Day 3398: Balance

Do you see balance in my images for today?

On balance, I think it’s good to balance Mother’s Day with a day acknowledging those who struggle with infertility.

Last night, at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, Trevor Noah showed a balance of humor with important truths.

Feel free to balance this post with your comments, below.

I maintain my balance in this world by focusing on gratitude, so thanks to all who visit this blog, including YOU.

Day 3152: Balancing needs

Yesterday, as I was balancing my needs with other people’s needs while working at home, I asked this question on Twitter:

The answers were balanced, and many people cited the Oxygen Mask Metaphor: you can’t effectively take care of other people’s needs if you ignore your own.

I continue to learn more about this balancing act for myself, as I witness other people struggling to balance their needs with others’.

What balancing needs do you see in my other images for today?

It’s might be challenging balancing the needs of fajita day with ice cream pie day, etc.

Here and now, I need to share a favorite tune from this CD I picked up on one of my balanced and needed walks yesterday:

How do you balance your needs with other people’s needs? You don’t need to reply, but I look forward to all the comments that will be balancing below.

As always, I need to express my gratitude to all who give me what I need to stay balanced blogging every day, including YOU.

Day 2953: Join us on our mission!

I received this mission message yesterday on a bag of salty but relatively healthy snacks:

I didn’t read about their mission because I thought I was doing enough for their mission by buying and consuming their product. Also, I’m on vacation this week, so my mission is to relax, focus on self-care, and re-energize for my work as a group therapist during these difficult times.

So many people are asking me to join their mission these days, that I have to choose my missions wisely. For example, when I chose a birthday fundraiser on Facebook this year, I wasn’t sure which mission to join. There were so many worthy missions I considered, from racial justice, to environmental activism, to animal protection, and so on. I eventually joined the same mission I joined for my birthday fundraiser last year, Everytown for Gun Safety.

Join us on our mission to

• improve the world, one step at a time,
• focus on self-care, so you have the energy to engage,
• accept all feelings,
• set and maintain clear and healthy boundaries,
• let go of worry, guilt, shame, and harsh judgment, and
• observe and appreciate all you have.

Reply requested, and please listen to “Mission Impossible” while you consider choosing to accept the mission of joining us in the comments section, below.

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Join us on our mission to express gratitude and love, every day!

Day 1321: I strongly recommend

In my life, I have encountered many strong recommendations.

These strong recommendations have included the following:

I strongly recommend you get a third litter box for your two cats.

I strongly recommend you bring Oscar to a cat eye specialist because when I look in his eyes, I can’t see the back of his eyes.

I strongly recommend you make an appointment with our cat ophthamologist before you go away on vacation, because she books up way in advance.

I strongly recommend you do not send in financial statements when applying for a student visa.

I strongly recommend you make an appointment for the one-day super priority visa service as soon as possible.

I strongly recommend you use a professional visa service company to help Aaron get his visa.

I strongly recommend  you don’t worry about Aaron getting a student visa in time to start his studies at University of Edinburgh in September.

I strongly recommend you bring your Lasix pills with you to Scotland, in case you eat food that has too much salt.

I strongly recommend that you wear a mask on the plane, since you recently had pneumonia.

I strongly recommend that you choose a more comfortable mask.

I strongly recommend you forget about work when you’re away on vacation.

I strongly recommend that you have heart valve replacement surgery as soon as possible, despite all the conflicting recommendations you’ve gotten from other doctors.

I strongly recommend that you notice that some of those recent strong recommendations contradict other strong recommendations.

I strongly recommend that when people make strong recommendations conflicting with other recommendations or with your own intuition and experience, that you get other recommendations until you feel comfortable.

I strongly recommend that you look at my photos from yesterday:

I strongly recommend that if you want explanations for any of those photos, that you ask.

I strongly recommend that people listen to the musical Hamilton, because it is awesome.

 

I  also strongly recommend that everybody balance your needs with other people’s needs, putting your needs somewhat higher.

I strongly recommend that you leave a comment, but only if you feel comfortable.

I strongly recommend gratitude as a great way to end anything, including this post.  So thanks to all who helped me create it and to you — of course! — for reading  it.

Day 1121: What helps

What helps me might be different from what helps you.

What helps is to be open to differences among people.

What helps me includes

• music
• supportive people
• alone time
• enough sleep
• nourishing food
• water
• taking a breath
• writing blog posts
• staying true to myself
• being flexible
• hope
• humor
• letting go of fear
• acceptance
• healthy boundaries
• awareness
• vulnerability
• color
• whimsy
• finding my voice
• doing work I love
• group therapy
• taking photos of what’s around me, like these:

Does anything in this blog post help you?

Helpful thanks to all those who helped me create this post and to you — of course! — for accepting the help you need, as best you can.