Welcome to Mirth and Motivation!
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Photo Challenge: CELEBRATE LIFE
“The more you praise and celebrate your life, the more there is in life to celebrate.” Oprah Winfrey
Photo Challenge: CELEBRATE LIFE
A simple celebration, a gathering of friends; here is wishing you great happiness, a joy that never ends. Zahid Abas
I’m a really, really optimistic and really, really positive person. My main thing is, ‘Enjoy life. Celebrate life.’ Luke Bryan
Each day holds a surprise. But only if we expect it can we see, hear, or feel it when it comes to us. Let’s not be afraid to receive each day’s surprise, whether it comes to us as sorrow or as joy It will open a new place in our hearts, a place where we can welcome new friends and celebrate more fully our shared humanity. Henri Nouwen
Life is a Celebration, don’t let it pass you by. As promised, I’m continuing the photo challenges by looking through the 2013 archives. I was quite sick that year and spent time in and out of the hospital so it holds special meaning to me. Thank God I’m better now. The theme for June 7 2013 was Fleeting which is quite appropriate for the photos and thoughts I’m sharing here. Life is so fleeting that we should celebrate each moment we spend here and rejoice for every breath we take. So many of us wait and wait for all sorts of reasons; retirement, happiness, love, money and on and on … we forget to celebrate the good we have now. Please go out and join your friends and family and celebrate the life you have. It is precious. Today, June 7, is Prince Roger Nelson’s and Swae Lee’s birthday. I love their music and creative spirit so I’m sharing their music with you. It’s also Susannah’s special day. She is a colleague and yoga enthusiast so I wish her much love too. Wish them and everyone you know a very Happy Birthday!❤
UPDATE: Happy June 8th Birthday blessings to one of my best friends, Diahann, to Kanye West and the hugely funny Joan Rivers.❤
“The most beautiful things are not associated with money; they are memories and moments. If you don’t celebrate those, they can pass you by.” Alek Wek
Photo Challenge: CELEBRATE LIFE
There is no success you can celebrate more than the success of a brother. Diego Luna
Celebrate life in all its glory – challenge yourself to let the routine sing, and the new dance. Maximillian Degenerez
We all have life storms, and when we get the rough times and we recover from them, we should celebrate that we got through it. No matter how bad it may seem, there’s always something beautiful that you can find. Mattie Stepanek
Time is fleeting. What are you waiting for? If not now, when? We often waste time on petty BS that we miss the special moments we can spend wishing each other well. Lift each other up. Power glide into your life and enjoy what you have. I think it is very important to celebrate your struggles, failures, and successes every day. Why? Because our struggles remind us to keep the faith. Our failures remind us to stay humble, and our successes inspire us and remind us to spread the joy and share our largess. Please lets all stop and show love to ourselves and others… and remember that even when the grass looks greener on the other side, envy is stupid, everyone is struggling with their own life challenges. Compassion and genuine concern are imperative.
Suicide Is an Epidemic. Celebrate Life by Encouraging those in Need of Mental Health Support: Given the events of the last several days, I cannot remain quiet on a topic that is stigmatized in societies across the globe. As many of you might know, fashion designer, Kate Spade, and Food connoisseur/writer/documentarian, Anthony Bourdain, died from suicide this week. Suicide is a subject that impacts all of us either directly or indirectly, and the underlying mental health issues that lead so many down that road persists. As a member of the blogging community, I’ve written about the loss of a young man who was a son to me, and about my own struggle. Many others in our community have written about it too. Depression and the many other manifestations of mental health conditions affect so many and it has nothing to do with being weak minded, selfish or self serving as some insensitive, thoughtless jerks have purported on the internet. It is NOT a character defect. It is real and those who suffer are like YOU and ME. Some of the most brilliant minds and talented folks have suffered through that black hole and, sadly, some couldn’t avoid falling into that dark hole and taking their own life to end the pain. My heart goes out to the friends and families of all who have lost a loved one to suicide.
If you, or someone you know, is in suicidal crisis or emotional distress please call the LIFELINE at 1-800-273-TALK (8255)* You can also get Help via NSPL. and you can learn more from The Columbia–Suicide Severity Rating Scale.
IMPORTANT RESOURCES
- Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration
- National Action Alliance for Suicide Prevention
- Suicide Prevention Resource Center
- National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 800-273-TALK (8255)
- READ: what to Do When a Loved One Is Severely Depressed
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Motivation Mondays: Love & Laughter
“When you awaken love and laughter in your life, your mind lets go of fear and anxiety, and your happy spirit becomes the healing balm that transforms every aspect of your human experience.” Jesse Dylan
Motivation Mondays: Love, Laughter & Healing
If you can love, and if you can laugh, totally, wholeheartedly, your life will become such a bliss and a benediction,not only to yourself but to everyone else. You will be a blessing to the world. Osho
Feelings aroused by the touch of someone’s hand, the sound of music, the smell of a flower, a beautiful sunset, a work of art, love, laughter, hope and faith – all work on both the unconscious and the conscious aspects of the self, and they have physiological consequences as well. Bernie Siegel
What gives you love and laughter? My question is really about our own personal enjoyment not what we get from others around us or in our lives. If you were left on an Island by yourself, what will give you love and laughter? It’s an interesting point to mull over because we spend a lot of time with our own thoughts, ideas and jokes and if we can’t tap into it during tough times, we miss an opportunity for deep reflection. We create the first underpinnings of meaning by creating it in our inner life. Some see it as day dreaming, others as the healing love we give to others by imagining ways to serve. However you choose to envision this, make sure to make time to love yourself, laugh with/at yourself, and seek outlets for rest and healing. I take walks regularly on my local aqueduct and during that time, I might listen to music, an audible book on tape or just the sounds of nature around me. Sometimes, a person walks by and we exchange a smile, at other times it might be someone I know and we share a laugh. On occasion, it might be someone hurting with a sad look on their face and we exchange a knowing glance of concern and hopefully send each other wishes for healing. But all of those emotions and reactions begin within us… same goes for anger and rage. They all serve a purpose and the key is to move forward once the matter is addressed.
READ – Life, Love, Laughter: Celebrating Your Existence by Osho
A Story: A River Without End
Some years ago a successful American had a serious identity crisis. He sought help from psychiatrists but nothing came of it, for there were none who could tell him the meaning of life—which is what he wanted to know. By and by he learned of a venerable and incredibly wise Master Teacher/guru who lived in a mysterious and most inaccessible region of the Himalayas. Only that Master Teacher, he came to believe, would tell him what life meant and what his role in it ought to be. So he sold all his worldly possessions and began his search for the all-knowing Master Teacher.
He spent eight years wandering from village to village throughout the Himalayas in an effort to find him. And then one day he chanced upon a shepherd who told him where the Master Teacher lived and how to reach the place. It took him almost a year to find him, but he eventually did. There he came upon his guru, who was indeed venerable, in fact well over one hundred years old. The guru consented to help him, especially when he learned of all the sacrifices the man had made towards this end.
“What can I do for you, my son?” asked the guru.
“I need to know the meaning of life,” said the man. To this the guru replied, without hesitation, “Life,” he said, “is a river without end.” “A river without end?” said the man in a startled surprise. “After coming all this way to find you, all you have to tell me is that life is a river without end?” The guru was shaken, shocked. He became very angry and he said, “You mean it is not?”
“Laughter heals all wounds, and that’s one thing that everybody shares. No matter what you’re going through, it makes you forget about your problems. I think the world should keep laughing.” Kevin Hart
Motivation Mondays: Love, Laughter & Healing
Seriousness is a kind of disease: it is the cancer of the soul. . . . It is only through love and laughter and a tremendous joy in life that you start feeling the presence of something that is beyond. Osho
The best things in life are free. And it is important never to lose sight of that. So look around you. Wherever you see friendship, loyalty, laughter, and love…there is your treasure. Neale Donald Walsch
What role does humor play in YOUR life? I’ve always enjoyed a good laugh and it could be at my expense. Laughter has a way of breaking the ice and relieving tension when we are taking everything around us so seriously. Sometimes, we open the door to other people’s negativity and stuff, and we forget that the rage or anger they are expressing has more to do with them and less to do with us. We have control over our reactions to situations and we can choose to see the humor in it, the intended message or our own warped version of the facts. When we take a moment to step back, humor can help us gain perspective and it is a natural healer. So, instead of waiting for others to give you permission to have a good laugh, see it in your own life. I recently read Tiffany Haddish’s book and it had me laughing out loud. Mind you, some of her stories were painful and mind-shifting yet, in some of the darkest moments … she injected humor or found something that added a layer of ironic humor to her experience. We can reach deep inside of ourselves to tap into the humor that is bubbling under the rage, we need to practice listening and loving ourselves more to get there. Just live your life with a balance of love and laughter and, on those cloudy days, you will understand it. Come back for the rest.
READ – The Last Black Unicorn by Tiffany Haddish
Treat me nice, Miss Mandy Jane by Paul Laurence Dunbar
Treat me nice, Miss Mandy Jane,
Treat me nice.
Dough my love has tu’ned my brain,
Treat me nice.
I ain’t done a t’ing to shame,
Lovahs all ac’s jes’ de same;
Don’t you know we ain’t to blame?
Treat me nice!
Cose I know I ’s talkin’ wild;
Treat me nice;
I cain’t talk no bettah, child,
Treat me nice;
Whut a pusson gwine to do,
Wen he come a–cou’tin’ you
All a–trimblin’ thoo and thoo?
Please be nice.
Reckon I mus’ go de paf
Othahs do:
Lovahs lingah, ladies laff;
Mebbe you
Do’ mean all the things you say,
An’ pu’haps some latah day
W’en I baig you ha’d, you may
Treat me nice!
The details for Motivation Mondays are below. Join in! The themes for APR 2018/MAY 2018 are:
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
06/03 – 05 World Environment Day, 06, D Day, 08 National Best Friend Day,
06/10 – 13 St Anthony, 15 Eid al-Fitr,
06/17 – 17 Father’s Day, 18 Int’l. Picnic Day, MTV Movie Awards 19 Juneteenth, 20 World Refugee Day, 21 Summer Solstice, Int’l. Yoga Day, World Music Day
06/24 – 24 St John the Baptist, 26 Day against Drug Abuse/Illicit Trafficking
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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Photo Challenge: A Few Farewell Favorites
“Coming together is a beginning; keeping together is progress; working together is success.” Edward Everett Hale
Photo Challenge: A Few Farewell Favorites
Photo Challenge: A Few Farewell Favorites
There is nothing permanent except change. Heraclitus
The most difficult thing is the decision to act, the rest is merely tenacity. The fears are paper tigers. You can do anything you decide to do. You can act to change and control your life; and the procedure, the process is its own reward. Amelia Earhart
Today, the Weekly Photo Challenge calls for our All-Time Favorites, and there is a bittersweet reason for it. The Daily Post staff who have managed the Photo Challenges are wishing us a fond farewell. In the 6+ years I’ve participated in the WP Photo Challenge, I’ve learned a lot about the depth and breadth of creative photography. It’s been a fantastic ride, and like all rides, it eventually comes to a stop. In this case, we were informed that this would be the last assignment in the series. I am saddened but, I feel galvanized to continue creating my own Photo Challenges so I don’t become lazy. I thank the WP DP staffers for guiding us all these years, and I hope they will offer periodic photo challenges to keep us on our toes. That said, I believe that Farewells are never endings… they are the beginning of something new.
“I love you the more in that I believe you had liked me for my own sake and for nothing else.” John Keats
Photo Challenge: A Few Farewell Favorites
Photo Challenge: A Few Farewell Favorites
Learning never exhausts the mind. Leonardo da Vinci
Life without love is like a tree without blossoms or fruit. Khalil Gibran
Permanence, perseverance and persistence in spite of all obstacles, discouragements, and impossibilities: It is this, that in all things distinguishes the strong soul from the weak. Thomas Carlyle
When I read the accompanying message today: Welcome to the final installment of the Weekly Photo Challenge. In wishing you a fond farewell, we wanted to share our all-time favorite photos with you. We welcome you to share your favorites with us. Happy photographic trails! It left me feeling wistful about the many years we stepped up to take on the photo challenges and how much I enjoyed the creativity it inspired in all of us. Please stop by the Photo Challenge page and join me in saying a huge THANK YOU! to:
Jeff Golenski,
Michelle Weber,
Erica Varlese,
Cheri Lucas Rowlands,
Ben Huberman,
Sheri Bigelow,
Donncha Ó Caoimh,
Jen Hooks,
Krista Stevens,
Sara Rosso
They have all been terrific guides, and I am grateful for their dedication over the last 6+ years. I do hope to continue in some form and fashion, so join in and let’s keep this going. Photography is not just a form of creative expression; it is a repository of memories and personal history. I can look back at my photos and remember when…
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