Wake Up and Dream Catalyst: Short inspirational thoughts for the day. Raising questions & hopefully opening a dialogue with people interested in learning how to turn their dreams into plans and start navigating their way towards them.
Thought for Today: I have a busy day & decided to repost these Words of Wisdom and updated the image associated with the post. I really like what I can do on BlogGif. Thought for the Day: It's February and since Valentine's Day is around the corner, I searched for quotes about love and relationships. This light hearted quote by Albert Einstein, Nobel Prize Winning physicist caught my eye:
"Gravitation is not responsible for people falling in love." Albert Einstein
Thought for the Day: Today's trivia question relates to the psychology of love. Since last Saturday's Songs for the Soul were related to spring & included songs about love, joy, change & hope, I decided to follow part of the spring topics today with a question about love. Here goes. What do you think the answer is?
Psychologists believe that love is:
a) a biological phenomenon
b) a learned behavior
c) a motivational drive
d) a social phenomenon
e) a basic emotion
f) a) & d)
g) b) & d)
Come back on Thursday for the answer. Have a great week, hope the weather is springlike where you are!
Thought for the Day: Yesterday was another busy day for me & I did not have time to prepare a new post. In addition to continuing on the building project, I went into NYC to see my nephew in concert for the last time for a while. It was also to wish him well as he embarks on a new chapter in his life as a musician in Los Angeles. The performance by Myra Flynn (who will be moving to Australia) & Gregory Douglass was a CD release party at Rockwood Music Hall for Myra Flynn's self titled new CD. The CD was produced by my nephew, Matt Bogdanow. It was a wonderful concert by talented young singer songwriters. (You can check them out on their websites.)
I am, however, a bit tired, since we got back home in the early morning hours, so I decided to look back at earlier posts. I chose one I wrote in March as spring began. I decided to repost it now as we move into fall. Fall is a reflective time as children return to school & we begin a new year. Here's the earlier post:
Thought for the Day: This week marks the first day of spring & another significant anniversary for me. As a psychologist, I know that anniversaries related to loved ones no longer with us, sometimes catch us off guard. March 25th would have been my oldest brother Bill's birthday. Bill died many years ago at the age of 31 in the spring of his life just before finishing his doctorate in sociology. Bill was an activist during the 60's & believed in standing up for his ideals. Hopefully, the snow at the beginning of last week was the last of this winter's storms. Spring brings with it rebirth & change. In Bill's honor of Bill's memory, I chose four songs that help us to recover from the storms of life.
My first pick is one of the most eloquent love songs I know. The words are simple, yet profound. It shows how love can be shown without words. I never tire of listening to "When You Say Nothing At All." It was written by a great singer songwriter, Keith Whitley, who sadly died in the spring of his life at the age of 34 from alcohol poisoning. I've posted two versions of the song, one by Keith Whitley & the other produced posthumously with Whitley in a duet with Alison Kraus. Both versions are a chillingly beautiful testament to the power of love.
The second song, "I Hope You Dance" (written by Tia Sillers & Mark D. Sanders), epitomizes the joy of life encouraging us to choose to live life to the fullest. I had the honor to take part in an informal songwriting workshop in a hotel room at the Frank Brown International Songwriter's Festival in Florida with one of the co-writers of this song Mark D. Sanders several years ago. Mark has had 14 number one hits. In my search for a clip of this song, I found an interview with Tia Sillers on how she was inspired to write the song & how luck brought her to collaborate with Sanders. I met her once in Nashville around when the song came out. It is performed by Lee Ann Womack. The sweet photos are of Allie B. (on YouTube) 's sisters.
The third song, "Turn, Turn Turn." was adapted almost word for word from the Book of Ecclesiastes in the Bible (with the exception of the last line) by Pete Seeger. The song's wisdom & inspiration has stood the test of time. I found a video of Seeger talking about the song & about the hit version by The Byrds. Pete added his hope that the time for peace will come & that it is "not too late." This spring I hope he is right as the seasons turn.
Finally I chose a song of hope that I have loved since I was a child, "You'll Never Walk Alone" is a show tune from the 1945 Rodgers and Hammerstein musical Carousel. I somehow forgot that the song came from a musical, since it seems like an old gospel song. It is befitting song to help us come out of the storm of violence our nation experienced this winter. We must find ways to come together, find ways to overcome our fears & search for creative solutions to the problems that we face. The very powerful version I chose is from American Idol on Fox with Kelly (Clarkson), Ruben & Fantasia. It has been covered by Gerry & The Pacemakers, Elvis, Tom Jones, Barbara Streisand, Patti Labelle, Alicia Keys & countless others.
I hope you enjoyed these selections & the rest of the weekend. Please come back tomorrow for Sunday's Comic Strips.
Thought for the Day: It is Friday & time for my fabulous finds. It has been a long week & the topics I have been writing about have weighed heavy on my heart. I chose stories this week that will lift your heart: A Veteran's gift to the girlfriend of a soldier, how a baby saved her mother's life, Jon Bonjovi speaking about his worst night as a father & the reunion after 2 years of a dog & it's owners. But, my favorite find, Dr. Brene Brown's short clip with Oprah & Brown's TEDx Talk, may also help strengthen your understanding of the divide that is hurting this country. Her research gives hope that we can find ways to mend & repair the chasm & bring people together as we face our vulnerability. I will be adding another special edition (last one was Part III) later today about my visit to DC. Some of these finds & even my trivia posts may be mentioned. Tomorrow I will share Saturday's Songs for the Soul & Sunday will bring another in my Sunday's Comic Strips. Have a wonderful weekend.
Thought for the Day: Instead of writing a post today, I decided to start a new type of article on the blog. Every week, on Fridays, I'd like to bring you some of the best articles I have found this week on current topics. I read a wide variety of articles every week. Therefore, my #FF Friday's Fabulous Finds will be a mixed bag and may range from psychology, self-help, social media, & inspirational articles. The articles will be connected to things that interest me or which I may have written about in the past. I hope you will find them helpful & informative. Please feel free to forward & share them with others. Let me know your thoughts & comments on this approach & on the articles which I bring to you.
#FF Friday's Fabulous Finds:
1) The first find: Three Ways to Help 'Loners' and Improve School Safety,
2) Would Gandhi Use Social Media? is my second find by Nipun Mehta, a UC Berkeley graduate, left Silicon Valley and founded a non-profit that builds free websites for nonprofits. His offers an interesting analysis of social media & how it can lead to social change. Since I have been using social media for social change, I find his perspective to be interesting & enlightening.
3) My third find is by a colleague who is also one of my facebook fans Dr. Craig Malkin. Dr. Craig Malkin is an author, clinical psychologist, and Instructor of Psychology for Harvard Medical School (HMS) who writes for the Huffington Post. This article presents a very interesting question: Can Acting in Love Help You Stay in Love? His findings may help couples who have found that their relationships have lost some of their luster.
