Yesterday, when I was thinking of great gifts I’ve been given, I posted this on Twitter:
The answers I’m getting to that question are great gifts for me.
Do you see any great gifts in my other images for today?
.
The greatly gifted Stephen Sondheim left great gifts for me and so many others. Here are Broadway stars sharing their gifts this past Sunday to sing Sondheim’s “Sunday” in Times Square.
As I look at my photos and the news for today, I am thinking about relationships.
It occurs to me, here and now, that people can have relationships with
other people,
animals,
themselves,
food,
machines, including their cars, and
guns.
This article about the latest deadly school shooting in the USA includes this quote from Michigan governor Gretchen Whitmer: “This is a uniquely American problem that we need to address.”
The late, great Stephen Sondheim, who wrote profound lyrics and music about so many types of relationships, created this masterpiece, from Assassins, about relationships with guns:
I depend on my healthy relationships to help me make meaning of the disturbing relationships in the world. What are your thoughts and feelings about the relationships described in today’s blog?
Every day, I am grateful for all my sustaining relationships with others, including YOU.
While you can’t control the behaviors of others, you can control your responses to it.
Let go, while keeping the big picture in mind.
Ask yourself if you’re just being too demanding.
If it’s driving you mad that I’m not giving more details about those four ways to cope, you can find the full article here.
Can you find any people who drive you mad in these recent images?
Many people drive Harley mad, and there he is maintaining realistic expectations and controlling his responses to the behaviors of others.
Did it drive you mad to notice that my top song of the year, according to Spotify, was “School Days” by Stanley Clarke, during a year when school days drove people mad?
It could drive me mad that I don’t agree with Spotify that “School Days” was my most played song of 2020, but I am not going to give Spotify the keys.
What are your ways to cope with people who drive you mad?
One of my ways to cope is to focus on gratitude, so thanks to all people and cats who helped me create today’s post, including YOU.
Get in touch with your reactions to these two notifications I recently received from Facebook:
It’s not easy for me to get in touch with Oscar right now. Why? Because I’m at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and Oscar’s back home with Michael and Harley.
I’m getting in touch with my excitement about my son Aaron and I both having shows at the Fringe.
Get in touch with these other new photos on my phone:
all the people who are talking about food during this time of the year,
worries that tend to eat away at people, and
every single photo I took yesterday.
What are you eating these days? And what’s eating you?
Personally, I’d like to let go of all worries that are eating me. One worry I can let go of, immediately, is about what we’re going to have to eat during this week between Christmas and New Years, what with that enormous baked ziti Michael made for us yesterday. I don’t think it’s eating away at my son Aaron that Michael made that baked ziti instead of the lasagna Aaron had requested, especially since all the Christmas shoppers had eaten away all the lasagna noodles from the supermarket shelves on Sunday.
If it’s eating away at you, now, that you can’t see Michael’s lasagna, here it is — in a 2015 video created by Aaron and his friend Cameron (which is currently eating up bandwidth on YouTube and two previous posts of mine, here and here):
It’s eating away at me to share one more thing before I end this post and eat some baked ziti for breakfast. My use of the word “bandwidth” above reminded me of this exchange I had during a work meeting yesterday:
Co-worker: We should do it this way because we don’t have the bandwidth to do it otherwise.
Me (raising my hand): Excuse me? I keep hearing people use the word “bandwidth” in conversation lately and I’d like to know: What exactly do you mean?
Co-worker: Ummm. It means we don’t have what we need to do it.
Me: Okay! So it means “resources.” Thank you!
I also explained, before much more time was eaten up at that meeting, that it ate at me when people used the word “bandwidth”that way, since “I’m not a computer.”
Then, my manager offered me some chocolate (not pictured), which I promptly ate.
If there are any thoughts or feelings eating at you right now, I hope you leave them behind in a comment.
Thanks to all whose time I’ve eaten up with this post, including you!
The Year(s) of Living Non-Judgmentally 