Day 2706: Urgent

Despite my dealing with many urgent situations over the last two thousand, seven hundred and six days (but who’s urgently counting?), I’ve never published a blog post with the title “Urgent” before.

Well, there’s no time like the present and these can seem like urgent times, although “urgent” is not an adjective I’ve heard about these times we’re living through together. I HAVE heard people describe these times as

• challenging,
• uncertain,
• difficult,
• strange,
• weird,
• anxious,
• upsetting,
• frightening,
• scary,
• terrifying,
• troubling,
• painful,
• confusing,
• unexpected,
• unprecedented,
• stressful,
• crazy,
• crazy-making, and
• surreal.

Yesterday, during these challenging, uncertain, difficult, strange, etc. times, we brought our cat Oscar back to the Urgent Care Veterinary Center for a blood pressure test and to get medication. His situation didn’t seem urgent enough for an ultrasound of his digestive tract yesterday. However, if he ever throws up dried blood again,  we’ll urgently schedule that test as soon as possible.

Anything urgent in my pictures from yesterday?

People in my Coping and Healing group yesterday talked about many topics — urgent and otherwise —  including the anniversary tribute to Prince , which I had missed. So, after our trip to the Veterinary Urgent Care Center, Michael, Oscar, and I watched “Let’s Go Crazy: Grammy Prince Tribute” On Demand last night, including this performance posted on YouTube by BoDerekSmith:

Here’s an urgent performance of “Baby I’m A Star” by the original, one-and-only Prince.

What feels urgent to me, during times like these, is finding and sharing moments of joy with others.

It’s not urgent that you express your thoughts and feelings about this “Urgent” post in a comment; however, it’s definitely appreciated. Urgent and emergent thanks to all who help me create these blog posts, including YOU!

Day 2701: WTF??!

What, There’s Frost on April 18 in Boston??!

WTF is going on here??!

Why These Fotos??!

WTF do you think WTF might stand for??!

WTF is this??!

Where’s The Friggin’ comments section??!  It’s below, if you want to express Whatever, Thoughts and Feelings.

Who’s Thankful,  Friends?

 

 

Day 2684: What the world needs now

One thousand, two hundred, and sixty-three days ago, when it was a different world, I published another blog post with today’s title.  Now, more than ever, what the world needs now is love, sweet love.

Yesterday, people participating in the world of my online Coping and Healing groups shared that they enjoyed watching this video of Berklee students —  alone but together —   performing “What the World Needs Now.”

I really need that video and I need to share my new photos with the world, here and now:

 

Yesterday, I needed that delicious chicken dish, I needed Michael, I needed a walk outside, I needed the cats, and I needed to figure out how to make my new whiteboard work for my online groups.

What the world needs now is

• love, sweet love,
• any thoughts and feelings you choose to share in a comment, below. and
• gratitude, so thanks to all who are showing love during these difficult times (including YOU).

Day 2672: Face it!

Face it!

Oscar does not understand the whole social distancing thing…

… but I do.

Face it!  I’ve been trying to reassure my worried friends with how well my face looks in that recent photo.

Face it!  I’ve been trying to put more smiles on my own face by watching favorite funny movies from simpler times, like Big and What About Bob?

I’ve also been stuffing my face with good food, like this:

Face it!  Humans have survived pandemics before and our best hope of survival is if we face this together (at a distance, of course!).

Face it!  This scene, starring somebody else recovering from the coronavirus,  always puts a smile on my face.

 

What’s been helping you face these strange times?

I look forward to facing your comments, below.

Face it!  I haven’t been able to go out into the world to collect new expressions of gratitude, so here are some old ones, which include a few nice faces:

 

Day 2671: Good news

There’s always good news to be found, if you look for it.

In Venice, dolphins are swimming in the clean waters of the canals for the first time in decades.

Maybe people’s reactions to the coronavirus are demonstrating that human beings can actually change their behaviors and come together for the common good.  That’s good news for our species and for the planet.

Do you see good news in any of today’s photos?

Please share whatever good news you can in the comments section, below. That would be good for all of us.

Gratitude is always good news, so thanks to all who help me share the news in this daily blog, including YOU.

 

Day 2635: Who is it for?

Before I reveal something about myself in a therapy group, I ask myself “Who is it for?”

If the answer is that it’s mostly for me, I will not share the information. If I believe that it’s mostly for the group, I will use self-disclosure.

Yesterday morning, while I was feeling very sad about the death of jazz pianist Lyle Mays, I was listening to a jazz program on WHRB, the Harvard radio station.  I decided to call them and tell them about the death of Lyle.  Who was it for?  It was for me and for any fans of Lyle who might be listening.

As I suspected, the two Harvard students who were DJ-ing  the morning jazz program on WHRB were not familiar with Lyle, but they did this for me:   they announced his death on air and played one of his tunes.  Then it was for me and for the other listeners who called in that they abandoned their scheduled playlist and shared lots of Lyle.

One of the tunes they played yesterday morning was “It’s For You.”

When I first heard about Lyle’s death Monday night, a melancholy melodic phrase from “It’s For You” filled my head, but I couldn’t remember the name of the tune.  It’s for you and for me that I share a live version of “It’s For You” now.

 

It’s for you that I take and share my recent photos.

Who was that delicious and nutritious meal for? It was for me and my husband Michael as we watched the returns from the New Hampshire primary last night.

Who is it for when I blog every day?  In case you didn’t know, it’s for you AND for me.

Day 2570: What time is it?

What time is it?

It’s time for cats to look at clocks, if not kings.

It’s time for me to explain that “a cat may look at a king” means that “even someone of low status has rights. A cat may look at a king implies that all people have certain minimal rights by virtue of being alive.”

It’s time to reaffirm those rights.

It’s time for another picture of Harley.

It’s time for me to share that Michael observed at the time that Harley evoked  “King of New York” from Newsies. Then, it was time for me to sing “Look at me! I’m the king of this couch.”

It’s time for “King of New York” from Newsies.

It’s time for the Broadway version  of “King of New York.”

It’s time for Queens of New York, too.

It’s time for signs and possibilities.

It’s time for a good meal.

Then, it’s time for dessert!

It’s time for Ferrero Rocher gelato.

It’s time for me to repeat a few of my song lyrics from yesterday:

Ferrero Rocher, Ferrero Rocher.

That gets stuck in my mouth along the way.

Ferrero Rocher, Ferrero Rocher.

So easy to eat and so hard to say.

© Ann Koplow, 2019

It’s hard to say what time it is, because we’re all in different places and time changes so rapidly. However, I do know that  it’s time for me to get ready for work.

I hope it’s time for you to leave a comment.

Of course, it’s always time for hope and gratitude.

 

Day 2497: Who’s crazy?

As a pysychotherapist, I’m supposed to be an expert on crazy.  There are times when my patients seem a lot less crazy to me than other people I’m seeing around me.   Now is one of those times.

Who’s crazy in my photos from yesterday?

Here‘s Patsy Cline singing “Crazy.”

My boyfriend Michael tells me that the original title of that song was “Stupid.” Is he crazy?  He’s been singing that other version like crazy, lately.

Whether things are stupid or crazy right now, I’m still grateful for everybody who helped me create today’s blog post, including YOU.

 

Day 2293: Too little, too much, just right.

I have too little time this morning to write my daily blog post, because I got too much sleep last night.  I hope this post and the rest of my morning turns out just right.

Yesterday, in a therapy group, someone talked about the fear of being “too much” for others — afraid that others would have too little patience to deal with  too much moodiness, neediness, intimacy, fear, and imperfection.

I’ve probably said too much in my groups about people being afraid of being or saying too much or too little. People seem to have too little capacity to recognize that they’re just right.

Do you see too little or too much in my photos from yesterday?

If those photos are too little, you can make them larger without too much effort — just click on them.

Thanks to all who helped me create today’s post and to you — of course! — for being just right.