Today's review! The Perfection of Peace by C.J. Dragon:
"This is the last book in this series, but hopefully not the end of Jon and Talins story, which I have enjoyed immensely, and it ends with a huge surprise. 5 stars."
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An extended sample of my latest audiobook, "Shards," the first short-fiction collection from The Nod/Wells Timelines.
Watch/Listen on YouTube:
Don't miss this speculative-fiction smorgasbord with its heavy doses of science fiction, horror, fantasy, and the paranormal!
Amazon:
Audible:
Learn more about the Nod/Wells Timelines literary universe:
I've learned that today is an International Picnic Day (umm, thanks, Meta), and I realized that I have a perfect related quote to share with you on the occasion. I won't claim that rooftops are the mythborn idea of picnics. It's just Riagn being Riagn.
Preorders available:
Or start with book 1:
A reader sent me this photo, and very much made my week.
Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go be an excited teenage girl about the fact someone is actually reading my .
You get the body before you get the soul.
This is despicable. A (1) review from yasfleur with the review title: "Mass Murderer" filled with hate.
(even worse is it got 6 Helpfuls)
Please Report the review and if you are so inclined, buy the book. I did.
New book with a chapter about is worth a read.
How do you find the motivation to do x or y How do you sustain the inspiration so you can keep creating every day How do you get yourself to study without school/teachers/deadlines How can you possibly get work done when youre just not feeling like it
Fear not, my precious readers, for I have an answer for you
Table of ContentWelcome or welcome back to The Dawn Chorus!
Today, I will take you on a small journey through the meaning of motivation.
We will then look at the key concept of momentum and how you can harness its power to unlock your true potential.
As always, comments are encouraged. I love to read your feedback and own thoughts on my posts
What even is motivation
A note about semantics & etymology
I feel obligated to share this clip of Captain Holt from Brooklyn 99 whenever I talk about etymology x)(Feel free to collapse this section if you want to get straight into the point of this article P)Words and phrases often lose their true meaning as they collide and merge with our own personal worlds. We tend to assign new meanings to them as we view the world through our unique lens, shaped by our past and deepest values. Even if a word has a set definition in the language that hosts it, two people might still have their own interpretation of it.
I believe that it is important to remember this before I share more information on the meaning of this word. Some of our brains are really resistant to accepting new data that demand an alteration of a belief we have held for quite some time. I know mine is!
By true meaning, I mean: the meaning that is commonly accepted for a word what you would find in a dictionary. For this article, I do want to focus on this meaning of motivation rather than explore different interpretations of the term. This is to ensure that we are all coming from the same starting point.
If you look into the ideational theories of meaning (also called mentalist theories), you will see that semantics is not a field that is interested in rigidity. It intertwines with philosophy as it works to understand the meaning of words but also its relationship with the words language users.
Ideational theories specifically look at meaning through the lens of language users mental states. The meaning of motivation in that context would be the idea that the language user has of it, rather than its referential meaning. But it could also hold a different meaning based on the users intention when using the word.
For the curious minds, here are some reading suggestions:
I also must recommend Adam Aleksic, aka for his bite-sized educational videos that I always watch on Instagram, and interesting posts over .
I could go on and on about this topic, so lets bring our focus back to the intention of this article about motivation.
I simply wanted to note that meanings are not as simple as x = y and to remind you, dear reader, that your understanding/definition of a term being different from the one I propose does not make either inherently wrong.
Myths & fairytales
Before we look at defining motivation, I want us to go through some common myths and my own old beliefs about it.
From conversations that Ive had with friends and read online, it seems that this one is one of the most common ones, sharing similarities with our perception of skills, talent, or potential: you either have it or you dont.
We are somewhat led to believe that it is something akin to magic, that exists outside our self, out of our control.
Motivation is in that sense similar to the legend of inspiration: legend says it falls from the sky when the stars are perfectly aligned.
This is why I refer to this belief as a myth.
Motivation is not a little fairy with an internal clock attuned to Divine Timing and emerges from the darkness to deposit a ribbon-wrapped fragment of mojo into your lap.
The other side of this enchanted coin is that motivation is, in fact, not magical, but it requires extreme amounts of energy to summon it. It is something that requires self-discipline and so much hard-work that most people simply do not have the time or will for it.
Feel free to share any other beliefs you had in the comments, but, for this article, these two will do.
In summary, motivation is this elusive power that could change your life, if only you could control it. You either arent born with it or you are never in the right place to catch it in your net. Its out of reach, at times, and other times, relies on the mercy of the Gods above.
Nonetheless, I want to note that, as with most legends, there might be some truth to these
I do believe that timing and self-discipline are important pieces of this puzzle.
Even if those fairies are real and can offer you a boost of mojo, the quote from Picasso goes:
Inspiration exists, but it has to find you working
If the generous fairy of creativity is approaching you and notices that you are not able to accept her magic right this moment, she will grumpily pass you by and take her gifts to a more welcoming home.
Today, however, my mission is to help you discover the unsung hero that is momentum. So, lets move forward.
How we define motivation
Motivation:
NOUN
1. the act or an instance of motivating
2. desire to do interest or drive
3. incentive or inducement
4. (psychology) the process that arouses, sustains and regulates human and animal behaviourfrom
When you remove all the fluff, the word motivation simply refers to a drive or desire to do something. It is made up of the noun-forming element -ion, attached to the verb motivate (which comes from the noun motive and the verb-forming suffix -ate).
If you look at its roots from the Old French (motif) or Latin (motivus), it refers at its core to a movement/motion. Therefore, denoting something that moves a person inwardly to do something, behave or feel a certain way. It is a force that comes from within and instils will-power into a person, propelling them into action.
Past the dictionary definition, it is important to note that there actually isnt a standard definition for motivation. If you would like to learn more about it, I found this paper to be quite interesting: .
This paper taught me that there are multiple theories of motivation beyond the common knowledge of extrinsic vs. intrinsic. I will not be going too deep into it, but heres an excerpt from the abstract to give you an idea of its content:
This paper explores theories of motivation, including instinct theory, arousal theory, incentive theory, intrinsic theory, extrinsic theory, the ARCS model, self-determination theory, expectancy-value theory, and goal-orientation theory. Each theory is described in detail, along with its key concepts, assumptions, and implications for behavior.
It looks closely at what motivation is, where it originates from, to equip the reader with the tools to achieve their goals with an understanding of human behaviour. I have no idea how it landed on my lap (lol), but it was very informative!
For the purpose of this article, I want to focus on intrinsic motivation as it is in my opinion the most sustainable one. The push you get from external threats or rewards does not last long, and their power over you can also decrease overtime.
Momentum
Momentum:
NOUN
from Latin: movement
(plural -ta or -tums)
1. (physics) the product of a bodys mass and its velocity
Symbol: p(from Latin pellere push, drive)
2. the impetus* of a body resulting from its motion
3. driving power or strengthfrom t
*impetus refers to a force that sets a body in motion against resistance or an impelling movement (incentive/impulse/stimulus)
When we talk about momentum, we usually refer to it as a force that keeps something or someone moving. For example:
Following the definition of motivation that we gave in the previous section, being a propelling force to accomplish a task, momentum would be more fuel to this fire.
Why a passe-partout
A passe-partout is a key that unlocks more than one door, a master key.
(If you watched Fort Boyard growing up, let me know in the comments!)
I used to think that the key to any form of success was self-discipline and rely heavily in extrinsic motivation:
As much as that might work, just like in most things in life, there is another way where you lead with the gentle pull of your heart instead of the brute force of capitalism.
Self-discipline remains crucial to achieving anything, but it doesnt have to be a blood-bath. Self-discipline is another way to practice self-care, looking after your life and future
While we might commonly think of something gentle to be slow, inefficient or weak, it is far from all that. Gentle means:
When you approach yourself with this gentle & firm self-love, you might discover that you can be both, the magician and the magic wand. You can keep yourself in line, be disciplined and focused without needless bruising.
Momentum is the key that will unlock your motivation, creativity, inspiration and anything else that you keep locked behind an invisible wall erected by your anxious mind.
Once you get it, you are well on your way to becoming unstoppable
Why is it powerful
When we speak of self-discipline as the key to progress, we are associating it with the notion of control and self-mastery. Weve all heard talks about making your mind work for you instead of against you, or how being the master of your own mind is essential to succeed in anything.
Control is power, and momentum is gentle control. You lean on your own self in order to push yourself further than you could with self-discipline alone.
Momentum is a more down-to-earth, effortless, low risk/high reward form of control and self-discipline. It requires no big sacrifice and no shouting matches in the mirror either scolding or hyping up your reflection.
All that momentum requires of you to unleash its full power is a small act of faith.
Leap and the net will appear. Jonh Burroughs
Through small calculated leaps of faith, momentum will carry you further than you wouldve imagined possible, gently under its wing, like a mama hen.
Momentum is powerful because a little goes a long way and it is self-sustained. It is akin to magic as it will turn your small leap into something bigger and seemingly out of thin air, it will grant you motivation/inspiration/whatever you wish for
If you keep waiting for the right time, you will be waiting forever. The right time is something you create. Start anywhere.
from one of the latest post of
How to use momentum to unlock your true potential
Now that we have learned what motivation and momentum mean, lets see how they relate to each other and most importantly, how you can harness that power.
Remember: you are the magic wand and the magician!
momentum is gathered by even the smallest step toward the completion of a task and snowballs from there on It is, in that sense, the mother of the magical fairies that we mentioned earlier.
Think of it like pushing a boulder downhill: all you need is a small push and momentum will do the rest of the work carrying at the other end of the hill.
Feel no motivation No inspiration You have completely lost the spark of creativity to continue working on your project You have no energy at all to wash even one spoon in the sink
Do not fall for this illusion. You are made of stardust and are as infinite as the Universe
Take the leap of faith and go clean one spoon. Only one and, watch as the motivation slowly builds up just like magic.
Take a leap of faith and go do five minutes of practice/work on that seemingly impossible to tackle project.
All it takes is this small push and your passe-partout will unlock the doors to whatever fuel is needed for the task.
Or it wont.
Remember, you are in control here! If the small push turns out to be all that you could manage right here and then, that is fine. Five minutes of something is better than zero.
Thats the thing with momentum: if you are not ready to commit to the full leap, it will still build up over time. Do not forget the faith part of leap of faith faith in yourself and faith in the abundant and natural resource that is momentum.
You might find yourself yearning for those five minutes each day. As time goes by, maybe 6, or maybe multiple times in the same day. And eventually, maybe 5 minutes will no longer be enough for you you will try 7, 10, or even 60. And, oh
Would you look at that Isnt that a yearning to accomplish a task that you feel Isnt that the so-called rare driving force of motivation propelling you forward
Trust that it will feel just like magicbecause it might as well be
The secret recipe to momentum
*start with one spoon, one random paintstroke, one word, one step, anything at all,no matter how bad! And this last part is especially important for us creatives that struggle with perfectionnism
To practice this everyday, is to teach yourself that discipline doesnt entail fear or punishment. It is to remind yourself that even on your lowest days, you are deserving of efforts and gentle embrace of acceptance.
Even if you do not wish to continue on after the first leap, you will still come out on top having taken one further step than yesterday. Nothing blooms all year. We all move to the beat of our own heart and what seem slow to you could be too fast to someone else.
Momentum as Ive described it, will show you perseverance and hard work. It will show you how they can coexist with self-kindness and rest. Moving slowly while surfing on the momentum waves will always get you further than stagnancy.
Follow this recipe, if for anything, to prove to yourself that there is always more than meets the eyes. Perform a gentle leap of faith into your own arms, and see that you are endless.
Final thoughts
Momentum is the key to motivation and so much more. Its gentle control and an extension of self-discipline as self-care/self-love.
If you want to explore the idea of soft and gentle productivity, I would like to recommend two books that Ive read and will read at least a couple more times. They do not specifically cover momentum like this post, but they will teach you some valuable lessons.
I will more than likely write a post about these books in the future and properly explain how they have helped me. For now, I will only say that they taught me that things do not have to be as complicated as we often make them out to be.
That concludes this absolute novel about momentum. I am beyond grateful to anyone that made it through those 2750-ish words. I truly do hope that youve enjoyed this post and learned something!
Please, do let me know your thoughts below!
#Blog #book #creativity #essay #faith #hope #inspiration #inspirational #mentalHealth #momentum #motivation #productivity #selfCare #selfDiscipline #writing
The () is set to take place from June 19-24, 2024, showcasing an impressive increase in international participation. This year, the will feature from over 95 countries, emphasizing its role as a for and .
This construct of mathematical chaos theory into social structures is the core of what I present in my novel, Signs on a Page.
This construct of mathematical chaos theory into social structures is the core of what I present in my novel, Signs on a Page.
This construct of mathematical chaos theory into social structures is the core of what I present in my novel, Signs on a Page.
This construct of mathematical chaos theory into social structures is the core of what I present in my novel, Signs on a Page.
I recommend The Djinn Waits a Hundred Years by Shubnum Khan.
Highly recommend this .
Invisible Doctrine: The Secret History of .
Hey, , YOUR
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find GREAT books!
They couldn't carry all the books from the library, so they decorated their books, laptop, and backpack with magical book stickers. Suddenly, the stories came alive, filling their world with endless adventures wherever they went. Be the hero of this story with book stickers!
"For the Hog Killing, 1979" (2019)
Tanya Amyx Berry
challenge (borrowed from Bluesky =
Choose 20 that greatly influenced you. One per day, for 20 days. No explanations, no reviews, just covers.
Please add for blind and low vision
(9/20)
Travail en cours sur la mise en page des romans. Aprs une visite la bibliothque j'ai dcid pour les versions imprimes de mes ouvrages de partir sur du format A5 (14,8 x 21cm). Pas mal de boulot en perspective mais j'aime beaucoup ce format.
EditionsHO Avec une couverture qui reprend un tableau de Tamara De Lempicka, Colin Thibert conte le destin dune femme qui sest crue libre dans la socit de la France des annes 20. Une histoire un peu rchauffe mais si bien raconte ! ici
CHRONIQUE
Mes Bookinautes chris Je vous salue et vous souhaite un bon mardi ! Priode difficile en ce moment, ce qui ne m'empche pas de bouquiner... Et parce qu'une Louve du Polar peut en cacher une autre, je vous prsente "Norillag" de Cline Servat, publi chez M+ ditions !
Ma chronique :
On en parle ensemble en commentaires Belle journe tous !
edsoussol Nouveau dePhoebe Hadjimarkos Clarke, Aline, est un rcit littraire drangeant, pre mais dune sublime qualit littraire. franceinter
de ici
Are Nicolas Batum and Taurean Prince on the Phoenix Suns Radar
A new arrived in the mail!
Pantheon Tower, a key location in Unsecret Identity: Eric Icarus - Book One. What secrets hide within the tech companys futuristic skyscraper
Read now on Kindle Unlimited
jonmcbrine.com
"An Illusion of Equity" (2023)
Wendy Zagray Warren
Are Nicolas Batum and Taurean Prince on the Phoenix Suns Radar
Maps for Fantasy RPGs Workbook 2.
Gridded & Grid-less Maps.
YOUR Dungeons.
YOUR Adventures.
On YOUR Bookshelf.
Coming to Kickstarter SOON.
Sign up to be notified Day One!
Now on sale for $2.99! Stories from Puglia: Two Californians in Southern Italy
Day 20 challenge: Choose 20 that greatly influenced you. One per day, for 20 days. No explanations, no reviews, just covers
Oh, and since it came up fairly recently that my in-laws didn't know this: if your library supports Libby, you can get free ebooks and audiobooks through the app AND (this was the big surprise) they auto-return when the time is up so you don't have to worry about late fees.
So if any of you have forgetful seniors in your life who would love more audiobooks but thought their only option was another subscription fee or inevitable late fees when they lost cds in their house, it's worth looking up what their library has!
I nearly gave up on Welcome to Fae Cafe. It starts dark, I disliked both narrators, and for some reason the Kindle version had the text set to light grey so it was low contrast and hard on the eyes. (I switched to my phone since I'd gotten it out of the library via Libby.)
But somewhere around the time she stumbled into the retired fairy godmother knitting club and got the assassins to retrain as baristas, the balance of light hearted and tragic was working for me and I was having fun. So if watching fae adapt to life in Toronto sounds fun and you're able to cope with every character having an exceptionally tragic and painful back story... Maybe you'd like it too
Gods Ghostwriters by Candida Moss review did enslaved scribes write the New Testament
And if the Roman family that purchased them as a scribe had subsequently converted to Christianity, either openly or secretly as many did in the first and second centuries CE, they may well then have been drafted in to write down the words of the great Christian missionary preachers who criss-crossed the empire and came to its capital, including of course Paul.
The Politics of Platform Regulation: How Governments Shape Online Content Moderation, by Robert Gorwa
The big idea: can you inherit memories from your ancestors
Scientists working in the emerging field of epigenetics have discovered the mechanism that allows lived experience and acquired knowledge to be passed on within one generation, by altering the shape of a particular gene. This means that an individuals life experience doesnt die with them but endures in genetic form.
Illustrations of new species of exotic butterflies : selected chiefly from the collections of W. Wilson Saunders and William C. Hewitson -1806-1878-
Children of Dune by Frank Herbert