Posts Tagged With: confusion

Day 4135: What are they saying?

Yesterday, I went to a group therapy demonstration where it was difficult to hear what the group members and the facilitator were saying. That bothered me until I realized that I could still learn a lot by taking in non verbal communication and other signals from those around me.

These days, life can be so confusing that I often wonder “what are they saying?” even when the words are quite clear.

What are they saying in my images for today?

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Here’s what I find on YouTube when I search for “what are they saying?”

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I also found this:

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What am I saying at the end of every blog post?

Categories: personal growth, photojournalism | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , | 12 Comments

Day 1815: This year has been ____ .

How would you fill in the blank in today’s title?

This is my choice:

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This year has been nuts.  I decided that even before I saw  today’s headline:

Confusion and chaos ahead as new tax rules take immediate effect.

Confusion and chaos ahead?  What about all the confusion and chaos we’ve experienced this year already?  All this confusion and chaos is

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To distract myself from the confusion, the chaos and the nuts, I took these other photos yesterday.

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I also distracted myself yesterday by talking to Karen, who was  our neighbor before we moved near the ocean.  She told me this story:

This friend of mine,  who is a wonderful cook, sent invitations for a dinner that was “Soup to Nuts.”  I was expecting the best meal ever.  When we got there, there was soup, different kinds of soup, and nothing else.  She was serving soup to nuts and we were the nuts!

If you search for “nuts” on Youtube, you might find this video:

Thanks to all who helped me not go nuts this year, including my boyfriend, my family, my friends, my co-workers, my cats, and — of course! — YOU.

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Categories: personal growth, photojournalism | Tags: , , , , , , , , , | 37 Comments

Day 1562: The mind

I hope you don’t mind that I’m starting out this post with a drawing of the mind that I did not draw.

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My mind noticed that drawing of the mind on the white board of my fellow psychotherapist, Megan, yesterday.  My mind is now doing its best to remember Megan’s explanation of that drawing — I believe it represents confusion on the top of the mind and the attempt to go deeper into the mind, past the confusion.

I hope Megan, who reads this blog, does not mind the way I explained her drawing.

Because the mind makes connections and comparisons, my mind is now remembering a drawing of the mind I made several years ago (which figured in this old post, if you don’t mind my linking to that).

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My mind is now noticing that both Megan and I have observed that human beings often have negative and uncomfortable thoughts and experiences on the top (or the front) of their minds and that they have to work hard to get past those.

Indeed, my mind has been struggling, lately, to get past negative and unhelpful thoughts including fortune-telling, catastrophizing, mind-reading, comparisons, shoulds, and the other common cognitive distortions listed here (if you don’t mind another link in this post).

I hope you don’t mind that today’s post has so few pictures:

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As my mind thinks seriously and thinks honestly, it wishes I had photos of last night’s family Seder.  My iPhone was otherwise engaged, FaceTiming with my son Aaron (whose fine mind is currently studying at the University of Edinburgh). Family members asked me last night if I minded Aaron being so far away from me. My mind seriously and honestly answered this way, “I miss him, but I don’t mind, because Edinburgh is the perfect place for him.”

My mind now wants to share this with you:

My mind now has the strange feeling I’ve ended other posts exactly like this before:  Thanks to all who helped me create this post and to you — of course! — for reading it.

Categories: personal growth, photojournalism, Psychotherapy | Tags: , , , , , , , , | 32 Comments

Day 367: Screen Shots

Since my style can be somewhat spontaneous*, it is rare that I decide, ahead of time, what my topic or image is going to be for my daily post.

Yesterday, however, I saw something on my computer and thought, “I HAVE to take a screen shot of THAT. I’m probably going to use that in my blog tomorrow.”

My next thought was, ” Arrrrgh!  I can’t remember how to take screen shots!” Next thought: “Google it!”  And I did.

I don’t know, people, why I panic when I can’t remember something like that. It’s like I have ongoing amnesia about the fact that things are easily retrievable.  Apparently, my brain hasn’t caught up to the realities of technology, with which I’m interacting every day.

Get with the program, Brain!

Anyway, I did manage (pretty easily) to take a screen shot of that image, which had inspired some fear, on its own. THAT fear, ladies and gentlemen, had to do with ………

(can you guess?)

(hints: I live in the Northeast United States. It’s January.)

Time’s up!

The weather.

Here’s the screen shot:

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If you’re easily distracted, like me, allow me to call your attention to the weather portion of that screen shot:

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I love comparing my perceptions to other people’s, so I’m curious, right now: What did you notice first about that weather report?

I’ll tell you what struck me, big time.  The numbers — those wild variations in temperature in my immediate future. My thoughts: “It’s going to be THAT friggin’ freezing on Friday and then THAT warm on Monday?!??? Eeeek!! Arrrghhh!  HOW ARE WE SUPPOSED TO REMAIN SANE AROUND HERE????”

It was at that point that I decided to capture that screen shot, to share my feelings with the blogging world. I then turned my attention to other things.

Soon after that, I picked up a phone message from my son’s father, stating that he was trying to get snow tires put on his car, and could I bring my son over to his girlfriend’s home?

On my way driving my son there, here was a thought that eventually snuck into that brain of mine:

WHY is he trying to get snow tires on New Year’s Day?

This didn’t make sense to me, for several reasons:

  1. Most people, in these parts, don’t get snow tires put on their cars. They have year-long tires that do well enough during the snow.
  2. On New Year’s Day, pretty much everything is closed.

When I can’t make sense of something, it can be difficult for me to remain on task, trying to solve a problem. The result of that, yesterday: Vague confusion, with some sense of dread.

I mentioned my confusion to my son. “I can’t figure out why your father is trying to get snow tires put on his car today. I’m wondering if this is something I should be concerned about.”

And then we went back to talking about other things.

When we reached our destination, I said to my son’s father’s girlfriend, “I have to ask: Why is Leon trying to get snow tires put on his car on New Year’s Day?”

And as often happens when I’m confused, somebody else has a perfectly reasonable explanation. She said, “His car is too light, and had so much trouble getting up the hill in the last snow.  And, that big snow storm is coming tomorrow.”

My response: “Big snow storm?”

Hers (somewhat incredulously): “You didn’t hear about the storm?”

Just then, I realized I had missed something important.  And sure enough, those scary numbers in that screen shot had distracted me from something else in that picture.

Those nice-looking clouds with snow flakes, two days in a row.

Get with the program, Brain!

Thanks to confused people everywhere, to people who have to drive in snow, and to you — of course! — for visiting today.


I am, apparently, transitioning here, from yesterday’s post to today’s.

Categories: humor, personal growth | Tags: , , , , , , , | 35 Comments

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