Yesterday, while I was trying to be a good human on National Ice Cream Sundae Day, I saw this in our old neighborhood of Belmont:
It struck me that the sellers of those signs believed that I would be a good human, because their outdoor display depended entirely on the honor system.
What do you think it takes to be a good human? Do you see any evidence of that in my other images from yesterday?
On National All or Nothing Day, here’s a great song about how to be a good human from the musical “Catch Me If You Can.”
What’s freaking me out is what I’m letting in.
I see no good reason to be wearing a grin.
Noises begin and reach a painful din.
What’s freaking me out is what I’m letting in.
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.
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.
When I search for “weirdness” in this blog, Weird WordPress tells me that weirdness exists in 2 out of my 2378-odd 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 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.
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?
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,
The Year(s) of Living Non-Judgmentally 