Steemit Engagement Challenge S3-W3: A little bit of motivation can go a long way | Diamonds & Pearls | #burnsteem25

in STEEM FOR BETTERLIFE2 years ago (edited)

Hi, beautiful Community of Steem for Better Life!

It’s a great pleasure for me to participate in this Contest: A Little Bit of Motivation Can go a Long Way brought by STEEM FOR BETTER LIFE, as part of Week 3 of the Engagement Challenge.

I would like to start by inviting @lavanyalakshman, @reinamia, and @sanuri to join in.

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The Blue Fairy and Merida

As motifs for my current article, I choose the Blue Fairy from Collodi’s Children’s novel The Adventures of Pinocchio and Merida from Andrews-Chapman-Purcell’s Brave (2012 movie).

Why?

Well, I choose the Blue Fairy because she could make a beautiful human being out of a marionette which had begun as a piece of wood—and not even an expensive one—.

Always let your conscience be your guide.
Our conscience knows what is right. If we act with kindness, we can achieve, why not, what seemed impossible.

Finally, I choose Merida because she made of herself a beautiful human being, being only a child armed with a strong determination and the commendable ability to hit the target, literally. Brave Merida went in search of her freedom and her destiny, straight and sure as the arrows she shot.

Our fate lives within us; you only have to be brave enough to see it.

Eyes on the target! We must have the courage to accept ourselves and go for what we want, what is right for us, even when it means we must go against tradition.


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Motivating others. 1. When I met a Blue Fairy

I remember an Educational Psychology I class in my third semester of college. My professor, who later became a dear friend and who unfortunately died before his time, taught me perhaps the most important lesson in motivation.

After a three-month course in which I stood out for knowing all the answers and having read much more than expected for each session, he gave his words of congratulations for excellent performance to a student to whom I never paid much attention, since she did not participate much and made mistakes in diction, syntax, content, and so on. This happened on the closing day of the course and I could not believe it. She thanked us for forcing her to study harder than she had ever done before; she said she had grown a lot during those three months.

I stopped feeling bad for myself and in a second I felt absolutely happy. Although I was very moved, I must admit that I found her aspirations to become a university professor to be ridiculous.

And yet, seven years later, a thesis paper written by her came into my hands. The work she had done was astonishingly good. I can say that thanks to this experience, for years now I have cared more about what I can give than about the congratulations I might receive; and this has marked my character to this day, twenty years later. Truly, "a little motivation can go a long way".

My professor was the Blue Fairy. Where I saw wood, he saw diamonds and they eventually shined.


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When we are young, there is insecurity in us. It is not easy to specify our goals and even less easy to aim at them with certainty.

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Image by Jethrothompson - Wikimedia Commons

Motivation is to make us feel enthusiastic about how good something/somebody can be; if we are good, we will want to work for it. If we are not so good, we will want to reach the standards and go beyond.

Meridas don't just happen. Love is the key. If you know and feel that you're important for the people you also care about, then you learn to love yourself as well and become able to gather the courage to go against all odds.

Motivating others. 2. The Pearl Maker

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2

The second case I will tell you about happened in Barcelona, Venezuela, where there's a HOME I sometimes visit to offer help with the children's reading skills. Once I had the opportunity to help a group of children from 7 to 12 years old to study to take remedial exams in their schools. One of the girls wanted to be a teacher, but she had not told anyone because she was ashamed; since she was not doing well in school, she though everybody would laugh at her if they knew. I remember when she borrowed a book from me: Heine's The pearl (1988).

Let's say this girl's name is Maria.

Before borrowing "The Pearl", Maria (12) had asked me why these books we were reading did not teach anything. I explained that we could imagine the morals ourselves if we wanted to. This she asked me right after we read "The pearl". The main character is a beaver who finds a treasure, a possible treasure: a pearl that is supposed to be inside a mollusk. After imagining all the problems that envy for the precious object could bring him, he has dire visions, nightmares, all in a moment. The beaver decides to throw the mollusk back into the lake and goes back to play with his dear friends, happy and relieved.

An important part of the message here (which is a lot more complex) is supposed to be that friendship is a most valuable treasure. However, Maria asked me about the mollusk. She was shocked that the beaver could have sold the pearl and shared the money with his friends. I told her that she should read the story again and think it all over more slowly. What she told me the following week took my breath away.

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I feel like the thrown away mollusk, she said. Everybody in my family thought I was going to bring problems to them and they threw me out of the house, like Biba threw the mollusk without even giving it a chance. It was a punch in the stomach for me. As we continued to speak about this, I understood, she had not been actually kicked out, but she had left and looked for help with the police and eventually, she ended up in this HOME.

I told her, without much faith in myself, that it was all about the pearl, that was why the story had that title. The mollusk takes what is trying to hurt its insides and covers it with shiny nacre and turns it into a beautiful pearl. I told her she'd be an excellent teacher, as she had learned how to make pearls out of adversity.

Long story short, Maria went to college and has just become a teacher... I have lent her a couple of tales now and then to work with her students, and it feels great every time. She's one of many Meridas you will find out there: they refuse to be reduced to a person they don't want to be, and they gather the courage to go find their own destiny.


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Habits to increase motivating myself?

Well, my memory is terrible. A good habit could be keeping a "motivation diary", where I keep record of these chapters in my life and the lives of others which can teach me o remind me we can always do better, and we will. But this would be a diary you would not want to post on Steemit or anywhere else that is public! For me, each page would be a reminder to refresh the drive to keep going, to keep doing the right thing.

Giving ourselves or others some words of encouragement takes just a few seconds. Motivation as an emotional response may be short-lived, perhaps seconds, but how it affects us can be tracked over a lifetime.

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Unless specified under the image, all images are my property. Unless properly cited, all text is mine.

Thanks a lot for your reading.

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Sort:  
 2 years ago 

oh que hermosura de post, lleno de enseñanza de sapiencia de amor y gratitud. pienso que sos un Hada y una Valiente por todo lo que haces para todos en steemit y estoy segura que en tu andar diario.

un abrazo Marlyn

 2 years ago 

Hola, @graceleon. Te agradezco mucho por tus lindas palabras. Qué bueno sería tener una varita, pero sin impuestos XD ¡Un abrazo!

 2 years ago 

Woow Mam you present your post very well Love to read out the Maria's Story. Good luck for contest stay blessed have a good day

 2 years ago 

Glad you liked Maria's story , as it is a true story. Thanks for stopping by and leaving a kind comment, @afshaan :) Best of luck to you!

 2 years ago (edited)
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Note
➜1. You have picked two characters and you have written why and the meaning thereof
➜2. You have written how a little bit of motivation can go a long way.
➜3. You have written about is motivation important to you as a person.
➜4. You have written you how you motivate others and gave two examples.
➜5. You have written about habits can you create to increase motivating yourself
What a beautiful post supporting the statement that a little bit of motivation goes a long way.

Hi, @patjewell
The Result of your club review should be club100, not club5050.

 2 years ago 

Thank you! The rating was done on Club100. I just forgot to change the result. Fixed!

 2 years ago 

Hi, @patjewell, and thank you for verifying my post and status. You and your Community are working really hard and well; best of luck for all of you :)

 2 years ago 

Thank you for these kind words. It is appreciated 🌼

 2 years ago 

:)

 2 years ago 

This publication shows a wise understanding of the context of expression, I find maria's story captivating,

What a post,
Thanks for sharing
Good luck

 2 years ago 

Oh, you're too kind, @olabillions. Thank you very much for taking a time to read my post and for your positive comment.
The real Maria is also captivating :)
Cheers and good luck!

 2 years ago 

You are welcome,

 2 years ago 

I fell in love with this statement of yours

where I keep record of these chapters in my life and the lives of others which can teach me o remind me we can always do better

Keep positive records can be a force for good to us all. It is always good to polish the diamonds we have in people.to get out the shiny part.

 2 years ago 

Thanks a lot for a thoughtful comment, @benton3 :)

Indeed, it is so useful to be reminded of the goodness in the world. Most of the time, we might be looking for dangers to avoid, trying not to trust so much, measuring our words to prevent our children to get too excited about that won't happen--most likely. It is good to be reminded of the good things w may have forgotten.

Best o luck!

 2 years ago 

Waoo amiga nos has dado una super cátedra de este tema, desde varias perspectivas, y ciertamente debemos preocuparnos mucho mas por lo que podamos dar, y no por lo que dicen los demás. Leer tu contenido nos hace reflexionar y entendernos aun mas. Eres un ser muy especial. Bendiciones.

 2 years ago 

Hola, @mvchacin :)

Al final del día, debemos estar contentos con nosotros mismos y allí poco importan las felicitaciones o los reclamos. Uno sabe cuando está haciendo las cosas bien y eso es lo que nos da paz.

Muchas gracias por leer mi post y por tus lindas palabras. Mucha suerte :)

 2 years ago 

Hola amiga @marlyncabrera👋

Linda publicacion, realmente nos diste una clase sobre motivación 👏 es lindo saber que prestaste apoyo en la lectura a estos niños, la historia de María es triste pero con un final afortunadamente feliz para ella.

Fue un gusto leer tu publicación, saludos 🤗

 2 years ago 

Hola, @eumelysm :)

Qué difícil es muchas veces trabajar con estos muchachos sin deprimirse. Uno ve cosas muy feas; cosas que no deberían pasar. Pero pasan. Lo menos que podemos hacer es prestar ayuda siempre que podamos.

Muchas gracias por leer mi post y por tus lindas palabras. Mucha suerte :)

 2 years ago 

Your teacher didn't die before his time it was already his time, God has a way of sending those who are ready.. am confused about something thou, did Maria refer to herself as the mollusks??

 2 years ago 

Hi, @fredaig :)

Yes, Maria felt identified with the mollusk. It was a surprise for me. When it comes to tales, a kid will commonly feel identified with the protagonist; more rarely, they feel identified with a secondary character, even an incidental one, but "with a thing"?! It had never happen before, not to me. As a reading & writing teacher, I must say that one has to expect anything from inexperienced readers. They have an uncanny eye for detail and can surprise us in a big way.

Thank you so much for taking the time to read my post. best of luck! :)

 2 years ago 

Yes two heads are better than one, Maria point out a very good fact, a fact you were not aware of when reading the tales.. it's nice thank you

 2 years ago 

My pleasure :)

 2 years ago (edited)

Motivation is to make us feel enthusiastic about how good something/somebody can be; if we are good, we will want to work for it. If we are not so good, we will want to reach the standards and go beyond.

I agree with those words. Good Motivation give lot of energy to reach our goal very easily.

Just one motivation word or emotion is enough to reach our goals. Due to lack of those lot of users not reaching their gosl,give up at middle.

Nice motivational post from you. I really enjoyed a lot from reading your post.

Thanks for invitation to me.

Nice entry,Best of luck.

 2 years ago 

Hi, my dear @lavanyalakshman! Indeed, sometimes we feel like quitting at the middle of things and what a difference it makes that somebody, even a stranger, takes the time to give us a few words of encouragement. This is why we should never think motivation is overrated; contrary to this, always if possible, we should be willing to provide motivation for ourselves and others.

Thank you so much for visiting my post :)

 2 years ago 

Well said,but sometimes we need some small push from others for creating wonders.

 2 years ago 

A good habit could be keeping a "motivation diary"

Writing down all those positive affirmation certainly improve us as we can always go back an read/learn

 2 years ago 

Oh, this would be so useful for somebody as forgetful as I am, @sahmie. Thank you for your comment :)

 2 years ago 

My pleasure. Anytime