Help From a Motivational Speaker

The first contact that I recall having with a motivational speaker was watching approximately a 30-minute infomercial on TV by a man named Tony Robbins....  I found him very inspiring to listen to.... [www.tonyrobbins.com]  Mr. Robbins was also selling a set of cassette tapes, at the time, in which he interviewed various experts....  I don't recall exactly what the name of this set was but the theme was relating to personal improvement.... At that time, I wasn't able to afford the tapes but I found a book of Robbins' at the library called, "Awaken the Giant Within."  I gained some insights from the book and soon after moved to a bigger city, with a bigger library.  I found the library had many cassette books prepared by Mr. Robbins and other motivational speakers and experts.... So, I started listening to them. I found the audio books to be more convenient than regular books.... And when I was dealing with my legal matters, these books were very encouraging to me--I needed encouragement!

The experts interviewed by Mr. Robbins had written their own books, more or less, called self-help books.... Self-help isn't a substitute for professional therapy, if a person needs it, but the self-help can also be a supplement to therapy....  Problems like abuse, addictions, sexual assault, eating disorders, and depression, etc. can benefit from professional help.... And it's good to research everything available in your area and then to make the best choice--or even to try different options, if possible. Myself, I've had a lot of counselling and I'll tell more about my issues in this blog....  But I wanted to recommend that the self-help books and professional motivational speakers can be very valuable resources.

American Thanksgiving

Would like to acknowledge that the American Thanksgiving Day is coming up next week--on Thursday--and I'd like to wish my American friends and family a happy holiday!  In Canada, we had our Thanksgiving earlier, in the month of October....  I sometimes like to celebrate both the Canadian and American days, actually, because I find the Canadian day too early and I'm not quite prepared....  And I appreciate the holiday, otherwise, and don't mind extending my time...!

"Thanks giving" for the fall harvest was part of the original celebration, I believe, if not the entire purpose...?  This year, I had a nice garden for the first time in a long while; and I was a little sad when the gardening season was ending....  But I realized there's a lot of fruits and vegetables which come from the fall harvest time, [in the stores and at the farms], and I decided to make a special use of them this year....  Have been baking and cooking, and enjoying the food!

In this area, the fruits we have are apples, pears, plums, nectarines, peaches, and grapes in the fall--but especially apples!  I live near an apple-growing area; and the others aren't too far away.... Then we have cabbages, squashes, turnips, and pumpkins, etc.  And pumpkin pie is a common tradition for Thanksgiving!

Nature Art--20

This shows part of the Thunder Bay harbour during daylight hours....  [A ship is in the background.] There's a wooden boardwalk along the water, as well as the pier.

Nature Art--19

Nature Art--18--Moonrise in the Harbour

When I lived in Thunder Bay, in northwestern Ontario, there was a nature area near my home. One evening, I went for a walk there a little after sunset and saw that a full moon was fairly high in the sky.  I thought it'd be nice to get a photo while the moon was lower on the horizon; and I went back an evening or two later with my camera.  I waited and waited until it got dark and there was still no moon.  Then, all of a sudden, I saw something that was the colour of fire on the skyline.... I continued to observe and saw that it was the moon coming up, at last....  And it was a bright, orange colour.  It was a very amazing sight to see.

The moon was over the harbour and there were also three ships in view.  (You can see the lights from the ships in the photos.)  If I'd had a different lens for my camera, the moon would've appeared bigger--as it really was.  But these photos show something of what I saw that evening....  [It was also close to this time of year when this incident happened.]  In the bottom photo, there are some geese swimming past.

Apparently, the moon takes a capricious path across the sky at night, and from night to night.  It's not regular like the sun is.--And we all know different phases of the moon are visible at different times.

Nature Art--17

Some more berries at Sturgeon Falls, after a frost.

What Does "Motivational" Mean?

My dictionary says the word "motive" means "moving to action...."  The words "motivation" and "motivational" are forms of the same word....

When a person has suffered a loss, a failure, or a setback, it's easy enough to feel discouraged and get stuck in that position.  The job of a motivational speaker or writer, as I see it, is to encourage people and help them to move forward....  And it's what I'm trying to do--even in some small way--in this blog....

Nature Art--16

Some berries in the fall, in the Sturgeon Falls area.

The Healing Properties of Nature

If a person can spend a little time in nature, it can be refreshing to the mind and perhaps to the soul, if a person has a religious background; and the nature can be calming and relaxing.  Our daily life in the cities is often described as a "rat race" and as "hustle and bustle."  Not to mention technology keep us on our toes....  Nature can be a nice change.

Since I'm living in a city now, I don't always get to be in nature as much as I'd like--especially in the fall and winter.  But I do what I can.

The Links Within the Posts

The links within some blog posts are unfortunately not connecting to the Internet. The problem isn't with the web addresses but it's with this blog.  I apologize for the inconvenience.

Remembrance Day--Part 2

This is a photo of the cenotaph in Oshawa, Ontario.

www.oshawa.ca

My Nature Photos--Part 2

The first part of this entry was posted on Wednesday, October 26.

About 20 years ago, I was living in the country and got inspired to sell nature photography, or to try to....  On many days, I specifically went out into nature locations to look for beautiful and interesting scenes to photograph.  On other days, I took my son into nature on recreational outings and sometimes had my camera with me.  At one point, I was invited to participate in a group exhibition of artwork at a new art gallery; and I did that.

The exhibition itself was inspiring for me, even though there were no sales done there, at the time. And otherwise, the idea of selling my photography didn't work out well, partly because I wasn't very knowledgeable about salesmanship and business....  But I'd had a hobby of doing photography off and on over the years ever since I was eight or nine years old; and I continued to take nature photographs when I could--even after I moved away from the first nature location and after I lost my car....

At this point, I wanted to bring out my nature photographs again and display them in this blog.... And if possible, I'll ask to have advertising in my blog after a while to earn some money...?  But if the ads don't work out, this blog will be like volunteer work which I hope will be a step in getting some other employment...?  So, I'll do what I can, and I hope other people will enjoy and benefit from this blog....

Remembrance Day in Canada

Our Remembrance Day is coming up this Friday, November 11. It's a day to remember and honour our war veterans and also the current military people who are serving our country.  Myself, I certainly appreciate our freedom; and I believe our past and present soldiers and their families deserve our support.

Nature Art--15

This scene was in the same location as the three photos below.

Nature Art--14

It was quite a long time ago when my son and I went boating in the location of these three photos....  We only had a small, inflatable boat--along with the necessary life jackets and boat cushions--but it served us well!

My son and I rowed across a small lake and proceeded down the channel.  It was a surprise to see the high, rock wall because nothing like that was visible from the road.  It was kind of exciting to see it because at the time we'd never seen anything like it before--at least not in that area.  [We'd seen the Rocky Mountains, out west, and later we went to Bon Echo Provincial Park which was somewhat similar to this lake and river area....]

Nature Art--13

These photos were taken along the edge of the riverbed of the Sturgeon River, I believe, at the town of Sturgeon Falls, Ontario.

Nature Art--12

I believe this photo was also from Bon Echo Park.

Gratitude--Part 2

This post is continued from a post on Friday, October 28.

Pastor Glenn Coon, whom I mentioned, had a dramatic event himself with the power of gratitude.  He'd been diagnosed with nervous exhaustion and was ordered six months of bed rest at one point.  When he was in bed, he started to express gratitude for "simple" things around him--like a roof over his head, a door to keep him safe, a bed to sleep in, teeth to brush, his toothbrush, a jaw to keep his teeth in, etc.  Some of it was almost humourous but there are things we take for granted and don't even realize it.... Pastor Coon continued being thankful for things every day and within two weeks he was out of bed and well again!

When I was a teenager, my mother used to listen to some talks on cassette tapes by Pastor Coon and that was how I first heard of him. He wrote some books, also.

In college, I decided to try Pastor Coon's "Ten point plan," for ten days.  Before that, I used to say something like, "I have this and this and this good thing in my life, but I have this bad thing...."  And after the ten days, I learned to say, "I have this one bad thing in my life but I have this and this and this good thing...."  My thinking changed from negative to positive!  Under times of stress, a person might need a reminder to stay positive--like when my dad encouraged me--but I've found that gratitude really makes a difference!

Nature Art--11

This photo was taken at Bon Echo Provincial Park.