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Motivation Mondays: Keep It Simple
“Keep it simple and focus on what matters. Don’t let yourself be overwhelmed.” Confucius
Motivation Mondays: Keep It Simple
Live simply, so that others may simply live. Mother Teresa
Make everything as simple as possible, but not simpler. Albert Einstein
Stay low, stay quiet, keep it simple, don’t expect too much, enjoy what you have. Dean Koontz
To find the universal elements enough; to find the air and the water exhilarating; to be refreshed by a morning walk or an evening saunter… to be thrilled by the stars at night; to be elated over a bird’s nest or a wildflower in spring – these are some of the rewards of the simple life. John Burroughs
Keep It Simple: Happy New Year! In the flurry of activity that occurs in the new year, so many of us jump on the express bandwagon with our laundry list of To-Dos. We start with good intentions and great promise to conquer everything we skipped out on last year and then some … but wait! Before you commit to do it all and find yourself back at square one in March, pause and consider why you are setting yourself up for another run-in with last year’s slip-ups. What’s the rush? Have you forgotten all those memberships and broken promises? Start this year by taking one step at a time. Include time to enjoy nature, time to meditate/reflect on your week, time for friends and family, time to read a good book and to create a SMART goal for each month that is not stress inducing. The acronym SMART stands for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Time-focused. Instead of joining everything and watching it all come apart, take each step with intention and focus on one thing that you can do very well this month.
STOP & Take Stock: Yesterday, I was looking through my Groupon at all the wonderful offerings that were going to expire on Monday morning. There were endless classes to take, tons of body beautiful spas to visit, and lots of fun things to sign up for with just hours left before the price point jumped. I found myself thoroughly engrossed in it all as I weighted which class would offer the best challenges, free/easy parking, or quicker results when, suddenly, a light-bulb lit up in my head. Wait a minute, you HAVE two gym memberships. You also do work at a local yoga studio. NO! We will NOT be signing up for more stuff this year. Phew! I stopped the madness and reminded myself that when we add too much to our plate, we become like the second ant, in the story below, trying to move big chunks at once. Let’s re-calibrate our plans for 2019 and start with small and steady chunks.
READ: Motivation Mondays: SIMPLICITY
Motivation Mondays: Simple Pleasures
The Journey Of Life: 100 Lessons From Around The World – A Review
20 TIPS: How To Stay Motivated & Mirthful
The Ants and the Cookie
One day, two ants went exploring. They came across two giant cookies.
“These cookies are huge!” said the first ant.
“One of these cookies would feed my whole family for a month,” said the second ant. “But,how can little ants like us carry such big cookies like these?”
“It seems impossible!” said the first ant. “But, I must try.”
So, the first ant started to tug and pull at one cookie. Suddenly, a tiny piece broke off.
“I am going to take this piece back to my family,” said the first ant.
“You go ahead,” said the second ant. “I’m not going to waste my time on such a small piece of cookie. I will find a way to take the whole cookie back to my family.”
So, the first ant went home with her small piece of cookie. Soon, the first ant returned. She found the second ant still pushing and shoving the other cookie, but she was unable to move it. Again, the first ant broke off a small piece of cookie and took it back home. This went on for most of the day as some of her family even offered to join her. The first ant kept carrying small pieces of cookie back to her family until she had moved the entire cookie.
The second ant finally grew tired of trying to complete the task that seemed too big to do. She went home with nothing. What is the lesson here?
“Do what makes you happy. Keep it simple. Do the research. Work hard. Look ahead.” Gary Vaynerchuk
Motivation Mondays: Keep It Simple
The simple act of paying attention can take you a long way. Keanu Reeves
The greatest truths are the simplest things in the world, simple as your own existence. Swami Vivekananda
Whatever we are waiting for – peace of mind, contentment, grace, the inner awareness of simple abundance – it will surely come to us, but only when we are ready to receive it with an open and grateful heart. Sarah Ban Breathnach
Looking at flowers, simple things in life. I don’t need to look at gold and a castle; sometimes its very simple things that are very beautiful. I am keeping my eyes fresh to find beauty in many places, and in gold, too, sometimes!” Francois Nars
Simplify Your Life: Did you know that there is a correlation between depression and excessive social media use? When we spend all day long on our various social media accounts, and find ourselves creating more and more accounts on new platforms, we need to take 5 and reevaluate what is behind the behavior. Why do we need to be constantly plugged in to these online platforms? What is being replaced in our offline life? What is the impact, over time, of being glued to our devices and communicating with strangers as our every day body and flesh relationships begin to falter. We need to not only be vigilant, we need to detox from our time online. Don’t get me wrong, there are benefits to social media and, if used wisely, it can help us expand our knowledge base, build powerful connections and even learn new skills. However, we must simplify and set realistic limits.
Do What Makes You Happy Offline: Keeping it simple on social media could be as easy as hiring a Virtual Assistant (VA) or two to help you do some of your online work. It could be as simple as giving yourself time out from being online, turning your smartphone off during family time, and arranging visits with friends. It could even be as simple as deleting some of those apps off your phone and using your web browser to login only when you have to. If you find yourself living your entire life online and oversharing your business, it’s time to simplify. Take stock of why you are pulled in to this make-belief world behind the screen, and seriously consider taking some time to shift directions a bit.
I’ve always loved reading, and spent a good part of my childhood reading everything I could lay my hands on. I took my love of reading into adulthood because reading not only expands our minds, it helps us escape, albeit for a short while, into another world where intriguing and inspiring events beckon to us. However, over time, as my social media life grew, my time to read diminished. I was spending whatever down time I had, after work or after handling personal commitments, online. So, about 5 years ago, I decided to start using a VA to do most of my social media interactions. As time went by, I hired a couple more so I could get back to my life offline and really enjoy the things that mattered to me. I encourage you to do same. Cut back. Take time off. Let’s truly keep it simple in 2019.
READ: The FOMO Is Real: How Social Media Increases Depression and Loneliness
Does Social Media Cause Depression?
Link between social media and depression stronger in teen girls than boys, study says
Inspiration: Ten Things To Consider This Holiday Season…
Inspiration: #100HappyDays Challenge
Keep It SIMPLE
Missing Somebody? … Call
Want to Meet Up? … Invite
Want to be Understood? … Explain
Have questions? … Ask
Don’t like something? … Say it.
Like Something? … State it
Want something? … Ask for it
Love someone? … Tell it
The details for Motivation Mondays are below. Join in! The themes for DEC 2018/JAN 2019 are:
12/02 – 01 World AIDS Day, 02 Advent begins, Hanukkah starts, International abolition of slavery, 07 Pearl Harbor
12/09 – 10 Human Rights Day, Hanukkah ends, green Monday,
12/16 – 18 International Migrants Day, 21 Winter Solstice, 22 Super Saturday
12/23 – 23 4th Sunday of Advent, 25 Christmas Day, 26 Kwanzaa starts, Boxing Day, 27 St John’s feast
12/30 – 31 New Year’s eve
01/01 – 01 New Year’s Day, 05 National Bird Day
01/06 – 07 Orthodox Christmas, 11 Human Trafficking Awareness Day,
01/13 – 13 Golden Globe Awards, Critics Choice Awards, 14 Image Awards, 16 Religious Freedom Day
01/20 – 21 Martin Luther King Jr. Day, 26 Nat’l. Spouses Day
01/27 – 27 Commemoration Victims of the Holocaust, SAG Awards
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…
“A year of ending and beginning, a year of loss and finding and all of you were with me through the storm. I drink to your health, your wealth, your fortune for long years to come, and I hope for many more days in which we can gather like this.” C.J. Cherryh
Motivation Mondays: Ending & Beginning #HappyNewYear2019
An optimist stays up until midnight to see the new year in. A pessimist stays up to make sure the old year leaves. Bill Vaughan
For last year’s words belong to last year’s language and next year’s words await another voice. And to make an end is to make a beginning. T.S. Eliot
The new year stands before us, like a chapter in a book, waiting to be written. We can help write that story by setting goals. Melody Beattie
For those of us with an inward turn of mind, which is another name for melancholy introspection, the beginning of a new year inevitably leads to thoughts about both the future and the past. Michael Dirda
Happy New Year! HAPPY End of 2018! As I write this post, some parts of the world have already entered 2019 and are well on their way with celebrations and hoots of delight and gratitude. What a great gift to see another year, another day spent with loved ones, and the opportunity to set new goals and meet them. A few years after creating this blog, I started sending out the twelve gifts/blessings below because contemplating them added a positive influence to my year. I pick one each month and contemplate its impact on my life.
Instead of New Year’s resolutions, I offer each of you all twelve gifts and encourage you to practice choosing one as a point of focus every month. Choose one in any order you wish, and then contemplate how it has helped shape your decisions. Write your observations down and, with time, the gifts will reveal their secrets to you. Words have tremendous power and these words can be used as monthly affirmations to help you along. You may substitute your own words too. Enjoy them and have an abundantly blessed 2019! Here are my twelve 2019 Happy New Year gifts/blessings/wishes for each of you/us:
♥ Health
♥ Happiness
♥ Hope
♥ Abundance
♥ Grace
♥ Peace & Love
♥ Wisdom
♥ Friendship
♥ Goodwill
♥ Success
♥ Adventure
♥ Divine Protection
If the creative muse or spirit moves you, feel free to create your own wish list of twelve and try using the suggested tips on affirmations above. What do you plan to do on January 1, 2019? Happy ♥ New ♥ Year!
READ: Motivation Mondays: Happy New Year
Reflections: The Year Finally Wraps up!
Happy New Year: 10 Good Luck Foods to Eat
Reflections: Ten Things To Be Grateful For Today…
“Take a leap of faith and begin this wondrous new year by believing. Believe in yourself. And believe that there is a loving Source – a Sower of Dreams – just waiting to be asked to help you make your dreams come true.” Sarah Ban Breathnach
Motivation Mondays: Ending & Beginning #HappyNewYear2019
New year can begin only because the old year ends. Madeleine L’Engle
Every new beginning comes from some other beginning’s end. Seneca The Younger
The year end brings no greater pleasure then the opportunity to express to you season’s greetings and good wishes. May your holidays and new year be filled with joy. Charles Dickens
Another fresh new year is here another year to live! to banish worry, doubt, and fear, to love and laugh and give! William Arthur Ward
Every tomorrow is an outcome of what I do today, and the beauty of it all is that today is happening all the time. Craig D. Lounsbrough
Food is nourishment and it plays a very important role in all of our lives. Even if you don’t consider yourself a foodie, you still need it as sustenance to keep body and mind functioning. Some time ago, I came across an article about special foods to eat just before the new year and on New Year’s Day. I tried it out and fell in love with the idea. Every year, I make sure to honor the foods on this list that I enjoy. Since I don’t eat meat, I skip the pork but, I try to incorporate all the others in some fashion. Frankly, in my area of NY, these foods are so popular as New year meals that, last year, they ran out of black eyed peas. I was quite surprised and vowed to always have it in stock in my pantry. Bon appétit, Buon appetito, Rie nke ọma … and have a wonderful feast of your chosen foods.
Below are a carefully curated list of good luck foods to eat. There are 10 groups of foods to choose from. You can eat something from each group or select a few to add to your celebrations. Your call. Pick what you like and enjoy!
• Black eyed beans and/or Lentils for prosperity
• Buttered bread for nourishment (Ireland)
• 12 Grapes/Raisins before midnight (New Year’s Eve) for great fortune (Spain)
• Greens like Spinach, Kale, Collards remind us of green money and health and drive away evil spirits
• Pork as a way to stay focused in moving forward with our goals and desires.
• Long Noodles offers longevity and eating an unbroken long noodle is extra luck. (Asia)
• Cornbread – the sweet, sunny, yellow, satisfying food augurs prosperity on all fronts.
• Round Foods – desserts, citrus fruits, wave off the old and welcome the new into our sunny lives
• Whole Fish on New Year’s Day is a sign of great prosperity. Fish is a prosperous symbol in Asia
• Chocolate is always great as a digestive and a luxury treat signifying a year of pampering.
READ: Weekly Photo Challenge: CIRCLE – Happy New Year 2016!
Welcome 2015: Happy New Year!
10 Lucky Foods For The New Year: Food Files
The details for Motivation Mondays are below. Join in! The themes for DEC 2018/JAN 2019 are:
12/02 – 01 World AIDS Day, 02 Advent begins, Hanukkah starts, International abolition of slavery, 07 Pearl Harbor
12/09 – 10 Human Rights Day, Hanukkah ends, green Monday,
12/16 – 18 International Migrants Day, 21 Winter Solstice, 22 Super Saturday
12/23 – 23 4th Sunday of Advent, 25 Christmas Day, 26 Kwanzaa starts, Boxing Day, 27 St John’s feast
12/30 – 31 New Year’s eve
01/01 – 01 New Year’s Day, 05 National Bird Day
01/06 – 07 Orthodox Christmas, 11 Human Trafficking Awareness Day,
01/13 – 13 Golden Globe Awards, Critics Choice Awards, 14 Image Awards, 16 Religious Freedom Day
01/20 – 21 Martin Luther King Jr. Day, 26 Nat’l. Spouses Day
01/27 – 27 Commemoration Victims of the Holocaust, SAG Awards
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…
Motivation Mondays: Happy Holiday Wishes
“Christmas waves a magic wand over this world, and behold, everything is softer and more beautiful.” Norman Vincent Peale
Motivation Mondays: Happy Holiday Wishes & Merry Christmas
May your walls know joy, may every room hold laughter, and every window open to great possibility. Mary Anne Radmacher
This is my wish for you: peace of mind, prosperity through the year, happiness that multiplies, health for you and yours, fun around every corner, energy to chase your dreams, joy to fill your holidays! D.M. Dellinger
Merry Christmas! Happy Holidays! Each year, as this particular holiday rolls around, I marvel at how quickly the year seemed to have flown by. I pause and take stock of the fact that soon enough, exactly one week later, the New Year will ring our doorbells laden with new gifts, goals, and opportunities for growth. How did 2018 end up for you? How are you preparing for the coming year? What will you do differently in 2019? At the start of the year, so many of us jumped in feet first and made promises to conquer the world, create new planets and exhale and excel. While some of us dared to try, and achieved a modicum of success, others rolled back their plans as unexpected demands took over their plans. Yet, a few simply found it all too enervating and threw in the towel well before the end of spring. Regardless of where we started and ended up in 2018, what matters is that if you are reading this, you made it. Okay? You made it and have another chance to give it your best shot in 2019. Never give up. As long as there is life, there is HOPE.
READ: Motivation Mondays: Cherish Christmas & Holidays
Inspiration: Merry Christmas! Happy Holidays!
Weekly Photo Challenge: NOW – Merry Christmas & Happy Holidays!
Holidays by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
The holiest of all holidays are those
Kept by ourselves in silence and apart;
The secret anniversaries of the heart,
When the full river of feeling overflows;–
The happy days unclouded to their close;
The sudden joys that out of darkness start
As flames from ashes; swift desires that dart
Like swallows singing down each wind that blows!
White as the gleam of a receding sail,
White as a cloud that floats and fades in air,
White as the whitest lily on a stream,
These tender memories are;–a fairy tale
Of some enchanted land we know not where,
But lovely as a landscape in a dream.
To many people, holidays are not voyages of discovery, but a ritual of reassurance. Philip Andrew Adams
Motivation Mondays: Happy Holiday Wishes & Merry Christmas
Holiday gift suggestions: To your enemy, forgiveness. To an opponent, tolerance. To a friend, your heart. To a customer, service. To all, charity. To every child, a good example. To yourself, respect. Oren Arnold
Christmas is not a time nor a season, but a state of mind. To cherish peace and goodwill, to be plenteous in mercy, is to have the real spirit of Christmas. Calvin Coolidge
What was 2018 like? For me, 2018 was a year of challenges, tests of faith, loss, miraculous blessings, and renewal. My daughters lost their beloved grandfather in December, and one of my best friends lost her boyfriend in the same month. Health issues were not minimal but I weathered them. My car got totaled in a nasty accident in May and other types of challenges kept me on my aching back and feet fighting. An online group I created content for and helped manage went south leaving many of us hurt and disappointed. Yet, through it all, there were many moments of joy, magical grace and peace. I spent time with family here and abroad. Renewed my faith by joining a local place of worship and making friends – Northway church. Started several new Facebook groups/communities that are thriving. Reconnected with a few old friends and rekindled my love for music and concerts. The year isn’t quite over but I am filled with gratitude for the good and the difficulties. Christmas Day will be upon us In less than 24 hours and I am excited about celebrating the birth of Christ with my loved ones. What about you?
READ: Inspiration: Happy Holidays To All!
Happy Holidays: Grace & Gratitude to All!
Musings: Merry Christmas Wishes…
A Letter To Santa
Dearest Santa,
Thank you for the blessings you showered on us this year. Thank you for the new friends and fresh opportunities. We are all grateful… My wish for the coming year is more goodwill, grace and abundance in the world, and less misery, meanness and scarcity!
Please don’t mix these two up like you did last year! 🙂
With love & gratitude to all,
xoxo
…
Merry Christmas!
Happy Holidays!
Buone vacanze!
Joyeuses Fêtes!
ハッピーバカンス！
节日快乐！
أعيادا سعيدة!
Maligayang Pasko!
விழாக்கால வாழ்த்துக்கள்!
छुट्टियों की शुभकामनाएं!
С праздником!
С Рождеством Христовым!
تعطیلات مبارک!
हैप्पी छुट्टियाँ!
¡Felices Fiestas!
גליקלעך האָלידייַס!
Շնորհավոր Տոն!
Boas festas!
A Simple Request…
The details for Motivation Mondays are below. Join in! The themes for NOV 2018/DEC 2018 are:
1/01 – 01 All Saint’s Day, 02 All Soul’s Day,
11/04 – 04 Daylight Saving Time ends USA, 06 Election Day, 07 Diwali
11/11 – 11 Veterans Day, 13 World Kindness Day, 14 World Diabetes Day, 16 International Day for Tolerance
11/18 – 19 International Men’s Day, 20 Universal Children’s Day, 21 World Hello & TV Day, 22 Thanksgiving Day
11/25 – 26 Cyber Monday, 27 Giving Tuesday, 30 St Andrew
12/02 – 01 World AIDS Day, 02 Advent begins, Hanukkah starts, International abolition of slavery, 07 Pearl Harbor
12/09 – 10 Human Rights Day, Hanukkah ends, green Monday,
12/16 – 18 International Migrants Day, 21 Winter Solstice, 22 Super Saturday
12/23 – 23 4th Sunday of Advent, 25 Christmas Day, 26 Kwanzaa starts, Boxing Day, 27 St John’s feast
12/30 – 31 New Year’s eve
Are You Looking for Ways to Stay Creative in 2018?
- 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…
