Day 3538: I will never get over this

I will never get over how great it is being back at Disney World, where I saw this yesterday:

I said to my niece Laura that I didn’t expect to see “I will never get over this” — which I immediately associated with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder — at the “Happiest Place on Earth.” However, I realized that it’s very possible to never get over wonderful experiences, too.

Apparently, I will never get over catastrophizing (imagining the worst case scenario), especially when I’m stressed. Yesterday morning, when the Lyft driver showed up earlier than I expected to take me to the airport, I rushed out the door and then worried that our cat Joan might have gotten out and been attacked by the coyote that was on the street. During the drive to the airport, I tried to talk myself out of that very far fetched possibility.

I will never get over how the mind can make up unlikely scenarios even when there is little evidence or data to support them.

I tried to get over this by texting my husband Michael at home.

I will never get over this: I wish my wonderful late parents had been able to meet my hilarious and adorable husband Michael.

Here are the rest of my images for today’s “I Will Never Get Over This” blog post.

I will never get over how many National Days there are & I will never get over how it’s also World Ampersand Day.

Here’s what I find when I search YouTube for “I will never get over this.”

I will never get over my gratitude for all those who help me create this daily blog, including YOU!

Day 2210: My thoughts

My thoughts, as usual, are going many places.  I’m so glad I have a place to put my thoughts.

Here’s a thought: Perhaps if I didn’t have this blog to express my thoughts, I would need a journal like that one.

Some more thoughts:

• The non-expendable, valuable, and extremely appreciated poet Mary Oliver died two days ago.
• Decades ago, a thoughtful therapist shared this Mary Oliver poem with me:

Wild Geese

by Mary Oliver

You do not have to be good.
You do not have to walk on your knees
for a hundred miles through the desert repenting.
You only have to let the soft animal of your body
love what it loves.
Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine.
Meanwhile the world goes on.
Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain
are moving across the landscapes,
over the prairies and the deep trees,
the mountains and the rivers.
Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air,
are heading home again.
Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,
the world offers itself to your imagination,
calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting –
over and over announcing your place
in the family of things.

• That poem is good for my thoughts, feelings, imagination, body, and soul.
• My thoughts are with all who knew and loved Mary Oliver.
• Yesterday, my thoughts went many places, but kept returning to Mary Oliver.

My thought is that it’s time to share my other photos from yesterday.

My thought is that “Family/Friends” and “Vacation/Travel” are what many people enjoy most about winter, which leads to my next two photos showing Vacation/Travel with Family/Friends:

My thoughts, like my phone, go everywhere with me:

My thoughts tell me that you can click on any of those photos if you think you want to see them more clearly.

My thoughts are that this …

… is a sign about what music to include in today’s post.

My thoughts are returning to Mary Oliver, so I’m also including this:

My thoughts now turn to your thoughts, which I hope you express below.

My thoughts are full of gratitude for all who helped me create today’s post and — of course! — YOU.

Day 2205: 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 2204: What you’re not good at

Even good people seem to focus on what they’re not good at. I’m not sure if that’s good or not.

I’m not good at

• getting enough sleep,
• asking for help,
• saying “no,”
• remembering details,
• making a fuss,
• taking up space,
• goodbyes, and
• keeping to myself what I’m not good at.

Do you have a list of what you’re not good at?  If you do, does that do you any good?

If you make lists of what you’re not good at, try to get that list out of your head and down on paper (or a screen) so you can consider challenging the items on the list. For example, when I made that list above, I thought better of adding “planning parties,” even though

• I’m anxious about planning a party right now,
• it’s that anxiety which is inspiring this post, and
• I often say, “I’m not good at planning parties.”

The reason I didn’t add “planning parties” to the list was that when I thought it through, I realized that I don’t have a lot of practice planning parties and also every party I’ve ever planned has turned out fine.   Therefore, it doesn’t belong on the list of “What I’m Not Good At.”  It does belong on the list of “What Makes Me Anxious.”

Also, it’s good to balance out any list of what you’re not good at with a list of what you ARE good at.

I’m good at taking photos to distract myself during stressful times,  like traveling and goodbyes.

I’m not good at dealing with the cold, and I took that last shot as I was waiting, alone, for my luggage back in Boston. After I had said “Goodbye” (which I’m not good at)  to my ex-in-laws and my son (who remained in Orlando for a little more warmth), I texted them “I miss everyone already!” and my good ex-sister-in-law Deborah sent me this:

It’ll be good to see my son Aaron again when he returns home from University of Edinburgh in May.

I’m not good at keeping things to myself, so here‘s Disney World’s “It’s Tough to Be a Bug” (which I saw yesterday).  If you’re not good at tolerating bugs, people screaming, or 3-D without glasses, you may not want to watch it.

Let’s assume that you’re good at making comments and that I’m good at responding back to them.

I’m also good at expressing thanks at the end of each blog post to all who help me create them and — of course! — to YOU.

Day 2203: Nature does not hurry

Nature does not hurry, so why should I?    Therefore, I am going to take my time, here and now, during my last day at Disney World.

I am in no hurry to share the inspiration for today’s post title, but here it is:

As my son and I were unhurriedly strolling around Disney’s Animal Kingdom yesterday, I noticed that sign:

Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished.

 Lao Tzu

Usually, my nature is to believe that I need to hurry, hurry, hurry to accomplish and to be accomplished. I like balancing that out with Lao Tzu’s wise words (especially when we’re recovering from food poisoning).

Yet, I fear that if we don’t hurry and change our ways, we will lose much of the precious nature of our planet.

What else do I want to accomplish in this post? I will not hurry to share my other photos from yesterday.

 

 

Nature does not hurry, yet climate change is NOT a concept only (and is hurrying faster than expected).  I’m hoping that my worst fears are not final and are subject to change, because of future and concerted human accomplishments.

I guess the ball’s in our court.

I am in no hurry to share one more photo, which my son said was his favorite of all the ones I showed him yesterday.

I am in no hurry to know how, when, where, or why I took that photo, but I do know that orange has always been Aaron’s favorite color.

Nature does not hurry, so no need to hurry to make a comment. Likewise, I will not hurry to express my gratitude to all who helped me create today’s non-hurried post and — of course! — YOU.

 

Day 2200: Aim Higher

Yesterday, when we were in line for Toy Story Midway Mania at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida, I saw this:

Soon after that, when we were in line for Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster Starring Aerosmith, I received this email, in response to my attempt to aim higher by applying to do a show at the 2019 Edinburgh Fringe Festival:

Happy New Year 2019 Applicants

Thank you for applying to join The Free Fringe in 2019. This is just a short message to let you know the first allocations will be on their way in the next couple of weeks so please sit tight. We’ve all had a stupidly busy Christmas period as I hope you have, or at least a very happy one, and are working out the first pieces of the jigsaw puzzle.

If you’re one of those first pieces, it helps us and your fellow performers hugely if you let us know your intentions as soon as possible after receiving your offer. That said, please don’t accept unless you’re absolutely sure you will be taking the slot. Thanks 🙂

I often try to aim higher, thinking about this quote from one of my favorite poets:

Ah, but a man’s reach should exceed his grasp,

Or what’s a heaven for?

— Robert Browning

I  believe that if Robert Browning were alive today, he would aim higher and more obviously include all people in that quote.

I did aim higher yesterday to capture more photos from Disney World for you:

Some people might think it’s goofy to aim higher. Do you?

Somebody aimed higher and got this  unusual video of Rock ‘n” Roller Coaster with the lights on …

… and somebody else aimed higher to bring us the complete and more typical Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster  experience:

I’m going to end this “Aim Higher” post by aiming for higher gratitude for all who helped me create it and for all who are reading it, here and now, and also by aiming to see you again tomorrow!

Day 2198: 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 2197: Hot damn!

Hot damn!

I’m going to Disney World, I am.

Hot damn!

I’m going with my son Aaron’s fam.

Hot damn!

Am I color-blind, ma’am?

Hot damn!

Follow your heart and be happy as a clam.

Hot damn!

Listen to The Haggis Horns jam!

Hot damn! My thanks are no sham nor scam.

Hot dog or damn! To Orlando I must scram.

Day 1942: Obviously

Obviously, sometimes people are going to say things you obviously don’t want to hear.

Yesterday, somebody in therapy was obviously perturbed about people expressing unsolicited and often indirect opinions about what they obviously thought she should do.

Obviously, we  made a list of how she could reply.

Obviously,  having a list of possible replies to upsetting comments can help reduce stress.

Obviously, I like to take photos and share them with my readers.

What’s obvious about those photos, to you?

Obviously,  my handwriting is difficult to read, so it might not be obvious that we talked, wrote, and drew about dreams in a therapy group yesterday.  Obviously, it would be helpful if I typed what I wrote.

DREAMS

When I was a child, I had a dream I didn’t want to wake up from. It was so beautiful and soothing and cool.  Magical land with lots of colors — pastels.  (I was) walking or riding down a road. Not like nature, not “normal” but safe and sweet and lovely. Trees and structures …

I was never able to dream that again.

However, many years later I was at Disney World on a ride about imagination and one of the parts of the ride looked like my dream.

Obviously, I enjoyed that ride at Disney World.

Obviously, “The Obvious Child” by Paul Simon is a great song to include here.

Obviously,  I’d like to know your reactions to this post

Obviously, I gather and share gratitude in this blog, even if the words aren’t always completely obvious.