Taking back Mondays

Regardless of the general consensus and the abundance of evidence, 

Mondays do not suck.

Ever since grade school, people have developed an aversion to Mondays...

Because it "kills the weekend"

Because we have to go back to the routine

Because we have to wake up early

If you do a poll, I have no doubt Monday will be the least favorite day of the week by a landslide.

Regardless, every single week, Mondays push forth the world we live in. Mondays organize us, keep us grounded and quite honestly, put up with our whining. If you think about it, complaining about Mondays is exactly the same as complaining about the weather and about twice as pointless.

In addition, hating Mondays is as logical as complaining about trash and not picking any of it up.

So it’s pretty simple, you don’t like Mondays. 

So what are you going to do about it? 

Will you get a new hobby, do a positive action to pay it forward? Will you smile? Will you cover someone’s coffee? Because last I checked, most people don’t do much about Mondays, except bitch.

So ask yourself:

What do you want your Mondays to be like? 

When will you stop asking what Monday’s can do for you? 

What will we do to transform a case of the Mondays into a good thing?

And you want to know what the best thing is? You can choose a Monday to start the change. 

Cheers

Method to Madness: Switch it up

As a living being with a conscious mind, you have a brain that gladly reacts to stimulation. When you learn a new language or new skill, you engage untapped areas of your brain. Every time you do this, it is very likely you get a burst of creativity.

Being adults there are countless things that become second nature to us and in reality are opportunities we could use to engage our brain. Imagine yourself writing three sentences. You’re right handed and you can easily see your right hand swirling out words in reality or your mind’s eye.

Now imagine using your left hand.

When was the last time you did anything with your non-dominant hand? Studies have showed that people who carry out exercises with their “wrong” hand get wonderful bursts of creativity and start finding new wonders in their stories and projects.

It takes a great deal of effort to learn a new skill and five times as much effort when you learn it with your non-dominant hand. Imagine the workout your brain would receive each time you did this. Imagine how sharp your mind would feel. Picture the adventures your mind can have if you choose to go left instead of right.

For more information on the benefits you can get from this simple exercise, click here or here. 

JD Estrada book signing

This coming October 15, I'll have my first book signing event at The Book Mark in San Patricio Plaza.

There you can find out more about my first novel, Only Human as well as my poetry collection, Between the Tides.

Swing by, say hi and who knows, you might get something in the giveaways we'll have at the event.

Cheers

Thank you, may I have another

Manners should always be maintained. In these overworked times, where it’s par for the course to demand things immediately, manners are often lost on people.

It’s amazing the power a “thank you” has.

Good morning

Excuse me

Please

These basic phrases from the realm of common courtesy are in danger of being lost in our day-to-day lives, whether in the office, at a store, a hotel or even a restaurant.

Everyone is so connected to their devices and consumed by their day-to-day that it’s easy to forget that although we have rights as clients, we are much more than clients and consumers. The people who take your order or assist you in a store are people and we are people.

None of us are robots or despots and should not behave as such since it is in such incredibly bad taste. Courtesy is taught through example and that’s one of the biggest challenges manners face.

Some people think a lack of tact should be met with the same. Although I do support everyone getting the respect they deserve, I also think it’s well within our boundaries to be kind or at the very least, civil.

Another thing is that you should mean it when you actually say thank you. Some people do it as a reflex and not much more. Manners and courtesy should be much more than a kneejerk. After all, if we lose manners and civility, what is there to differentiate us from your average politician?

So thank you for reading and please share this with people that need a kind reminder of how much we can achieve with a little bit of kindness. 

A reality about help

It is always a lovely thing to cheer someone up. Given our globally communicated reality, we can all cheer up friends anywhere around the world. Even in our daily lives it’s always possible to cheer someone up.

But this runs a risk.

When someone is cheered up by someone else, there lies a gamble of addiction or dependency. That’s because if you look hard enough, you will find someone nice enough to cheer you up and people in general become your “fix”.

For some time, I’ve followed a person on Instagram and I’ve seen this addiction take control of this person’s life. They always manage to be sad, angry, frustrated or what have you and their feed is full of people, kind wonderful people, offering support.

Here’s my worry expressed in a formula:

Sad / angry / pouty = love and support

If they say they’re ugly, they’re told they’re beautiful. If they say life sucks, they’re given hope and it continues that way because it’s learned behavior and at least for this person, it never stops and it is never enough.

The reality is that for it to last, happiness needs to come from within. Otherwise you’ll always need to depend on someone else to find something you already have within... and that’s not much help at all. 

Something Human This Way Comes

Beauty has no impediment

In the building I work at, there is a woman in her late 30’s or early 40’s with crutches... and she is beautiful.

This woman did not twist her ankle, have an operation or have a cast on. She has a condition. Some people may say she has an impediment, a handicap, an incapacity or a limitation.

I disagree.

She simply has a condition that requires her to use crutches...

And she’s beautiful.

In a time where physical perfection is demanded of women, she walks with class, poise, style, grace; and yes, crutches. Many people come to believe that a condition immediately takes away from your beauty.

It doesn’t.

Unless you allow it to.

So here’s to beauty in all its forms and the power of the human spirit to surpass any condition. 

****

Ps.: the woman in the picture is the founder of mobileWOMEN.org. Click the title of this post to visit the website and support a lovely group of women you can look up to, regardless of where you're looking from.