steady anchor for our days.
5. Honoring the Body’s Need to Recover: Self-care is a non-negotiable this season. This month teaches us the value of active recovery. Whether you are scaling back workout intensity, focusing on targeted physical therapy, or setting physical boundaries, October is the perfect backdrop for healing. I have to keep reminding myself of this one because I tend to stay in overdrive. Scaling back and embracing the recovery and healing that I need is imperative.
6. Cozy Visual Comforts: I love Autumn clothing because of the color schemes, the soft, cozy fabrics, and the overall sense of being cocooned. Breaking out familiar, soft layers, from a favorite well-worn hoodie to a perfectly fitting scarf, adds instant psychological safety and physical comfort. Add a coat, a favorite hat, and those soft leather boots, and I am ready for a walk in the park to see the falling leaves, breathe in the crisp air, and be thankful for the life I have.
7. Distraction-Free Spaces: By Autumn, the tourists and the maddening crowds leave town, seeking sunshine and beaches elsewhere. As public parks and paths quiet down, the outdoor world becomes more reflective. We can move through our neighborhood or favorite trails with fewer crowds, letting us focus entirely on our own thoughts and alignment. This is another key reason why I love the Fall/Autumnal season.
8. The Perfect Climate for Creativity: Writers and creators thrive in the fall for a reason. The cooler weather naturally draws us indoors to the desk, making it the ideal environment to dedicate time to deep storytelling, reading, or creative development. The calm, quiet air of this season stirs my soul and helps me turn within to find the words that match my shifting mood. I am an Autumn girl even though I was born in the Summer; my heart belongs to Autumn and perhaps to Spring.
“The stories of our Indigenous people have shaped the very foundational fabric of our modern day. And so much of that is just not known, not felt, not acknowledged.” Lily Gladstone
Motivation Mondays: Beyond Columbus Day. Honoring Indigenous Resilience
Joy Harjo in Conversation with Layli Long Soldier: Living Nations, Living Words
Motivation Mondays: Beyond Columbus Day. Honoring Indigenous Resilience. For decades, we’ve celebrated Columbus Day alone with nary a mention of our true indigenous people, Native Americans, whose land we all live on. It took 50 years to reach this moment, and I invite you to join me, and so many of us, in celebrating this important milestone. Today we honor both Indigenous Peoples’ Day and Columbus Day. While the jury might still be out on whether Christopher Columbus discovered America, he didn’t; what is unequivocal is the celebration of our Indigenous people. Welcome to a space for reflection, remembrance, and reclamation. What are your thoughts on this matter? What did you learn growing up?
On this Indigenous Peoples’ Day, I have decided to look beyond the narrow horizons of incomplete historical narratives and instead lean into the rich stories and lives of the First Peoples who have always managed this land. For further reflection, I uploaded an insightful video conversation, “Joy Harjo: Living Nations, Living Words,” above, featuring the brilliant voices of Joy Harjo and Layli Long Soldier as they discuss the legacy, rhythm, and persistence of Native poetry through the powerful lens of contemporary Indigenous literature and a deep grassroots history that spans over half a century. Let’s pause to listen to the stories shared and celebrate the vibrant cultures shaping our collective future. Below, I have shared three moving poems that remind us why this reclamation matters.
As I pause to look at the world around me with deeper connection and gratitude, I am acutely aware that I am not looking back through a single lens of history; I’m honoring the enduring, living rhythm of the First Peoples who have always owned this land. Enjoy the beautiful words of Mvskoke Nation poet Joy Harjo as she reminds us to remember:
“Remember” by Joy Harjo, member of the Mvskoke/Creek Nation and the 23rd U.S. Poet Laureate via poets.org
Remember the sky that you were born under,
know each of the stars’ stories.
Remember the moon, know who she is.
Remember the sun’s birth at dawn, that is the
strongest point of time. Remember sundown
and the giving away to night.
Remember your birth, how your mother struggled
to give you form and breath. You are evidence of
her life, and her mother’s, and hers.
Remember your father. He is your life, also.
Remember the earth whose skin you are:
red earth, black earth, yellow earth, white earth
brown earth, we are earth.
Remember the plants, trees, animal life who all have their
tribes, their families, their histories, too. Talk to them,
listen to them. They are alive poems.
Remember the wind. Remember her voice. She knows the
origin of this universe.
Remember you are all people and all people
are you.
Remember you are this universe and this
universe is you.
Remember all is in motion, is growing, is you.
Remember language comes from this.
Remember the dance language is, that life is.
Remember.
“Remember.” Copyright © 1983 by Joy Harjo from She Had Some Horses by Joy Harjo. Used by permission of W. W. Norton & Company, Inc.
“Humans are vulnerable and rely on the kindnesses of the earth and the sun; we exist together in a sacred field of meaning.” Joy Harjo
Motivation Mondays: Beyond Columbus Day. Honoring Indigenous Resilience
Understanding the importance of Indigenous Peoples’ Day and its roots can help us fully appreciate the power of the modern Indigenous voices we celebrate today. Reclaiming a cultural perspective isn’t a fleeting trend; it is a hard-fought narrative fifty years in the making: In 1977, an international delegation of Indigenous nations proposed the idea at a United Nations conference in Geneva to address discrimination across the Americas. This initial spark led to years of discussion, denial, and set-asides. Some folks wanted to maintain the Columbus narrative to the exclusion of Native American voices, even though historical records showed something quite different.
By 1992, Berkeley, California, became the first U.S. city to implement the holiday officially. They intentionally timed the change for October 12, 1992, the 500th anniversary of Columbus’s arrival, to reclaim the date and focus on survival, resilience, and the continued presence of Indigenous people.
After decades of steady growth at the municipal and state levels, the movement gained national momentum on October 8, 2021, when President Joseph Biden made the first-ever presidential proclamation officially recognizing Indigenous Peoples’ Day. Today, we celebrate Indigenous Peoples’ Day to move beyond old, incomplete histories and recognize the rich, living presence of Native cultures. We are not just looking at the past; we are celebrating the people who are right here, shaping our collective future. The words in the poem below by Rainy Dawn Ortiz speak so beautifully to this truth:
More Than Something Else” by Rainy Dawn Ortiz 1973–2023 via poets.org
Something Else.
Someone else
Somewhere else
That place is here,
In my home,
We are here.
I am brown,
Brown hair,
Brown eyes,
Like cookies Feather tells me, and I like to think it’s perfectly
cooked Pueblo cookies.
My kids are something else,
9 different shades of brown,
All beautiful.
My grandkids are something else,
4 brown eyes, 2 blue eyes,
All Native,
Definitely something else, as I watch them be rowdy, be loving,
be here in this world.
We are here
On this earth
In this time and place
In our homes,
On our lands,
In the cities,
With our families, laughing loudly, cooking together, protecting
each other.
We are something else.
With our songs
Our dances.
We pray with cornmeal,
Eagle feathers,
Medicine bundles,
Burn some sage, make sure to acknowledge the four directions,
as the sun comes up.
We are the something else,
Who were here,
To greet Christopher Columbus
We were born from
This earth,
Crawled out of the center,
Of our mother’s womb; we are important; we are strong.
We are something else,
We are Pueblo people, Plains people, Forest People, Desert
people, Nomadic people, Cliff dwellers, Ocean fishers, Lake and
river fishers, hunters, medicine collectors, horse riders, artists,
speakers, lawyers, doctors, teachers, we are human beings.
We are something else,
We are Native People,
Indigenous to this land.
We are a proud,
Something else.
Copyright © 2020 by Rainy Dawn Ortiz. Originally published with the Shelter in Poems initiative on poets.org
More Below
“To write in service of the writing, not the ego, is a radical act.” Beth Kempton, The Way of the Fearless Writer
Motivation Mondays: Breathe. Write. Live. Repeat.
The breath of the world flows through you.
Don’t let it stagnate.
Inhale.
Be still.
Exhale.
Be still.
Keep on breathing.
Keep on writing.
That’s all you have to do.
Flowing in rhythm, in sync with life itself.
Beth Kempton, The Way of the Fearless Writer
BREATHE
I am still reading Beth Kempton’s The Way of the Fearless Writer, so this isn’t a review, but a reflection inspired by the passage above, which was recently shared in a writing class. “The breath of the world flows through you. Don’t let it stagnate.” Those words stayed with me. We breathe without thinking, yet when we stop to notice our breath, we don’t overthink it. It is the natural rhythm of our soul guiding us through life’s daily chores. We can choose to become present and witness the movement of our breath. We inhale. We pause, and we are still. We exhale. We pause, and we are still again. Memories flow in and out.
In the study of breathwork or pranayama in the yoga tradition, the pause, space, or retention between breaths is called Kumbhaka in Sanskrit. With every breath, we experience Antara Kumbhaka, an inner pause held after a full inhalation, and Bahya Kumbhaka, an outer pause held after a full exhalation. The stillness between our in/out breath is called Madhya. This stillness, and each pause, sharpens our awareness and connects us to the source of life. Each pause, each still moment, confirms that we are still here in the land of the living, and connects us to the divine within. Take a moment to notice your breath; let its beauty calm and speak to you. Perhaps writing asks the same of us: to pause long enough to take in the world around us, listen to what stirs within, and go with the flow, expressing it through a medium of our choice.
WRITE
“Keep on breathing. Keep on writing.” I love the simplicity of that instruction. Sometimes the hardest part of writing is letting ourselves write freely. We censor a thought before it reaches the page. We worry about grammar, structure, whether something is good enough, or what someone else might think. But what if we let the words flow? What if, like every breath we take, we let the words flow; we labor less over being perfect or over writing a perfectly constructed sentence. We write as we breathe. We’ll have time to revisit, rearrange, polish, or even discard some of our words. The first task is to write, trust the flow, and allow the words to come. Last week in my writing class, I got so into the flow of a story I was writing that time flew by, and I came out of my peaceful reverie when a pop-up warned me that the class was ending in 3 minutes. I had spent 90 minutes engrossed in my writing.
