Day 3159: Making Meaning

As we humans make our way through life, we often try making meaning of our experience and existence.

This morning, I tried making meaning soon after I woke up by sending out this tweet:

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Almost immediately, somebody on Twitter helped me make meaning by replying with this:

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For me, making meaning also includes capturing images and sharing them with you here.

As the Daily Bitch knows, our parents are a major part of our making meaning.

I’ll try making making more meaning of this post by including the two YouTube videos ( here and here) I shared on Twitter yesterday:

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How are you making meaning these days?

For me, making meaning always involves gratitude, so thanks to all who help me make this daily blog, including YOU.

Day 2922: Personal Bests and Worsts of 2020

On the last day of each year, I put together my personal best and worst lists. In every other year, these have been Top 10 lists. For 2020, both my lists go to 11.

My son Aaron, my husband Michael, my Coping and Healing on-line therapy groups, blogging, my friends, the movie La Fée, surviving COVID, the Biden/Harris victory, walks by the ocean, and cats are on my 2020 best list.

Many deaths are on my 2020 worst list, including the COVID-caused death of a beloved patient, the death of my dear friend Eleanor, the death of my “heart brother” David (a wonderful man who had the same rare heart condition as me), and the death of our amazing kitty Oscar. Powerful and destructive narcissists (who shall remain nameless) are on my worst list, too.

Do you see any evidence of the Best and Worst of 2020 in today’s images?

2020 might be my best New Year’s Eve ever because tonight I’m facilitating a special NYE’s version of my Coping and Healing group!

Here’s my most-listened-to tune for 2020 (no matter what Spotify says!).

If you share some personal 2020 bests and/or worsts in the comments section below, that would be the best.

A happier 2021 and I personally thank you for making it through 2020!

Day 2531: Feelings

Yesterday in a therapy group, people felt comfortable and brave enough to talk about and show their feelings, including sadness, joy, anger, and fear.

Another group therapist recently told me that a member of his group said, “In group, joy is doubled and fear is halved.”

I have many good feelings about being a group therapist.

Are there any  feelings  in and about my other photos from yesterday?

 

Spotify tells me that I listened to “Hajanga” by Jacob Collier more than any other song in 2019.  That’s because

• no matter what my feelings were in 2019, Hajanga always helped me feel better and
• I listened to it over and over again when I was driving to and from Westport, Massachusetts for the wake of my dear friend Tony.

Here‘s a live 2019 version of Jacob playing “Hajanga” at MIT:

 

Of course, I’m wondering about your feelings now.

As always, I’m feeling gratitude for all who help me create this daily blog, including YOU.

 

 

 

Day 2458: Sometimes life sucks

Sometimes life sucks, like when you lose an old friend to a terrible brain cancer that has killed another friend of yours.

Sometimes you see a card that perfectly captures your experience.

Sometimes you listen to the same damn song over and over again to comfort yourself, like when you’re driving to say goodbye to an old friend.

 

Hajanga

by Jacob Collier

Everybody, near and far
Come together as you are
To the ocean, to the sky
Sing that cosmic lullaby
Sing the hajanga

Sing your pleasure sing your pain
Like you’ll never sing again
Let it echo, loud and clear
Across the ancient stratosphere
Even when the sun refuse to shine
There’s a song of love that never dies

Even when the good days pass you by
Lift your voices to the sky singin’
La-la-la-la-la-la-la-la
La-la-la-la-la-la-la-la…

As the words go round and round
Let the tears roll down and down
Sing the way you wish to be
Let that singing set you free

Even when those dark clouds bring you down
There’s a spark of joy that can be found
Even when things break and fall apart
Lift your hands up from your heart, singing
La-la-la-la-la-la-la-la
La-la-la-la-la-la-la-la…

Said every morning
Every night
Through the darkness
To the light
Like a beacon
Shining bright
Sing the hajanga you’ll be alright

From the winter
Comes the spring
It don’t matter
What life will bring
You can do most anything
So give your hajanga
A song to sing

So tell your mama
Tell your pa
Sing it near and sing it far
Be exactly the way you are
See the hajanga
It’s your guiding star

To every woman
To every man
In every nation
In every land
I said please you’ve gotta understand
Now sing the hajanga
And take my hand, sing it!

Then one day your life is through
Nothing more that you can do
So give away the things you know
And tell your friends you love them so
Tell them hajanga

I let the tears roll down and down, yesterday, as I told Tony‘s friends and family that I loved him so.

Sometimes life sucks and we CAN do a damn thing about it, like telling people we love them so.

Here are all my other damn photos from yesterday:

 

Sometimes life sucks and we can feel and express gratitude for what we still have, like this blog and YOU.

 

Day 2451: The difference between good and great

What’s the difference between good and great? Here’s one difference:

A great co-worker and mom showed me that great card yesterday.  Another great co-worker and mom showed me more great pages of The Daily Bitch Calendar:

Last week, when I did my first Coping and Healing group for staff,  I was basically a cucumber with anxiety, but the group was still good.  Today, when I’m doing my fourth group for staff,

• I’m less anxious and
• I’m very happy that the feedback about the group has been so great.

The managers at work think the groups are so great that they want me to do more and also train other good therapists to do them.

Great!

Do you see the difference between good and great in my other photos from yesterday?

Every two weeks, I need to perform an INR test and test my blood because of my heart issues.  The results are always good and usually great!

There are a lot of videos on YouTube titled “The Difference Between Good and Great, including one by The Angry Therapist.

Yesterday, on my way home from work, I listened to this great tune by the great Jacob Collier a good many times:

How would you define the difference between good and great?

Great thanks to all those who helped me create today’s post and to you — of course! — for being so great.

Day 2273: What I Don’t Want to Do Today

What I don’t want to do today includes:

• my taxes,
• reactions to the release of the Mueller report,
• anger,
• nothing,
• denial,
• desperation,
• cognitive distortions,
• too little or too much,
• dirty looks,
• pests,
• traffic,
• sexism,
• racism,
• ageism,
• homophobia,
• politics,
• judgment,
• robots,
• yesterday,
• tomorrow, or
• dying.

What I DO want to do today includes sharing my photos from yesterday …

… and this wonderful original creation by Jacob Collier.

What do you not want to do today?

I do want to thank Jacob Collier and everyone else who helped me do today’s blog and — of course! — YOU.

 

Day 2069: Hopelessness

Hopelessness showed up in a therapy group yesterday.  Today, it shows up for the first time in this blog.

I hope you can see that hope showed up there, as well. Often, when I write topics on the white board during my therapy groups, I tell people that the opposites of the topics are also present. I hope that leaves room for all the reactions, thoughts, and feelings in the room.

Do you see hopelessness and/or hope in my other photos from yesterday?

 

What do you do with hopelessness?  I try to accept hopelessness AND to leave room for whatever hope exists, no matter how small that hope might be.

Whenever I search YouTube by typing the title of my blog post, I hope something helpful will turn up.

 

These days, the brilliant or perfect musician Jacob Collier is helping me focus more on hope and less on hopelessness (here on YouTube).

I hope that you comment, below.

Gratitude reduces hopelessness and increases hope.  Thanks to all who helped me create today’s post and — of course! — to YOU.

Day 2068: Brilliant or perfect?

Four years ago (but who’s counting?), I wrote a blog post — Day 597: Brilliant — about how people in Edinburgh responded “Brilliant” to many things I said to them.  (If you could visit that old post, that would be brilliant.)

In 2018, when I was back in Edinburgh for our usual August visit,  people rarely told me I was brilliant.  That didn’t damage my ego, however, because instead of “Brilliant,”  I often heard “Perfect” in response to things I would do or say.

Actually, to be more perfect about that, I often heard this: “Perrrrrfect.”

Last week in Edinburgh, when I handed my ticket to a  Festival Fringe employee and he said, “Perfect,” I commented to him how I’d noticed that “Perfect” was the new “Brilliant.” He laughed and replied, “Six years ago, it was ….” but I am neither brilliant nor perfect enough to remember the last word in his sentence.

Personally, I think it’s brilliant and perfect to be kind and complimentary to visitors.  I wish I could witness more brilliant, perfect, and civil discourse in my own country, here and now.

Are any of my photos from yesterday brilliant or perfect?

I may not be brilliant or perfect, but I have fixed my photo-loading problems on WordPress, FOR NOW.

Here‘s what comes up on YouTube when I search for “brilliant or perfect.”

Believe it or not, that is one of THREE different videos on YouTube titled “Brilliant Tips on How to Select the Perfect Watermelon.”  Unfortunately, I don’t see any videos on YouTube about how to be brilliant and perfect about anything else, so I’ll just share this brilliant tune from Jacob Collier, which made me perfectly happy when I heard it yesterday.

I will not pressure you to post brilliant, perfect, witty or thought-provoking comments today. I will do my best to express brilliant or perfect thanks to all who helped me create today’s post and — of course! — to YOU.