You cannot direct the wind, but you can adjust the sails!
Motivational Monday … Be YOU
Motivational Monday … no shame
Don’t be ashamed to need help. Like a soldier storming a wall, you have a mission to accomplish. And if you’ve been wounded and need a comrade to pull you up? So what? … Marcus Aurelius
You cannot direct the wind, but you can adjust the sails!
Whimsical Wednesday … for a laugh!
Announcing the publication of a small humor book.
Perfect for teacher appreciation week May 4-8.
We could all use a good laugh right now!
You cannot direct the wind, but you can adjust the sails!
Motivational Monday…Ordinary
Appreciate the ordinariness of our days, because that’s what makes life extraordinary…Oprah Winfrey
Okay, none of what is happening today is normal, but I like the message. People don’t wake up thinking “my world will explode today … my world will change”. The people who were impacted by the horrors of 9/11, Vegas, Pump nightclub, Marjorie Stoneman Douglas … and now Covid-19 … all started their days in an ordinary way.
Honor them by appreciating the ordinary …
(even if sometimes boring these days.)
If you’re feeling stressed, I encourage you to do this 20 minute meditation with Jay Shetty on Instagram.
… and if you have little ones at home they’re sure to love Mrs. Casey’s Greetings on youtube and instagram. She’s an awesome preschool teacher!
You cannot direct the wind, but you can adjust the sails!
Wednesday Wish … Covid Calm
I didn’t do a Motivational Monday this week … then I read this article in the NY Times about the need for uplifting headlines. While we’re being deluged daily by the sad, overwhelming news, I thought it might be helpful to offer some uplifting suggestions during this crazy pandemic.
- I encourage you to watch this March 29th episode of CBS News Sunday morning.
- Check out this list of free concerts on NPR music (updated daily)
- Tons of YouTube videos to learn something new (bandana mask anyone?) or just be entertained
- Read! I know this is an obvious one, but I’ve found so much joy traveling to new places from the comfort of my own couch. My current pick is Jetsetters by Amanda Eyre Ward. Although this new book announcement (coming Sunday) is good for a few laughs too!
- I’ve really loved binge watching travel shows. I can’t physically be there, but it’s the next best thing!
- Re-read this post on meditation
- Zoom/FaceTime/Google hangouts … If you haven’t already, get together, virtually, with friends and family.
- Start journaling…and get that anxiety out of your mind and onto paper.
- Let’s all start calling it “physical distancing” because we can still be social, albeit 6 ft. apart or virtually.
- Instagram is awesome….I’ve danced with Sir_Twitch_alot (M/W/F @ 10am); meditated with Jay Shetty (Jay did it for 20 days so it’s over now on Instagram, but you can still watch/listen to all of them on youtube here); and followed new uplifting (SGN) and inspiring (Upworthy) profiles.
- Staying in your jammies all day is fine for some days, but it does help to keep some sort of routine …. make the bed, go for a walk, take a shower, and maybe wear something other than jammies (although, to be fair, even before this, I wear leggings a lot so it’s practically like jammies)
- Be kind to yourself! It’s okay if you don’t take up a new hobby or change the world while we have this extra time (as some suggest). Leave that to the overachievers. I’m just passing the day doing the same mundane things I’ve always enjoyed … they are distracting & pass the time!
- Lastly, let’s hope when we get back to “normal”, whatever it’s going to look like, that we appreciate the gift of family and friends … and physical touch. I, for one, am really looking SO forward to hugging people again!!
- … and let’s not forget that this would normally be tax deadline day and now you have an extra 3 months to file!
There is a glimmer of light & hope on the horizon as the curve seems to be flattening. Thank nurses, doctors, social workers, grocery clerks,delivery drivers and all those showing up to work, so we can stay at home and stay safe!
You cannot direct the wind, but you can adjust the sails!
Motivational Monday…Hope
Be strong now, because things will get better.
It might be stormy now,
…but it can’t rain forever.
Sometimes things won’t go away
until it teaches us what we need to know.
Hope is seeing light in spite of being surrounded by darkness.
You cannot direct the wind, but you can adjust the sails!
Motivational…The Optimist
(although a similar one has gone viral recently and credited to a retired teacher…this is the original, written by Irish author Kathleen O’Meara back in 1869, appearing in her book Iza’s Story)
And people stayed home
and read books and listened
and rested and exercised
and made art and played
and learned new ways of being
and stopped
and listened deeper
someone meditated
someone prayed
someone danced
someone met their shadow
and people began to think differently
and people healed
and in the absence of people who lived in ignorant ways,
dangerous, meaningless and heartless,
even the earth began to heal
and when the danger ended
and people found each other
grieved for the dead people
and they made new choices
and dreamed of new visions
and created new ways of life
and healed the earth completely
just as they were healed themselves.
Thanks to my cousin, Padraig, who lives in Galway for this one.
You cannot direct the wind, but you can adjust the sails!
Motivational Monday…crazy times!
A couple of Sโยฎamus Heaney quotes that my friend, Gina from Dublin, sent this past week….appropriate in these crazy times. Hang in there everyone!
โHope is not optimism, which expects things to turn out well, but something rooted in the conviction that there is good worth working for.โ
“If we can winter this one out, we can summer anywhere”
You cannot direct the wind, but you can adjust the sails!
Motivational Monday….Resilience in the face of fear
