Day 2478: Learning how to be brave

Yesterday, when I was brave enough to visit the Broken Tail Rescue cat adoption center in Cambridge, Massachusetts, I noticed this description of two of the kitties there:

 

Luna is learning how to be brave by following her brother’s lead, says the description.

 

I think Luna is learning a lot — she’s up front and seems fearless.  I also think her brother, Ray, is learning from her.

I’ve been learning how to be brave my whole life, which I’ll be describing in a 5-minute talk at my 45th college reunion in two weeks.  Learning how to be brave includes:

• following good role models,
• feeling the fear and doing it anyway,
• letting go of harsh judgments,
• having faith in your process,
• accepting all your feelings,
• being kind to yourself and others,
• carrying supportive people in your heart and mind,
• committing to the here and now,
• learning from everything, and
• telling your story authentically.

I’ll be using those “Learning how to be brave” guidelines when I’m bravely telling my story authentically in front of hundreds of people, soon.

I was learning how to be brave when I took these other photos yesterday:

Harley is learning to be brave by being up off the floor.

What can we learn from Harry Potter: How to be Brave?

 

How are you learning to be brave?

Thanks to all the brave and learning ones who helped me create today’s post and — of course! — to you, my brave reader.

 

Day 2436: Girls never quit

Yesterday, after spending  time with a wise  girl in her 70s who just won’t quit and who recently received a new diagnosis of a chronic illness,  I saw this:

The girl writing this blog will never quit

• appreciating others,
• observing,
• stopping to smell the flowers,
• healing,
• hoping,
• loving,
• connecting,
• renewing,
• revealing,
• looking for the beauty in every moment,
• knowing that life is good,
• putting herself out there,
• believing in the power of groups, and
• taking pictures.

Those last three photos show my boyfriend who won’t quit until he dismantles and gets rid of that hot tub.

This girl never quits looking for videos that won’t quit, like this one by a girl who never gives up:

I hope you never quit accepting all your feelings, which you are welcome to express in a comment, below.

This girl never quits expressing gratitude, so thanks to all who help me continue creating this blog and — of course! —  to YOU.

Day 2415: Weirdness

When I search for “weirdness” in this blog, Weird WordPress tells me that weirdness exists in 2 out of my previous 2414 posts, a weirdness percentage of only 0.08%.

Since I look for weirdness (in addition to looking for love),   I would have expected a much higher weirdness percentage. Nevertheless, as always, the weirdness in me honors the weirdness in you.

Today, we’re looking for love AND weirdness in my photos from yesterday.

I took that last photo because of this weirdness:

1. “Narcissist Foundation Stick” and
2. Mascara is listed under “face” instead of “eyes.”

And is non-vegan arugula even a thing?  Weirdness.

Here’s “AMAZING VIDEO WEIRDNESS” compiled by CDTcrew.

Here’s some weirdness from the comments for that video:

christian style swag on god
5 years ago
This video is the reason I haven’t killed myself yet.

Anton Sinner
5 years ago
You’re doing god’s work.

Guetto Con Botas
6 years ago
Like if U are a disco dancer (Y)

gred cz
6 years ago
80s and 90s were awesome…i want them back…

Daniel Etheridge
6 years ago
Thats enough internet for today.

Moshugaani
7 years ago
To think of all the phantastical things contained on this Earth…

VideoVast
7 years ago
No one brought me here

I’m looking forward to the weirdness in your comments.

I’m very grateful for the weirdness in me and in others (including YOU).

Day 2380: The goods

Yesterday, as I was looking for

• a good haircut,
• good people,
• good conversation,
• good animals,
• good gifts,
• good places to hang,
• good books,
• good reflections,
• good walks,
• good advice,
• good neighbors,
• good memories,
• good homes,
• good puns,
• good food,
• good weather,
• good material for this blog,
• and other goods,

I encountered the word “good” (and other good words) several times. Can you find the goods in the good amount of photos that I took yesterday?

 

Did you spot the goods?

Good people who have been reading this blog for a good many years might have recognized our good neighbor Karen and her good dog, Faxy, among all the other good images.

Also, I took two  good shots of this good mural …

… during a good walk through the good Neponset River Reservation because my good son and good boyfriend were trying to guess what was on the missing panel (in the upper left corner next to the good bee).  What would be your good guess?

What would be a good song to include in this post?

Gratitude is always good, so thanks to all who helped me create today’s good enough blog post and — of course! — to YOU, my good readers.

Day 2220: What’s going on

Yesterday, when I was going on with my son to buy last-minute Christmas presents and cat food,  this sign was going on inside the Fresh Pond PetSmart in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA:

What’s going on with you, dear readers?

Could it be the holidays?

What’s going on in my other photos from yesterday?

What’s going on as I end up this Christmas Eve post, with happiness about my almost six years of blogging about what’s going on?

Animals singing “The Twelve Days of Christmas” ….

… and lots of gratitude to all who help me capture what’s going on in these daily posts and — of course! — YOU.

 

Day 1812: Not a fan

I am not a fan of

• traffic,
• filling out forms,
• loud noises,
• the cold,
• the dark,
• cages,
• cubicles,
• the new U.S. tax bill,
• people who abuse power,
• worry,
• loneliness,
• illness,
• poverty,
• war, and
• harsh judgments.

I am a fan of

• family,
• friends,
• cats,
• chocolate,
• cheese,
• peace,
• kindness,
• comedy,
• colors,
• warmth,
• light,
• windows,
• freedom,
• walking,
• blogging,
• visiting old familiar places, and
• sharing photos.

Are you not a fan of any of those photos?  Are you not a fan of this song by Ben Folds?

I am a fan of

• comments (whether you are or are not a fan) and
• expressing my thanks to all who help me create these posts and — of course! — to you.

Day 1513: What’s in your heart?

What’s in your heart as you’re reading this?

What’s in my heart as I’m writing this?

• Love.
• Hope.
• Fear.
• Acceptance.
• Anticipation.
• Curiosity.
• Blood.
• Muscle.
• A mechanical valve.
• Wires from a 1966 cardiac pacemaker.
• Wires from a 1987 cardiac pacemaker.
• Arteries.
• Veins.
• Everything I experienced yesterday, including this big heart in the heart of Belmont, Massachusetts:

• Music (which is on the left in that big heart).

• Groove.
• Delight.
• Fun.
• Mysteries.
• Wisdom.

• Completeness.
• The results of decades of eating all sorts of food.

• Appreciation for all who helped me create this post and for you — of course!

Day 1437: More comparisons

Earlier this year, two days before I tried out for the TV show The Voice, I wrote a post titled “Comparisons.” Because comparisons are a cognitive distortion that can lead to envy, dissatisfaction, low esteem, disappointment, and misery, I hesitate to compare today’s post with the one I wrote before.

Since I’ve been back at work after my two-month medical leave, several people I’ve seen in therapy  sessions have presented as unhappy due to comparisons with other people.  Indeed, yesterday I circled “comparisons” on the list of cognitive distortions displayed on the wall of my office, because that particular cognitive distortion seems incomparably toxic.

Here’s a definition of the cognitive distortion of comparisons:

Comparisons.
We compare ourselves to others, with ourselves coming out short. For example, “I’m not as smart (or good, competent, good-looking, lovable, etc.) as that other person.”   Or, we compare ourselves to how we think we should be, or how we’ve been before.  We might think that comparisons help motivate us, but they usually make us feel worse.

I don’t want to compare myself to other people, but I’m wondering whether others ever make the kinds of comparisons I’ve been making lately.  These comparisons have included:

• comparisons to people who are healthier,
• comparisons to other blogs with higher readership,
• comparisons to when I was younger,
• comparisons to when I was thinner,
• comparisons to those who have more endurance,
• comparisons to people who live in better climates,
• comparisons to how I felt before I had my latest surgery,
• comparisons to the time before the U.S. presidential election, and
• comparisons to others who work in my field.

As always, I might think these comparisons help motivate me, but they usually make me feel worse.

To help  myself feel  comparatively better, I’m going to invite comparisons among the photos I took yesterday.

 

Please leave  presents of comments here, below.

And feel free to make comparisons between  two  music videos (here and here on YouTube) inspired by “Dance Yourself Silly” above.

 

To all who helped me create today’s post about comparisons and — of course! — to my incomparable readers, I express comparable gratitude:

Day 1388: Flesh and Bones

During this time of the year, there are flesh and bones everywhere, but many more bones than usual:

Here’s something I feel in my flesh and bones, on this October day: I miss my only child, Aaron, who is away at college in Edinburgh, Scotland. Three of those photos of bones, above, reminded me of this fuzzy, flesh-and-bones Halloween photo of long ago:

In my flesh and bones, I also miss my late mother (on the right).

What are you feeling in your flesh and bones, today?

As I continue to recover from open heart surgery, the bones in my rib cage feel like a too-large bird cage, especially when I’m trying to sleep. However, this flesh-and-bone blogger is SO grateful her  bones and flesh are healing, every day.

Since my trusty and strong leg bones took me many other places besides Hillcrest Road in Belmont, Massachusetts, yesterday,  I took several other flesh-and-bones photos besides the boney ones, above.  I’d say it’s time to flesh out this post with those:

 

Which of those photos do you prefer, in your bones?

In my bones, I know that this is the video — created by my son Aaron more than seven Halloweens ago — that I want to share  with my flesh-and-bones readers, today:

 

Flesh-and-bones thanks to my son Aaron, to everyone else who helped me create today’s post, and to you — of course! — for visiting, here and now.

Day 875: Identification

Now that I have a new medical device (implanted a few weeks ago), I need to identify myself to others that way, for my own safety. Here’s the temporary identification (ID) card I now carry with me, at all times:

That temporary identification card identifies me as having an Implantable Cardiac Device (ICD). The manual they gave me at my identified hospital identifies me as having a CRT-D (Cardiac Resynchronization Therapy Defibrillator):

For the past 52 years, since the age of 10, I’ve identified myself as having a pacemaker. Part of my identification as a writer at WordPress is reminding people that adjusting to change — including a new identification — takes time. I am reminding myself, now, that it may be a while before I easily use the identifications ICD or CRT-D, about myself.

Part of my identification as a blogger at WordPress is taking photos that focus on different types of identification, like yesterday:                                   

That last photo identifies the reality that identification can sometimes be … confusing. I shall now identify my main question about that: How can one product be unreal AND 100% real at the same time?

If you can identify an answer to that (or anything else), I hope you identify yourself in a comment.

You may have identified — from my previous posts — that my identity also includes sharing music which identifies well enough with the topic. I’ll identify, right now, that I’m having trouble ID-ing an appropriate musical identification today.

What identification song might you identify, for this post?

Well, part of my self-identification, as a human being, is loving the music from West Side Story. Last night, as I was falling asleep, the Boston classical radio station (identified by the call letters WCRB-FM) played Leonard Bernstein’s “Symphonic Dances” from that musical:

How would you identify your reaction to that?

A little more identification before I identify the end of this post … I just snapped these identifying pictures of Harley:

  

Michael (whom I identify as my boyfriend) said, “Harley likes to look out the window and watch the world go by.”

Personally, I think Harley is trying to ID some birds.

I shall now identify and thank — for helping me create this Identification post — pacemakers, ICDs, CRT-Ds, Dr. Estes, Belmont Massachusetts, Captain Stephen Frost, pleasant streets everywhere, those who put smiles on others’ faces, unidentified establishments, dogs of any kind, people who see-saw, tennis players, Star Market, flowers,  the real and the unreal, West Side Story, WCRB, Leonard Bernstein,  Harley, birds, Michael, and you — of course! — for identifying with me today, in any way.