April 2024 Good Things Saturday Bulletin Report-Is Spring Your Favorite Season?

Theme: polls, total eclipse, Francis Scott Key Bridge, our boys are struggling, financial literacy, you said feng shui, monthly Zoom planning out your vision

Testimonial:
One of my clients said working with me has helped her increase her willpower. They’ve noticed that they are more productive.

This Months Event:
Pre-Plan For Next Month’s Dreams, Goals, Habits, Routines, Potential, and Priorities. Email or DM me for a Zoom link.

If you are receiving this newsletter then it means things worked out, that I somehow found a way and was able to finalize crafting this newsletter which I started drafting in March. In this edition, I’m trying to craft a similar feel to last year’s April email. I hope you find something here that will speak to your humanness.

Newsletter Housekeeping: I think for you to make the best use of reading my long newsletter you do not need to read everything in one sitting, you can pick a number, any number – literally – I have them numbered from 1-4! Read a bit of it, and then come back to read the next one. Or just read everything in one sitting!!!

This Months Holidays

The month of April started us with the April Fools Day on the 1st, it’s always beautiful to hear what people come up with to fool us. My dad was always trying a new joke on us every year, I miss that about April Fools. There are also some important holidays this month: In addition in April, we will be celebrating a lot of other important days too. I will highlight the ones that pertain to the things I like, do, am, focus on, have a hobby, have an interest in, am skilled in, or am always talking about to friends and family alike.

Easter traditionally comes to us in April but due to the leap year in 2024, we celebrated early in March.

April 9th/10th was Eid al-Fiitr, the dates also depends on how your particular Muslim community celebrates, and where you are globally.

“Financial literacy is the possession of skills, knowledge, and behaviors that allow an individual to make informed decisions regarding money.

April 2024 is Financial Literacy Month

April is Financial Literacy Month, Wikipedia defines and has a summary of information on how it came to be including how it passed through Congress and became a National event:

“Financial literacy is the possession of skills, knowledge, and behaviors that allow an individual to make informed decisions regarding money. Financial Literacy Month grew out of Youth Financial Literacy Day, which originated with the National Endowment for Financial Education (NEFE) as an activity of its High School Financial Planning Program.^[4] NEFE passed responsibility for Financial Literacy Day over to the Jump$tart Coalition which now promotes it with its partner organizations.^[4] Jump$tart Coalition began promoting April as Financial Literacy for Youth Month in 2000.^[4] The title was eventually shortened to Financial Literacy Month.^[4]

In 2003 the United States Congress showed its support for the idea of a financial literacy month when Senate Resolution 48 and House Resolution 127 asked President George W. Bush to declare April Financial Literacy for Youth Month. At that time, governors of eight states had already named the month of April as such.^[5] April 2004 was named National Financial Literacy Month by the passing of Senate Resolution 316^[2] with unanimous consent.^[6]

In April 2005, the United States House of Representatives passed a bill supporting the goals and ideals of Financial Literacy Month for April 2005.^[7] This bill, and the resolution passed by the Senate, called on President Bush to issue a proclamation calling on Federal Government, States, localities, schools, nonprofit organizations business and the people of the United States to observe the month with appropriate programs and activities.^[7] During his time in office, President Bush did not issue a proclamation.^{[citation needed]} President Obama proclaimed April as National Literacy Month in least two years of his time in office.^[8]^{[9]” culled from Wikipedia, to view the link click here.}

April 8th International Feng Shui Awareness Day
April 18th is National Exercise Day
April 25th is National take your Sons and Daughters to work day
April 28th is National Pet Day
April 29th is International Astronomy Day or May 18th??
April 30th is National Therapy Animal Day

A little bit about International Astronomy Day which is celebrated 2 times a year ( so far am not sure if the first is April or May). I am fascinated by the planets as much as I am about how the mind develops.

I love that outer space as mysterious as it is helps us thrive as individuals on Earth. Did you know that farmers use the moon as a marker for when to plant and harvest? NASA continues to be at the forefront of innovation and technology due to space exploration. And space continues to be the reason for so much fascinating research and discoveries on Earth.

As such, in celebration of Astronomy Day on the 29th or May 18th, I am sharing that I am crazy about how the planets affect our personality and that’s called – Astrology.

I watched the Eclipse, it was a beautiful thing to see.

So, now let’s read what NASA has to say about Astrology and astronomy.
In their article in 2016 time dot com NASA was quoted as defining ” Astronomy as the scientific study of everything in Outer space” In the same article they were quoted as saying that at NASA they study Astronomy and not Astrology. Their statement did define what Astrology is about though ” saying that astrology is something else… It’s the belief that the positions of stars and planets can influence human events, of course, they reiterated they do not consider it a science.

If you are interested in what NASA has to say about Astronomy and Astrology click this link here to read the full article.

On the NASA website, there’s also a link for anyone interested in becoming an Astronaut, If your dream is to one day go to space or know someone with that dream, then they can apply here. I found out you do not need piloting experience to become an astronaut when I clicked on the link, go figure.

Just click this link to apply to become one.

Like me and millions of other people fascinated by the Total Eclipse that happened on Monday, April 8th – named “the Great American Eclipse because it has been a while since an eclipse’s path went through cities and states, covering more land and it lasted longer. Generally, the eclipse happens twice annually, it would go over water or a remote place somewhere.

Want to check out or would you love to look at our amazing outer space, check out apod.nasa.gov to view NASA’s archive of one Image/photograph daily of our fascinating universe.

Someone asked me, what do I think about astrology and astronomy how do I define them? What do you think about the eclipse? Maybe I’ll write an article about that in the future, but today here’s my brief explanation.

Gloria’s definition of what I understand about astrology and astronomy.

Astronomy is the study of outer space.

Astrology on the other hand is the belief that outer space’s cyclical movement has some effect on how we live on planet Earth.

Which is not the same thing as reading your horoscope in a newspaper – which I do not believe in.

😃 you’re welcome, thanks for coming to my tutorial,

1. Rebranding how the mind works … with a daily maintenance habit (the symbolism of the Francis Scott Keys Bridge collapse)

I live close enough in Baltimore City to the Francis Scott Keys Bridge that came down. My oldest son travels on the bridge often to get to Sparrows Point, Maryland.

The FSK Bridge was struck by a Cargo ship from Singapore named the DALI traveling in the port. The Bridge and the cargo ship are part of the web of global e-commerce that served not just Maryland but part of the e-commerce web that served other parts of the United States providing jobs to people in Baltimore City and others living in Maryland and the US at large in addition to the port bringing together people internationally as represented by the cargo ship. The port is directly responsible for about 15,000 jobs and generated $4.7 billion in economic value to the state of Maryland. Like everyone else in Maryland and Baltimore City, my sincere sympathy goes to the families affected by the accident.

Why am I sharing about the bridge collapse, as information trickled down on the day of the collapse, I was interested in what had happened, how it happened, and why. As a professional, I wanted the insight of other professionals in that field and there was no shortage of them; Engineers, consultants, analysts, and experts sharing their view.

In one of the new outlets, one of the people I came across, I can’t remember which now had an expert/consultant who mentioned…

Paraphrasing, he said ” that the bridge, the FSK Bridge that people drove on was a very well kept and maintained bridge. When you drove on it you knew that for a fact, and as attested to by the maintenance crew working to cover potholes and routine maintenance, etc before the collapse. He then said but not enough was done it appears to fortify or maintain the base of the bridge (the outer part)”. He thought if the same was invested towards the base of the bridge the damage may not have been as much; even though I will say other engineers on other outlets have disagreed, believing that nothing could have saved the bridge from collapsing after being hit by a cargo ship the size of the DALI.

Another expert describes the collapse of the bridge not as a collapse but as a total structural failure, so for me, both were a good way to reflect on what I can do better in my life to fortify my structure while also performing required maintenance.

The structure inner and outer can also represent the mind and how we interact with it personally and how we think of others. It helps us live up to our potential as fated and destined by God enough fear and reverence and we thrive, too much and miss our life’s purpose.

Reflection and My takeaway is: What are you doing today to maintain your inner structure and your outer structure whatever that may represent for you to be able to brace for an impact that can happen at any moment without notice so that you are standing after it’s all said and done or at least you’re not collapsing or as others have described not having a total structural failure?

A structural failure could be described as our thinking mind not working for us as it should, it could be depression that stops people from functioning and or keeps you just doing the bare minimum, it could be a career loss without support, savings, or even human resources, it could be loss of your partner or losing your community of support, etcetera.

What can you do today to support YOU when that time comes?

And what do you need to support, take a second and think of where you need that help.

Would you need support with how you think, with your mental well-being or your money and finances, health and fitness, or help with career and work, fun and recreation, environment, community, family and friends, partner and love, personal growth and learning, spirituality?

Most importantly, how would you even know that you need help?

These are important questions we need to contemplate and answer and come back to, reviewing them often.

Most days how our mind/mental health is just what it is, chill and perfect and other times we are in a battle with our mind. A battle over fear, irritation, second-guessing ourselves, we are battling stress that leads to overthinking & causes depression, tension, even a pounding heart can be sign of anxiety. Do not forget that living on earth is not a destination but a continuous quest. Our goal is toward a sound mind as the bible tells us.

My therapist once described mental health as – negative thoughts and feelings that make you continue in a negative cycle.

2. Good News and Resources From the Community

Sharing these 2 old podcasts I recorded in 2022 as we celebrate Financial Literacy Month hope you find some good nuggets towards your debt-free journey.

Articles I Came Upon and Read

3. Random things, polls & stats

Is Spring Your Favorite Season?

According to a 2005 Gallup poll study Americans rate Spring ahead of summer and fall… 36% named spring as their favorite season of the year, while 27% prefer fall, 25% summer and just 11% prefer winter.

Each time that Gallup asked this question in 1947, 1960, and 2005 – spring continued to be the season the public has been most likely to name as its favorite, of course, the poll went into more detail and found that the preference also differed by age group.

One other unique find in this article was, what time of day people prefer and 53% are morning people with 43% saying they are night people. To read more about the article click this link.

2. Here is another article I am excited to share, it’s on Feng Shui.

What Is Feng Shui?

Feng shui is a metaphysical practice of understanding your place in the world as inspired by five principles or elements in Taoism. The five principles of feng shui are based on the cycles of nature: fire, earth, metal, water, and wood. The desired result is creating harmony in your life and spaces. Culled from Spruce.com.
I think the article makes a handy read as International Feng Shui Day was up on the 8th of April.It shed light on the placement of furniture in our home. Did you already know that the placement of your bed not just how you keep your bedroom clean can potentially open the door to how you bring your dreams, goals, routines, habits, and potentials to life? To read more about the article click this

link.

4. Current Article with stats and polls I came Across & I am SharingCarrying an Anxiety and ADHD diagnosis myself, knowing it impacts boys as much as it does girls, and being a #boy mom I’ve always wondered how our boys are doing especially in the United States.The

article sheds light on how our boys are struggling, I have a WSJ subscription so I had access to read it, if the link doesn’t work for you that may mean you need a subscription. Not to worry though, you may have access via your Library to read for free if you do not have a subscription. That’s why I copied and am sharing some parts of the article below so you can get a general idea of what they are talking about. Read the whole

article click

here.

… “Often the boys are doing the work and not turning it in, there’s no follow-through on assignments, their backpacks are a mess,” says Lubovich, whose Poulsbo, Wash.-based center serves nearly 400 local and online students. “The parents are tired of fighting about it.”

Middle school has become high stakes. Students who have fallen behind by eighth grade are less likely to succeed in high school and graduate on time, teachers and education researchers say.

Lubovich says the focus in recent decades on making education more equitable to girls has resulted in less attention being paid to boys. She and other education experts say boys have struggled to regain their motivation after the pandemic, problems compounded by the omnipresent distraction of laptops and other devices at home and in the classroom.

At tutoring, Lubovich has students put their phones in a basket. The buzzing of notifications on the phones can grow so loud, she sometimes puts the basket on the carpet. “There’s no way they can hold full thoughts and focus if they’re interrupted every few seconds,” she says.

Lubovich’s clientele is 70% male, up from 50% before the pandemic. The parents she serves are intent on improving their sons’ study habits and boosting their confidence before they get to high school, where poor organization can have far-reaching effects on school performance and college entry.

Thirteen-year-old boys and girls both have had declines in reading and math test scores since the pandemic, according to the National Assessment of Educational Progress, yet girls score higher than boys in reading. And girls are completing high school at a higher rate than boys.

Girls have been surpassing boys in school since at least the 1950s, says Richard Reeves, president of the American Institute for Boys and Men, a nonpartisan, nonprofit research organization. Colleges in the past were more willing to accept male applicants in need of improvement. That has changed, and women now outnumber men on college campuses. Some families have decided that spending on tutors, skills coaches, and occupational therapists is worth it for better grades, boosted confidence and self-advocacy—even if the monthly tab runs into the thousands of dollars.
To read the full article on Wikipedia click here, If you have access to WSJ paid or free please read or share the full article with a boy parent or educator you know.

Thanks for reading!
Here’s to a week filled with only Good Thoughts and Good Things!

Sincerely in God’s Joy,
Mopelola Gloria

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