Day 3537: No Worry, No Hurry

Two night ago, when I had trouble sleeping, I wrote lyrics to a new song, “No Worry, No Hurry.”

No worry, no hurry as I share these lyrics with you before taking off for the airport this morning.

No worry, no hurry,

Don’t care what they think.

Those fears you should bury,

That shame you can shrink.

You don’t need to scurry

And do everything.

No worry, no hurry,

Just smile, breathe, and blink.

If you close your eyes

You might see what I see:

A landscape that offers

Sweet tranquility.

Awareness, acceptance,

Just waiting for me.

No worry, no hurry,

The chance to be free.

No worry, no hurry,

No need to be scared.

No need to apologize

For things that you’ve dared.

You don’t need perfection

For protection, my friend.

No worry, no hurry,

There’s peace without end.

©️ Ann Koplow, 2022

No worry, no hurry about checking out my images for today.

No worry, no hurry and no snow, no rain on National Neither Snow Nor Rain Day.

No worry, no hurry about finding something relevant on YouTube before my Lyft driver shows up to take me to the airport.

Thanks to all who help me have no worry, no hurry, including YOU!

Day 3507: Shadows

I decided early yesterday that today’s blog post would be titled “shadows” after I took my first photo of the day.

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I was very aware of the relief to be found in the shadows as I took my walk in the early morning heat.

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While I was walking among those shadows, I was thinking of quotes about shadows by Carl Jung.

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Carl Jung casts a long shadow, doesn’t he?

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Can you see shadows in the rest of my images for today?

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Here’s the Gene Kelly dance number from Summer Stock where he was casting those interesting shadows.

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And dare I say that I was writing about the shadow when I created my original song “Everybody’s Somebody’s Asshole”?

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Thanks to all who help me confront and share shadows in this daily blog, including YOU!

Day 3400: I’m Mad About You

During the Brett Kavanaugh U.S. Supreme Court nomination process in 2018, I dealt with how mad I was by writing and performing my original song “I’m Mad About You.”

Last night, when I couldn’t sleep because I was mad about the leaked draft of the Supreme Court’s vote (including Kavanaugh’s) to overturn Roe v Wade, I thought, “well, it’s time for me to make a better recording of ‘I’m Mad About You’.”

Here’s my performance of “I’m Mad About You” at a remote open mic in 2020 when I was mad about the hearings to rapidly replace the late Ruth Bader Ginsburg with the Trump-nominated Amy Coney Barrett on the Supreme Court before the 2020 election.

My manager and son, Aaron, just said to me, “that’s a good song” and I’m mad about him, in a good way.

Are you mad about “I’m Mad About You” or about my images for today?

I’m mad about many things, how about you?

I’m mad about you and about all those who visit this blog, so thanks for your support!

Day 3392: Finding the joy

Because of all the pain and suffering in our world, finding the joy takes a recommitment to do so, every day.

This morning, I’m finding the joy in these images.

I’m going to be finding the joy on National Telephone Day, conducting therapy sessions by phone and in person at the hospital.

Before I try my best finding the joy in Boston traffic, I am joyful to share that I met my goal yesterday of recording a better version of my original song “I Left the House Before I Felt Ready.”

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Thanks to all who help me in finding the joy every day, including YOU.

Day 3392: Finding the joy

Because of all the pain and suffering in our world, finding the joy takes a recommitment to do so, every day.

This morning, I’m finding the joy in these images.

I’m going to be finding the joy on National Telephone Day, conducting therapy sessions by phone and in person at the hospital.

Before I try my best finding the joy in Boston traffic, I am joyful to share that I met my goal yesterday of recording a better version of my original song “I Left the House Before I Felt Ready.”

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Thanks to all who help me in finding the joy every day, including YOU.

Day 3391: The creative process

Here and now, I’m trying to overcome some self-consciousness about moving forward with the creative process regarding my original songs.

Before the pandemic, I unexpectedly and joyfully experienced months where my creative process produced many original songs, which I performed at Open Mics and featured in this daily blog.

My manager — a fabulous human being whom I helped create 24 years ago — thinks I should create recordings of my best songs with excellent sound quality and feature them prominently on my YouTube channel.

For some reason, which I can’t quite process, I’ve been avoiding following my son Aaron’s wise advice, focusing instead on the creative process in my therapy groups and on social media.

Part of the creative process, for me, is naming and (sometimes) sharing the obstacles, so I’m hoping that creating this blog post will help me move forward with my original songs. Today, I plan to record a great version of “I Left the House Before I Felt Ready.”

Do you see the creative process in my images for today?

I did NOT create National Pigs in a Blanket Day nor National Pet Parents Day, but I am a proud pet parent to Joan …

… and Harley.

Here’s a video I created at the Sheep Shearing Festival yesterday, which my son Aaron is going to send to his girlfriend overseas:

I hope to create a video of “I Left the House Before I Felt Ready” with better sound quality than that, today.

What are your thoughts and feelings about the creative process?

Gratitude for what I have is part of my creative process, so thanks to all who help me create this blog every day, including YOU.

Day 3371: Stop thinking altogether

Thinking hasn’t really been helping me lately, so I’m identifying with today’s Daily Bitch Calendar.

I’m going to stop thinking altogether that

• my worst fears are going to come true,
• my fondest wishes are going to come true,
• I have any way of accurately predicting the future,
• I have any way of accurately knowing what anyone else is thinking, and
• thinking will bring me peace.

I’ve stopped thinking altogether anxiously about the future by filling in the blanks of this:

Don’t go to _____ until you’re going to _____.

Examples: “Don’t go to work until you’re going to work.” “Don’t go to the vet until you’re going to the vet.” “Don’t go to the open mic until you’re going to the open mic.”

This altogether stops me from thinking about possible outcomes, which never match what actually happens.

Stop thinking altogether as you enjoy my images for today.

I’ve stopped thinking altogether about Lobster Newburg by remembering this song I wrote a few years ago — “What Are Other People Thinking About You?”

If you’re thinking I need to get my act all together and create better recordings of my songs, my son Aaron (who is now my manager) altogether agrees.

I’m stopping this post by expressing my gratitude to all who have stopped by my blog today, including YOU.

Day 3309: How to express empathy

How do you express empathy? With spoken words? Written words? Facial expressions? Hugs? Other non-verbal communication?

Where do you express empathy? In person? On the phone? In ZOOM gatherings? On social media?

To whom do you express empathy? To family members? Friends? Acquaintances? Strangers?

Sometimes I’m not sure how to express empathy, but I know I feel it every day.

Do you see how to express empathy in any of my images for today?

If you comment, I will do my best to express empathy in my response.

Thanks for all who feel and express empathy, including YOU.

Day 3079: Compliments

Many people I know — through therapy and elsewhere — are uncomfortable with compliments and often don’t believe or even recognize compliments when they receive them.

I hope wonderful blogger Mark Bialczak and his lovely wife Karen consider it a compliment that I always want to spend time with them when they are visiting Cape Cod. Yesterday, I drove many miles and minutes to spend a delightful few hours with them and their adorable, 10-year-old rescue dog Ellie B.

As we spent time together in beautiful Dennis Port, Mark and I gave each other compliments about our blogs — which both are experiencing dwindling readership. Also, Mark — who used to review music for many years at the big daily newspaper in Syracuse — gave me inspiring and almost- hard-for-me to-believe compliments about my original songs which, honestly, meant the world to me.

I hope everybody considers it a compliment that I wanted to capture all these images of a fabulous day and to share them with you, here and now:

If the noble and irresistible Ellie B read my blog, I assume she’d consider it a compliment that I took so many photos of her yesterday.

I wanted to specifically compliment Karen on her “diamond painting” ..

… which Mark called “my wife’s beading.”

Mark also complimented me yesterday on my Twitter interactions, so I feel more confident sharing these with you today:

It’s more difficult being nice when you’re uncomfortable and our central air conditioning is not working, just in time for a heat wave here. I have to compliment my husband, Michael, who still cooked for me last night …

… and who is going to try to fix our air conditioning system today by locating and replacing the air filter, which is probably somewhere here:

I’m sure our air conditioning system …

… doesn’t consider it a compliment that we’ve never replaced the filter in the FOUR years we’ve been here.

Here’s one of my original songs that I performed at the Edinburgh Fringe, which Mark complimented me on yesterday:

I’ll consider it a great compliment if you comment on this blog post, below.

I’m grateful for all compliments, for great friendships, and, of course, for YOU!

Day 3053: Best strangers

While I was waiting for my driver yesterday morning to take me to Boston’s Logan Airport, I got these notifications about best strangers from Lyft:

The concept of “best strangers” is no stranger than anything else that is happening during these stranger times. Also, it felt stranger to me to be traveling to Nashville on my own, but so far I have met many best strangers here.

That’s my Lyft driver in Nashville, John, who was a best stranger in so many ways. He thought my song “Everybody’s Somebody’s Asshole,” was great, and he didn’t seem to think that it was stranger of me to sing it for him before my Open Mic last night. He also predicted that I wouldn’t want to leave Nashville on Thursday and, believe me, I’ve heard stranger predictions.

Here are two best strangers at the Graduate Hotel in Nashville — Alyssa and Luke.

Best stranger Luke showed me a photo of best dog Skippy.

At the Open Mic at the Tennessee Brew Works last night, I met best strangers Tio and Laura.

Tio and Laura also performed at the Open Mic and they were the best! Note that they both worked on creating Tio’s best jacket.

Tio and I were best strangers for each other when we recorded each other’s performances. Here’s mine, with lots of background noise from many best strangers.

Gracie, who was the best M.C. of the best Open Mic I’ve ever seen, told me she spent four years in Boston as a student at Berklee, which I didn’t find strange at all.

Do you see other best strangers in my other best photos from yesterday?

It’s crazy how many best strangers there are out here.

Don’t be a stranger; please leave best and/or stranger comments, below.

Gratitude makes any best stranger into a good friend, so thanks to all who read my best AND stranger blog posts, including YOU.