On my way to and from work yesterday, I saw things that revealed more, when I looked closer.
For example …
and then closer:
and then closer:
and then closer:
and then closer:
At work, I encountered some other surprises. For example, the hospital was giving out little bags of Cracker Jack. And there was a surprise inside.
I didn’t try to guess what the surprise was; I just opened it:
I had no expectations about what the surprise should be, but I recognized this was NOT a great prize, for my location. Wrong baseball team AND wrong side of the country!
I had some other disappointments during the day. For example, one person told me that another person had said “ungracious” things behind my back.
What might you do, in that situation?
Here’s what I did.
- I felt hurt. Then I looked closer.
- Based on past experiences, I was not surprised. Then I looked closer.
- I felt anger. Then I looked closer.
- I considered options of action. Then I looked closer.
- I realized the situation and the person involved could NOT really hurt me, in any way.
I still held some hurt and anger, though.
As I was walking away from work, this song came on:
(here, on YouTube)
- I express — rather than repress– the emotion more fully, letting it flow through me, and
- I sing the sh*t out of a song.
I love giving loud, proud voice to my feelings, these days. And nobody seems to mind, especially those who are close.
That includes this guy, yesterday, on my walking-and-singing way:
Thanks to that interested and non-flinching bunny, to Idina Menzel*, to those who look closer, to people who do their best expressing (or receiving) emotions effectively, to everybody who sings out, and to you — OF COURSE! — for getting this close, today.
* Idina Menzel sings “No Good Deed Goes Unpunished” from Wicked . John Travolta wasn’t even close, when he said her name at the Oscars this year.
** If you look closer at the links today, you might find some treasures.
The Year(s) of Living Non-Judgmentally 
Interesting photos and closer looks 🙂
PS! A person who says “ungracious” things about others, also says a lot about themselves! 🙂 Don’t let them bring ya down! 🙂 *high five*
High five back at ya! Thanks, for all of it.
Looking closer at your unfortunate and perhaps awkward work moment, I find myself equally irked at the person who told you about the original teller of unpleasant things about you, Ann. What was to be gained by that, really? Should that story have stayed untold, in your opinion?
Good questions, as always, Mark. There are pros and cons to everything, and consequences, too. Somebody once said, “knowledge is power.” Every choice people made, yesterday, makes sense to me, with today’s distance and perspective. It’s all good.
That’s comforting, that you are all good with yesterday, Ann.
“Giants” “Wicked” (Broadway) …sounds like you lived my day 🙂 Know what? I’m going to spend a day, MANY days looking closer too 🙂 ❤
Love your loving and understanding comments! Thanks so much.
check my blog in about 5 min….I don’t think it will send a pingback 😉
I can’t wait to look closer!
you can look now 🙂
Now THIS is a prize. Thanks so much!
Told you I love your blog ❤ In a way it refreshes me and perhaps helps with my mind to write. I have no idea, but I know for some reason I so thoroughly enjoy it!!!
I thoroughly enjoy your comments!
lol! I just saw the amount of your followers!!! I am not alone!!!!
I agree Ann that it is sometimes important to zoom in, because sometimes details are important. But I think there is also advantages to zooming out too. As the old adage says about not being able to see the forest for the trees. Details might make us lose sight of the big picture which can at times be more important. 🙂 So I wish you the wisdom of knowing when to look closer and when to get further away. 🙂
Perfect perspectives for me, this morning, Swarn. Many thanks!
I’ll take the Giants whatever…. Some Giants fan is saying The Sox?! It’s all relative… Good post!
Thank you for helping me look closer and get a better perspective.
It is only human that, no matter how closely we look, some anger and hurt will remain. It is great that we can partly or even mostly exorcise it through singing or blogging and tolerate the residue. By the way, I didn’t know that Cracker Jack, which I have always pluralized in speech, was (were) I still made. Your picture propelled me back to my childhood.
Thank you, Gene, for these human and humane thoughts. By the way, I wrote “Cracker Jacks” at first, in this post.
I love how you move closer to see the details, but can step back to experience the bigger picture too.
As to the ‘telling on another’ — we do things for weird and wacky ways — and no matter what we do, it is always about us and not the other.
Love how you put it all into such wonderful perspective, good, bad and indifferent — it’s all just stuff! You my friend are magnificent in every light.
And thank you, Louise, for this magnificent comment, which I loved and which helped me move close and step back, too.
I want to know what kind of stations they have that are playing show tunes! I want that station! And I loved your journey of realization that even though the knowledge that other spoke poorly of you hurt, there really wasn’t anything to do and you didn’t take it on as the weight of the world!
It’s Spotify, Kate, which I have on my phone. Also, in Boston, we do have a college radio station that plays show tunes on weekend mornings, which is great. Thanks for this supportive comment!
Hi, Ann!!! Great post as usual and hoping you are feeling better!!! Love, Amy
Hi, Amy!! So wonderful to see you here! Thanks for the lovely comment.
Hugs to you Ann! It’s always hard to hear when someone speaks ungraciously about you. I somewhat agree with Mark. Why did the person tell you that? When someone speaks badly of someone I know I try to set the record straight right there and then with that person…
Diana xo
As always, Diana, you bring a wise and helpful perspective. I wish you lived closer!
You’re further south than me right Ann? In that case I wish I lived closer to you too, rather than you living closer to me. ❤
I just saw Wicked in London. I was singing for days. Then I become slightly obsessed with different actresses versions of the songs. Luckily that only lasted a few days ;-).
I am all for slight obsessions: they’re fun! Thanks for singing out here today.
Nicely done, on all instances of looking closer. And if I may, I’m going to thank Stephen Schwartz for writing all the songs for “Wicked” in the first place (first musical Aaron ever saw; he danced around the house performing it for about three months.) Your post also brought to mind the play/movie “Closer” – a nice piece of writing about really seeing people, places and things. Thanks for this!
Thank you, T.D., for the acknowledgement of Stephen Schwartz, for the story of your Aaron dancing around performing “Wicked,” and for the info about “Closer,” which I haven’t seen yet.
Great Ann! I love the idea of singing out loud to get rid of energy that doesn’t serve us!!
Get it out.
Shake it off.
Give yourself a big dose of self love 🙂
We can’t change others but we can take care of ourselves and find our way back to our center.
Hugs
Val x
Yes, Val! Sometimes it takes me a little while to find my way back to the center, but it’s always great to return there. Thanks for your wonderful, positive, and helpful energy, which just glows out of your comments!
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