everything that’s happened to you since the last time I saw you,
how you’re doing in this moment (including thoughts, feelings, and body experience),
everything that you’re aware of that might be contributing to how you’re doing in this moment,
how other people have been affecting you,
how you’ve been affecting other people,
how the weather’s been affecting you,
how the news has been affecting you,
how you would introduce yourself to somebody who is meeting you for the first time, and
what you’re curious about.
If you’re curious about my Coping and Healing groups, I introduce the check-in portion of the group by saying what I’m curious about. What I’m curious about often includes the curious list above. Because I don’t want my curiosity to be too important, I always conclude my list of curiosity with this:
Feel free to ignore everything I just said, because it’s YOUR check-in.
I’m curious about this: even people who have been coming to the group for years often smile at that line.
People are messy; therefore, relationships will be messy. Don’t be surprised by messiness. — Timothy Keller
Surely it’s better to love others, however messy and imperfect the involvement, than to allow one’s capacity for love to harden. –Karen Armstrong
A problem is only a problem when viewed as a problem. All change is hard at first, messy in the middle and gorgeous at the end. — Robin S. Sharma
Life itself is a haphazard, untidy, messy affair. — Dorothy Day
Messy is a word we use to explain a conflict with an expectation we had. Eliminate the expectation, and you eliminate the messy. — Steve Maraboli
It’s good to leave your room super-messy when you’re away. Whoever tries to break into your room will think it has already been ransacked. — Douglas Adams
The truth is messy. It’s raw and uncomfortable. You can’t blame people for preferring lies. — Holly Black
A messy kitchen is a sign of happiness. — Anonymous
Do you see any messes in my other photos from yesterday?
Here’s I Have Made a Mess by They Might Be Giants:
Have you been getting your needs met? If so, how do you do that? If not, what gets in the way?
Yesterday, as I was getting my needs met at work, I found this:
I wrote “Getting your needs met Group” on that manilla folder years ago, probably when I was getting ideas about how to help people get their needs met in group.
These days, I’m doing very well at getting my needs met, except my need for sleep. I wish I didn’t need to sleep, because there are so many exciting things to plan for and do!
Do you see anything about getting your needs met in these other recent photos?
Cats are very good at getting their needs met.
When I search YouTube for “Getting your needs met song,” YouTube tries to meet my needs with “The Muffin Song.”
Apparently that song is meeting people’s needs, because it has over 126 million views. I suspect those characters need a good therapy group.
I’m getting my needs met by sharing these songs (here, here, here, and here, if you need links) about needs:
If sharing your thoughts and feelings in a comment might help get your needs met, please do so.
Every day, I get my blogging needs met here, so I need to thank everybody who helps with that, including YOU.
Yesterday, when I was looking for a birthday card for my long-time friend and ex-co-worker Debbie T., I saw this:
Wouldn’t it be wonderful if YOU could believe that every day was YOU day?
YOU might be interested to know that yesterday was Debbie T.’s birthday celebration day, as well as a day filled with other excitement. Actually, I was so excited to see Debbie in person after many years and also her beeeooootifull home, that I took very few pictures at the birthday party.
YOU, Debbie (because I know YOU read this blog), were the perfect host yesterday. Thank YOU for introducing me to everybody at YOUr party (who all obviously love YOU) and for being so excited about my upcoming show at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival!
I’m not sure if YOU heard all the puns being thrown around yesterday, including this one:
Have YOU heard about the new corduroy pillows? They’re making headlines.
What do YOU see in all the pictures that I did take yesterday? Let’s see if YOU can spot any unusual creatures (YOU might have to look closely).
Hugs to all of YOU and can YOU guess which card I gave Debbie? Which picture did YOU like best? Also, did YOU spot that dog-like creature being dive-bombed by snowy egrets on the marsh near my home? I thought it was a fox, but somebody told me it was too big to be a fox. What do YOU think it was?
Those photos show my friend, Deb, and her lovely garden and home (with new vinyl flooring!). If you particularly love any of those photos, please click on it to make it larger.
I particularly love this image from Deb’s home:
That says, “CALL ON GOD BUT ROW AWAY FROM THE ROCKS”
Do your pets love you?
My boyfriend Michael (who loves me), recently told me about an article he read that said dogs were not capable of love. If dogs are not capable of love, what are cats capable of?
Yesterday, in a therapy group, we talked about how difficult it is to ask others for help. I wrote this up on the white board to remind people about how to ask for help:
Today, I need your help. I have to submit a 340-character blurb and a photo about my Edinburgh Free Fringe show — Group “Therapy” with Ann — tomorrow at the latest, so it can be included in the published version of the Wee Blue Book, listing all the Free Fringe shows. (Here‘s a link to the current listings in that book.)
Here’s what I’ve got, so far, for my blurb:
If you want a taste of group therapy with a trained professional who writes songs like “Everybody’s Somebody’s A**hole,” don’t miss this ONE TIME ONLY show. Find out just enough about yourself and others to feel better. “This could work.” – Scottish comedian Raymond Mearns. “That’s my mother.” – award-winning comedian Aaron Fairbanks.
If you saw that amongst hundreds of other show descriptions, might you attend that show?
The accompanying photo has to be small and square, and I’m considering one of these, taken last year during the Edinburgh Fringe Festival by my son Aaron’s friend Camilla:
Photo 1:
Photo 2:
Photo 3:
Photo 4:
Photo 5:
I need your help in deciding which of those photos might be best.
When I have lots of choices and am under a deadline, sometimes I feel like this:
We have been looking at the database of shows who still want something, either runs or infills.
We would like to offer you the slot(s) below:
Show number 306 provisional title Group “Therapy” with Ann
Mo 19 13:00-14:00 Natural Food Kafe Basement Room
If you accept, please email this address immediately.
If these are extra performances, you will already have sent a picture and blurb. If you have not sent a picture and blurb, please immediately send one via the form. Full instructions are attached.
If you don’t want what’s offered but want something else, please email back saying what. Be as precise as you can.
If you don’t want this at all, please email back and say so. Make things as clear as possible. For example, if you’ve asked for extras but now don’t want extras, but want to keep your main run, say that. We don’t want any mistakes.
All offers are immediately void if you have breached the Ethos and Rules by applying to any other free-admission promoter, including pay-what-you-want and pay-for-priority-admission-otherwise-free. Or breached them in any other way.
Please reply as soon as you can so that we can fill the spaces as well as we can, and get your show in the Wee Blue Book.
Thank you
Free Fringe Team
I didn’t expect that! I expect that email means that I will have a show at the Free Fringe in Edinburgh on August 19 at 1 PM, unless my responding back six hours later wasn’t immediately enough. I expect it was, but I never seem to expect anything for sure.
With my life (see as many posts in this blog as possible), I’ve learned to expect the unexpected. I expect good things will come my way and they often do! I also expect I’ll have trouble sleeping trying to anticipate and plan for the unexpected.
I expect I’ll have to market the hell out of this Edinburgh Fringe Festival opportunity, especially because of the time and location of my show. Expect to read more about this, here, in the month ahead.
I just posted this unexpected news on my Facebook page:
I GOT A SHOW AT THE EDINBURGH FRINGE! August 19th, 1 PM, The Natural Food Kafe. Consider making this part of your vacation plans.
Unexpectedly, somebody already has replied that they’ll be going.
Expect the unexpected photos.
Expect an explanation of at least one unexpected photo. That little fishing dude, directly above, reminds me of the old saying “Give someone a fish and you feed them for a day. Teach someone to fish and you feed them for a lifetime.” I expect you’ve heard that one before.
