Here’s another thing: This morning, my boyfriend Michael said to me, “Guess what Harley and I saw last night?”
I could have guessed any one of these things ..
“Game of Thrones”
Our other cat, Oscar
Cat puke
Computers
… but I guessed another: “Was it an animal?”
It WAS an animal that Michael and Harley saw last night, outside the window.
If it wasn’t any thing I guessed, it was another:
Raccoon
Possum
Groundhog
Bird (correct!)
Big bird (correct!)
Hawk
Owl
Crow
Heron
Swan
Goose
Eagle
Pelican
Penguin
Albatross
At one point, Michael said to me, “You’re going to kick yourself when you guess it.” I replied, “Believe me. I am not going to kick myself.”
If it isn’t one thing I’ve kicked myself for, it’s another. Self-judgment has really been an albatross around my neck. Therefore, I’ve decided to kick myself no more.
Here’s another thing: I DID guess the one thing Michael and Harley saw last night, which was walking down the sidewalk. If you try to guess that one thing, it might be another.
If it isn’t one photo I take for this blog, it’s another. Here are some photos from yesterday:
If it isn’t one person making a pun around here, it’s another. Last night at Market Basket, after the fish guy gave us more fish than we asked for, he said, “What the hake.”
If it isn’t one thing I’m asking my readers to guess, it’s another. Which one of the greeting cards shown above had today’s title inside?
If it isn’t one thing I want to do on my vacation week, it’s another. It’s time to end this post with not one thing but another:
When you read social media these days, have you noticed this new style of writing?
When I read Facebook and lots of people are posting sentence fragments that begin with the word “When.”
Like that one.
When I write a blog post and feel I need more examples (from Facebook).
When your client asks you to bring your dog to lunch.
When your friend’s kid plays a mini Trump on Conan. Tonight.
When something comes unexpectedly. 😀
When we don’t see each other for a long time and then we do.
When we is excited for friends and food!
When the only letters you get are from the NHS. 😦
When I’m writing my blog posts on my phone because my laptop storage is full.
When I’m planning to go to the Apple Store tomorrow to free up storage.
When I use my photos from yesterday to support the theme of today’s post.
When the first thing I write on my office whiteboard is a weird match for today’s topic.
When I draw a t-shirt that illustrates something else we’re discussing in therapy.
When I draw something to show that even when things improve, people still have ups and downs.
When you attend a lecture at work that’s too close for comfort and you have to leave the auditorium and get some comfort food.
When you take photos for no apparent reason and hope your readers like them.
When WordPress changes the order of your photos for no apparent reason.
When you say to your son, “When you’ve just woken up and your mother is talking to you about her blog.”
When your son is so wonderful you include a photo you took months ago.
When you finish a post by expressing gratitude to all.
… because I saw a lot of green and a lot of yellow yesterday.
Here are some of the greens:
Ahhhh. That was restful. Do you feel as green and renewed, now, as I did yesterday?
Yes, “Green” could easily be a part of my post title today, especially since the last photo I snapped yesterday was of a green cashier who was in training at the green supermarket Whole Foods at Fresh Pond in Cambridge (very close to all those green shots I’d taken earlier). Here is that wonderfully green cashier, Helena:
Helena, despite being green, bravely guessed that I was a psychotherapist and that my boyfriend Michael was a professor of Philosophy, just by engaging with us for five minutes. I, a psychotherapist, was green with envy at Helena’s powers of observation and guessing. Although Michael never went to college, he told Helena that an online IQ test said he should be a “Visionary Philosopher.” I thought both Michael and Helena were the opposite of yellow (which can mean “cowardly”) and, before we left Whole Foods, I sought out Helena’s manager to praise Helena’s green and impressive skills.
Getting back to the point I made, above (when this post was still green), a green reader of this blog might insist that I include “Green” in the title of this post. Indeed, I even have some perfect images for “Green and Yellow”:
… assuming people know that “green” can also mean “money.”
However, I very recently published a post titled “Greens” and non-green readers know that I don’t like repeating myself.
Anyway, here are some more yellows I saw yesterday:
… before my non-green-and-yellow cell phone ran out of power.
It’s occurring to me now that, in the English language, the word “yellow” doesn’t have a lot of positive connotations. My immediate associations with “yellow” are
Cowardly and
A “lemon” of a car.
Maybe that’s why I’ve never even considered getting a yellow car, before yesterday. However, this man
… Neran, helped me feel much braver about doing something green and new. Also, when I mentioned to Neran that I was a psychotherapist (even though Neran is less green than Helena, he didn’t guess that about me), I found out that Neran
also works with people with mental illness and
Neran’s supervisor, for that other job, is MY long-time and brave supervisor, Ross, from a previous job.
Anyway, perhaps I could tie up this “Yellow” post with a perfect ribbon, but I need to get to work where — among other things — I have to find out if I have really have the green to buy one of those yellow beauties, above.
Before, I do, what music matches the colors in this post?
Yellow thanks to Bonnie, Helena, Michael, Neran, and Ross*, to colorful rides everywhere, to all the boys in my life (including my 17-year-old son, Aaron), to the Fresh Pond area of Cambridge Massachusetts USA, and to you — of course! — for coming along for this green and yellow ride, today.
in alphabetical order, because I greenly and yellowly felt like it.
Here are two reasons why yesterday was super fun, for me:
I saw my favorite hair artiste ever, Mia (who is super fun to talk to) , at her Watertown, Massachusetts, USA hair salon, where she trimmed my hair and my three super-fun, colorful hair extensions.
My boyfriend Michael and I stumbled upon a super fun festival/carnival, where I saw this:
That was actually the final super fun photo I took yesterday, moments before my super fun iPhone died.
Who wants to see more super fun photos?
I’m going to take that as a “Yes,” super fun readers!
As I told Michael yesterday, it doesn’t take much for me to have a super fun day. Indeed, after eating the super fun home made gnocchi (made at somebody’s super fun home, I assume), I engaged in only one super fun carnival activity (pictured above, in a super fun shot). It was, truly, super fun for me.
If any one of you super fun readers guesses that super fun activity, I’ll include a super fun photo that Michael took, in tomorrow’s post.
Is that a super fun deal?
Oh, and here’s a super fun fact about me: I’m afraid of heights.
Here’s some super fun music, which a fun band was playing at that super fun festival/carnival yesterday:
Now, I’m off to have another super fun day, including brunch with my super fun friend, Deb.
Super thanks to Mia, to Michael, to MiAlisa Salon, to the St. Mary of Carmen Society, to all those I saw having super fun yesterday, to Bobby Day, to robins and others who are rockin’, and to you — of course! — for making my day super fun, every time you visit.
Last night, before my boyfriend Michael and I left for our weekly food-shopping, I overheard him using his brain to say to Harley …
What is it, my precious pea-brain?
… which got my brain going, like so:
Are cats’ brains the size of peas, as Michael has been mentioning since the day I met him?
If cats’ brains are the size of peas, does that mean that all the intelligence and soul I see in them is a figment of my own brain?
If cats’ brains are the size of peas, what kind of peas are we talking about?
If cats’ brains are the size of peas, what vegetable are dogs’ brains the size of?
If cats’ brains are the size of peas, what vegetable are human brains the size of?
Regarding that last question, I’m thinking maybe cauliflower, but I wasn’t brainy enough to get a picture of that last night.
If human brains are the size of a large vegetable (not pictured), how do they create and comprehend all the things my brain encountered at the supermarket?
How would you use your human brain to guess what that last item is?
Speaking of human brains, here’s Al, whom we see on Sundays at the supermarket:
Al is always brainy enough to open every carton of eggs, to make sure they’re okay. Last night, I used my brain to ask Al how he uses his brain when he inspects those eggs. Then, Michael and Al used their brains, as follows:
Michael: Here’s how I make sure the eggs here are good, Al. I lick them.
Al: You want to know the best way to test eggs? Bounce them off the floor.
At this point, how do you use your brain to comprehend Michael’s, Al’s and/or my brains? What about your own brain?
Now I need to use my brain, one more time, to choose a song for today’s brainy post.
for my work as a therapist at a Boston hospital, and
to prepare for my conference workshop this Saturday about the therapy groups I’ve created with my brain (and my heart).
Brainy thanks to Michael, Al, Harley the cat, Faxy the dog, The Wizard of Oz, peas and brains and hearts of all sizes, artisans and artists known as Prince, cauliflower (not pictured), and you — of course! — for bringing your brain (and the rest of you) here, today.
The word “mean” has several meanings. Would it mean I was being mean if I didn’t list those meanings, but didn’t mean to be mean? Does your meaning of mean include what somebody means to do?
I don’t mean to be mean, but sometimes I am. The mean — and there I mean average — girl, boy, man, or woman is mean sometimes, although individual mean rates may vary.
I wonder if my post title “mean” is mean? Is the word “girls” mean?
What does any of this mean?
I meant to start this post with yesterday’s visit to cardiac rehab. What does “cardiac rehab” mean? I hope it’s not mean if the meaning of “cardiac rehab” is here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, or here. (I wonder: what’s the mean number of “here’s” I include in these here posts?) (I also wonder if WordPress is being mean lately or if I’m just not used to some new changes yet. This is what I mean: the mean time it takes me to write my mean or non-mean posts is longer these days, if you know what I mean).
Honestly, I didn’t mean to digress that many times in this already mean post. (Don’t get me started on my mean number of digressions. That would just be mean.)
There were several mean girls at cardiac rehab, yesterday.
I mean to start with mean Danise:
Does Danise look mean there? How about here?
Did Danise mean to be mean when she showed me how to do weights yesterday? What’s the mean number of pounds a mean girl can lift? I did four pounds yesterday. What does that mean?
Here’s Danise being mean to her mean boss, Kathy:
Mean girl Danise is making fun of Kathy not being able get the meanings of all the mean things all the mean people at cardiac rehab were saying, because Kathy has some trouble hearing, especially when she is wearing stethoscopes in her ears. Isn’t that mean?
In case you don’t know the meaning of “stethoscope,” Kathy is wearing that mean thing around her mean neck.
Here is mean girl Carla:
Carla, among other mean things, told me about some mean girls she met on her first day of middle school. I wonder if those mean girls meant to be mean?
Here’s mean girl Danise, again
and again, with mean patient Michael:
I didn’t mean to take such a blurry photo of Michael and Danise. I meant to capture how mean they were both being very quickly, so I could go back to my mean exercises. Michael told me what “Michael” means, in Hebrew:
Who is like God?
Michael meant to include the question mark in the meaning. What did he mean by that? Was that mean?
I didn’t mean to ask so many questions in this mean post, but questions are a way to make meaning, aren’t they? It would definitely be mean of me, though, to ask you to answer all the questions in this post.
Speaking of mean questions, before I left cardiac rehab to go to work, I asked Danise, “Do I look like a mean girl?” Danise said “yes” and “no.” I guess it depends on
I always mean to end my posts with meaningful thanks.
Thanks to Danise, Kathy, Carla, Michael, Jan, Susan, Mark, Michele, Desirel, Kathryn, Jackie, Carol, Bonnie, and Aretha,* and all the mean and non-mean girls, boys, men, and women everywhere who make my life more meaningful by reading my mean posts.
That means you.
*I always think it mean if I forget a name or spell it wrong. Do you know what I mean?
It’s the time of the season for me to think about moving. Moving faster while I’m walking, because it’s cold outside. Moving (many seasons from now) away from my beloved hometown of Boston, because it gets so cold for so many months around here.
And just in time for the cold weather yesterday, both of these tunes came to play:
(Pat Metheny’s “Let’s Move” found here on YouTube)
(Kurt Elling and Cassandra Wilson moving through “Time of the Season” found here on YouTube)
Imagine my hearing those songs as I moved yesterday, as fast as I could, through the freezing wind on my walk through Boston. If you’re moved to listen to either of those, do they move you? I, personally, found that music very warming.
Let’s move back in time, just a little. Here’s what I saw minutes before I started that cold walk yesterday, during this time of the season:
Notice how the door of that garage where I park my car every work day has moved? When I asked about that, the answer was, “It’s coooooold in here.”
As I moved to work on my walk yesterday, I considered taking more photos, but it was too coooooold for me to stop.
As we move on to winter, yesterday’s cold will feel like …. warmth.
Let’s move on to more pleasant matters, shall we? This evening, I’ll be moving westward to Worcester, Massachusetts, USA.
Yes, after I move to vote, somehow, in the yearly election today and also move through a full day at work, I’ll be watching these people move tonight:
(10 of the dancers I’m going to see tonight, here on YouTube)
They sure can move, can’t they? Also, it moved me, this morning, to hear the word “care” in the introduction.
Another warming thought for me: As the days move further into cold, I get to see Pat Metheny and Antonio Sanchez, at the same Worcester venue, in less than two weeks!
What else do I want to say about “Let’s Move” in this season (or any other season)?
At work and elsewhere, people are moving in lots of different directions. The best I can do is notice, be honest about what I see, and be clear about ways that I want to move.
Let’s take a moment and breathe.
Ready?
Let’s move!
Thanks to all who move, in their own way (including you!).
Today, I’m writing spontaneously. While I thought about possible topics, yesterday, for today’s post, I decided to pick this title at the last minute and just see what happens.
right there, because I get upset, sometimes, when I’m trying to use something new and can’t figure it out and make a mistake and panic a little, but I thought better of it.
Yesterday, in my work as a psychotherapist and in my life as a human being, I encountered people who had trouble dealing with anger. I’m often not sure what to do with my own anger, either. (I seem to be okay dealing with other people’s anger spontaneously, even though I may fear it in advance.)
My best advice about anger, these days, is
own your anger (as well as your other feelings)
express your anger in a way that works for you, rather than bottling it up
Before I proceed with THAT list (which I started spontaneously without knowing where it would end), I’d like see what Google Images has for “bottling it up.”
Eeek! I just lost track of this post, again, when I came back from “Google Images.” I couldn’t find it anywhere. However, this time, I remembered the process for restoring this post that worked for me before, so I spontaneously did NOT panic. I’m hoping I can learn from this experience to make my post-creation process, next time, smoother and easier.
Where was I? Oh, yes! Showing you Google Images for “Bottling it Up.”
Oh! I just found the earlier draft of this post. I just didn’t see it before, because I had too many tabs open. You’ll just have to believe me, though, that the first draft totally disappeared.
I just spontaneously closed a lot of those open tabs, so I can more easily keep track of things as I’m writing this post.
Where was I? Oh, yes! Google Images for “bottling it up”:
Spontaneously, I’m deciding that those are enough Google Images, for today. I feel more comfortable using my own images, since I own those.
But what image(s), of my own, should I include in this post?
I could show you some photos I just had to stop and spontaneously take yesterday, on my way to work:
I could show you a portion of the whiteboard from the therapy group I did last night (making sure to keep strict confidentiality):
I DEFINITELY want to show you the photo I took this morning, right before my son left for school, of two pieces of required equipment he had chosen for today, Halloween:
Have fun trying to figure THAT out.
Before I spontaneously press “Publish” to send this post out into the world, what feels left out, for me?
Music! But what piece of music fits today’s post?
Do YOU have any ideas about that?
Even if you do, that’s not going to help me now.
Here’s the tune that’s rattling around in my head (and has been, since I rediscovered it while writing this here post). And since I primarily write these posts for ……
ME!
… posting this video, spontaneously, here, will give ME easier access to it.
The Year(s) of Living Non-Judgmentally 
