Day 1312: Momentum

Let me take a moment to affect the early momentum of this momentous post by defining momentum.

momentum
[moh-men-tuh m]

noun, plural momenta [moh-men-tuh], momentums.
1. force or speed of movement; impetus, as of a physical object or course of events:
The car gained momentum going downhill. Her career lost momentum after two unsuccessful films.
2.Also called linear momentum. Mechanics. a quantity expressing the motion of a body or system, equal to the product of the mass of a body and its velocity, and for a system equal to the vector sum of the products of mass and velocity of each particle in the system.
3. Philosophy. moment.

Can be confused
memento, momentum.

How will it affect the momentum of this post if I

• confess that — like momento and momentum —  I can be confused, too?
• share that I associate the word “momentum” with political races?
• state that I am developing momenta in feeling more positive and hopeful about the future?

How will it affect the momentum of this post if I show you this photo from yesterday?

How will my other photos from yesterday affect the momentum?

I’m developing momentum to sing at an Open Mic tomorrow evening. Recording myself singing the song a capella, this morning, is part of that momentum.

 

How’s your momentum, here and now?

I’ve got the momenta to thank all those who helped me create this post and you — of course! — for reading it.

 

 

Day 1147: The City of Love

Philadelphia means the “The City of Brotherly Love.”

[William] Penn named the city Philadelphia, which is Greek for brotherly love (from philos, “love” or “friendship”, and adelphos, “brother”). As a Quaker, Penn had experienced religious persecution and wanted his colony to be a place where anyone could worship freely.

Yesterday, I saw lots of love in Philadelphia.

Which photos do you love, brothers and sisters?

Today, I’m going to the Open Call audition for “The Voice” at the Philadelphia Convention Center.  I’m expecting to encounter a LOT of musical love in all the hundreds and hundreds of people trying out there.

After I sing, I’ll either receive a “Red Card” for a call-back or I won’t.  Either way, I’ll show twice as much daily love as usual here at this blog, by putting up a second post with the results.

And no matter what the outcome, I resolve to show and feel the same amount of love towards myself and to others.

Show your love in a comment, if you choose. And love to all who read this blog.

 

Day 1146: My voice

I’m trying out for “The Voice” tomorrow, so I’d like to write about my voice today.

My voice is:

• loving,
• soothing,
• delicate,
• strong,
• shaky,
• powerful,
• modulated,
• emotional,
• high,
• low,
• joyful,
• mournful,
• complicated,
• simple,
• focused,
• all over the place,
• affecting,
• affected by what’s around me,
• affectionate,
• authentic,
• intentional,
• sincere,
• haunting,
• soulful,
• mature,
• hesitant,
• certain,
• pleasing,
• imperfect, and
• unique.

How would you describe your voice — singing or otherwise?

I hope my voice comes through in today’s photos:

If you could hear my voice now, you’d hear this:

Day 1144: O…K… Ready

O…K… Ready-ers — I mean, Readers — are you ready for this?

O…K… I saw that ready carpet cleaner yesterday, at work. And while the carpet in my office does need cleaning, I wasn’t ready to use it.  Why?  Because I was getting ready to leave for my vacation to Philadelphia and New York City.

O…K… I’m ready for my train trip to Philly to see my bff Jeanette and to try out for “The Voice” on Sunday.

O…K…what helps me be ready?

To be as much as possible in the moment, letting go of unhelpful memories and thoughts and letting go of worry about the future.

O…K… Ready for the other new photos on my iPhone?

O…K… WordPress peeps, what helps you be ready?

O…K… Ready to give thanks and to go! Have a nice day

Day 1142: All you need

All you need to know about today’s title is that I saw it in a supermarket last night.

Is that all you need?  I need more, including  an explanation of why and how Lane Ground Biscuits are all I need.

Writing my blog post each day is all I need to get going every morning.

Many people believe that all you need is right there, in every present moment.

When I go into a room at the Philadelphia Convention Center on February 21, with many other people, to try out for “The Voice,” all I need is this:

When I’m breathing in to sing, I will remember to take in all I need from the universe, including the good wishes of my family, friends, and readers.

All I need, now, is to see if the  photos I took yesterday are all we need, for this blog post.

 

 

All I need, in order to finish packing for my train trip on Thursday, is to get Oscar off my suitcase.

What is all you need, in the present moment?

All I need to end this post is to thank all of those who helped me write it and all of you, no matter what your needs are.

 

Day 1125: Finding my way

It seems like every day I’m finding my way.

What helps you find your way, every day?

Here are some visuals that helped me find my way, yesterday:

 

Three weekends from today, I’m finding my wayout of Boston to audition for the TV show “The Voice.”

I’ve found  out — through “The Voice” website —  that an optional part of that audition process is to submit a video of my audition  song to the Voice staff ahead of time, for some pointers  and — perhaps! — finding my way ahead of the audition crowd.

When I do find my way to the audition site in Philadelphia on February 21, I’ll be finding my way through my audition song (which will probably be “Soothe” by Todd Rundgren) without any accompanying instruments. Now I’m finding my way, here, to share this a capella rendition of “Soothe.”

It occurs to me that it’s taken me one thousand, one hundred, and twenty-five days to find my way to showing you what I look and sound like, while singing. 

If you find a way to give me feedback about that video, I’ll be finding my way to reply back.

Why am I finding my way to audition for “The Voice,” when the odds are unlikely  I’ll find myself on the show? Because this is all part of my way of finding my way out of fear.

Finding my way on WordPress always includes thanks to you, my readers, for helping me find my way here.

Day 1123: Bold Character

As I was boldly walking away from work yesterday, I saw this:

Which of those characters seem particularly bold to you?

To me, “bold character” includes:

• Courage
• Willingness to try new things
• Openness to differences
• Strengths of many different kinds, including the strength to show vulnerability
• Feeling the fear and doing it anyway
• Expressing oneself through words, rather than weapons
• Accepting all  feelings
• Taking helpful actions
• Letting go of negative self-talk
• Showing off one’s talents

After I saw “Bold Character” yesterday, I was bold enough to drive to the Boston Financial District to meet with my new vocal coach, Sherée:

Sherée is a bold enough character to appear on a televised talent contest, which she won! Since I’ve acquired enough bold character to audition for “The Voice” next month, Sherée is helping me prepare for that.

Yesterday, Sherée had the bold character to record me boldly singing my likely audition song, which I’ll be sending in to the bold characters pre-screening the try-outs for “The Voice.”  Once Sherée sends me that bold recording, I’ll probably have the bold character to share it with my bold readers, here on this bold blog. If I’m feeling really bold, I might ask the bold characters who read my blog  to vote on which audition song I should use:  “Soothe” by Todd Rundgren or “The Lion Sleeps Tonight.”  Or, I might have the bold character to decide on my own.

This bold character took all these other photos, yesterday:

What are your thoughts about “Bold Character”?  I hope you have enough bold character to express yourself in a comment below.

Bold thanks to Sherée and all the other bold characters who helped me create this post and to you — of course! — for boldly going here, today.

Day 1090: What’s ahead

Yesterday, I saw this ahead of my iPhone at my boyfriend’s brother’s home in Norfolk, Massachusetts:

And like this evocative image (which was ahead of me at work last week) (and which is ahead of you, again, if you read this recent blog post) …

… that image of what’s ahead reminded me of my brand new business card.

Before I get ahead of myself, I’ll explain that my new business card is for therapy groups which I hope will be ahead for people outside my usual practice at a major Boston teaching hospital.

What’s ahead, now,  is my telling you that people who have seen that image on my business card have had different reactions, including:

• “That looks very calming.”
• “I love it!”
• “What’s that picture saying about what’s ahead?”
• “Could you turn that into a bridge?”
• “That shows a leap of faith.”
• “I guess that means that therapy is a dead end.”
• “Congratulations!”
• “Maybe you should have a boat waiting at the end of that.”
• “Are you saying that after working with you people will be able to walk on water?”
• “That reflects the uncertainty of the future.”
• “Give me a handful of those so I can give them out to patients.”

What’s ahead, now, are these questions: What are  your reactions to and associations with the image on my business card?  If you wanted to convey to people that what lies ahead includes hope, coping, and healing, what  kind of picture might you use?

What’s ahead, now, are these other images from yesterday, Christmas Day:

 

None of us know what’s ahead for us in the future, but what’s ahead for me might include printing up more business cards. If I do, should I replace that stock photo on my card with any of those photos I took yesterday at three different family homes?

What’s ahead now is simply gratitude for all I encountered yesterday and for all that’s ahead of me, tomorrow.

Day 1086: Hard to read

Yesterday, on my drive in to work at a major Boston teaching hospital, I saw somebody holding a sign that you might find hard to read.

Sometimes, I find people’s expressions hard to read, too.

I hope it’s not hard to read, here, that lately I’ve been thinking that maybe my visions of very large faces who all look very angry might  be faces hovering over me — after I was born with a congenital heart condition — that were actually worried, not angry. After all, grown-up faces can be hard to read, for a very young child.

Which of the following photos do you find hard to read? Which are easy to read?

 

If anything here is hard to read, please ask for my assistance.

Are the lyrics for this song (which first appeared in my blog post titled “Everything you need to know about the world”) hard to read?

The rules for “The Voice” try-outs (which are not hard to read) indicate that I should prepare five songs to sing in Philadelphia, two months from now.  I’m thinking I might attempt a reading and a singing of  “Mad World.”  I wonder if I’ll be able to read the expressions on people’s faces then.

Thanks to all my wonderful co-workers (who are easy and a pleasure to read), to grownups and children, to red, green, and pink cupcakes,  to all the people responsible for creating “Mad World,” to judges everywhere, and to you — of course! — for reading this blog today.

 

Day 1081: The right way

Do you ever notice yourself (or others) getting stuck on the right way to …

• reach a destination, by car or otherwise?
• perform a particular task?
• move towards a goal?
• try something new?
• express yourself?
• interact with other people?
• do every big and little thing?

While it can be helpful to weigh options and choose a good-enough next step, focusing too much on “the right way” can lead to

• over-thinking,
• procrastination,
• stagnation,
• confusion,
• time wasting,
• frustration,,  and
• self-criticism.

Am I creating this blog post the right way, this Thursday morning?   And, are you stuck in thoughts about doing something the “right way”  as you’re reading it?

Did I take these photos the right way?

 

I think the right way to proceed, now,  is to tell you that the most righteous photo in that batch was taken by my boyfriend Michael (shown holding a Star Wars action figure the right way, above).

Which photo is it that Michael took the right way?  The right way to let me know is to comment below.

Before I end this post the right way (with gratitude), here’s something I wrote to friends last night:

I’ve decided today that I am not going to be making a fool of myself when I try out for The Voice in February. That’s a win already!

Right-way thanks to Michael, cats and other creatures, people with compassion, and you — of course! — no matter what next thing you choose to do.