Day 1734: How do we work together?

How do we work together? That seems to be an important question these days.

How do people at Mount Auburn Hospital’s Cardiac Rehab work together? Based on all the hours I’ve spent there over the last few years, I’d say they work together beautifully. Kathy — the head of that department who has worked there for many years — is retiring and her last day was yesterday. I was invited to a surprise party to say thanks for all her years of working together so well with so many people.

Here are some photos I took at Cardiac Rehab yesterday:

 

I loved working together with Kathy, Danise, and Carla all those hours I spent in cardiac rehab. I worked out what I wanted to write to Kathy beforehand.

If you can’t work out what I wrote there, it says

Dear Kathy,

Thank you for your beautifully kind and caring heart, which has helped heal and strengthen so many hearts, including mine.

Is there any evidence of how we work together in my other photos from yesterday?

There were donuts at the party celebrating Kathy’s working together with others at Cardiac Rehab, but I couldn’t get it together to take a photo of them.

“How do we work together?” is also the question that inspires this incredible number from Stephen Sondheim’s Merrily We Roll Along:

How do we work together without gratitude? I don’t know.  So, thanks to all who inspired this post and to you — of course! — for working together with me.

Day 1524: This is it

Yesterday, when I went to cardiac  rehab, I saw this:

And this is it, for cardiac rehab, because I’ve now completed all my sessions there.

This is it, for Danise.

This is it, for Carla.

Carla is saying, “This is it! That’s the weirdest thing I’ve ever seen” as she’s watching this:

This is it, for Kathy.

Kathy is saying, “This is it!  Joel Sartore‘s Photo Ark  is perfect for any animal lover!”

This is it, for me and cardiac rehab.

This is it, for the rest of my photos from yesterday.

 

This is it for today’s blog, as I thank Danise, Carla, Kathy, Mount Auburn Hospital Cardiac Rehab, Joel Sartore, the city of Boston, Tifa the Rabbit, Oscar, Harley,  everyone else appearing in today’s post and I also thank you — of course! — for being here, now.

 

Day 1520: Oscar-related lessons

Like every other life experience, the 2017 Oscars provided some valuable lessons, including:

1. It’s not over until it’s over (which was also a lesson of the Super Bowl earlier this month) and
2. Everybody makes mistakes.

Here’s another Oscar-related lesson:

Don’t fall asleep near an adorable cat named Oscar if you don’t want your photo taken and shared on the internet.

Do you see any lessons in my other photos from yesterday?

 

I learned these lessons, yesterday, from that clock at Mount Auburn Hospital in Cambridge: That IS a working steam-punk clock, you can make a clock out of anything, and time is ticking, so seize the day!

Any lessons in this music?

If there’s any lesson I’ve learned in my life, it’s to express gratitude to those I appreciate, including you!

Day 1516: World of Puzzles

It’s a world of puzzles, isn’t it?

Here’s the first photo I took yesterday in my world of puzzles.

My world includes these puzzles:

• Why and how did I come down with a sore throat during the warmest February day I can ever remember?
• What world issues inspired this tweet, yesterday?

What’s more important? Global warming or my enjoying a 60-degree February day in Boston?

• How is it possible that my son Aaron’s YouTube video (shown in yesterday’s post) was mentioned in the New Yorker two years ago and neither of us knew about this until yesterday?
• Why in the world are all these puzzling photos on my phone?

Your strength is your own knowledge and did you have the strong knowledge that I would include some music from the world of YouTube in this puzzling post?

What puzzles are in your world, today?

Thanks to all who helped me create this world of puzzles post and to you — of course! — no matter how puzzled you are, here and now.

 

Day 1510: Patience

If you’ve had the patience to read all my daily posts (including this one), you might remember that a very helpful aptitude/personality test I took decades ago revealed three high indications of impatience. Therefore, patience is a virtue I work on, every day.

Yesterday, I saw these two indications of patience:

That cup and that bunny are inspiring me to be patient, especially as I look for a new home and continue to heal from heart surgery.

Do you have the patience to look at all my other photos from yesterday?

Do you have the patience to listen to the music I’ve chosen today?

If you have the patience to leave a comment, I have the patience to read it and respond.

Many thanks to all who helped me create this patient post and to you — of course! — for your patience, here and now.

Day 1503: Windows of hope

Even when we feel helpless and lost in the dark,  we can persist if there are windows of hope. When we open our hearts to those windows of hope, we can tolerate today’s distress and  see through those windows to possible solutions in the future.

Do you see any windows of hope in my photos from yesterday?

I hope I soon look through windows to see hopeful scenes like these:

  

When you look out your windows today, what hope do you see?

Here‘s a window of hope on YouTube:

Windows of hope and gratitude to all who helped me create today’s window into my hopeful heart and to you — of  course! — for the hope you bring, here and now.

 

Day 1502: Opening the heart

I’m going to  open my heart to you, here and now, and tell you about a dream I had last night. In that dream, my open-hearted cardiologist, Dr. Deeb Salem, told me that my new mechanical valve (which I got during open heart surgery in September) wasn’t working correctly and that they were going to have open up my heart again to fix it.

I wonder if that dream about reopening my heart was triggered by this image I saw yesterday morning, at the beginning of a blizzard here in Boston?

When I saw that opening-the-heart image yesterday morning on my way to work,  it opened my heart in a good way. My heart opened up with appreciation for all those things that are key to opening my heart to love and to new possibilities. And when I  opened my heart (and my iPhone camera) to other images during the day, I continued to think about that first open-hearted image.

As you open your heart to my other photos, do you see any keys to opening the heart in them?

Today, I’ll be opening my heart to patients on the first Friday I’ve worked since my Open Heart surgery in September. But first, I have to open my heart to cardiac rehab at 7:30 AM.

Do I have time to open our hearts to an Opening-the-Heart song?

As usual, I end every post by opening my heart with gratitude to all who helped me create this post and to you — of course! — for opening your heart to me, today.

Day 1489: When we wake up in the middle of the night

When you wake up in the middle of the night, what do you do?

When I wake up in the middle of the night, I

• think about the past,
• worry about the future,
• go to the bathroom,
• try to get back to sleep,
• listen to the sound of my new mechanical heart valve,
• tell myself that I am safe enough in the moment,
• answer outstanding comments on my blog,
• compose a new blog post,
• try to compose myself,
• look at my latest photos:

• remember things I forgot to do (like put a worry doll under my pillow),
• listen to music,

• and feel gratitude for all that I have, including my amazing readers!

Day 1485: Ask

Ask for what you want.

Ask for what you need.

Ask for help.

Ask questions.

Ask without fear.

Ask and ye shall receive.

I ask myself these questions, here and now:

• Where do I want to live?
• What will make me happy?
• How can I achieve peace?
• What can I do to make the world better?
• How much time do I have?
• What lyrics should I write to this song?

• What do you want?   A YouTube video that shows a complete performance?

• Do my readers recognize guitarist Pat Metheny and saxophonist Michael Brecker, the two musicians my surgeon played during my open heart surgery on September 21?
• When will I recover from my open heart surgery?
• How do I stay sane in today’s political environment?
• Is somebody trying to sell me something?
• How can people feel safe enough?
• How can I be welcoming to others and also feel welcomed myself?
• Where did I get the inspiration for today’s post?

This person who loves asks that you ask or answer questions in a comment below.

Finally, I ask that you accept my gratitude for all who helped me create this post and for YOU, no matter what you’re asking today.

Day 1481: Sending Out an S.O.S.

As I was Safely Or Securely walking to work yesterday, I heard Serious Old Sting, Singing Our Song:

I’ll send  an S.O.S. to the world. I hope that someone gets my message in a bottle.

What’s the bottle?  This blog post.  What’s the message?

Save Our Ship

Save Our Standards

Secure One’s Safety

Stop Others’ Suffering

Speak Only Sense

Stamp Out Shaming

Skip Over Shams

See Others’ Sacredness

Stem Outrageous Shocking

Secure Other Styles

Self-love Over Selfishness

Study Our Surroundings

Savor Others’ Smiles

Stop Overloading Synapses

Satisfy Our Selves

Shun Oblivious Shitheads

Stay Obviously Smart

Share Original Silliness

Splendidly Overcome Scariness

Stay Overtly Sane

Swiftly Outrun  Snakes

Stop Outrageous Stealing

Save Our Surroundings

Savor Outstanding Scenery

See Other Sights:

Shine On, Stars!

Sincerely,

Only Somebody

P.S. Satisfy Other Somebodies by Sharing Own Sentiments, leaving your message in a bottle, below.