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Motivation 2020: Easter & Passover
“Let us be “protectors” of creation, protectors of God’s plan inscribed in nature, protectors of one another and of the environment. Let us not allow omens of destruction and death to accompany the advance of this world.” Pope Francis
Motivation 2020: Easter & Passover
Passover and Easter are the only Jewish and Christian holidays that move in sync… Marvin Olasky
Jews have God’s promise and if we Christians have it, too, then it is only as those chosen with them, as guests in their house, that we are new wood grafted onto their tree. Karl Barth
Happy Easter & Passover: How are you planning to celebrate Easter and Passover this year? With the ongoing global battle to contain the Covid19 virus, Easter and Passover gatherings will be celebrated differently. There will be no church or temple services as most of us are sheltered-in-place. There will be online services and, for families that live together, the celebrations will be made up of just immediate family with no invited guests. While this might seem severe or isolating, it is a time for reflection, communication, and gratitude for what we do have … LIFE. This year, Passover began on April 9 and will end on April 16. Easter, on the other hand, is on April 12, with some important celebrations leading up to it including; Palm Sunday and Good Friday. If like me, you come from a multi-faith home, you’d know that celebrating both traditions brings unity and understanding across cultures and beliefs. This season is a great motivator in that it brings us together to appreciate our differences while celebrating our common bonds. Raising kids in a multi-faith household taught me that the best lessons learned are not only of religious tolerance but of the recognition that we are all on a spiritual journey and that with love, respect, and consideration, we can see that all roads meet and lead to something greater than ourselves. When we factor in the current global challenges, this must also be a time to remember families that are struggling and consider how we can help others with our contributions.
Growing up, Easter was central to my religious celebrations and I looked forward to all the fun events, colorful eggs, and great food. We attended Easter Sunday services and enjoyed a special meal with the usual bunny rabbit chocolate eggs as treats. When I got married, we added Passover to our celebrations and had Seder at my in-laws. My first Seder was a beautiful celebration of prayer, food, and song. Family members took turns reading from the Haggadah and the serious tone of the readings was balanced by humor, a sip of wine and good food. The sharing of a meal and readings created a bond between those present and a reminder that gratitude to the creator and community effort is key. When I think about my Easter and Passover experiences, I am reminded that we are all children of one Creator and that faith, family, and communion matter because they pull us together. Celebrating both traditions affirmed and continues to affirm my love and respect for all religious and spiritual paths; after all, we are on a spiritual journey to ourselves. This year, in the spirit of Easter and Passover, let’s pray for global healing and an end to the current scourge. Let’s extend blessings of peace and goodwill to each other and keep hope alive. We can all do our part. I plan to attend a few online services and bathe in the word of God. I will enjoy meals with loved ones at home and contribute so other families can be fed.
Support: America’s Food Fund
READ: Reflections: Memories Of Easter & Passover…
Motivation Mondays: Reflections On Easter & Passover
“We need to find God, and he cannot be found in noise and restlessness. God is the friend of silence. See how nature – trees, flowers, grass- grows in silence; see the stars, the moon, and the sun, how they move in silence… We need silence to be able to touch souls.” Mother Teresa
Motivation 2020: Easter & Passover
The message of Passover remains as powerful as ever. Freedom is won not on the battlefield but in the classroom and the home. Teach your children the history of freedom if you want them never to lose it. Jonathan Sacks
The great gift of Easter is hope – Christian hope which makes us have that confidence in God, in his ultimate triumph, and in his goodness and love, which nothing can shake. Basil Hume
What does Easter & Passover Mean to You? One of the special gifts we receive at Easter is a spirit of renewal; it is a time of rebirth and an opportunity to start afresh again. With Passover, we are reminded of the importance of religious and personal freedom and sacrifice. I have always loved the idea of being resurrected/renewed and liberated to accomplish all the things we put aside. Yet, there is more we could learn about both traditions because shedding more light on them gives others a better understanding of why it matters to us and it gives us a refresher course on why it should matter.
What Do You Know About Easter? Easter celebrates the resurrection of Jesus on the third day after his death by crucifixion.
Easter Day covers the fifty-day season from Easter Sunday through Pentecost.
Easter has a special flower, the white lily, which symbolizes the resurrection.
Painted Easter eggs were originally called Pysanka, and they were painted bright colors to represent the sunlight of spring.
Easter is a moveable feast which means that it is not on a set day every year but falls between March 22nd and April 25th.
As for the Easter bunny and egg, the bunny was first mentioned by Georg Franck von Frankenau’s De Ovis Paschalibus (Easter Bunny Eggs) in the 17th Century. Stories of rabbits laying Easter eggs were shared in Pennsylvania in the 19th century and the German legend of Osterhas told of good children receiving brightly colored eggs for Easter. The festive air, spirited church services, brightly colored new dresses, and chocolate eggs made Easter one of my favorites.
What Do You Know About Passover? Passover holiday is called Pesach in Hebrew.
Passover Seder is a festive family meal that is shared on either the first or second night of Passover
Passover references the passing over of the firstborn Jewish males when the death plague hit Egypt.
The Haggadah is a Jewish text that tells the story of the Passover and portions are read during the Seder.
Passover holiday has three names: Pesach – literally meaning the Passover sacrifice; Hag Hamatzot – Feast of Unleavened Bread; and Zeman Heirutenu – the Season of Our Freedom
Traditionally, four cups of wines are consumed at the festive meal of Passover night and Matzoh, unleavened bread, is eaten for seven or all eight days of Passover.
Dayeynu is the popular, traditional Hebrew song performed during Passover.
READ: Motivation Mondays: RESURRECTION
Motivation Mondays: REBIRTH
The details for Motivation Mondays are below. Join in! The themes for MAR – APR 2020 are:
03/01 – 01 Zero Discrimination Day
03/08 – 08 International Women’s Day, 13 World Sleep Day, 14 Pi Day
03/15 – 15 Consumer Rights Day, 17 St Patrick’s Day, 19 Start of Spring, 20 International Day of Happiness, 21 World Poetry Day
03/22 – 22 World Water Day, 25 Day of Remembrance of Slavery, 28 Earth Hour
03/29 – 29 Veterans Day
04/01 – 01 April Fool’s Day, Autism Awareness Month
04/05 – 05 Palm Sunday, 06 Int’l. Day of Sport for Devel. & Peace, 09 Holy Thursday/ Start of Passover, 10 Good Friday
04/12 – 12 Easter Sunday, 15 Jackie Robinson Day, 16 Passover (End), Nat’l. High Five Day, 17 Nat’l. Haiku Poetry Day
04/19 – 19 Bicycle Day, 21 Holocaust Remembrance of Slavery, 22 Earth Day, 24 Start of Ramadan/Arbor Day, 25 DNA Day/ World Malaria Day
04/26 – 26 World Intellectual Property Day, 28 World Day for Safety and Health at Work, 29 Duke Ellington Day/Int’l. Dance Day
Are You Looking for Ways to Stay Creative in 2019?
- Join Our Blog Support & Engagement Group
- Check out the Daily Post for Inspiration. Resources. Idea
- Checkout Your Daily Word Prompts
- Check out SheKnows for SheKnows Living
MORE BELOW Read more…
“This is the time for facts, not fear. This is the time for rationality, not rumors. This is the time for solidarity, not stigma. We are all in this together, and we can only stop it together.” Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of WHO
Motivation 2020: Thoughts & Tips on #Covid19
Motivation 2020: Thoughts & Tips on #Covid19
I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear. Nelson Mandela
Your present circumstances don’t determine where you can go; they merely determine where you start. Nido Qubein
You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself, ‘I have lived through this horror. I can take the next thing that comes along.’ You must do the thing you think you cannot do. Eleanor Roosevelt
Thoughts and Tips on Covid-19 – Some Background: In the fall of 2019, a mysterious and serious illness surfaced in Wuhan, China. Researchers soon identified it as severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 with devastating outcomes in the region. Lives were lost as acute respiratory and organ failure were markers of the disease. By February 11, 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) renamed the novel Coronavirus as Covid-19 and, as it spread across the globe, called it a pandemic. Today, according to WHO, there are 210 affected countries, 2.8M cases, and 196k deaths … and other sources show it rising. In the USA, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ( CDC) numbers are equally sobering with 928k affected cases and 52k deaths… and rising.
My state, New York, is now a major epicenter of the spread in the US and we are doing our best to contain it and follow the safety directives and orders from our very able Governor, Andrew Cuomo. The last two weeks have been a harrowing lesson in how lives can change in a matter of days. The impact on the economy and daily life as we know it is huge. The physical and mental concerns grow every day. Some form of paranoia is gripping our communities as we look at each other wondering: Does he/she have it? Is that itch in my throat/eye a sign? Am I next? Are you next? These are honest concerns and the harsh reality is that we need to be supremely careful and do our darndest to stay healthy. We need to find outlets to help us stay positive, we need to stay accurately informed, and we need to act in ways that keep us and others safe. We now have a slew of vocabulary words that have become ubiquitous; social distancing, pandemic, novel corona, epicenter, panic buying/hoarding, self-isolation, quarantine, shelter-in-place, containment, lockdown, triage, front liners, non-essential services, toilet paper tyrants, virus vampires, and more…
Covid-19 in My Community: When the news first came out about a case in New Rochelle, Westchester County, I suspect most of us who live in Westchester County felt that it would be contained there and not spread to the rest of the county. But it did. It spread to all of our neighboring counties and, as the numbers and casualties increased, the casual approach many had adopted was quickly replaced by one of grave concern. I live in Westchester County and, for a few weeks, we went about our business as usual; going to work, shopping, taking gym classes, going to the movies, and gathering for all sorts of events. As the numbers grew and our Governor started implementing stricter guidelines, panic set in. Soon, our schools shut down, non-essential businesses were told to close, people started rushing to stores to stock up on essentials and the hoarders were in full swing grabbing multiples of everything off the shelves. Hand sanitizers, toilet paper, and paper towels were the first to fly off the shelves and disappear.
I remember going to Bed, Bath and Beyond, before the panic buying set in, to pick up towels one day and I saw a huge vat of sanitizers upstairs. Within a couple of days, they were all GONE and things haven’t changed much since. Initially, I went out shopping, as usual, picking up extra items for my home. The lines were so long at Costco that I simply stopped going there because it occurred to me that standing in a long line for 45 minutes was not safe; social distancing wasn’t the norm yet. Instead, I went to my local Sam’s Club, Trader Joe’s, Stop and Shop, and Whole Foods either very early or late. As time went by, I stopped going to places with any large gathering of people, including the stores. Maybe because this is the suburbs, it is a bit easier to self-isolate. We drive to everything and our private spaces are not as confined as New York City. That said, we still feel the impact and the loss of life and freedoms. It’s a very surreal experience. This is a time of great anxiety but, don’t forget that there are tons of resources out there. Throughout my post, I’ve added some that I’ve turned to and there is more. Have faith and do not despair. There is a light at the end of the tunnel as this pandemic is forcing us all to go within for answers and to spend time indoors refocused on a new way of being. What are you doing differently? How are you coping?
UPDATE: With our Shelter-in-Place/Lockdown orders entering its 3rd month, and still in effect till the end of the month and perhaps beyond, many New Yorkers are now in need of masks and financial assistance to stay afloat.
CDC: Coronavirus (COVID-19)
WHO: Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) Pandemic
Anxiety Relief Workshop | Gabby Bernstein
Motivation Mondays: FEAR #mondaymotivation
Out of suffering have emerged the strongest souls; the most massive characters are seared with scars. Khalil Gibran
Motivation 2020: Thoughts & Tips on #Covid19
Motivation 2020: Thoughts & Tips on #Covid19
Happy #Juneteenth. After 111 days, I’m giving my final daily COVID briefing. Watch now: https://t.co/Pq9WurzYd8
— Andrew Cuomo (@NYGovCuomo) June 19, 2020
UPDATE: 111 Days of daily meetings and updates from our very own and beloved Governor Andrew Cuomo ends today 6/19/20. Infection rates in NY are down. Most of us are being considerate and wearing masks, washing our hands regularly, and maintaining social distance when we go outside. Those who don’t we hope will reconsider because there is still no cure and the virus is particularly brutal to high-risk people. Dear Gov, Thank you for your leadership. You led with clarity and compassion. Grateful to be a New Yorker #NewYorkTough #gratitude
Stay safe, vigilant, and prayerful all.
COVID-19: Johns Hopkins University Experts Discuss Pandemic Response, Social Distancing, and More
Coronavirus – seven steps to prevent the spread of the virus
We are only at the beginning of this fight, we need to stay calm, stay united, and work together. Gam Kim Yong
Each of us must confront our own fears, must come face to face with them. How we handle our fears will determine where we go with the rest of our lives. To experience adventure or to be limited by the fear of it. Judy Blume
What Can We Do To Stay Sane/Positive?: How are you doing today? What are you doing to stay healthy and mentally strong? For starters, stay accurately informed through the CDC and WHO. Another important action to take is to cut back on excessive media consumption. There is so much negative and fake news circulating that it can become quite overwhelming. Go to the two health sites mentioned above, maybe add your local news channel and a couple of reputable newspapers and magazines and ignore the rest. Respect the directives of your government. Listen to what your state/national leaders share daily and follow the instructions.
Nourish your body and mind with good, positive, healing foods. In the mad rush to stock up, people have been loading up on snacks and processed foods. Remember that fresh produce, fruits and vegetables, and healthy proteins will support the immune system and help us stay well. Buy them too! Eat healthy meals, Vitamin C, fluids, replenish fresh foods, and maintain a meal routine to avoid panic or stress binging. Exercise Safely. I take Restorative Yoga classes (via zoom) 3-4 days a week, and long daily nature walks with an audible book in tow. I come home refreshed and inspired. Stay fit by taking quiet nature walks, running outside away from crowds, doing yoga and other exercises at home. Play uplifting music you love and dance away. All of those actions will bring a positive flow of energy to your space. Stay connected to your support system. Communicate with loved ones. Social distancing doesn’t mean total isolation so check-in, by phone and safe ways, with loved ones and other supportive communities.
What More? Gratitude. Learn a skill. Manage Finances: Go within/Pray and be grateful to our front liners/ first responders. We are all going through this together and reconnecting to a life of spirit and prayer is key to staying calm in this storm. Gratitude is equally important as we can’t thank our first responders and front liners enough for their bravery. We can’t thank our essential service providers enough; hospitals, law enforcement, groceries, banks, mail, gas, food, and med delivery staff, and so many others out there risking their lives to help us survive. We can do our part by not endangering their lives by careless socializing and germ spreading. Pray. Meditate. Reflect. Daily prayer and chants/meditation sustain me and I go to YouTube to listen to more. Read your spiritual texts and delve deep into the word of God. Play uplifting hymns, songs, bhajans, and relax with the sounds as music is both healing and uplifting.
Read and/or try Audible (books on tape) This is a great time to catch up on your reading, writing, and overall learning. It is a unique time to work on brushing up on new skills. Develop your Creative outlets by doing some form of artistic expression now that you have the time to sit and do it. Try cooking/baking, redecorating your space by moving things around and cleaning up areas that need attention. Volunteer: Reach out safely to help those in need in your community and/or contribute whenever you can. You can even participate in a virtual volunteer program. Send well wishes out to everyone in our global communities as we are in this pandemic together. No community is truly immune. So many of us independent contractors have lost income so, it is imperative to be careful with our money. Manage your cash carefully and avoid endless online/instore shopping expeditions. Hoarding deprives others of necessary items. More will be available. Trust. Faith. Believe.
Volunteer New York: Virtual Volunteer Center
Psalm 91: Bible Verses for Sleep with Relaxing Music | Let Go & Be Still with Angels To Protect You
Virtual Satsang by/with Swami Shubamritananda Puri
On Facebook Support w/ Northway Church, Joel Osteen Ministries
The details for Motivation Mondays are below. Join in! The themes for FEB – MAR 2020 are:
FEB
02/01 – 01 World Read Aloud Day
02/02 – 02 Ground Hog Day, 04 World Cancer Day, 06 Zero Tolerance for FGM, 07 National Wear Red Day
02/09 – 09 Academy Awards, 11 Women and Girls in Science Day, 13 Galentine’s Day, 14 Valentine’s Day
02/16 – 17 Presidents Day, 18 Drink Wine Day, 20 World Day of Social Justice
02/23 – 25 Mardi Gras, 26 Ash Wednesday
MAR
03/01 – 01 Zero Discrimination Day
03/08 – 08 International Women’s Day, 13 World Sleep Day, 14 Pi Day
03/15 – 15 Consumer Rights Day, 17 St Patrick’s Day, 19 Start of Spring, 20 International Day of Happiness, 21 World Poetry Day
03/22 – 22 World Water Day, 25 Day of Remembrance of Slavery, 28 Earth Hour
03/29 – 29 Veterans Day
Are You Looking for Ways to Stay Creative in 2019?
- Join Our Blog Support & Engagement Group
- Check out the Daily Post for Inspiration. Resources. Idea
- Checkout Your Daily Word Prompts
- Check out SheKnows for SheKnows Living
MORE BELOW Read more…
“Nothing in life is to be feared, it is only to be understood. Now is the time to understand more, so that we may fear less.” Marie Curie
Motivation Mondays: International Women’s Day #GenerationEquality #EachforEqual
UNITED NATIONS HEADQUARTERS: International Women’s Day 2020 – United Nations Observance
Where there is a woman, there is magic. Ntozake Shange
The Generation Equality campaign is bringing together people of every gender, age, ethnicity, race, religion, and country, to drive actions that will create the gender-equal world we all deserve. UNWomen
A gender-equal society would be one where the word ‘gender’ does not exist: where everyone can be themselves. Gloria Steinem
True equality means holding everyone accountable in the same way, regardless of race, gender, faith, ethnicity – or political ideology. Monica Crowley
Give voice to what you know to be true, and do not be afraid of being disliked or exiled. I think that’s the hard work of standing up for what you see. Eve Ensler
It took me quite a long time to develop a voice, and now that I have it, I am not going to be silent. Madeleine Albright
Women’s History Month: Today is International Women’s Day and the themes for this year are “I am Generation Equality: Realizing Women’s Rights” (UNW) and “An equal world is an enabled world #EachforEqual”(IWD) The first National Women’s Day was held in 1908-9 in New York City. It has grown from that first inspired outing, by a group of women who wanted our voices and needs to be heard, into a global event celebrated by women and girls around the world. UNWomen has always been a dedicated champion of the event and, since 1996, it has created themes to help us focus on key issues of paramount and international concern for our gender. The UN themes from 1996 to date are below. Do any of the topics or issues resonate with you or women you know? Do you even care about the subject? Why/Whynot? Over the years, these topics have had an impact on the lives of millions of women and some have had a direct impact on my life as well. By bringing these issues to the forefront, it has enabled UNWomen, NGOs, and government agencies to review their policies and make necessary changes. While some of the 193 member states of the UN might not have effective policies that support equality, many continue to create opportunities for gender equity and change.
UNWomen International Women’s Day Themes:
1996 Celebrating the Past, Planning for the Future
1997 Women and the Peace Table
1998 Women and Human Rights
1999 World Free of Violence Against Women
2000 Women Uniting for Peace
2001 Women and Peace: Women Managing Conflicts
2002 Afghan Women Today: Realities and Opportunities
2003 Gender Equality and the Millennium Development Goals
2004 Women and HIV/AIDS
2005 Gender Equality Beyond 2005; Building a More Secure Future
2006 Women in Decision-making
2007 Ending Impunity for Violence Against Women and Girls
2008 Investing in Women and Girls
2009 Women and Men United to End Violence Against Women and Girls
2010 Equal Rights, Equal Opportunities: Progress for All
2011 Equal Access to Education, Training, and Science and Technology: Pathway to Decent Work for Women
2012 Empower Rural Women, End Poverty, and Hunger
2013 A Promise is a Promise: Time for Action to End Violence Against Women
2014 Equality for Women is Progress for All
2015 Empowering Women, Empowering Humanity: Picture it!
2016 Planet 50-50 by 2030: Step It Up for Gender Equality
2017 Women in the Changing World of Work: Planet 50-50 by 2030
2018 Time is Now: Rural and urban activists transforming women’s lives
2019 Think Equal, Build Smart, Innovate for Change
2020 I am Generation Equality: Realizing Women’s Rights
Applying the Principles of Generation Equality and Each for Equal: In case you are wondering how to apply the principles of each theme to your life and within your community, I have some helpful tips to share. The IWD Each for Equal theme/campaign has suggested that we Use the hashtag #eachforequal to remind everyone that we are part of the solution to building a gender-equal world. It requires that we remember “Collective Individualism‘ as making individual changes for the collective, Strike the #EachforEqual pose to motivate others, Engage in a year-long activity and collaboration with others, Take collective action and shared responsibility for change, Amplify via social media, and Take decisive action to bring about gender equality dialogue and change wherever we are. It takes individual action to build and grow a collective.
The UNW Generation Equality theme/campaign offers 12 tips to help lay and sustain a foundation of gender equality in our communities and households. These simple everyday actions can bring about great progress; Share the care in your home by sharing chores and shifting ideas about gender-specific roles, Call out sexism and harassment without fear of recrimination, Reject the binary – It’s humankind. Not mankind, Demand an equal work culture, Exercise your political rights, Shop responsibly and pick eco-friendly products from socially responsible companies, Amplify feminist books, movies and more, Teach girls that they are worthy by not reinforcing gender stereotypes, Challenge what it means to “be a man” by seeing the whole person, not the stereotype, Commit to a cause and donate time/money, Challenge beauty standards that perpetuate unrealistic visions of femininity and, above all, Respect the choices of others.
READ:- Motivation Mondays: International Women’s Day – #IWD2019 #BalanceforBetter #InnovateForChange
Motivation Mondays: International Women’s Day #TimeisNow
Motivation Mondays: International Women’s Day #BeBoldForChange
Motivation Mondays: International Women’s Day #IWD2016
Across Women’s Lives: Major Issues Facing Females Globally
Motivation Mondays: Women’s History Month
