Like to shine in a comment? Be the lighthouse and spread your light below.
Like to shine my thanks on James Taylor, Yogi Tea, Tony’s Clam Shop, artists everywhere, the sun, the sea, and you — of course! — for being the lighthouse, here and now.
WARNING: I keep forgetting what “EMDR” stands for and I have to look it up every time I write about it (like here and here).
George gave me an important warning, yesterday, in our therapy session. He warned that I give myself this warning way too much:
I have to hyper-vigilantly protect myself against the world’s incompetence, ignorance, hostility, lack of understanding, ambivalence, negligence, etc., in order to get my needs met and to survive.
WARNING: I write important warnings down so I can remember them.
George warned me that these constant warnings are probably bad for my health. He suggested I tell myself this instead:
I am safe. I have everything I need.
Do you see any warnings in my photos from yesterday?
WARNING: If children scare you, be warned that The Warning is a hard-rock band of three young sisters from Monterey, Mexico. Here‘s The Warning’s TED talk (and play):
WARNING: This writer loves comments on her posts, which you can leave below.
WARNING: I have everything I need, here and now, thanks to all who helped me create this post with warnings and — of course! — to YOU.
tan·trum
noun
an uncontrolled outburst of anger and frustration, typically in a young child.
“he has temper tantrums if he can’t get his own way”
synonyms: fit of temper, fit of rage, fit, outburst, pet, paroxysm, frenzy, bad mood, mood, huff, scene; (informal) hissy fit
“how can you tolerate his tantrums?”
How can you tolerate his tantrums? Good question. How can we tolerate anybody’s tantrums, including our own?
For example, I sometimes have tantrums when somebody uses the word “pet” (as in the definition above) for anything other than this:
I’ve also been having tantrums because Oscar stepped on my computer this weekend and changed the way photos are displayed, making it harder for me to blog every morning.
Can anybody tell when I’m having tantrums? I’m not sure, but I told people at work yesterday that I woke up mad, mad, mad. Was I having a tantrum when I did that? Actually, I think sharing my feelings prevented me from having a tantrum.
Was I having tantrums when I took these photos?
Okay, now I’m having a tantrum because AS USUAL, I FORGOT TO RESTART MY COMPUTER BEFORE WRITING THIS POST AND THAT’S THE ONLY WAY I CAN ACCESS MY FRIGGIN’ PHOTOS FROM YESTERDAY! AND WORDPRESS ISN’T SAVING MY POSTS AS I’M WRITING THEM THESE DAYS SO THIS IS SUCH A !!&$##!!??!#^&!! PAIN!!!!
Excuse me. I’ll be right back.
Any tantrums here?
My boyfriend Michael (whose meals are good antidotes for tantrums) has lots of stories about tantrums he’s witnessed in restaurant and hotel kitchens.
Outbursts of gratitude and fits of frenzied thanks to all who helped me create today’s post and — of course! — to you. Without my readers, I’d be having tantrums every day.
The place where I’m writing this blog matters, even though we’re leaving it this summer. Yesterday, I took care of legal matters in selling this place.
The law matters, every place.
My office — where people learn to recognize and reduce cognitive distortions — matters.
I placed that sign back up on my office wall yesterday, because those cognitive distortions matter. Does it matter that I’ve placed parentheses around the feelings caused by those all-too-common human and automatic thoughts?
Do these photos of other places matter?
The meals that Michael places on our plates matter, because they are SO delicious.
Your comments make this place matter much, much more.
Gratitude matters! That’s why I place it at the end of every post. Many thanks to all who help me place my daily blog on WordPress and — of course! — to you, for placing yourself here.
See, the main reason I’m writing today’s “See” post is because yesterday I saw my friend Deb and we went to SEE in Harvard Square to seek new eyeglasses. See, Deb (who I’ve seen for about 50 years) and I see eye-to-eye about many things, including how great the frames are at SEE. Deb and I are a little concerned we won’t see each other as much when I move near the sea, but I see lots of fun times for us in the future.
Would you like to see the photos from SEE?
Do you see Christina in that last photo? She works at SEE and is also a counseling and psychology graduate student at Lesley University. I could see a lot of great qualities in Christina that will serve her well when she sees clients in the future.
Would you like to see my other photos from yesterday?
Can you see “Happy Father’s Day” in that sign above? I don’t get to see my late father any more, but it makes me happy to see him in this old photo of us.
I see that YouTube has this song, which I remember my father singing.
I’ll be seeing you in your comments, below.
See, I am very grateful to all who helped me see and share all the elements of this post and — of course! — to you, for seeing my blog, here and now.
When I help people join my therapy groups, I tell them we will work on doing more of what helps and less of what doesn’t help. I help people understand that by saying, “What helps and what doesn’t help might include thoughts, behaviors, and other people.” Because it helps to change old habits by writing things down, I helpfully suggest they keep track of what helps and what doesn’t help them.
Because it helps to know you’re not alone, I explain that I also keep track of what helps and what doesn’t help me.
