I have no favorite inspirational or motivational quote.
I read them, I may nod and say yup, but I don’t retain them,
much less energize myself into any action based upon one.
Quotes, like poetry and jokes, go in one ear and out the
other for me. I may appreciate them a lot while they’re passing through, but
the next time I hear them, they’ll be brand new to me yet again. Just not my
thing! Now book plots and movie plots and ancient Greek or Egyptian myths – those I can talk about in great detail,
with quotes of dialog.
“Seventeen days.”
“None taken.”
“Nuke the whole site from orbit…”
Yeah, those are lodged firmly in my memory but not exactly
motivational for writing.
I have two desk calendars of quotes and I start each day
with taking a moment to reread yesterday’s and then to peruse today’s. One is a
Mary Engelbreit calendar because I love her bright, colorful and whimsical
drawings, especially the tea pots, and she definitely has some good sayings,
like “Bloom where you’re planted.” (And maybe she didn’t invent that one – I have
no idea but I associate it with her.) The other is photographs by Deborah
Dewit, whose work I love. I keep one of her prints above my writing desk in
fact. The quotes on this “Simplicity” calendar not so much – some of them are
long and dry. Others are fine. Today’s was “Simplicity is the nature of great
souls” from Anonymous. It pleases me to start the day with something to ponder
briefly, plus the pick-me-up cheery moment of Engelbreit art.
We had quotes in my family - My mother's favorite was "In a hundred years it won't matter." My grandfather's ironic quote was "Pets are no trouble at all," usually said right after one of my grandmother's Boston terriers had destroyed something. I say "Count to twelve" when I get upset or anxious, because counting to ten is too short for me to really calm down.
Happy St. Patrick’s Day by the way! Did you like my hair and
hat in the photo at the top? My family is Irish-American descent, so I
definitely appreciate the wearing of the green.
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| Author's own collection of shamrock-y items for St. Patrick's Day |
