Mirth and Motivation

“Value yourself. The only people who appreciate a doormat are people with dirty shoes.” Leo F. Buscaglia

Motivation Mondays: VALUE YOURSELF

Don’t ask yourself what the world needs, ask yourself what makes you come alive. And then go and do that. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive. Howard Washington Thurman
If only you could sense how important you are to the lives of those you meet; how important you can be to people you may never even dream of. There is something of yourself that you leave at every meeting with another person. Fred Rogers

What is Sacred to You? What Do You Value Most? What is Worth Living/Dying For? I was having a chat with a dear friend recently about self-care and how important it is for us, as parents, to value our own well-being. She works for one of the major airlines and always regales me with her flight stories. Yes, I’m an aeronautics buff and I love talking about planes and related matters. So, we found ourselves talking about the wisdom in the instructions that flight attendants give passengers before takeoff… Do you pay attention? You must. One thing that always stands out is the instruction to parents of small children: If the Oxygen masks appear in flight, put yours on first and then help your child. It is sage advice because if we are unable to breathe, we won’t be helpful to our loved ones.

By the same token, if we expend all of our energy taking care of others and leave nothing in the tank to rejuvenate or nourish ourselves, eventually we will either get sick or keel over and die. When we value ourselves, we perform actions that prolong our lives, nourish our bodies and strengthen our minds to take on the tasks of daily life. The body is a temple and, if we treat it like a garbage can, eventually, it will fall apart and fill our body and mind with stinking toxins. What is sacred? I would say the gift of life/birth is a sacred act and to honor our life is to love it and treat it with reverence and gratitude.

Your beliefs become your thoughts,
Your thoughts become your words,
Your words become your actions,
Your actions become your habits,
Your habits become your values,
Your values become your destiny.” Mahatma Gandhi

“Until you value yourself, you will not value your time. Until you value your time, you will not do anything with it.” M. Scott Peck

Motivation Mondays: VALUE YOURSELF

You have been criticizing yourself for years, and it hasn’t worked. Try approving of yourself and see what happens. Louise L. Hay
A healthy self-love means we have no compulsion to justify to ourselves or others why we take vacations, why we sleep late, why we buy new shoes, why we spoil ourselves from time to time. We feel comfortable doing things which add quality and beauty to life. Andrew Matthews

What Do You VALUE Most? If you asked any group of parents that question, most would immediately mention their kids and their family. It is a standard response because men and, most especially, women have all been conditioned to say it and also because it is true… to a degree. Then we ask follow up questions: Where do you fit in that spectrum of value? Did you include yourself when you chose your kids and family as most valued? Some of us would give you a blank look, others might have a light bulb moment, and a few might share that they never considered themselves as valuable to their own family because they focused on their shortcomings not strengths. We forget that self-love is a gift we must give ourselves again and again. Instead of wasting time criticizing ourselves for not living up to some unattainable norm, we ought to take Louise L. Hay’s advice to Try approving (our)self and see what happens. I know that when I’m not stuck in a negative thought pattern, I get more accomplished and my overall sense of well-being increases. This doesn’t happen overnight because it takes practice and vigilance to re-frame our negative thoughts into positive action.

What do I Value Most? I value my mental health and overall well-being because if those are not in check and taken care of, the rest would be a sham. A few days ago, I was taking a walk on the Croton Aqueduct listening to some of my favorite hip-hop/rap artists. As I walked the pathway, I suddenly heard someone yelling behind me. “Hey, hey miss, lady hey!” It was a friendly voice so I turned around to find out what was going on. Behind me was another woman. She was grinning from ear to ear.  She beamed at me and said: “You were walking with such a swagger; in such a sexy way. I wanted to know what you were listening to.” It was hysterical. I just had to laugh. I told her what I was listening to and invited her to check out the sounds on Spotify or Apple and she nodded her head. It felt so good to make such a connection over something I enjoy… Music.  Music rejuvenates me and I am glad to reconnect back to it. Another point is that we do ourselves great good when we own what we love and are not afraid to enjoy it. Stand by your choices too. The beauty of our world is the diversity and all the choices we can make. I value that too.

A Story: We Become What We Believe
One day, the Master admonished his students: “Monks, I will teach you the parable of the raft – for getting across, not for retaining.” It is like a man who, while going on a journey, sees a great stretch of water, the near bank with dangers and fears, and the farther bank secure and without fears. But, there is neither a boat for crossing over, nor a bridge across.

It occurs to the man that to cross over from the perils of this bank to the security of the farther bank, he should fashion a raft out of sticks and branches and, depending on the raft, cross over to safety. Once he has done this, it occurs to him that the raft has been very useful and he wonders if he ought to take it with him on his head and shoulders.

“What do you think, monks? Is the man doing what should be done to the raft?” The Master asked
“No, lord.” The students replied in unison
“What should that man do then, monks? ” The master asked again

The students were silent.
The Master continued his teaching: “When he has crossed over to the beyond he must leave the raft and proceed on his journey. Monks, a man doing this would be doing what should be done to the raft. In this way I have taught you Dharma, (right action), like the parable of the raft, for getting across, not for retaining. You, monks, by understanding the parable of the raft, must not cling to right states of mind and, all the more, to wrong states of mind.” Source: Teachings of the Buddha by Jack Kornfield

Explanation: We perform actions that teach us to value what we know without attachment to future outcomes. When we value ourselves, we face our fears at the bridge, contemplate the right actions to take, then surrender the need to control the outcomes/fruits as we to continue on our journey through life.

The details for Motivation Mondays are below. Join in! The themes for APR 2018/MAY 2018 are:

APRIL

03/04 – Women’s History Month, National Nutrition Month, Irish-American Heritage Month, American Red Cross Month, 08 International Women’s Day, World Kidney Day, 04 Academy Awards
03/11 – 11 Daylight Savings, 14 Pi Day, 15 World Consumer Rights Day, 17 St Patrick’s Day
03/18 – 19 St Joseph, 20 International Day of Happiness, 21 World poetry Day, 22 World Water day, 24 Earth Hour
03/25 – Palm Sunday, 29 Holy Thursday, 30 Good Friday, 31 Passover

MAY

05/06   –  01 May Day, 03, National Day of Prayer, 03 World Press Freedom Day, 04 Star Wars, 05 Cinco De Mayo
05/13  –  13 HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY,  16 Ramadan starts, 19 Armed Forces Day,
05/20  –   20 Pentecost Day,  23 World Turtle Day, 24 National Brother Day
05/27  –   28 Memorial Day,  30 World MS Day,  31 World No Tobacco Day

Are You Looking for Ways to Stay Creative in 2018?

– Join the Daily Post Post-a-day or Post-a-week Challenge.

— Join the BlogHer Writing Lab

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