The biggest enemies of willpower: temptation, self-criticism, and stress. These three skills —self-awareness, self-care, and remembering what matter most— are the foundation for self-control.
-Kelly McGonigal
The Biggest Enemies of Willpower…
Category: inspiration
Health. The Vaccine Way…
We don’t see sick people
~Doctor’s Receptionist
The pandemic has turned the world upside down. “We don’t see sick people.” That’s what the receptionist at the doctor’s office said. Haley’s symptoms included running nose and nasal congestion but it was annoying and missing work was even more so. After all, she had bills to pay.
So the office proceeded to setup a virtual appointment for her to see the doctor. Without the necessary tools to do her vital signs at home, ‘seeing’ the doctor only meant them collecting her co-pay and telling her to go to the urgent care. More cost and even more time away from work. Several hours and doctors charges later, she tested negative for the recommended Covid test but was down several hundred dollars and lost worktime. Worse yet, she was told to visit the pharmacy to pick up something for the common cold she knew she had from the beginning. Believe it or not, this situation is repeated multiple times everyday.
Covid. Covid-19. The Pandemic
Sad times indeed. the pandemic has wreaked havoc around the world. There’s no escape. Many wander in despair. Some become house-rats. Businesses slowed. Some even closed. Entertainment suffered. Travel, hotel stays took a nose dive. With no entertainment, economic devise, anger soared. Panicked consumers wander in fear. Deaths are many and goodbyes are few. Too many have lost hope. Let’s just gallivant. Live our best life before we die. So they play. It’s not going to make a difference, they say.
Enter the vaccine. Hope indeed! Personally I jumped at the opportunity to get the two doses of the Pfizer vaccine. Adorned in short sleeves, I rolled up twice and got the shots. I’d take more if needed. Having worked in pharmaceuticals for a decade and more, I know what goes into research and development to help people do more, feel better and live longer. Critics will always exist but it’s well needed to prolong life, or to ease pain and discomfort.
You may also like The tale of Travel as Things Re-open
The Anti Vaccine Movement
The anti-vaccine are either afraid or make things political warding off and spreading fear. Oh the side effects of the vaccine will make you impotent, they say. Or you don’t know what’s going to happen later in life and the list goes on. But if something provides you with the ability to live a better life, wouldn’t you go after it? Who in their right mind would want to experience discomfort when there’s an alternative? I find it strange as most of us growing up had to be vaccinated against diseases such as MMR, Chicken-Pox and more. Chances are we are not able to enjoy epic travel trips unless we have proof of being vaccinated.
So I encourage those skeptics, to do the right thing. Get vaccinated. The life you save may even be yours. A colleague at the hairdresser was mourning. Her best friend of many years had just passed away due to Covid. She took all the necessary precautions. Stayed home, sanitized, cleaned, and sanitized again and again. Then her beloved young adult son went out, contracted the Covid virus. Unknown to him because he was asymptomatic. He passed it to her. Sadly, within a few days, she died. Another young mom decided to stay home after testing positive because the hospital wouldn’t allow family visits. That night she died. And there are many more sad stories.
There Is A Vaccine
Again there’s no cure. But there’s a vaccine. Yet many refuse to take it. Politics? Ignorance? Rumor-mongering? Fear? Who knows? But it makes sense to take it.
I close with the wise well known quote “Prevention. Is better than cure“. Choose wisdom. Save you. Deal with the consequences (if any) later. There might not be any.
Prevention is better than cure
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What are your thoughts on the vaccine? Have you got it? Scared? Do share. We would love to hear.
Cheers!
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Love. The Ties That Binds Our Hearts…
Two peas in a pod…literally. The Mr. and The Mrs. They were always together seated either in the front, second or third rows during mid-week meetings. Never-apart. They were the esteemed example couple to anyone of 60-years of true love.
At age 70 she fell ill. To date we are not sure of what ailed her but she passed away during a life changing year. How could he live without her? Lady B as she was affectionately called. The truth is, he couldn’t. He lost his thoughts to the dreaded Alzheimer’s disease a year after she passed. He began to make errors. Things got mixed up. Soon he could no longer adequately take care of himself. Death took him away quietly one night after several bouts of strokes, hospitalization and rehab stays.
Like that couple, life is bitter-sweet. The memories live on through offsprings. Today, be encouraged to live your life. Be kind. Enjoy each day like it is your last. Love binds no matter the kind. The love of a couple, friends, family and more.
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What’s Going On In Your Life That Feels Like A Giant?
Relatable, encouraging, inspiring are words that describes the book “My Safe Place is With You.
Amazon Reviews
Are you discouraged and feel like giving up? What is going on in your life that feels like a giant? Is it a career decision? A conflict on the job? Your health? A conflict at home? When you think about your future, does it look bleak? If so, be confident that it does not have to be.
In My Safe Place, Dr. Shelly Cameron talks about what to do when life’s tragedies hit, when you feel stuck, confused, and your life spirals out of control, where do you turn? How do you handle it? Where is your Refuge?
In this book you will find:
- Inspirational Short Stories and Exhortations to Uplift you
- Prayers and Encouragement for Difficult Journeys
- Guidance to Identify God’s Purpose and Leading when you are Confused
- What to do when Enemies Strike
- What to do when Waiting on God
If you or a friend feel like giving up and do not know where to turn, then this book is for you.
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My Safe Place…
A Captivating Book About Life’s Tragedies, Disappointments And
Finding Strength During Difficult Times
A Captivating Book About Life’s Tragedies, Disappointments And Finding Strength During Difficult Times
Are you discouraged and feel like giving up? What is going on in your life that feels like a giant? Is it a career decision? A conflict on the job? Your health? A conflict at home? When you think about your future, does it look bleak? If so, be confident that it does not have to be.
In My Safe Place, Dr. Shelly Cameron talks about what to do when life’s tragedies hit, when you feel stuck, confused, and your life spirals out of control, where do you turn? How do you handle it? Where is your Refuge?
In this book you will find:
- Inspirational Short Stories and Exhortations to Uplift you
- Prayers and Encouragement for Difficult Journeys
- Guidance to Identify God’s Purpose and Leading when you are Confused
- What to do when Enemies Strike
- What to do when Waiting on God
If you or a friend feel like giving up and do not know where to turn, then this book is for you.
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Stories, Flags, Anthems, And Meanings…
Nowhere is this felt than at events such as the Olympics. Countries gasped in awe when athletes step out flags in hand to represent
A Flag is a piece of cloth or similar material, typically oblong or square, attachable by one edge to a pole or rope and used as the symbol or emblem of a country or institution or as a decoration during public festivities.
There is something special when you hear the national anthem being played with flags flying high. It speaks to unity, respect and achievement. Nowhere is this felt than at events such as the Olympics. Countries gasped in awe when athletes step out flags in hand to represent. I decided to share the original stories of those countries where I have lived. Learning more sparked my interest and I hope the direct extracts listed will cause you to reflect on your own homeland and countries where you too have lived, visited or your favorite writing place.
Canada
On February 15th, 1965, the modern Canadian flag, bearing its hallmark maple leaf, was raised for the first time on Parliament Hill. Today, the maple leaf is a recognized symbol of Canada; it has also come to symbolize unity, tolerance, and peace.
Jamaica
The legislative committee responsible agreed that the flag should have the colours black, yellow, and green. … These stood for the difficulties faced by the nation (black), its natural wealth and the beauty of its sunlight (yellow), and agriculture and hope (green).
United States
The flag of the United States of America, often referred to as the American flag or the U.S. flag, is the national flag of the United States. It consists of thirteen equal horizontal stripes of red (top and bottom) alternating with white, with a blue rectangle in the canton (referred to specifically as the “union”) bearing fifty small, white, five-pointed stars arranged in nine offset horizontal rows, where rows of six stars (top and bottom) alternate with rows of five stars. The 50 stars on the flag represent the 50 states of the United States of America, and the 13 stripes represent the thirteen British colonies that declared independence from the Kingdom of Great Britain, and became the first states in the U.S.[2] Nicknames for the flag include the Stars and Stripes,[3][4]Old Glory,[5] and the Star-Spangled Banner.
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Living Your Life As A Mask…
We have all been placed on this earth to discover our own paths and we will never be happy if we live someone else’s idea of life.
A new writer shared her Instagram name. It was nowhere close to her real names . I beckoned to her… smile in tow…”you do make it hard, don’t you? In haste she retorted “it’s so my employer can’t find me”.
I smiled.
Our Lives In Compartments
How many of us are like that? We live our lives in compartments trying to separate our true selves from what those around us see publicly.
To Hide To Be
It’s a hard choice but sometimes you have to hide in order “to be“. I pray one day that you will be able to just be. To reveal your true identity and just be the you that you want to be.
Cheers!
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Traveling To A Place I’ve Never Been…
Corona Air Travel to a place I have never been.
6 Feet apart on the ground.
Masks, face covering and all as orders came for businesses to reopen
Next day mandatory
Embarked on flight observing the usual.
Full flight. Clumped together
White paper bags distributed on entry with tiny pack of cookies and bottled water.
The usual. No changes there
I can see the signs
Less crew to come.
With safe distancing, there’s nothing they need to do besides the initial guidance in preparation for take off
And even then, that’s automated
Three hours later, the friendship State I arrived.
Big airport. Masks everywhere
Until I get to my mountainous destination
Scanty. A few masked ones. The rest on their own.
Free to wander. Free to decide.
Spread the germs
Get the germs
The virus
Will it ever end?
Second leg. Flight empty except for a few dozen passengers
I arrive at my seat.
Backpack in hand and rollercase
I was assigned to sit next to another passenger
I looked around. Why?
The flights empty for crying out loud!
Lovely lady. Kind. Helped me get ‘settled’ into my window seat
Except…. there’s no window.
Oh that’s weird.
A window seat with no window, hmm
Of course I couldn’t settle
One of my pastimes while traveling is to stare out the window
I read. I write. I plan. I stare. Eyes fixed until the earth beneath disappears behind the clouds
Then I gaze at the morning’s sunrise, midday sun or evening sunset
At nights I just stare at the lights until they are gone
Then I zoom into the plane’s flicker against the night sky.
Absolutely love
But then back to my story.
My kind neighbor who looks like a mayor’s wife who bakes cookies and welcomes all at Christmastime agree that I can make haste to the window behind.
No flight attendant in sight. I settle in.
Flight ready for takeoff they asked me to elevate the seat back
The sure demise of a previous passenger
I wiped the place clean … well as clean as I could without looking like a germaphobe
Settled in.
Look around at a passenger dressed in spacesuit
Extra precaution I’d say
Hungry …. had not eaten from morning and airport snack counters closed for obvious reason
I slaughtered a pack of biscuits brought from home
I usually sleep during take off but was too ravished to nap.
I dived in and ate and ate until the pack of biscuits disappeared
Now I await the 3 hour flight to a place I’ve never been
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Happiness. Experience Joy…
If you want happiness for an hour — take a nap. If you want happiness for a day — go fishing. If you want happiness for a year — inherit a fortune. If you want happiness for a life time — help someone else.
Chinese Proverb
Happiness is for a while but Joy is everlasting.
Experience Joy!
Cheers!
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Travel’s Road Trip. This Summer Night’s Dream…
Because the greatest part of a road trip isn’t arriving at your destination. It’s all the wild stuff that happens along the way.
Emma Chase
Eric Rosen shared in Travel & Leisure Magazine, an article titled Will we be able to travel this summer? Who in the world can imagine such an atrocity? How can we not travel? What…then… will we do with the kids?!
How Can We Not Travel?
Yes, but quiet down. Lets be reasonable. How can we travel during a worldwide pandemic when we have no clue about a virus that is invisibly floating around like an obtrusive enemy? We never know who may get it next. It’s no respecter of persons from Presidents, Prime Ministers and major leaders within societies worldwide. No one seems to be exempt.
But then… as we approach summer, and the approvals have been given to calculatedly reopen, our eyes aghast as we picture the way to go. As travel expert Samantha Brown promised Travel will come back. Now there is hope as Rosen gives points about travel’s return from the experts.
This Summer’s Musings From Travel Experts
Experts mused that:
- Destinations will open ‘soon-ish’
- Cleanliness is top of the mind…a commodity per my own personal experience the Tale of Travel as things Reopen Amidst Corona enlightened proof of, as travel returns
- Road trips on the rise
- Wellness and open spaces (i.e. parks, Museums, RVs etc)
- Airlines present bargain fares and flexible flight changes in their attempt to boost a comeback to flying
- Transformational getaways after all the time we have had to reflect. We want to start the move to get our personal lives back on track. The ultimate goal? To reinvent ourselves. Ascertain our future, and take stock.
- Personal travel for family and friends for events such as weddings, grandparents birthdays and more becomes a nostalgic necessity.
The Rise Of The Road Trip
From the list, my personal fav is the traditional Road trip. Predictions are… it will rise this Summer due to cheap gas, lack of money due to the Corona effects, and tour partners customization and tons of collabs to produce the perfect deals.
All in all, here’s hoping this summer will be one of traditional memories for you and yours; or at the very least, provide treasured memories to last a lifetime.
Happy travels!
Cheers!
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What Inspires You? 38 Things Writers Share…
The Only Limit To Our Realization Of Tomorrow Will Be Our Doubts Of Today. ~Franklin D. Roosevelt
Music, passion, travel, the rain some shared. Once a staff member fell seriously ill. Apparently she hid it from most but as it progressed, it became more evident. Word finally reached me in my role as HR. That was when I called to tell her of the concerns raised by her co-workers. It was then that she shared her situation. It was grave… with a crescendo of physical issues, she wouldn’t survive. I immediately jumped into action-mode to assist in the best way that I could.
In reflecting on the question “What Inspires you?” I realized that what inspires me is the ability to make a difference in the lives of others. Helping others inspires gratification. Here I share a brief synopsis from the perspective response of what inspires others.
- The random people I meet and the random conversations that take place. It’s incredible what inspiration you can find from genuinely listening to people’s stories.
- Lemon drops or just candy in general. Also pieces of jewelry but mostly necklaces. I have this sea glass necklace that’s inspired 2 stories already. If anyone needs inspiration I would suggest going downtown and just walk around and look at stuff.
- Music lyrics inspire me. Sometimes a certain sentence just sticks. Travel and nature and of course experiences .
- Daily things around me.
- Life
- Mythical creatures, music, horror stories/movies, different people I meet and talk with.
- Sparking a love of reading in kids and young adults.
- Lines of Shakespeare and Emerson. Walking in nature. Autumn and Winter inspire with the scenery and feelings they give me…old things, antique shops, bookstores, leather-bound journals, maps, Fall evenings.
- My friends, music, books, scented candles, and history
- The inner and outer universe.
- I find what if questions to be really useful.
- Love and how it compels people like Rose looking for Jack at the bottom of the ship while its sinking. That’s love.
- My weird perceptions of human nature and civilization
- Pictures, people, and most of all moments in time.
- Rain, grey skies, other art and gardens. Sometimes cats, animations or music
- Everything. There is beauty and inspiration in all different things in life
- Sound. the way you pour water into a glass, sons, the sound of the wind, the rain
- Music, love, sadness
- Struggle. Finding light in darkness
- Stephen King
- Current events
- Humans and their flaws
- Reading. Going to the bookstore.
- Button poetry
- Audience
- Sweet misery
- Ice cream and rainy days
- I think nature. Happiness inspire me and says do something different for others.
- Philosophy and knowledge
- Fear of failure
- Drawings
- Dreams
- Logic
- Passion
- Travelling
- Anything creative
- Strange occurrences
- Challenge
What about you? What inspires you? Do share…we would love to hear!
Cheers!
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Cancer. My Sister’s Journey…
My sister’s Journey. We all know someone who has been affected. For me, it has personally been my grandma, my mom but most of all my little sister. Here I share her journey as a fighter. A leader extraordinaire. She never gave up and I hope her journey inspires someone who needs it.
She’ll have my head if she knows I’m writing this but some stories must be told.
That was how I started this story four years ago but don’t think it was ever published. It was the spring of 2003, after experiencing discomfort and a series of medical tests, the news was relayed to my sister. Not only did they find a lump in her breast but it was also malignant. Visits to Specialists left her with two options; remove the breast, or embark on a series of chemo treatment. The option of removal was an uncommon feat at the time, so after engaging family, friends and mountains of prayers, she made the decision to save the breast and embrace the chemo treatment.
Past The Worst
Over 10 years later and different rounds of chemo treatment combined with the usual side effects of hair loss, nervous system changes such as numbness…
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