Day 2341: Baggage

One thousand, three hundred and eighty-seven days ago (but who’s counting?), I wrote another post titled “Baggage,” which was about arriving in Edinburgh without baggage, because the airline had temporarily lost it.  I notice, as I re-read that old baggage post today, that I focused less on the pain of the loss and more on the positives of being in a city I love with people I love. Perhaps that’s one way to get rid of baggage — to focus on what’s right in your life rather than focusing on what’s wrong.

Here are some quotes I’m finding about baggage at BrainyQuote:

You carry your country with you, it’s part of your baggage. — Roy Thomson

We humans have millions of years of evolutionary baggage that makes us regard competition in a deadly light. — Vernor Vinge

Painful events leave scars, true, but it turns out they’re largely erasable. Jill Bolte Taylor, the neuroanatomist who had a stroke that obliterated her memory, described the events as “losing 37 years of emotional baggage.” — Martha Beck

Simplicity is making the journey of this life with just baggage enough. — Charles Dudley Warner

We all have our baggage, and I think the trick is not resisting it but accepting it, understanding that the worst experience has a valuable gift inside if you’re willing to receive it.  — Jeannette Walls

One of the main topics of yesterday’s Coping and Healing group was baggage:

Later in the day, I noticed this:

Apparently, everything has baggage, even bubbles.

Do you see any baggage in the rest of my photos from yesterday?

Sometimes I invite people to leave their baggage outside the door, reminding them they can always pick it up on their way out.  At the same time, I welcome all baggage and anything else people want to bring in.

Here‘s “Baggage” by Mary J. Blige:

Here‘s a song from Rent with the lyrics, “I’ve been trying, I’m not lying. Nobody’s perfect, I’ve got baggage.” “Life’s too short, babe, time is flying, I’m looking for baggage that goes with mine.”

Feel free to leave or share any baggage here.

Thanks to all who helped me write my 2nd baggage post and — of course! — to you, for reading it.

Day 2159: What’s allowed

Because I often think about what’s allowed in this world, I just searched WordPress for any previous posts I might have written on this subject, because that’s allowed.

I can now allow, aloud, that I was surprised that the only post WordPress allowed in that “What’s allowed” search was Day 717: Interrupting.  Four years ago, I allowed myself to write that looooong post (which features, doctors, cows, and lots of interrupting) when I was dealing with some very confusing medical issues.  Writing about those medical issues daily and receiving helpful and supportive feedback from my readers allowed me to navigate through them.  Thank goodness all that was allowed.

So, what allowed WordPress to find a connection between “What’s Allowed” and “Interrupting” today?   I am allowing myself to speculate that interrupting, according to WordPress, is something that’s allowed. Therefore, I’m allowing myself to interrupt this post to share my photos from yesterday.

According to those photos, it’s allowed to

• get irritated with technology (and other things),
• dress animals in outfits,
• be welcoming,
• gobble until you wobble,
• use cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia,
• make it all work,
• spend four days in Fenway, and
• appreciate Prince …

… but it’s NOT allowed to go into stores with animals and bare feet (although maybe bare other things are allowed).

Sharing music is allowed, so here’s Prince with I Would Die 4 U.

While I wouldn’t exactly die 4 u to comment, I hope u know that all your thoughts and feelings about what’s allowed are allowed in the comments section, below.

Gratitude is always allowed here, so thanks to all who allowed me to create today’s post and — of course! — to YOU.

Day 2049: Self Acceptance

Yesterday, myself and several other selves discussed “Self Acceptance” in a therapy group.

All the selves in that group agreed that “Self Acceptance” is an important topic and something that people need to practice, practice, practice.

Here and now, I’m practicing self acceptance as I make decisions about what to pack for my trips to Iceland and Edinburgh.  I will accept myself whether or not I bring along my ukulele and/or my laptop.

I am also practicing self acceptance about the other photos I took yesterday.

 

Here‘s a Billy Joel song about self acceptance:

Self acceptance and gratitude now!

 

Day 849: The Art of the Heart

Yesterday, I saw some unexpected art, as I followed my heart.

                            

                  

One of the artful messages on that giant CD heart came from my heart. Could you guess, in your heart, which one it was?

More importantly, what heart-felt message might you have left on that art heart? How would you “make visible what makes your heart sing and how you carry the music of life”?

Here are two performances of music made visible on that heart (and on this heart, too):

“No Day But Today” (found here and there on YouTube) is from the artistic heart of Jonathan Larson.

It breaks my heart that Jonathan Larson’s big, 35-year-old heart stopped in 1996 — because of an undiagnosed tear in his aorta — a day before the debut of the musical Rent, which was the art of his heart, made visible.

A few more scenes — seen and not seen yesterday — from the heart of Boston, USA:

 
                   

Where we live

there’s only now

there’s only here

forget regret

no other way

no day but today.

Artful and heartful thanks to Jonathan Larson, the artists of Seen/Not Seen, Studios Without Walls, Riverway Park, Fenway Park, the cast of Rent, Idina Menzel, and you — of course! — for the heart you bring (no day but) today.