Day 2362: Things, Life, and People

When I was doing a lot of things yesterday with one of the people I love, I noticed this sign at an exhibit about the art and life of Frida Kahlo at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts:

I really love that quote from Frida Kahlo:

I really love things, life, and people, and I don’t want people to die.  I’m not afraid of death, but want to live.”

I also love that today’s blog post title allows me to easily include any things or people I choose from my life, including this list a person made three nights ago when she couldn’t sleep:

Messages from the Internal Critic

That’s boring.

You’re repeating yourself.

Nobody cares.

You’re being foolish.

That doesn’t make sense.

You’re making people uncomfortable.

If you bother people, they’ll go away.

You don’t know how to take care of yourself.

You don’t know how to take care of other people.

You’re too selfish.

You’re not thinking enough about other people’s feelings.

You’re stupid.

That’s a stupid thing to say.

That was a thoughtless thing to say.

You should have known better.

You’re confusing people.

You’re taking too long.

You’re rushing.

You’re making things worse.

You’re wasting money.

You’re being cheap.

You’re doing harm.

You’re attracting harm.

You’re showing off.

You’re bragging.

You’re not being careful enough.

You make bad decisions.

You choose the wrong people.

You’re a pushover.

You’re too aggressive.

You’re too trusting.

You’re too paranoid.

You’ll get into trouble.

You’ll get somebody else into trouble.

If you do that, you’ll make somebody mad.

You’re making too much noise.

You’re taking up too much space.

I think all the things  internal critics say are taking up too much space in people’s life.  What do you think, people?

Here are some recent photos of things, life, and people:

Here’s some thing I hope people know: you can click on any of those photos to enlarge the life in them.

Because I’m silencing my internal critic, I don’t mind repeating the photo of these people,  whom I’ve been visiting at Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts for most of my life:

Here are things about the lives of those two people:

Here are two photos that my friend Deb took of things, life, and people:

There are many things posted by many people about the life of Frida Kahlo on YouTube, but I choose  to share this video:

and this one:

People can share their thoughts and feelings about things, life and people, below.

One of my favorite things in life is expressing gratitude for the people who help me create this daily blog, including YOU.

Day 2357: Messages

One thousand, four hundred, and thirty-six days ago (but who’s counting?), I wrote another blog post titled “Messages.”  During my first year of blogging, I wrote three posts about messages: Day 317: Challenging Negative Messages, Day 178: Feeling discouraged, what helps, and voicemail messages, and Day 144: “Emergency” messages.

My messages for today include the following:

• Some messages bear repeating,
• Sometimes people don’t want to hear messages,
• Messages can be direct, implied, or unexpressed,
• The medium is the message,
• I enjoy exchanging messages with my son through the medium of our phones,
• People talked about messages in a Coping and Healing group recently,
• Mixed messages are everywhere,
• Some messages are hard to read,
• Clarity is important for getting your messages through,
• Many of us have internalized harsh, critical messages from the past,
• This week, two people shared the message that attending my groups has been “life changing,”
• Some people prefer messages in words and other people prefer messages in pictures.

Which one of those visual messages pops for you?

Here’s “Message in a Bottle” by the Police:

If you want the messages of those lyrics more clearly, here‘s this video:

Please accept my messages of gratitude at the end of every post.

Day 2348: Struck

I’m struck by how I’ve never used the word “struck” in a blog post title before.

I’m struck by how I’ve used the word “struck” in 13 previous blog posts, including Day 1966: Memorable lines,  Day 1875: Tipping Point, Day 1292: Seeing patients, Day 981: Righteous Numbers, Day 956: Never Give Up, Day 717: Interrupting, Day 463: Surprises, Day 367: Screen Shots, Day 364: What day is it?, Day 284: We never know how we affect people (The Ta-Da Pose),  Day 100: I Confess, Day 75: Things that make me go _____, and Day 58: Accelerated learning.

I’m struck by how …

• long it takes me to do one of these “linking to old posts” openings,
•  much my blog has changed over the years,
• relevant some of those old post titles seem to me today,
• many challenges I’ve been struck by (but not struck down by) over the years, and
• many of my photos from yesterday connect with today’s title.

 

 

I’m struck by how

• long it takes me to make photo montages look right,
• much I love being a group therapist,
• many gates there are around Fenway Park, and
• wonderful it is to live near the water.

Here’s the award-winning short film Struck:

 

What are you struck by, here and now?

As usual, I’m struck by gratitude for all who help me create these daily posts and — of course! — for YOU.

Day 2266: Who do you miss?

Who do you miss in your life, here and now?

Sometimes, I am more aware of who I am missing than I am of who’s here. Then, I redirect my awareness and attention to those who are showing up.

That helps.

Who do you miss in my recent photos?

 

I miss the person who is singing “Miss Otis Regrets.”

 

Would you miss me if I didn’t express my thanks, for being here,  at the end of each blog post?

 

Day 2255: Trust your crazy ideas

Yesterday, I trusted my crazy ideas to

• go back to the Seaport District of Boston,
• look for a free parking space there,
• leave my phone in the car,
• use the movie pass I got when I’d had the crazy idea to see the latest Spiderman movie on New Year’s Day, and the house lights wouldn’t go down for most of the movie ,
• decide to see the new A Star is Born instead of Green Book,  Bohemian Rhapsody, or On the Basis of Sex,
• walk all the way back to my car to get my phone,
• visit Boston’s Institute of Contemporary Art,
• never make it past the ICA gift shop to the art exhibits,
• buy something at the gift shop,
• eat ramen at a Seaport restaurant before going to a group therapy conference committee meeting,
• watch the not-so-live version of Rent,
• admit that I cried at Rent but not at A Star is Born, and
• take all these photos:

I will now trust my crazy ideas to share some of those photos at full size:

If you want to look at other full-sized versions of my photos, trust your crazy ideas and click on the photos, above.

Today, I’m going to trust my crazy ideas and meet the new cardiologist replacing my long-time cardiologist  Dr. Estes, who trusted his crazy ideas to leave Boston and move back to Pennsylvania with his family. If you want to read more about my encounters with Dr. Estes over the years, trust your crazy ideas and visit my previous blog posts here, here, here,  here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here.  (I trusted my crazy ideas to find and list about half of my blog posts that featured Dr. Estes.)

Now I’m going to trust my crazy ideas to look for some trust-your-crazy-ideas music and finish this post, so I won’t be late for my first visit with Dr. Munther Homoud, who my primary cardiologist Dr. Deeb Salem trusts and has some crazy ideas about (including “he is the most compassionate doctor I have ever met”).

Here are characters from a production of Rent trusting their crazy ideas to move from NYC to Santa Fe:

If you have any crazy ideas, please trust them and make a comment, below.

Now I’m going to trust my crazy ideas to alway end these blog posts with gratitude.

 

Day 2241: Hello, beautiful

Hello, beautiful.

How does that affect you, for somebody to call you beautiful?  What would happen if you called yourself beautiful?

Let’s try that again.

Hello, beautiful. On our beautiful flight to Disney World last week, I wrote a new song called “What Are Other People Thinking About You?” which included this lyric:

What are other people thinking about you?

That is something you will never know.

Then why not assume they’re thinking you’re gorgeous,

Smart, and someone they would want to know.

When I looked at those lyrics yesterday in the harsh, cold light of Boston, I realized I could make them more beautiful if I didn’t rhyme “know” with “know.”

Hello, beautiful. Here are my other beautiful photographs from yesterday:

My beautiful boyfriend Michael, who made that beautiful Portobello Burger last night, often says these beautiful words:

It’s not where you are, it’s who you’re with.

And since you’re always with yourself, why not enjoy the  beautiful company?

Searching YouTube for “Hello beautiful Minnie Mouse” found this beautiful match for today’s post about song lyrics and other beautiful topics:

Hello, beautiful.  Thanks for reading today’s post and if you leave a comment, that would be beautiful.

Day 2234: When you’re curious, you find lots of interesting things to do

If you’re curious, I had two other possible titles for today’s post, which shows lots of interesting things and people on our trip today to Disney World.  The other two titles were

“Live This Moment” or

“How to Get Around,” but then I saw this perfect quote by Walt Disney:

Curious to find lots of interesting things in my other photos from yesterday?

 

If you’re curious about any of those photos, you can click on them to make them larger.

I was curious about this hat

because Mickey looks angry, and I’m not used to seeing that.  When I discussed this with an interesting “cast member” at a cash register, we agreed that Mickey, like the rest of us, is allowed to have all his feelings, including anger.

I’m looking forward to doing all sorts of interesting things today, wearing that hat.

If you’re curious about today’s tune, it’s NOT the song I wrote on the plane ride from Boston to Orlando (“What Are Other People Thinking About  You?”).  Instead, it’s “It’s a Small World.”

I’m curious about whether you watched the whole ride and about whatever feelings you’re having, in this moment.

If you’re curious, I’m feeling extreme gratitude for where I am, whom I’m with, and for my readers!

Day 2225: Who is it?

Who is it that just posted this on Facebook?

If it’s not me posting that I’ll be performing my latest original song “It’s Not Me” at the Jam’n Java Open Mic in Arlington’s Kickstand Cafe this Friday (January 4) while wearing my original t-shirt that says “It’s Not Me,” then who is it?

Who is it that just wrote another verse for “It’s Not Me”?

It’s not me who’s claiming

that our love was a sham.

It’s not me who’s blaming

all the things that I am.

© Ann Koplow, 2018

Who is it that took these photos yesterday?

 

 

Who is it that will be disappointed if people don’t laugh at the improv section of “It’s Not Me” Friday night?  And who is it that learned how to balance a salt shaker on its side at college?

Who is it that’s sharing this music, here and now?

Who is that saw The Who at The Boston Garden in the 1970s?

Who is it that’s expressing thanks to all who helped me create this post (including my son Aaron and The Who) and to you — Whoo hoo! —  who’s reading it?

Day 2218: What you have survived

Take a breath, in this present moment, and consider what you have survived.

How does that affect you?

When I look at what I have survived, I feel braver and more hopeful about what I’m facing now.

I have survived

• many holidays over my almost-66 years,
• two thousand, two hundred, and eighteen days of blogging,
• a congenital heart condition,
• many surgeries,
• sexism,
• anti-Semitism,
• the death of both my parents,
• other departures,
• fear,
• misunderstandings,
• miscommunications,
• personal comments (including being called “incapable“),
• silence,
• anger,
• rivalries,
• the dark,
• the cold,
• feeling lost,
• incompetent leaders, and
• lots of  crap.

What have you survived?

I assume we’ll all survive my recent photos.

Here‘s a reggae version of “I Will Survive.”

What helps me survive?  Gratitude, all those who help me create these daily blogs, and — of course! — YOU.

Day 2137: The House

There are several news headlines about the House today, including:

Mid-term elections: Democrats win House in setback for Trump

Democrats win control of the House in 2018 midterms, CNN projects

Meet the New Agenda Setters in the House

Coincidentally, yesterday I started writing a new song, titled “I Left the House Before I Felt Ready”, which is my first original song based on my first original t-shirt …

… which was based on original blog posts (here, here, and here), which I wrote in the house.

Here are the lyrics, so far:

I Left the House Before I Felt Ready

 

I left the house before I felt ready,

So I’m wrinkled, distracted, and sort of bed-heady.

I don’t know where my phone is, my glove, or umbrella

And my water bottle’s probably somewhere in the cellar.

© Ann Koplow, 2018

Because my house is near Boston, those last two lines rhyme.

Only one of my photos from yesterday was taken in the house:

Here’s “House” by Elton John:

 

What are your thoughts and feelings about any of  the houses here?

Thanks to all who helped me write today’s blog post at the house and — of course! — to YOU, for visiting my blogging house.