Day 3042: Talk about how awesome you are.

Is it difficult for you to talk about how awesome you are?

Why?

While I used to be afraid of seeming immodest, these days I talk about how awesome I am and I also invite you and others to talk about how awesome you are.

If it’s hard for you to see how awesome you are, keep looking. Ask people you know to talk about how awesome you are. (Many people find it easier to talk about how awesome you are than to talk about how awesome they are.)

It may be difficult to talk about how awesome you are when you’re not feeling your best, but who IS feeling their best these days? Even when you’re not feeling your best, you’re still awesome.

Maybe some of these images will help you talk about how awesome you are.

I won’t stop talking about group therapy, which is an awesome place to talk about how awesome you are.

Here‘s what I find when I search YouTube for “Talk about how awesome you are.”

We all need pep talks, from others (like Kid President) and from ourselves. So please talk about how awesome you are in the comments section, below.

Thanks to all who help me talk about how awesome we are, including YOU!

Day 2536: Enjoy the ordinary

Yesterday, after publishing Day 2571: What Makes the Ordinary Extraordinary?, I picked this extraordinary mindfulness card at work:

I enjoy the ordinary coincidences and synchronicity of life. Do you?

I hope you enjoy the ordinary in my other photos from yesterday.

 

Enjoy the ordinary signs of the season, the Daily Bitch Calendar, and, if possible, the skill of doing nothing.

Here and now, we’re enjoying the ordinary weather in Boston, which was 58 degrees F yesterday and 31 degrees F and snowing as I write this ordinary post. Enjoy the ordinary repetition of this:

 

Here’s “How to enjoy the mundane or ordinary moments in life!” with Little Woo:

 

How do you enjoy the ordinary?

Enjoy the ordinary ending of another Year(s) of Living Non-Judgmentally post, where I share my ordinary thanks with YOU.

 

Day 2461: 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 2104: Surrender

Yesterday, I surrendered to a therapy group member’s suggestion that people express their thoughts and feelings about “surrender.”

What does surrender mean to you?  What’s your personal experience of surrender?  What would happen if you surrendered?  What would change in your life?

 

Ann shall now surrender to her wish to quote others about “surrender.”

It took me a while to learn the true meaning of patience and surrender, but I have finally accepted that healing doesn’t happen on our schedule. It doesn’t have a clock or a calendar.

— Yolanda Hadid

The creative process is a process of surrender, not control.

— Julia Cameron

Growth demands a temporary surrender of security.

— Gail Sheehy

If you surrender completely to the moments as they pass, you live more richly those moments.

— Anne Morrow Lindbergh

Let the winds of evidence blow you about as though you are a leaf, with no direction of your own. Beware lest you fight a rearguard retreat against the evidence, grudgingly conceding each foot of ground only when forced, feeling cheated. Surrender to the truth as quickly as you can.

— Eliezer Yudkowsky

Always say ‘yes’ to the present moment… Surrender to what is.  Say ‘yes’ to life – and see how life starts suddenly to work for you rather than against you.

— Eckhart Tolle

There are also many quotes about the negative side of surrender, including this one:

Not voting is not a protest. It is a surrender.

— Keith Ellison

Please vote for your favorite photo in today’s post, including these:

 

 

Soon I’ll be surrendering my shoulder to my physical therapist, Matt, who was devilishly happy on Wednesday when I added a chorus, just for him, to my  original song “Triggers.” Here are some of the lyrics I’ll be surrendering up to an audience tonight at an Open Mic performance of “Triggers”  in Arlington, Massachusetts:

TRIGGERS

For me it’s the cold and the dark,

For him it’s not finding a safe place to park.

For some it’s a loud noise,

For others it’s bad boys,

For many it’s news of attacks by a shark.

Everybody’s got a trigger,

Some of us have more than one.

Some are small and some are bigger.

None of them are ever fun.

© Ann Koplow 2018

Here‘s “Surrender” by Cheap Trick.

I also surrender to the musical suggestion of these socks.

I surrender to the truth that some won’t be able to watch the videos I include in these posts.

I now surrender to your comments and to my gratitude for all who helped me create this “surrender” post and — of course! — for YOU.

Day 1579: Action

When people take the action of joining my therapy groups, I recommend these weekly actions:

1.  Do something mindfully, using your senses to stay in the moment.
2. Take one action you think would be helpful.
3. Notice and challenge an unhelpful thought.

For example, I am writing this blog post mindfully, using my senses to stay in the moment. I just took the helpful action of writing an email to my realtor, expressing my thoughts and feelings about a property.  My next action is to notice unhelpful thoughts about an action I took yesterday:

I’ve made another mistake.  I should have known better.

Here’s the action of challenging that unhelpful thought:

 Everybody makes mistakes.  I’m doing the best I can. Every mistake is an opportunity for me to learn and grow.

Yesterday, my actions included:

• Voting for myself to be the next president of a group psychotherapy organization,
• Putting an offer on a house near the water,
• Expressing appreciation for the departing interns at work, and
• Facilitating two therapy groups.

Every day, I take action shots and share the action here.

When I show up at YouTube and gently search for “action” there, it’s true that I find this:

If you think it would be helpful to make a comment below, please take action.

My final action in this post?  Expressing gratitude to all who helped me create it and to you — of course! — for your action of visiting this blog today.