Saturday, December 20, 2014

You Can Quote Me On That

by Catherine Giordano
Happy New Year 2015 Quote

Will you be making New Year’s Resolutions this year?  Will you be keeping them next year? Did you keep them last year?  

Why do people have so much trouble with New Year’s resolutions? Perhaps because they are boring and easily forgotten. They are not inspirational or motivational 

I have an idea for this year’s resolutions. Instead of making a to-do list, make a list of your favorite inspirational quotes. Write them out or print them out. Take the list and frame it. Put it where you will see it often. Be inspired throughout the year. 

Perhaps you don’t have a favorite quote. Allow me to help. I have been collecting quotes and organizing them into categories in inspirational essays. They are all posted online.  

The quotes are on happiness, love, success, work, health, and kindness. Choose your favorite quotes—maybe one from each topic and you’ll be ready for the new year.
 







 
Whatever You Are Be a Good One book
CLICK HERE to look inside
Not inspired by my collections or too lazy to make your own list (you really should work on that) try this book: Whatever You Are, Be a Good One.  It incudes 100 hand-lettered inspirational quotations.The delightful drawings alone will be inspirational. I recommend the hard cover version so you can keep it near your bed or on your coffee table so you will see it everyday. Read a page a day or pick a page at random and let fate decide what your inspirational quote for the day will be. It makes a wonderful gift for someone also. 

But first take a minute to look at my quotes. I worked hard to find the very best quotes in each category.

I'll tell you my choices.

Most folks are about as happy as they make up their minds to be. --Abraham Lincoln

Success is the sum of small efforts, repeated day-in and day-out. --Robert Collier

Get on with living and loving. You don’t have forever. --Leo Buscaglia

Good, better, best. Never let it rest. Until your good is better and your better is best.  --Tim Duncan

Those who think they have no time for exercise will sooner or later have to find time for illness. --Edward Stanley

Always be a little kinder than necessary. --James M. Barrie

The above are my New Year's resolutions. I'm going to print them out on a card and put the card on the bulletin board over my desk so I will see it everyday first thing in the morning.

I hope you will check out my quote collections and choose a few for yourself. 

Saturday, December 13, 2014

The Odd Couple: Edith Piaf and Zombies

Edith Piaf
Edith Piaf
I’ve been writing articles that I post on HubPages. My interests are quite varied, so my articles are on many different types of topics. 

Recently HubPages revamped the formatting of the articles, or as they are called “hubs.” The pages now have a much more attractive look. 

One of the changes was to place ads in a block format along the right side of the page. (Ads no longer appear in the middle of the text where they might be confused with content.) There are three ads on the side.The top and bottom ads are paid advertisements.The middle ad is for the author. It shows a picture, title, and blurb for another hub written by the same author.   

Sometimes the hub shown is clearly related. For instance, if you go to my Cranberry Orange Nut Quick Bread Recipe, you will see an ”ad” for my hub, Healthy Cranberry Cherry Pie with Walnut Crunch Topping Recipe. And vice versa. 
Cranberry Recipes 
 
Sometimes the pairing is for a hub that is tangentially related.  For instance, if you go to my hub for Political Phrases in the News you will see an ad for my hub, Thou Shall Not Kill: The Immorality of the Death Penalty. I don’t know why they didn’t choose my other hub on politics, Political Parties and Symbols; Where Do They Come From and What Do They Mean?, but at least it is a social issue that might be discussed by politicians.  
 
Politics and Death Penalty 

However, this one floored me. I have a hub, Edith Piaf: The Little Sparrow with No Regrets. I begin with a brief bio telling the facts of her life and her death  and then I do a tribute poem about her life which ends on an upbeat line, a paraphrase from Candide . “This is the best of all my possible lives.” This was paired with my hub about Zombies, ZOMBIES: The Popularity, Mythology, Psychology, Philosophy, Morality, and Reality of the Living Dead.   
 
Edith Piaf and Zombies 
 
Edith Piaf and Zombies!? Oh well, I do mention death in both articles. Or maybe they got paired because I mentioned philosophy in both. I only know that they make an “odd couple.” 


Edith Piaf CD
CLICK HERE for the CD
Walking Dead DVD
CLICK HERE for the DVD

Monday, December 8, 2014

It’s Motto Time Again

by Catherine Giordano

Every year I choose an annual motto. The motto inspires me to attain the goals I have set for myself. I wrote about the importance of mottos in an article: Motto for Life 

Last year my motto was “Stay the course.” 

Each year in December I start thinking about what my motto will be or the coming year. I don’t so much choose a motto as let the motto choose me. Every year my motto finds me. Would it happen again this year.  

Yesterday I found my motto. I went to a concert given by David Roth. (www.davidrothmusic.com)  He’s a delightful songwriter, folksinger, and dare I say, philosopher. He sang a song about making changes. He sang “This is the Year…”
"Worry Less, Live More "is a great motto.
CLICK HERE to see more tee's with mottos.
·         for making changes.

·         for letting go

·         for following my dream

·         for living fully

He added, “Give it a try” and “Practice makes progress.”

My motto is in there. I’ve set my unconscious to simmer, and in a couple of weeks, I’ll know what my motto for 2015 is.

Do you want to know more about mottos, including how to find your own motto? Read my article, Motto for Life.

Update for 2016
Yesterday I found my motto for for 2016.  it was a phrase used by a speaker at a Unitarian Universalist service. The phrase is "Turning to Wonder." I think that phrase has so many different meanings--from be curious to be in awe of the universe. It means stop and think about things deeply. It means look for silver linings. It means keep your thinking fluid. I'm sure I'll discover more as the year goes on. 

Monday, December 1, 2014

Stop the Killing

Bare trees with the slogan "Stop the Killing"
Dead tress are used as a metaphor for capital punishment.
 by Catherine Giordano

Stop the killing.

This nation's shame is that when I say "Stop the Killing," you don't know what killing I am referring to.

It's almost the anniversary of the Sandy Hook school shooting. Is that the killing I am referring to?

Fergusson has police-shooting of unarmed black teenagers and boys in the news. Is that the killing I am referring to?

Actually, I am referring to a third type of shameful killing. Capital punishment, aka the death penalty.  At first you may think that the killing of innocent people has no relationship to the killing of condemned prisoners. The truth is there is not a whole lot of difference.

See why I say these three categories of killing are very much the same. I've given some of the reasons in these three posts.

Thou Shall Not Kill: The Immorality of the Death Penalty

The Hangman's Plea: End Capital Punishment (Includes poems about the death penalty)

Why Innocent People are On Death Row

Death Row Follies


For more information: Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty


Read this book to understand how the death penalty affects everyone involved. 

Dead Man Walking: The Eye Witness Account of the Death Penalty That Sparked a National Debate


You could also watch the movie with Susan Sarandon and Sean Penn.

Dead Man Walking (DvD)