Day 3649: Upliftment

I’m thinking about upliftment, here and now, because I saw this last night.

As I approach the completion of my 10th year of daily blogging, I only hope that my thoughts give hope, guidance, and upliftment to all (or, at least, to some). I know that blogging has given me the upliftment I’ve needed to face medical and other challenges, big and small, over the years.

And while “upliftment” keeps getting flagged by spellcheck …

… it gives me upliftment to discover that it really is a word!

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I like how that definition of upliftment says “countable and uncountable” because (1) that covers everything and (2) I believe everything counts.

Can you find countable and uncountable upliftment in my images for today?

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I get upliftment by arranging and sharing the images in these posts (including, today, four photos taken by my ex-husband Leon during the upliftment of Christmas Eve).

I can only guess what I’ll find when I search YouTube for “upliftment.”

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I also find “Upliftment” by Colah Colah.

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Thanks to all who give me upliftment, including YOU!

Day 3000: Three Thousand Days of Blogging!

To celebrate my 3000th day of blogging, I am going to post a few typical photos.

A seascape near where I live.

A delicious and nutritious meal prepared by my husband Michael.

A cat!

The Daily Bitch Calendar for this momentous and precious day.

Here are links to some blog posts from those 3000 days:

Day 6: The Ascending Coil

Day 38: Reasons why I should move to Charleston, SC

Day 120: A walk down Boylston Street on April 29, 2013

Day 277: Very Unique

Day 377: Free-floating, re-sticking anxiety (The __ Metaphor)

Day 581: Ann’s Beauty Tips

Day 759: We go on

Day 783: Best supporting Oscars

Day 822: April Fools

Day 1000: A Thousand

Day 1358: In the clouds

Day 1367: What does “INR” stand for?

Day 1379: My boyfriend, Michael

Day 1505: The Year of the _______

Day 1818: Children

Day 2000: Two thousand days of blogging

Day 2292: A Year of No Worry

Day 2423: The Greatest Theatrical Event Ever

Day 2553: Why we love weddings

Day 2608: Fun with Phobias, Part 5

Day 2684: Oscar

Here‘s “I Love You 3000” with Stephanie Poetri & Jackson Wang:

No matter what numbered day it is, it is Day 1 of the rest of your life, so here‘s “On Day One” by Pat Metheny:

Three thousand thanks to all who have helped me blog over three thousand days, including YOU!

Day 2996: Who is taking up too much space in your brain?

I don’t know about you, but annoying, obnoxious, miserable, angry, and unsafe people take up too much space in my brain.

My brain tells me that it needs to focus on these people, because they are threats to our well being.

I am telling my brain that we also need to focus on more pleasant, restful, and helpful things, in order to take care of ourselves and to conserve our energy.

I hope my latest images don’t take up too much space in your brain.

Here’s what I find when I search you tube for “Who is taking up too much space in your brain?”

Please make space in your brain for that important message: we can’t control thoughts and feelings, but we can control our actions.

Who will be taking up space in the comments section, below?

Thanks to all who have helped me take up blog space for almost 3000 days in a row, including YOU.

Day 2905: Views

The views expressed in this blog belong to me and do not necessarily represent the views of others.

People express their views in many different ways and through many different media.

These days especially, I wonder how open people are to views different from their own.

In this world, the views of some are considered more valuable than the views of others.

It takes work to express your views effectively.

When expressing your views to others, try using “I”-statements rather than “You”-statements. For example, “I feel strongly about this” rather than “You are wrong” or “You’re an idiot.”

I’ve noticed that people tend to express negative views more often than positive views. In my view, it helps to express appreciation and gratitude.

Four years ago, I decided it was necessary for my mental health to move to a place with ocean views.

Yesterday, the views expressed in this blog got 196 views, with 1.76 views per visitor. At this writing, this daily blog has received 436,222 views since I started it almost eight years ago. “The best views ever,” according to my WordPress stats, happened on June 21, 2020 and the most views for a month were 8,700 during November 2015. I don’t usually view my blogging statistics, so these views are a surprise to me.

Ready to view my views from yesterday ?

The views expressed by the Daily Bitch are her own (but may be shared by others).

Here are Earth Views: Earth from Space Seen from the ISS which started streaming on September 1, 2019, described as “a series of unique and beautiful recorded views of planet Earth captured from 240 miles above it. We look down on our planet along with the astronauts aboard the ISS.“

Feel free to express your views in a comment, below.

It’s time to view my gratitude for all who help me express the views in this daily blog, including YOU.

Day 2891: My days are numbered (correctly)

Yesterday, I noticed there was a problem with the numbering of my posts, so I went back in time and discovered my mistake.

Do you see the problem with the number there? My numerical dyslexia caused me to write “2184” instead of “2148” for the “Don’t miss the drama” post. My excuse for that mistake is that I wrote that post soon after being driven in a terrible snowstorm to NYC for a group therapy conference two years ago.

No matter what the excuse, I knew it would take many hours to correct all the subsequent numbers, but I got right down to it.

Since then, I’ve renumbered all of the posts correctly, and found a bunch of unanswered comments on the way. This is why I am so late posting my correctly numbered post today.

Let’s see what number of other images I have to share with you today.

It took a lot of thinking to fix this blog numerically, but now it’s done!

Let’s celebrate with a favorite number number.

Believe it or not, this is the first time that I have heard that version of that number — “Hard Eights” by Lyle Mays.

I hope you know that I number you among the wonderful people who help me create this daily blog, so uncountable and innumerable thanks to you !

Day 2888: What counts

Yesterday, USA Thanksgiving 2020, I spent part of the day counting and recounting the numbers in my blog posts. As you probably know, I’ve been counting the days in my post titles for many years. Even though I am careful to count accurately (because accuracy and truth count), none of us can count on perfection.

As I was counting past blogging days, I found I had lost count on a day when I was focusing on the loss of my friend, Eleanor, who counted very much to me and on whom I could always count. Once I found that error in the count, I did a recount and now, I think, the count is accurate. However, I wouldn’t completely count on it.

Besides fixing the blogging count, I spent much of Thanksgiving day telling people who count (including YOU) how thankful I am for them.

What counts in my photos from yesterday ?

When I was recounting my posts, I found some words that counted a lot, including that Turkish proverb on Turkey Day. I know I am not alone in counting the days until the Axe is no longer President of the USA.

For those of you who count on puns, now it’s time for me to axe for comments, below.

Here‘s “Count’s Place” with Count Basie and The Kansas City 7.

I count on you every day and thanks for helping me make every day count!

Day 2872: What we dwell on

Yesterday, when I was dwelling on Donald Trump, Donald Trump’s supporters, and angry people, I found this quote by Oprah Winfrey:

Oh no! Oprah knows for sure that I will become Donald Trump, a Donald Trump supporter, and/or an angry person unless I dwell on something else. Luckily, there are many other things to dwell on in my other photos from yesterday.

Uh-oh. Now I’m dwelling on the fact that we just lost our internet connection. Also, it’s taking forever for me to upload any more photos that are dwelling on my phone by using cellular data.

Now I’m dwelling on the possibility that if Donald Trump, Donald Trump supporters, and angry people want to take over my country with a coup, knocking out the internet of people dwelling in liberal parts of the USA is probably a great way to do that.

Now I’m dwelling on this: a coup in the USA is highly unlikely. Also, the photo I am trying to upload in this precious moment says “Worry does not empty tomorrow of its sorrow; it empties today of its strength.”

Rather than dwelling on worry, I choose to dwell on

• hope,
• quotes from wise people,
• people I love,
• people I trust,
• cats,
• dogs,
• the ocean,
• things that make me think,
• things that make me feel,
• things that make me laugh,
• delicious nutritious food,
• my health and the health of others,
• staying safe,
• music, and
• taking a walk on a beautiful morning.

Therefore, I am going to take a masked walk on this beautiful morning after sharing this one other photo which uploaded successfully:

Dwell on this: In 2019 I bet people cookies that Donald Trump would not win re-election. That box of Mallomars is part of my winnings, with more cookies on the way.

Because it helps me to dwell on music, I’m going to search YouTube for music that dwells there, as I peacefully accept that I can always share my other temporarily unload-able photos tomorrow.

Strangely enough, when I search YouTube for “what we dwell on”, I find another Game of Thrones video.

Now I’m dwelling on synchronicity and gratitude for all who help me dwell on blogging every day, including YOU!

Day 2866: Living with uncertainty

Living with uncertainty is very difficult, yet we do it every day. Certainty is often an illusion — a denial of mortality and the constant changes we are barely aware of.

Here and now, as we live with the uncertainties of the pandemic and the results of the USA election, the level of uncertainty is very difficult to live with. I’m certain how this uncertainty is affecting me, my family, my friends, and my patients:

• insomnia,
• changes in appetite,
• stress eating,
• anger,
• hopelessness,
• helplessness,
• worry,
• anxiety,
• depression,
• lack of motivation,
• a reversion to old unhelpful habits,
• withdrawal,
• fear,
• catastrophizing,
• blaming,
• all-or-nothing thinking,
• mind-reading, and
• the rest of the cognitive distortions (which I’m certain you can find here).

I’m uncertain how I and millions of other people are going to live with so much uncertainty in the days ahead.

In a sea of uncertainty, I’m certain that routines — like daily blogging — help. I’m certain I have new images to share but I’m uncertain exactly what they are.

I’m certain that I felt less uncertainty about the future when I took those photos than I’m feeling now.

Here‘s “The Courage to Live with Radical Uncertainty” — a Ted Talk given by “Compassion-Driven Oncologist Shekinah Elmore” in March 2020, right before our current age of uncertainty.

Here‘s “Coping with Uncertainty” by MindTools Videos:

What are your thoughts and feelings about living with uncertainty?

No matter how I’m living with uncertainty, I’m certainly grateful to all who help me create this daily blog, including YOU.

Day 2595: Attempts to be super

My attempts to be super at blogging this morning resulted in my finding this headline:

Moon attempts to be ‘super’ on Saturday night, settles for mediocrity

I think this is a super example of anthropomorphism (ascribing human characteristics to  non-human objects).

It might also be a super example of projection.   In attempts to be super in psychotherapy, we notice that when people see characteristics in others, that’s often a reflection of themselves.  Hence my super response to compliments: “It takes one to know one.”

In case you haven’t noticed, I’m trying to suggest that perhaps the writer of that headline attempted to be super and settled for mediocrity.

Let’s see if there are any attempts to be super in today’s photos.

Harley and Oscar sometimes attempt to be super tolerant of each other.

Here‘s super Stevie Wonder with “Superwoman.”

I’m looking forward to your super comments, below.

Here’s today’s attempt to show my super gratitude for YOU:

 

Day 2594: People you’re stuck with

Yesterday I stuck this up on my white board at work:

We then made a list of people we were stuck with, including  family members, co-workers, neighbors, and the current President of the United States.

Who are the people you’re stuck with?  How do you deal with them?

Does it help to know that

• you’re not alone being stuck with people?
• you can try to limit your contact with the challenging people you’re stuck with?
• those people are stuck with difficult people too?
• you can focus on self-love and self-care even when you’re stuck with people?

Now you’re stuck with my other photos from yesterday.

I don’t mind being stuck with my husband Michael, who sticks healthy and delicious meals on our plates.

I also don’t mind being stuck in traffic listening to Bernadette Peters singing “Some People” from Gypsy:

Now I’m hoping some people stick some comments, below, about this “People You’re Stuck With” post.

Thanks for sticking with me, people, through so much!