Day 3341: My son’s birthday

My son, Aaron, turns 24 today! He is in Europe with his girlfriend right now and we had this interaction earlier:

People who have been regular readers of this blog for years know that my son is creative, hilarious, smart, and honest. They also know that he gets along really well with his step-father Michael.

I have a tradition of including in my blog on Aaron’s birthday this YouTube video he made twelve years ago:

When Aaron reads my blog (which he’s told me he will after I’m gone from this earth), I imagine him rolling his eyes when he sees this. He made this sooooo long ago, and he’s done so many wonderful things since then. I’m a sucker for a tradition, I guess, and this video still cracks me up.

Here’s what I tweeted last night, on the eve of my only child’s birthday:

Aaron has given me many memorable words of wisdom and I can only hope I’ve done the same for him.

I remember this exchange when I was having a bad time:

Me: Is the universe conspiring against me?

Aaron: No.

I can’t tell you how often I’ve thought of this when life has been difficult. Aaron is a man of few words but all of them count.

Happy birthday to my son, happy banana bread day to all, and thanks for being here, now.

Day 3279: Better than expected

If this blog post is going to be better than expected, I’d better start adding some interesting elements, like my last question yesterday on Twitter:

That question turned out better than expected: it already has over 200 answers. And the answers were better than expected: many people answered with “my life.”

Are any of my other images for today better than expected?

Those images came together better than I expected. Sometimes I think one secret of life is having low expectations or, better yet, letting go of expectations.

When I search YouTube for “better than expected,” I find this …

… which unexpectedly made me want to see “Free Guy,” which I expect I’ll watch once it’s free for me.

What’s something that turned out better than you expected? I expect I’ll see some comments, below.

If you’re expecting gratitude from me, here it comes!

Day 3128: When you look around you, what do you see?

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!

Day 3100: Now is the perfect time to be brave and courageous.

Now is the perfect time to be brave and courageous, because why wait? Life is short, my brave and courageous friends.

Now is the perfect time to look at all my images for now.

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Now is the perfect time to be brave and courageous and now is the perfect time for peace.

Now is the perfect time to tell you that I rocked my workshop and my speech yesterday!

Now is the perfect time to share what I find when I search YouTube for “now is the perfect time to be brave and courageous.”

Now is the perfect time to leave a comment and now is the perfect time to express my thanks and appreciation for all of you!

Day 3084: My mind

Today’s blog is brought to you by my mind and by The Daily Bitch Calendar.

Yesterday, my mind tried to set Twitter on fire with flying thoughts about popular proverbs and other matters:

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My mind was very occupied facilitating two Coping and Healing therapy groups yesterday, so I hope you don’t mind that I have only three photos of the outdoors to share today.

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There are usually songs going through my mind and I’m noticing that there are lots of songs with “mind” in the title. Here, according to ranker.com, is #1:

My mind went to “Georgia on my Mind” which was #43 on ranker.com’s list, which blows my mind!

My mind will answer any comments your mind leaves, below.

My mind, as always, is filled with gratitude, so thanks to all the minds that help me pull these blog posts out of my mind every day, including yours!

Day 3083: Lovable

My lovable readers, which of today’s images seem lovable to you?

Personally, I think the Daily Bitch is very lovable. And cognitive distortions like personalization get in the way of feeling lovable.

Is this a lovable version of “You’re Nobody ‘til Somebody Loves You”?

No matter how lovable you feel, please leave a comment, below.

It’s lovable to express and receive gratitude, so thanks to all who help me blog daily, including YOU.

Day 3081: Capacity

I have the capacity to

• blog daily,
• connect with others,
• feel empathy,
• speak the truth, and
• work during a heat wave when our central air conditioning system is not working because of a broken capacitor.

After reaching out to many HVAC repair people since Saturday, we finally found one who had the capacity to respond to our requests, to show up last night at 10 PM without charging us overtime rates, and to diagnose and fix the problem in less than 30 minutes.

Many other HVAC experts did not have the capacity to respond to our pleas for help and one with a very good rating online didn’t have the capacity to show up yesterday as he had promised or to call us and let us know.

Now our central air conditioning system with its new capacitor has the capacity to cool us down on another 90 degree+ day.

I don’t seem to have the capacity to stop thinking about the flux capacitor from “Back to the Future,” but I usually have the capacity to associate EVERYTHING with a film or a song.

I had the capacity to find this video about the flux capacitor on YouTube:

Yesterday, I had the capacity to take these photos in the heat before our central air capacitor was replaced:

As you can see from the photos above, Michael has the capacity to reach and remove Trump stickers that I can’t.

I have the capacity to use Twitter as a distraction from discomforts.

Now that I AM chilling, I have the capacity to notice that The Flux Capacitors band have the capacity to cover “Everybody Wants to Rule the World.”

If you have the capacity to leave a comment, please do so.

As you might know, I have an unlimited capacity to express gratitude, so thanks to all who help me maintain my capacity to blog every day, including YOU.

Day 2977: Self inoculation

Two days ago, my post was self-destructive. Today, I’m writing about self inoculation, which is effectively preparing yourself for troubles ahead.

Yesterday, in a therapy session when we were talking about self-hatred, people committed to each other that the next time they did, felt, or thought something that triggered self-hatred, they would take a deep breath and love (or at least LIKE) themselves instead. In essence, people were self inoculating against a known destructive response.

This morning, before I got on the scale, I self inoculated by saying this to myself: “No matter what that number is, I am going to welcome it. That number is not going to affect my self worth.”

Blogging, for me, is another example of self inoculation. With each daily post, I am preparing myself for troubles ahead — refreshing my resilience. That’s why blogging has been such a priority for me over the past eight years.

Do you see any examples of self inoculation in today’s images?

As The Daily Bitch shows us, sometimes the way we self inoculate might cause trouble for other people.

Many of us will need to be inoculated with a coronavirus vaccine before we attend a concert like this — Huey Lewis and the News performing “I Want a New Drug” (which sounds like self-inoculation to me).

If expressing your thoughts and feelings is self inoculation for you, please leave a comment below.

Ready for some self inoculation of gratitude?

Day 2968: Deprivation

In the training group I attended this weekend, we discussed, enacted, acknowledged, and healed people’s deprivation.

Lest there be a deprivation of definition here, here’s a definition of deprivation:

The deprivation we addressed in the training group “Developing Resilient Group Leadership” was not of the material kind. It was the deprivation of emotional validation, physical contact, and unconditional love. I got to address some personal early deprivation by expressing my feelings and needs safely, by telling people I loved them, and by receiving love back.

Do you see deprivation in my most recent images?

I don’t want this post to have a deprivation of music, so here’s “Deprivation” by the Thofte/Thorsen Quintet:

If you don’t want there to be a deprivation of comments about this “Deprivation” post, please leave one below.

There is no deprivation of gratitude here, so thanks to all who help me create this daily blog, including YOU!

Day 2961: Gratitude list

As I return to work, remotely, after my birthweek vacation, I’d like to start out the day with a gratitude list.

Here and now, I am grateful for

• my son Aaron,
• my husband Michael,
• our cat Harley,
• my friends,
• family members,
• our good health,
• my work as a group therapist,
• my very unusual heart,
• my doctors and my dentist,
• my home near the sea,
• the delicious nutritious meals Michael cooks,
• chocolate,
• popcorn,
• unsalted sunflower seeds in the shell,
• humor,
• music,
• nature,
• this blog,
• my other creative outlets,
• The Daily Bitch Calendar,
• Twitter,
• “Jazz,”
• “RuPaul’s Drag Race”,
• “Match Game” reruns,
• “Call My Agent” (a/k/a “Dix pour cent” in French), and
• my iPhone 8, which allows me to stay connected with those I love AND capture images like these:

If you could see yourself through my eyes, you’d see how wonderful you are.

Here’s the opening music for “Call My Agent!/Dix pour cent.”

What’s on your gratitude list? Until tomorrow …