Day 2624: Get Seen, Be Loved

Yesterday, when I arrived back in Boston, I saw two signs that summed up my experience at the American Group Psychotherapy Association annual conference, Connect 2020.

Getting seen and being loved, to me,  beautifully expresses the healing power of groups.

These recent photos are waiting to get seen and be loved.

Get seen, be loved, even with all the mess.

For the second day in a row, I want the late, great McCoy Tyner to get seen and be loved here.

If you’d like to get seen and be loved, please leave a comment, below.

As always, I am grateful to all who help me get seen and be loved, every day.

Day 2621: Don’t be afraid

Yesterday morning, I had a conversation with a man working at the Starbucks in the New York City hotel where Michael Bloomberg later announced dropping out of the U.S. Presidential race. Here’s the conversation:

 

Him:  How are you?

Me: Afraid.

Him: Why?

Me: The coronavirus.

Him: Don’t be afraid.  It’s the people who are afraid who are going to get the virus.

Me: Now I’m REALLY afraid.

Him: (laughs)

Me: I do a daily blog. Could I take a photo of you saying, “Don’t be afraid”?

He was not afraid to grant my request.

Last night, walking back from seeing the wonderful musical Dear Evan Hansen with two  dear friends, I noticed this sign:

Don’t be afraid of  these other recent photos from my stay in NYC and don’t be afraid of clicking on any photo to enlarge it.

Don’t be afraid of “You Will Be Found” from Dear Evan Hansen.

Don’t be afraid to leave a comment, below.

Don’t be afraid to express gratitude and to accept it, every day.

Day 2618: What I found, continued

Yesterday, what I found included this:

Look what I found in New York City!

I found hope right across from our hotel, where I’ll be facilitating a group of group therapists today.   I hope that goes well and I hope you enjoy all the other photos I took yesterday:

As usual, I found gratitude all around.

Finally, here‘s a favorite New York song I found on YouTube:

What I also found right across from our New York hotel, besides hope, is the Broadway Theater, where I’ll be seeing the new production of West Side Story tomorrow night.

Please feel free to share what you found in this post, below.

 

Day 2250: What we are trying to tell each other

What am I trying to tell you in today’s post?

I’m trying to tell you that I’m at the AGPA group therapy conference in Los Angeles, where I’m learning to tell myself and others more about the practice of group therapy.

I’m trying to tell you that I couldn’t sleep two nights ago, in anticipation of the second day of a two-day experience group, where therapists learn from each other by doing group work together.

I’m trying to tell you that the night my mother died, over ten years ago, she told a home health aide she wanted to call me on the phone to tell me something.

I’m trying to tell you that the home health aide told my mother she wouldn’t call me, because it was in the middle of the night and she shouldn’t disturb me. (I tried to tell that story in a blog post several years ago, here.)

I’m trying to tell you that event has disturbed and haunted me ever since —  my mother being told she couldn’t tell me what she was trying to tell me right before she died.

I’m trying to tell you that I have tried to put  to rest that mystery and my feelings about it in many different ways, including letting online tarot card readings tell me what my mother was trying to tell me.

I’m trying to tell you that during my recent sleepless night here in Los Angeles, I finally let the tarot cards tell me what I wanted to know, by asking a very specific Yes/No question for the first time.

I’m trying to tell you that this telling image is the only new photo I have to share with you today:

I’m trying to tell you that

• it’s telling what questions we ask of the universe,
• we need to tell our personal stories, and
• closure helps us tell new stories, as we move on.

I’m trying to tell you that the video I told you about in this recent post  is finally available for sharing.

By writing new words to the song Feelings, I’m trying to tell people about the local affiliates of the national group therapy organization, AGPA.

Now it’s your turn to try to tell us something in the comments section, below.

I try to tell you how grateful I am at the end of each post, like now.

 

Day 1887: Chaos

About six months ago (but who’s counting?), I published a blog post with the same title as this one.   At the risk of somehow spreading the chaos in today’s news, I want to quote how chaos came up in my group therapy presentation yesterday. This happened in the question and answer period after I described how my open-access groups work in a primary care practice in a renowned teaching hospital in Boston.

Audience member: Ann, I am assuming you are comfortable with chaos. How do you deal with it in your groups, which people can attend as they choose?

Me: When you give people access to the behavioral health care they need, there is less chaos than you might expect.

I actually do not experience chaos in my therapy groups, but I do experience more of it, these days,  in the world outside my groups. As I said in my presentation yesterday, I believe people need the support of therapy groups even more in today’s chaotic world.

What do you see in the chaos of today’s pictures?

Even in all this chaos, I’ve got video. Somebody else on my discussion panel yesterday (Moving Forward: Opportunities for Group in the New Health Care Environment) showed a video like this:

I’ve also got video of some music to help deal with chaos:

I look forward to the chaos of your comments.

Chaotic thanks to all who helped me create today’s post and — of course! — to YOU.

Day 1886: just relax

Today I’m giving a presentation about my therapy groups at a national group therapy conference.  Even though I’m telling myself to “just relax,”  I’m having a lot of trouble sleeping because of rotator cuff pain and pre-presentation jitters.

This photo I took yesterday might help:

Also, I’ve decided to help my audience just relax today by starting out my presentation with the mindfulness exercise I always do when somebody is new to my groups.  I tell people to focus on their breath, breathing in something they think might be helpful (like gratitude) and breathing out something that is not serving them well (like anxiety or distraction). When I thought of starting my presentation that way, I just relaxed.

Do any of my other recent photos help you to just relax?

This YouTube video is titled “Just Relax.”

That didn’t help me just relax. How about you? How do you just relax?

I am going to just relax and express my gratitude to all who helped me create today’s blog post and — of course! — to YOU.