Welcome to Mirth and Motivation!
Before you leave a comment, STOP, consider this: Our comments are part of our digital footprint on the internet. They tell the world how we think and respond to information. I know YOU took time out of your busy schedule and landed here. I’m rooting for you to say something inspiring that will help others who read my posts. THANK YOU! ❤
Photo Challenge: STRUCTURE
“The universe is built on a plan the profound symmetry of which is somehow present in the inner structure of our intellect.” Paul Valery
Photo Challenge: STRUCTURE
A structure becomes architectural, and not sculptural, when its elements no longer have their justification in nature. Guillaume Apollinaire
Nature will bear the closest inspection. She invites us to lay our eye level with her smallest leaf, and take an insect view of its plain. Henry David Thoreau.
Structure exists in everything around us… from the tiniest seed to the biggest building, we can enjoy the brilliance of our universe when we open our eyes to see what we often take for granted. Today’s photo theme on STRUCTURE came as a much needed creative trigger. I’ve had a hectic summer offline, with lots of preparation for a move, so my interest in being observant about the smallest details had taken a bit of a hike. I walked my favorite path on the aqueduct without giving much attention to the beauty around me. This exercise forced me to stop and take notice of the various forms of structure in my surroundings. It was revelatory. Come back for more photos
“A structure is a bit like a story. People will go along with you – they see where you’re going.” Melvyn Bragg
Photo Challenge: STRUCTURE
Photo Challenge: STRUCTURE
Everywhere in the universe, the periodic table has the same basic structure. Even if an alien civilization’s table weren’t plotted out in the castle-with-turrets shape we humans favor, their spiral or pyramidal or whatever-shaped periodic table would naturally pause after 118 elements. Sam Kean
Before life got ridiculously hectic, I’d take leisurely walks on the Aqueduct, drinking in the surroundings and photographing whatever caught my eye. It could be a photo or two of the Octagon House above in the winter, when leaves had fallen off the trees allowing the beauty of the structure to dominate my space. It could be the turning colors of fall foliage displaying the brightest shades of red, brown, gold and orange dancing before my eyes. It could even be the bare tree limbs and fallen tree trunks showcasing their sculptural designs … all created by and in nature.
More Below! Read more…
Motivation Mondays: STRUGGLE
“The most beautiful people we have known are those who have known defeat, known suffering, known struggle, known loss, and have found their way out of those depths.” Elisabeth Kubler-Ross
Motivation Mondays: STRUGGLE
Love, Dad (Short Film)
Strength and growth come only through continuous effort and struggle. Napoleon Hill
Human progress is neither automatic nor inevitable… Every step toward the goal of justice requires sacrifice, suffering, and struggle; the tireless exertions and passionate concern of dedicated individuals. Martin Luther King, Jr.
The battle of life is, in most cases, fought uphill; and to win it without a struggle were perhaps to win it without honor. If there were no difficulties there would be no success; if there were nothing to struggle for, there would be nothing to be achieved. Samuel Smiles
When you think of the word – STRUGGLE – what comes to mind? All of life entails some struggle and the only way around it is to get up and keep moving forward. The struggles we experience in life fire our passion, sharpen our ambition and build our motivation to overcome our obstacles. Struggle is a heavy word and it brings back memories for a lot of people; both good and bad. I have had my share of it on many levels and this post was a way to revisit the subject and show how it can help fire the imagination and give us a sense of gratitude about our lives. In poor countries, people learn to be inventive because of the enormous challenges and struggles they face. So, it has both its innovative/bright side and its enervating/dark side. I started the post with a lot of ideas about the nature of struggle and how it helps us grow, heal and become more compassionate. I added my quotes and stories, and wrote part of the first paragraph and it took on a life of its own. COME BACK LATER FOR MORE!
READ: BitterSweet : When Creative Work Starts to Suck the Life Out Of You by Mike Segal
A Story: From Struggle to Success
Once upon a time, a daughter complained to her father that her life was miserable and that she didn’t know how she was going to make it. She was tired of fighting and struggling all the time. It seemed just as one problem was solved, another one soon followed. Her father, a chef, took her to the kitchen. He filled three pots with water and placed each on a high fire.
Once the three pots began to boil, he placed potatoes in one pot, eggs in the second pot and ground coffee beans in the third pot. He then let them sit and boil, without saying a word to his daughter. The daughter moaned and impatiently waited, wondering what he was doing. After twenty minutes he turned off the burners. He took the potatoes out of the pot and placed them in a bowl. He pulled the eggs out and placed them in a bowl. He then ladled the coffee out and placed it in a cup.
Turning to her, he asked. “Daughter, what do you see?” “Potatoes, eggs and coffee,” she hastily replied.
“Look closer”, he said, “and touch the potatoes.” She did and noted that they were soft.
He then asked her to take an egg and break it. After pulling off the shell, she observed the hard-boiled egg.
Finally, he asked her to sip the coffee. Its rich aroma brought a smile to her face.
“Father, what does this mean?” she asked.
He then explained that the potatoes, the eggs and coffee beans had each faced the same adversity-the boiling water. However, each one reacted differently. The potato went in strong, hard and unrelenting, but in boiling water, it became soft and weak. The egg was fragile, with the thin outer shell protecting its liquid interior until it was put in the boiling water. Then the inside of the egg became hard. However, the ground coffee beans were unique. After they were exposed to the boiling water, they changed the water and created something new.
“Which one are you?” he asked his daughter. “When adversity knocks on your door, how do you respond? Are you a potato, an egg, or a coffee bean?”
Moral: In life, things happen around us, things happen to us, but the only thing that truly matters is how you choose to react to it and what you make out of it. Life is all about leaning, adopting and converting all the struggles that we experience into something positive. Via MoralStories.org
“Where there is no struggle, there is no strength.” Oprah Winfrey
Motivation Mondays: STRUGGLE
Don’t feel entitled to anything you didn’t sweat and struggle for. Marian Wright Edelman
Without struggle, no progress and no result. Every breaking of habit produces a change in the machine. George Gurdjieff
A journey is a person in itself; no two are alike. And all plans, safeguards, policing, and coercion are fruitless. We find that after years of struggle that we do not take a trip; a trip takes us. John Steinbeck
All life demands struggle. Those who have everything given to them become lazy, selfish, and insensitive to the real values of life. The very striving and hard work that we so constantly try to avoid is the major building block in the person we are today. Pope Paul VI
What type of Struggle have you faced? While I am not an advocate for “no pain no gain,” I believe that struggling to accomplish any type of goal makes us stronger, wiser and, hopefully, more considerate of others who are going through the same experiences. Of course that is not entirely true because I have seen people in the workplace who fought to get to their position, who then work hard to make sure no one else gets there. It is truly a misguided way of thinking. Great bosses are those who want their employees to rise to the top and become better at their job. When you work for an insecure boss, they spend more time nitpicking and creating havoc for their staff. A great boss should always work with integrity and compassion because all eyes are in that person. Even if you are not in a position of authority, you can mentor others by voluntering and offering a helping hand in your community.
READ: Bittersweet: Sweetness In The Garbage Slums of Cairo via Stephen’s Children
Learning to Walk, and Standing Proud via StandProud
A Story: Make Friends with Your Mind & Struggle
Once Buddha was walking from one town to another town with a few of his followers. This was in the initial days. While they were traveling, they happened to pass a lake. They stopped there and Buddha told one of his disciples, “I am thirsty. Please get me some water from that lake there”.
The disciple walked up to the lake. When he reached it, he noticed that some people were washing clothes in the water and, right at that moment, a bullock cart started crossing the lake right at the edge of it. As a result, the water became very muddy, very turbid. The disciple thought, “How can I give this muddy water to Buddha to drink?!” So he came back and told the Buddha, “The water in there is very muddy. I don’t think it is fit to drink”.
So, the Buddha said, let us take a little rest here by the tree. After about half an hour, again Buddha asked the same disciple to go back to the lake and get him some water to drink. The disciple obediently went back to the lake. This time he found that the lake had absolutely clear water in it. The mud had settled down and the water above it looked fit to be had. So he collected some water in a pot and brought it to the Buddha.
The Buddha looked at the water, and then he looked up at the disciple and said, “See, You let the water be and the mud settled down on its own. You got a clear water. It didn’t require any effort”. Anon Zen Stories
The details for Motivation Mondays are below. Join in! The themes for July/August 2017 are:
07/04 – Independence Day,
07/11 – World Population Day, 14 Bastille Day
07/16 – National Ice Cream Day, 18 Nelson Mandela Day
07/23 – Parents Day, 28 World Hepatitis Day
07/30 – International Friendship Day
08/06 – 01 National Girlfriend Day
08/13 – 06 Friendship Day, 12 International Youth Day
08/20 – 19 World Humanitarian Day
08/27 – 26 National Dog Day
Are You Looking for Ways to Stay Creative in 2017?
– Join the Daily Post Post-a-day or Post-a-week Challenge.
— Join the BlogHer Writing Lab
More Below! Read more…
Photo Challenge: CORNER
“You can’t stay in your corner of the forest waiting for others to come to you. You have to go to them sometimes.” A. A. Milne
Photo Challenge: CORNER
Photo Challenge: CORNER
There is only one corner of the universe you can be certain of improving, and that’s your own self. Aldous Huxley
Choose your corner, pick away at it carefully, intensely and to the best of your ability and that way you might change the world. Charles Eames
As I considered this week’s photo challenge on the theme CORNER what came to mind was a ramshackle barn that I saw on a corner street in Dutchess County. It was old and falling apart but, it was located in a beautiful area; across the street from an artists community and next door to a farm teeming with green life. As I pulled onto the unpaved driveway, and drove to the side and back of the barn, a flood of imaginary memories came to mind. What was life life for the original owner? Did he/she have far flung dreams of moving from the corner to center stage? I could tell that in its days of glory, it was a beautifully built two floor barn made to accommodate man and his beloved. But now, all had fallen to waste. Then I remembered the poem below… POST UPDATED!
Vagabond’s House by Donald Benson Blanding Canto 1 via allpoetry.com
When I have a house . . . as I sometime may . . .
I’ll suit my fancy in every way.
I’ll fill it with things that have caught my eye
In drifting from Iceland to Molokai.
It won’t be correct or in period style,
But . . . oh, I’ve thought for a long, long while
Of all the corners and all the nooks,
Of all the bookshelves and all the books,
The great big table, the deep soft chairs,
And the Chinese rug at the foot of the stairs
(It’s an old, old rug from far Chow Wan
That a Chinese princess once walked on)
“Still round the corner there may wait, A new road or a secret gate.” J. R. R. Tolkien
Photo Challenge: CORNER
Photo Challenge: CORNER
In seeking comfort, we generally find a quiet corner in life where there is a minimum of conflict, and then we are afraid to step out of that seclusion. Jiddu Krishnamurti
To survive, you’ve got to keep wheedling your way. You can’t just sit there and fight against odds when it’s not going to work. You have to turn a corner, dig a hole, go through a tunnel – and find a way to keep moving. Twyla Tharp
I dont know about you, but abandoned houses always gave me the creeps. Something about a dwelling that once teemed with life and years later, it sits empty, sad and filled with unspoken memories and abandoned stories of who and what once called that space home. Why do homes get abandoned and how does that even fit this conversation about corners? Well, for starters, life is so full of surprises that even with careful planning, our dreams and wishes could take an unexpected turn that would surprise the most indifferent among us. So this barn has a history of hope, joy, celebration and completion of a task that I cannot share with you because whoever built it and lovingly maintained it, gave up the ghost long ago, and the narrative that could be shared went with it. What is my point? Take each precious memory you have and share it like fertile seeds. Plant flowers filled with grace and build friendships and connections with others so your home will always be a place of respite for you and your cherished ones because around the corner is … who knows?
Vagabond’s House – Canto 19
Then, when my house is all complete
I’ll stretch me out on the window seat
With a favourite book and a cigarette,
And a long cool drink that Oh Joy will get;
And I’ll look about at my bachelor-nest
While the sun goes zooming down the west,
And the hot gold light will fall on my face
And make me think of some heathen place
That I’ve failed to see . . . that I’ve missed some way . . .
A place that I’d planned to find some day,
And I’ll feel the lure of it driving me.
Oh damn! I know what the end will be
More below! Read more…
