Mindfulness — staying in the moment as much as you can — is healing, no matter how old you are.
Yesterday, over-50 me was mindful of people I love and the beauty around me.
I am mindful that today is National Mutt Day, but I’m still going to look for a shelter cat.
Here’s what I find on YouTube when I search for “mindfulness over 50.”
I’ll be mindful of any comments you leave, below.
Thanks to all who contribute to my daily mindfulness here, including YOU!
Do people know what rhetorical questions are?
Do you see rhetorical questions in any of my images for today?
Should I check YouTube for rhetorical questions?
Here’s a song that asks a rhetorical question:
Might you consider leaving a comment about this post?
Is gratitude a good way to end a post about rhetorical questions?
Last night, when I was seeking peace of mind, I asked this question on Twitter:
I got a range of responses, including:
In yesterday’s blog post, I included a video that’s been helping me with peace of mind. For my peace of mind, I’ll include it here again:
Do you see peace of mind in my other images for today?
As we celebrate this precious day, here’s “Peace of Mind” by Loggins & Messina …
… and “I Gotta Find Peace of Mind” by Lauryn Hill.
I have peace of mind about any comments you might choose to leave, below.
Gratitude is part of my peace of mind, so thanks to all who help me blog every day, including YOU.
As a therapist, I am constantly witnessing people’s pain, progress, traumatic experiences, growth, despair, and hope.
These days, I am also witnessing the stories and performances of Olympic athletes, who spend so much of their lives in the pain and promise of preparing for the games. In addition, yesterday I spent several hours witnessing the agony and bravery of the four Capitol Police Officers who were part of the very thin blue line between a violent mob and the members of the U.S. Congress on January 6.
While witnessing pain can cause second hand trauma, I cannot turn away, nor do I want to.
I think our best chance for survival is to commit to witnessing each other’s pain, as well as the pain of other species throughout this planet.
Yesterday, during a heavy day of witnessing, I was witnessed on Twitter posting this:
I appreciate, more than I can say, your witnessing that and all my other images for today.
After witnessing that shrine of candles on my walk for several days, I am now witnessing the loss of Carlos Soto-Mendez, age 23.
When I search YouTube for “witnessing,” I find this …
… and this:
I look forward to witnessing your comments, below.
Heartfelt thanks to all who are witnessing, here and now, including YOU.
I haven’t looked at the news yet, but I’m predicting that much of it involves people predicting the future.
We humans specialize in predicting the future, especially when the present is uncomfortable and confusing.
When I’m predicting the future, I’m usually catastrophizing — assuming the worst case scenario. I do that to prepare myself, but that prevents me from being in the moment — which actually helps me to prepare better for what’s coming.
Two of my tweets yesterday were about predicting the future.
I was predicting that those tweets would be much more popular than they were. I couldn’t predict that this tweet would be MUCH more popular:
As always, I’m terrible at predicting the future. However, I predict that I’ll keep trying to do it.
Certain things are easy to predict, like my sharing images every day in this blog.
I wouldn’t have predicted that the Daily Bitch would be so non-bitchy today! Maybe that’s because it’s “National Love is Kind” Day.
I’m predicting that I’ll find something interesting on YouTube if I search for “predicting the future.”
Here’s a song from Donald Fagen about predicting the future:
I’m predicting that some of you will comment on this blog and some of you won’t.
If you predicted that I would end this post with gratitude, you are correct!
Yesterday, while I was trying to be a good human on National Ice Cream Sundae Day, I saw this in our old neighborhood of Belmont:
It struck me that the sellers of those signs believed that I would be a good human, because their outdoor display depended entirely on the honor system.
What do you think it takes to be a good human? Do you see any evidence of that in my other images from yesterday?
On National All or Nothing Day, here’s a great song about how to be a good human from the musical “Catch Me If You Can.”
Because I’m a good human, I’m also going to share the wonderful dancing from “Don’t Break the Rules.”
I try to be a good human every day by expressing my thanks and appreciation for all good humans everywhere, including YOU!
Yesterday, as I was looking around me, I posted this on Twitter:
As I expected, the answers to my question opened up new and wonderful windows for me to look through.
Here’s what I saw when I looked around me yesterday:
When you look around you, what do you see? I’ll look for your comments later.
I looked around YouTube and saw this:
When I look around me, I see and feel gratitude, so thanks to everyone who helps me see more and more each day, including you!
Last week in one of my Coping and Healing groups, the older people told the younger people that growing old was not as scary as they feared. The older people talked about the benefits of growing old, which seemed to surprise the younger members of the group.
There are so many negative messages out there about growing old. Let’s see if we can balance those, here and now, with some quotes and images.
Speaking of ending the conversation, let’s see what the Daily Bitch has to say about growing old today.
Here’s what I find on YouTube when I search for “growing old.”
What are your thoughts and feelings about growing old?
I am grateful to be growing old and I’m grateful for those who are growing older with me, including YOU.
Gratitude is easy for me to feel and express. I have so much to be grateful for, including waking up to this new day.
I’m grateful for all these quotes about gratitude.
Do you see gratitude in my other images for today?
One way I could answer the question “How are you?” is “grateful.”
Here’s what I find when I search YouTube for “gratitude.”
I always end my blog posts with gratitude, so thanks to all who are joining me here on this precious day, including YOU.
A year ago today, we said goodbye to our amazing kitty Oscar, who was a wonderful presence in our lives and in this daily blog.
Oscar — who was chosen by my son Aaron from a shelter after a long search — was a loving and chill creature who was always RIGHT there, and we miss him very much.
Unlike Aaron, I usually choose shelter cats who are shy and scared, because I think they are less likely to get adopted. Case in point: our kitty Harley.
Now that my year of mourning Oscar is over, I’d like to get another shelter animal that won’t make Harley’s life a complete misery. We’ll see how that goes.
In the meantime, here are my images for July 22, 2021.
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While I don’t love the way my voice sounds in this 2014 video where I’m singing along to Pat Metheny’s “Third Wind” (in the bathroom for the acoustics!), this shows how loyal and present Oscar always was, so I’m sharing this today.
And here’s a much older video that Aaron made — “Graduation Cat” — which again demonstrates Oscar’s sweet and patient nature.
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I’m grateful for all the years we had with Oscar, and thanks to all who are here with me on this precious day, including YOU.
The Year(s) of Living Non-Judgmentally 