Welcome to Mirth and Motivation!
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“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…
“Migration is a powerful driver of economic growth, dynamism and understanding. It allows millions of people to seek new opportunities, benefiting communities of origin and destination alike.” António Guterres, UN Secretary General
Motivation Mondays: International Migrants Day #withdignity
How to really make people feel welcome
The history of humankind is a history of migration. For thousands of years people have migrated from one place to another, for a variety of reasons, and continue to do so: Today, there are 258 million international migrants worldwide.
On International Migrants Day, the European Union reaffirms its enduring commitment to protect migrants’ human rights, to prevent perilous irregular journeys and ensure opportunities for legal and safe pathways instead.
In order to do this, we are working with all our partners around the world – countries of origin, transit and destination and international organisations. Migration requires global, cooperative alliances: No country can address migration on its own – neither in Europe nor elsewhere in the world. This is the core message of the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration, which will provide the global framework for improving migration management. It is by working together, in the spirit of shared responsibility, that we can jointly turn migration from a common challenge into a shared opportunity. European Commission and the High Representative on International Migrants Day
International Migrants Day 2018 theme: Migration with Dignity – Globally, we are a community of migrants. Unless you belong to an indigenous group in the country you reside in, your ancestors came there as immigrants. It is with this insight that we must remember to treat each other with dignity and respect. It is easy to forget the challenges immigrants face when we are 2nd/3rd generation members of a family. Take the time this week to have a conversation with your parents about your lineage, and the ties your family might still have to their country of origin. The Theme for 2018 is “Migration with Dignity” which recognizes that “treating every migrant with dignity is one of the fundamental requirements we face before anything else we attempt on migration.” If we are to continue to grow our global connections, we must do so with the implicit recognition that dignity for all is imperative. People move to other countries for many reasons, and the first step to helping them become productive and truly grateful members of society is by showing them the dignity we wish for ourselves. Join in on social media by using the hashtag #withdignity
Even though the word- Migrant – has become all inclusive of the various categories of people migrating around the world, there are still clear definitions of the terms. What is the difference between an immigrant, a migrant and a refugee? A migrant is a person who moves from one place to another within a country. An immigrant is a person who moves from one country from another. A refugee is a person who has been forced to leave their country in order to escape war, persecution, or natural disaster. One thing they all share is their movement or migration from one place to another. It can be temporary or permanent, and it is not always the first choice but the last resort for families in desperate need of help. As our global family expands and war, strife and untenable conditions impact the lives of people, we will continue to see the movement of families across borders. The UN and member nations are addressing this growing crisis, and each of us can do our part by showing compassion and civility to those who end up in our nation. Imagine the shoe on the other foot… YOURS!
READ: For The International Migrants Day – Understanding Not Fear by Ewelina U. Ochab
How one man’s story exposes the myths behind our migration stereotypes by Aditya Chakrabortty
Punta del Este Declaration on Human Dignity for Everyone Everywhere
International Migrants Day
Immigrant Can’t Write Poetry By Wang Ping
“Oh no, not with your syntax,” said H.V. to her daughter-in-law, a Chinese writing poetry in English
She walk to table
She walks to a table
She walk to table now
She is walking to a table now
What difference it make
What difference does it make
In Nature, no completeness
No sentence really complete thought
Language, our birthright & curse
Pay no mind to immigrant syntax
Poetry, born as beast
Move best when free, undressed
“In our globalised world, human mobility can only be addressed effectively by the international community as a whole. It is a global phenomenon that requires global solutions. No country can manage this alone, but together we can set up a humane, dignified and secure mechanism for governing human mobility.” Christos Stylianides, EU Commissioner for Humanitarian Aid & Crisis Management
Motivation Mondays: International Migrants Day #withdignity
This month, the world took a landmark step forward with the adoption of the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration. Backed with overwhelming support by the membership of the United Nations, the Compact will help us to address the real challenges of migration while reaping its many benefits. António Guterres, UN Secretary General
I have added a brief summary on part of a Q&A on the GCM for you to read. You can always go to the source and read all of it. What is the Global Compact on Migration aiming to achieve? It aims to find solutions to the situation by fostering international cooperation, setting out guiding principles and providing a multilateral framework for member nations to use. How will the Global Compact on Migration affect irregular migration? Will it increase migration? It provides concrete actions that help States to reduce irregular migration, for example through enhanced cooperation on addressing the drivers of migration, fighting trafficking in human beings and smuggling of migrants, managing borders and facilitating return. It will also help to focus on pathways for regular migration. How will the Global Compact on Migration be adopted or signed? On 10 – 11 December 2018, it was adopted by a 2/3 intergovernmental consensus/vote and the UN General Assembly will endorse it by passing a Resolution. Does the Global Compact on Migration create legal obligations for States? No, it is NOT legally binding.
Does the Global Compact on Migration establish a “human right to migrate”? No. It does not encourage migration, nor discourage it. Will the Global Compact incur costs? No. What will be the follow-up of the Global Compact on Migration? Accountability will be shared between Member Nations, the UN System, the UN Migration Network and the IOM. The adoption of Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration (GCM) this month, began with the adoption, in September 2016, of a set of commitments to protect refugees and migrants. The GCM extended those protections with two new global compacts in 2018: the global compact on refugees and the global compact for safe, orderly and regular migration. I have included the objectives below and they are far reaching because they spell out guidelines that member nations can apply to their own migrant policies in a humane way.
READ: An Unexpected Solution to the Migrant Crisis by Reihan Salam
Refugees, asylum-seekers and migrants
Women on the Move: Migration, care work and health
GCM: Objectives for safe, orderly and regular migration
1. Collect and utilize accurate and disaggregated data as a basis for evidence-based policies
2. Minimize the adverse drivers and structural factors that compel people to leave their country of origin
3. Provide accurate and timely information at all stages of migration
4. Ensure that all migrants have proof of legal identity and adequate documentation
5. Enhance availability and flexibility of pathways for regular migration
6. Facilitate fair and ethical recruitment and safeguard conditions that ensure decent work
7. Address and reduce vulnerabilities in migration
8. Save lives and establish coordinated international efforts on missing migrants
9. Strengthen the transnational response to smuggling of migrants
10. Prevent, combat and eradicate trafficking in persons in the context of international migration
11. Manage borders in an integrated, secure and coordinated manner
12. Strengthen certainty and predictability in migration procedures for appropriate screening, assessment and referral
13. Use migration detention only as a measure of last resort and work towards alternatives
14. Enhance consular protection, assistance and cooperation throughout the migration cycle
15. Provide access to basic services for migrants
16. Empower migrants and societies to realize full inclusion and social cohesion
17. Eliminate all forms of discrimination and promote evidence-based public discourse to shape perceptions of migration
18. Invest in skills development and facilitate mutual recognition of skills, qualifications and competences
19. Create conditions for migrants and diasporas to fully contribute to sustainable development in all countries
20. Promote faster, safer and cheaper transfer of remittances and foster financial inclusion of migrants
21. Cooperate in facilitating safe and dignified return and readmission, as well as sustainable reintegration
22. Establish mechanisms for the portability of social security entitlements and earned benefits
23. Strengthen international cooperation and global partnerships for safe, orderly and regular migration
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…
