Day 2538: Be Nice!

Yesterday, I heard a nice presentation by the very nice  Woody Giessmann,  founder of Right Turn, which provides innovative, creativity-based treatment for addictions. It’s nice that Woody was inspired to create Right Turn after his personal experience with addiction when he was the drummer for the Boston 1980s band The Del Fuegos. It’s extremely nice that the Del Fuegos reunited in 2011 at the Paradise to raise money for Right Turn.

Now I’m going to be nice and share a photo from Woody’s presentation:

While I watched Woody be nice in his presentation,  I decided that our beliefs about treatment were so nicely similar that we were “siblings from other parents.” After his presentation, I told him that and also said that it would be nice if I could visit Right Turn during my nice week off from work, later this month.  It was nice that

• Woody agreed and
• was nice enough to take my card about this blog.

Here are other nice photos from yesterday, in nice chronological order:

It would be nice if people could be nice to each other during this time of the year, as we discussed in both my “Coping and Healing” groups yesterday.

Now I’m going to be nice and share these nice YouTube videos of The Del Fuegos (here, here and here):

Be nice and leave a comment and I’ll be nice and respond later.

Now I’ll be nice and express my sweet gratitude for YOU.

Day 2396: Choose to focus on good things

Yesterday, a good friend chose to send me this good thing to focus on:

 

It’s a good thing that soolooka created that, so that Vivian could send it to me exactly when I needed it.

Let’s choose to focus on good things in my photos from yesterday:

 

I chose to focus on that donkey last night during a good long walk with Michael and Aaron. I chose to focus on its expression and to share that the good donkey looked a little judgmental to me.  My good boyfriend and my good son chose to disagree.

I choose to focus on this: civil disagreement is a good thing.

I choose to focus on this great rendition of a good song:

Here‘s the original version of that good song:

Choose to focus on good things in a comment, below.

I always choose to focus on gratitude at the end of every post, so thanks to all who helped me focus on the good things here and — of course! —  to you, my good reader.

Day 2047: A thought is just a thought

Yesterday, in a therapy group where many thoughts were expressed …

… I said, “A thought is just a thought.”  One of the group members thought that thought was important, so I wrote it up on the board:

The group members thought that was helpful, because the thoughts people expressed in the group included fortune telling, catastrophizing, mind reading, personalization, all-or-nothing thinking, over-generalizing, jumping to conclusions, labelling, shoulds, and other cognitive distortions.  For example, my expressed thoughts included, “The plane might crash on Saturday!”

As I’m writing this blog post, my thoughts include this one: “My shoulder, after my fall in January,  will never be right.”

We all have lots of thoughts. Thoughts are NOT the same as actions or accurate forecasts of the future. I’ve thought, many times, to challenge a thought with this question, “Is that a helpful thought?”

A thought is just a thought and a photo is just a photo.

 

A thought is just a thought, a barrier is just a barrier, a verb is just a verb,  a memory is just a memory,  and a theme song is just a theme song.

Feel free to express your just thoughts in a comment, below.

Gratitude is just gratitude, so thanks to all whose thoughts helped me create today’s post and — of course! — to thoughtful YOU.

 

Day 1976: The best things in life

If you stop for a moment, take a breath, and look around, you may find the best things in life.

For me, the best things in life include

• being with others,

• time to myself,

• beauty,
• being of service,

• tea,

• peace,
• tranquility,
• harmony,
• safe places,

• light,
• gatherings,
• diverse thinkers,
• connections,
• partners,
• health,
• hope,
• healing,
• feeling inspired,
• being involved,
• nutritious food,

• being outside,
• the ocean,

• sunsets,

• companionship, and dancing.

Last night, I danced with my partner to “Down on the Riverbed” by Los Lobos.  It was one of the best things in my life.

What are the best things in life for you?

My best things in life have to include gratitude for all who support others, including YOU.

 

Day 1969: Disoriented

I get disoriented at times.  Sometimes, I get so disoriented by people and places that I lose my way or I lose track of things.

Do you ever get disoriented?

Yesterday morning, I got disoriented while driving to work.  Then I got oriented by this:

This absolutely reoriented me to where I was.  Can you tell where I was? What oriented you?

While I was at work, I got disoriented again by

• several meetings right after lunch and
• realizing, at the end of the day, that my purse was missing.

I tried to track my purse down by retracing my disoriented steps. I was then further disoriented when I heard that I needed to wait until 6 AM this morning to find out whether somebody had turned my purse in.

When I show up at 6 AM, if my purse is not there, I will be even more disoriented. However, I will need to orient myself to get to Physical Therapy for my disoriented shoulder.

Here and now, this helps me be less disoriented:

Who steals my purse steals trash. ‘Tis something, nothing: ‘Twas mine, ’tis his, and has been slave to thousands. A good reputation is the most valuable thing we have—men and women alike.

Will you be disoriented if I ask who wrote that?

Which of these photos seems the most disoriented?

Here‘s “Disoriented” by CloZee.

I’m never too disoriented to thank all who help me create these daily blog posts and — of course! — you.

 

Day 1956: This Way and That Way

These days, some people tell you it’s right to think and act this way

while other people  tell you it’s right to think and act that way.

In our way, there are so many ways that divide us.

My way is to celebrate life’s moments,

invite hope,

express myself,

work on stress,

 

promote self-forgiveness,

be smart,

help people reach their potential,

appreciate the arts,

accept the child and the adult,

walk past the news,

stay away from death,

deal with people leaving,

focus on our chances,

let go of worry about the future,

eat healthy meals,

look this way and that way on YouTube,

and express my gratitude, every day.

I’m thankful, here and now, that I can ask this community:  What’s your way?

Day 1900: What is life?

Because today is the nineteen hundredth consecutive blogging day of The Year(s) of Living Non-Judgmentally, I’d like to mark that milestone by asking an important question.  Now, I could ask my usual question of “But who’s counting?” but I think the question “What is life?” is more important.

What is life, dear readers?

Luckily, I have a photo that may answer that important question.

Do you agree that life’s an event?

Looking at my other photos from yesterday, I would also say that life is eventful.

It’s been an eventful 1900 days here at The Year(s) of Living Non-Judgmentally, where our creative consciousness is not limited.  Many thanks to all who have helped me create and sustain this daily blog and — OF COURSE! — to YOU.

Day 1817: Warm wishes

Warm wishes

from Boston, Massachusetts, USA.

For years, I’ve wished for a fireplace to keep me warm.

Sometimes, warm wishes come true.

Do you see warm wishes in these other photos?

 

Let’s chill out with these Warm Wishes from a Christmas Cat.

 

I’m taking the advice in that video and enjoying the time with my family, my loved ones, and my pets.

Thanks to all who helped me share the warm wishes in this post and — of course! — to YOU.

Day 1600: Round numbers

Today is the 1600th day in a row of blog postings, here at the Year(s) of Living Non-Judgmentally.  1600 is a round number and a much bigger number than expected when I began this blogging journey back on January 1, 2013.

Do you have any reactions to round numbers?  In therapy, people often describe negative reactions they have about reaching round numbers as they age. For example, somebody yesterday talked about turning 40 with a lot of self-judgment.  For some reason, when people approach round numbers, they can roundly judge themselves about their accomplishments and life situations.

A round number is just a number, no more significant than any other number. And yet,  here I am roundly noting it.

However, I am not going to get into a round of self-judgment about my posts. Instead, I’m going to post two musical round numbers (going round here and here on YouTube).

Here’s a round number of photos I took yesterday:

This is my blogging world, and I’ve tried to shape it as best I can.

A round of applause for the large number of people who’ve help me create these 1600 posts and — of course! — for you, on this round-number day.

Day 1595: Peace cutting through turmoil

In the midst of my personal turmoil of deciding what blog post to write this morning  — (“Should I acknowledge Mother’s Day? Write about my late mother, about being a mother, or about mothers I know?  Should I discuss the current turmoil in world politics? Mention the two funeral services I attended yesterday? Explore the turmoil involved in moving? Celebrate the return home tomorrow of my son?”) — one photo I took yesterday is cutting through the turmoil.

I think we could all use some peace cutting through turmoil, don’t you?  And I can’t think of a better way to celebrate Mother’s Day today in the USA.

I hope my other photos from yesterday provide some peace cutting through turmoil.

 

 

 

Here‘s peace cutting through turmoil on YouTube:

 

As always, my gratitude for all who help me create these posts and for you — of course! — cuts through everything.