Day 2144: Safety

I can safely say that this is my third blog post titled “Safety” (see here and here for the previous two). Each time I’ve posted a “Safety” blog, it’s been preceded by a therapy group where we focused on safety.

Yesterday, somebody in my Tuesday “Coping and Healing” group suggested we choose safety as the focus.  Here’s what I wrote about my personal experience of safety:

 I do my best to create safety in these groups.  There is no such thing as complete or perfect safety. I like the phrase ‘safe enough.”

I understand why safety is such a concern for people. When the environment seems paralyzingly dangerous, I sometimes suggest the helpful phrase “It’s safer than it feels.” Sometimes, however, it’s not safer than it feels.

What are your thoughts and feelings about safety, here and now?

Do you see safety or danger in my other recent photos?

When I search YouTube for “safety”, this is the first thing that comes up:

The California wildfires inspired the group’s discussion of safety, yesterday.

Here‘s “Safety Rap.”

Here’s the 2014 Safety Song Winner:  “I Wanna Be Safe.”

I think we all wanna be safe.

Thanks to all who helped me create this third “Safety” post  and — of course — to YOU.  Stay safe.

Day 2143: Perfect servings

Yesterday, I saw this sign of perfect servings:

Here are some non-perfect servings of my thoughts about that:

• Who got to register the trademark of “”Perfect Servings”? Are they the only ones allowed to claim perfect servings now?
• Every morning, I work to create a perfect-enough serving of words, images, and music to share here on WordPress.
• This week was Veterans Day, honoring those who have served to perfect and preserve our freedoms.
• Even though I believe that most people are wonderful, some people serving my country in leadership roles are as far from perfect as  I have ever witnessed.
• I see myself as serving the patients at the hospital and often tell them, “I work for you.”   Those verbal servings are my attempt to perfect, adjust, and challenge the power differential in medical systems.
• So many firefighters and other first responders are desperately serving in California, right now.
• I’m still trying to perfect my photography skills, so I can present perfect servings of recent pictures:

Here‘s a perfect serving of Neil Young, whose birthday was yesterday:

Finally here’s a perfect serving of thanks for all those who helped me create this post and — of course! — for YOU.

Day 2142: Most people are wonderful

Hello, most wonderful readers!

Most people dealing with a raging wild fire wouldn’t tweet “Most people are wonderful,” but Joel Engel did.

I liked  that wonderful tweet and retweeted it.

Do you believe, like Joel Engel, that most people are wonderful? For the past two years, I’ve been having more trouble believing that most people are wonderful, but wonderful people like Joel Engel help me believe that, over and over again.

Are any of the photos I took yesterday wonderful?

I am full of wonder about how few people there are in those photos. However, the one I can see is wonderful, so ALL the people in this post are wonderful.

Here‘s “Wonderful World, Beautiful People” from the wonderful Jimmy Cliff.

 

As always, I give thanks for the wonderful people who helped me create today’s post and — of course! — for wonderful you.

Day 2141: Who needs a smile today?

Who needs a smile today, besides me?

Let me know if any of these photos — which I needed to take yesterday — give you a smile.

 

Who needs a perky turkey hat today?

I also needed a smile nine days ago, so I took that photo of somebody at my hospital who needed that hat that day (and I shared it in this blog post).

My search on YouTube for “who needs a smile today” found this today:

In order to smile, I need to hear words like “Hospitality and cordiality are very sincere here” (at :36 in that video).

Who needs to share a comment today?

As always, I need to express my thanks today to all who helped me create this post today and — of course! — to YOU.

Day 2140: I can’t even

I can’t even express my enormous gratitude for my readers and for the comments on yesterday’s post, Day 2139: I Can’t/I Can.    I can’t even resist repeating this photo from yesterday

… and sharing this online definition of “I can’t even.”

About
“I Can’t Even”is an Internet slang expression used to indicate that the speaker is in a state of speechlessness, either as a result of feeling overjoyed or exasperated, depending on the context in which it is said. Due to its incomplete sentence structure, the adverb “even” in the expression can be interpreted as a substitute verb for “manage.” On Tumblr, the phrase is often used to caption reaction images in which the subject collapses in frustration or bewilderment.

Origin
The earliest known use of the incomplete phrase “I can’t even”  was submitted to Urban Dictionary[1] by user JJFADS on January 7th, 2005, defining it as an expression used to indicate a “breaking point.”

I can’t even believe that I had to edit that online definition by adding an “even” to “I can’t” in the second paragraph.

I can’t even explain this coincidence:  yesterday, in a therapy group, we discussed how people can become speechless and stunned when encountering thoughtless behaviors from others  that are so different from what they would do in a similar situation.

I can’t even count the number of times I’m in a state of speechlessness, these days, when I look at what’s going on in the world.

I can’t even manage my photos because there are so many of them, including these:

I can’t even say how much I love my sister Ellen, whose birthday is today. However, I could even text her that last photo yesterday.

I can’t even share all the YouTube videos there are about “I can’t even” including this one

… and this one.

I can’t even believe how that SNL skit literally focuses on how thoughtless people can be (as was discussed in my group yesterday).

I can’t even ask for more comments from my busy readers, but I will.

I can’t even express all my thanks to everyone who helped me create today’s post and to those who are reading it, including YOU!

Day 2139: I Can’t/I Can

Yesterday, in a therapy group, somebody talked about waking up thinking “I can’t” and turning that into “I can.”

Because I can, I suggested that people make a list of “I can’t” and “I can.”

I can show you my lists now.

I can’t be perfect, but I can correct mistakes.  On my “I can’t” list, the 9th entry should read “be anybody else but myself” and on my “I can” list, the 13th entry should be “show up.”

I can share all my other photos from yesterday:

I can’t even make sense of all the gun violence in the United States.

I can share these videos (and you can find them here and here on YouTube):

I can go for some comments about this post.

I can also express my gratitude to all who helped me create this “I can’t/I can” post and — of course! — to YOU.

 

 

Day 2138: Masks

Over two years ago, when I was in the hospital dealing with pneumonia and heart failure, I wrote a blog post titled “Masks“.

Yesterday, in a therapy group, people talked about the relationships between the masks they wear on the outside and how they feel inside.  I keep the identify of my group members masked because of confidentiality; therefore I only show what I create in group, including this mask:

Do you see masks in my other photos from yesterday?

 

Here’s “Behind the Mask” by Michael Jackson:

Here’s the “Cuban Pete” song from The Mask:

I never mask my gratitude for those who help me create these blog posts and — of course! — YOU!

Day 2137: The House

There are several news headlines about the House today, including:

Mid-term elections: Democrats win House in setback for Trump

Democrats win control of the House in 2018 midterms, CNN projects

Meet the New Agenda Setters in the House

Coincidentally, yesterday I started writing a new song, titled “I Left the House Before I Felt Ready”, which is my first original song based on my first original t-shirt …

… which was based on original blog posts (here, here, and here), which I wrote in the house.

Here are the lyrics, so far:

I Left the House Before I Felt Ready

 

I left the house before I felt ready,

So I’m wrinkled, distracted, and sort of bed-heady.

I don’t know where my phone is, my glove, or umbrella

And my water bottle’s probably somewhere in the cellar.

© Ann Koplow, 2018

Because my house is near Boston, those last two lines rhyme.

Only one of my photos from yesterday was taken in the house:

Here’s “House” by Elton John:

 

What are your thoughts and feelings about any of  the houses here?

Thanks to all who helped me write today’s blog post at the house and — of course! — to YOU, for visiting my blogging house.

 

 

Day 2136: What are you going to do today?

What are you going to do today?

Are you going to think about blue waves?

 

 

Are you going to bitch about things?

Are you going to live your life as if it actually mattered?

Are you going to watch USA election returns with your own eyes?

Are you going to be a flamingo in a world full of pigeons?

Are you going to eat food that’s good for you?

 

Today, I am going to do all those things AND I am going to VOTE!  Who’s going to join me?

I’m also going to share VOTING — the latest opus by Randy Rainbow.

 

Are you going to comment on this post today?

Another thing I’m going to do today: Thank everybody who helped me create today’s post and — of course! — YOU.

 

 

Day 2135: Healing factors

A week ago Sunday, I attended a wonderful talk  by J. Scott Rutan, a highly esteemed writer, teacher, and practitioner of group psychotherapy. During the talk — offered by the Northeastern Society for Group Psychotherapy —   Scott handed out a list of healing factors, and invited everybody to rank the healing factors in order.

This was a difficult task, because all of those healing factors are very important. However, I had no difficulty identifying what healing factor I rely on the most: Hope.

I hope it’s okay if I quote from my first blog post with “hope” in the title, written almost exactly three years ago today:

I hope I can express, in my first post about hope, how important hope is for human beings who struggle, cope, bruise, and heal.

I hope you understand that I’m saying that hope is important to all of us.

Hope is:

• a word that comes up in therapy, every day.
• something I hold for every person I encounter.
• according to Emily Dickinson, “the thing with feathers.”

I hope there’s hope in the three photos I took yesterday.

Michael loves raccoons, so I bought him this mug yesterday.  I hoped that he’d like it and he did!

 

 

I hope we all survive the coming winter and don’t swallow too much snow.

 

 

I hope Scott Rutan, everyone else who helps me create these blog posts, and my readers know how thankful I am for them.

I hope this week brings good news to all who hold hope for the USA.

I hope you find hope in this:

I hope you comment about your own healing factors, below,  and accept more thanks from me.