Hello fine readers and welcome to my Motivational Mondays Post – a weekly newsletter that attempts to rewrite the narrative Mondays are the most depressing day of the week. (Or at least start it off in a slightly better fashion.)
Following a 4:3:2:1 approach, it contains 4 exceptional thoughts from me (ha), 3 admittedly better quotes from others, and 2 things I’ve been reading and/or listening to this week that have helped me grow.
As always I’ve finished with 1 something silly to hopefully make you all smile.
Love to all X
(To my lovely readers: If you have any suggestions, thoughts or ideas about today’s weekly post I’d love to hear from you in the comments at the bottom. Thank you all so much for reading.)
4 x Thoughts From Me:
What if the only thing that is wrong with you is that you think there is something wrong with you?
Sit down every night and pat yourself on the back for the things you did well and then examine the ways in which you could have done better. Bring both your sense of accomplishment and willingness to improve into your next day. You will go far by making this a daily habit.
We talk about the possibility of being alone in this universe as if the world we live in isn’t enough. I think we all need a better understanding of what enough actually is.
Intelligent self interest is about understanding we are all part of the same world. That to hurt another is to hurt yourself. I would go so far as to say how you treat others is how you treat yourself. Kindness to others extends inwards as well as out. The same is as true for anger or hatred. You give fuel to those feelings within by acting on them. Be sure to choose forgiveness over resentment, kindness over hate and love over fear.
3 x Quotes From Others:
“There are two core fears: losing what you have and not getting what you want. There is one solution: falling in love with where you are.” – Jeff Foster
“Bad times have a scientific value. These are occasions a good learner would not miss.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
“Before you speak, let your words pass through three gates: Is it true? Is it necessary? Is it kind?” – Rumi
2 x Things That Helped Me Grow
1 – This fantastic Ted talk by Ethan Hawke on why being creative is so vital (my favourite quotes from the transcript are beneath):
MY FAVOURITE QUOTES:
“I believe that we are here on this star in space to try to help one another. Right? And first we have to survive, and then we have to thrive. And to thrive, to express ourselves, alright, well, here’s the rub: we have to know ourselves. What do you love? And if you get close to what you love, who you are is revealed to you, and it expands.”
“It’s a thing that worries me sometimes whenever you talk about creativity, because it can have this kind of feel that it’s just nice, you know, or it’s warm or it’s something pleasant. It’s not. It’s vital.”
“What makes kids so beautifully creative, is that they don’t have any habits, and they don’t care if they’re any good or not, right? They’re not building a sandcastle going, “I think I’m going to be a really good sandcastle builder.” They just throw themselves at whatever project you put in front of them — dancing, doing a painting, building something: any opportunity they have, they try to use it to impress upon you their individuality. It’s so beautiful. “
“If you want to help your community, if you want to help your family, if you want to help your friends, you have to express yourself. And to express yourself, you have to know yourself. It’s actually super easy. You just have to follow your love. There is no path. There’s no path till you walk it, and you have to be willing to play the fool.“
2 – This BBC article – How being realistic can be key to your wellbeing. A study comparing optimists, pessimists and realists found that, “overestimating outcomes and underestimating them are both associated with lower wellbeing than getting expectations about right. Realists do best.” This is worth the quick read.
1 x Silly Thing To Make You Smile:
Having spent the last 4 days confined to a hotel room it was a relief to arrive back in Hong Kong this morning.
Unfortunately, because of the recent spike in cases here, it’s now mandatory that all crew, as well as passengers, be tested for COVID on arrival.
As I waited in line a lady dressed in a bio hazard suit assembled my COVID testing kit. She explained to me that I needed to deposit my specimen in a small plastic cup over in one of booths set up behind her.
She’d omitted the word saliva…
I couldn’t help myself.
“That’s an awful lot of pressure,” I replied jokingly. “Do you have any magazines or anything that might help the process along?”
“Oh yes,” she replied clearly not registering, “you can watch a video that demonstrates how to do it on one of the big screen over there.”
“Hmmm, I’m not sure that will help,” I said as she handed me my testing kit.
She was clearly perplexed.
Probably a good thing she couldn’t see me smirking behind my face mask.
I walked to the booth in shame.
Till next week…
Have a Happy F***ing Monday Everybody!
P.S. Don’t forget to exercise your silly muscle this week!
One bonus question for you all to ponder:
What does success mean to you?
PREVIOUS MONDAY POSTS:
Motivational Mondays – 27/07/20
Motivational Mondays – 20/07/20
Motivational Mondays – 13/07/20
Motivational Mondays – 06/07/20
Happy F***ing Mondays – 29/06/20
Happy F***ing Mondays – 22/06/20
Clear Air Turbulence 
Thank you. I really wanna listen to that talk now..
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You’re welcome – It’s well worth it! 🙏
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Really enjoy reading your stuff. I have just come upon something you may be interested in. https://www.infinitepotential.com/blog/. The life and ideas of David Bohm..
Take Care, Heidi
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Thanks Heidi! I just had a look – very interested!! Thank you for sharing 🙏
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My pleasure, David Bohm and another Karl H. Pribram. Both independently concluded that there is an energy that exists outside of space and time.
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Haha, what other specimen is there?
The one about expression of self and creativity really hit a bell in my brain. Why do we feel the pressure to be better at something than others anyway. All it leads to is low self esteem which makes you want to give up entirely. I always tell myself that there will always be someone else better at anything I do but no one can do it the same way I do it.
Bravo mate! Excellent, exceptional Monday motivational post as always.
And as always I’m reading it 2 days late. 😂🤣
Better late than never, ey.
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You have just hit the nail on the head and given me an awesome idea for another blog post! Creativity is about expressing your individuality – doing something in a way no one else can. It has nothing to do with being better than someone else. This is also why imitation is such a tragic waste of ones talents. (That quote is going in the next MM post)
Thanks so much for your kind words. Whenever you get the chance to read it is fine by me. I’m just chuffed you are! 🙏
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You’re welcome sir! Glad I could help.
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