Day 2519: It’s safer than it feels

When people with a history of trauma (which seems to include everybody, these days) are feeling shaky, anxious, and fearful, I often encourage them to focus on this helpful phrase:

It’s safer than it feels.

Yesterday, our scaredy-cat Harley was safer — even if he didn’t feel like it — when our new vet, Dr. Jo, came for a house call.

Michael, who wanted everybody to feel safer, had spent days developing a plan for how Dr. Jo could safely examine Harley and give him his shots.  When Dr. Jo arrived, Michael was closed up in Aaron’s bedroom with Harley, having set up the room so there was (as Michael said), “Nowhere to run, nowhere to hide.”

Dr. Jo helped us all feel safer as she quickly, efficiently, and kindly examined Harley and gave him his yearly shots, declaring our “chunky” cat safely healthy.  Miraculously, Harley felt safe enough to be in plain sight minutes after we allowed him to escape from that safe room.

In the past, when Harley felt unsafe, we would see neither hide nor hair of him for hours, if not days.

Now that we have a great vet who makes house calls, we all feel safer. Can you tell that I was feeling safer when I took the rest of the photos in today’s blog?

 

 

Who feels safe enough, here and now, to dance to “Nowhere to Run” by Martha Reeves and the Vandellas?

I hope it feels safe enough for you to express your thoughts and feelings about this “It’s Safer Than It Feels” post, below.

Thanks to everybody who makes this world feel safer, including YOU.

 

 

Day 2517: Who is on your mind today?

Who is on your mind today?

Wonderful people?

Difficult people?

Shadows from the past?

People who are reassuring?

People who have a lot of nerve?  People you see during Thanksgiving?

People who come together when the feeling’s right?

People who make music?

You’re on my mind today, so

• please let me know who is on your mind today and
• accept my mindful gratitude on November 22, 2019.

Day 2370: The conversations you didn’t know you needed

“The conversations you didn’t know you needed” could be part of an advertisement for group therapy.

It’s also a phrase I photographed between my two “Coping and Healing” groups yesterday.

Did you know you needed these conversations?

What about these conversations?

If you need another look at my “poetic”  conversation about family (pictured a few conversations above), here it is:

I’m going to try to write a poem about family,

It’s probably not going to be very grammarly,

Families are where we are born,

They can make us happy or forlorn,

You can pick your nose but you can’t pick your family.

Here’s a recap of some other important conversations photographed above:

Ignore the environment, it will go away …

The best things in life aren’t things …

Don’t compare your insides to other people’s outsides.

Never worry alone.

If you need important conversations about this blog post, please participate below.

I don’t know about you, but I always need conversations about gratitude, so thanks to all who helped me create today’s post and — of course! — to YOU.

Day 2357: First-Aid for Desperate Moments

When I was having some desperate moments yesterday because of sleep deprivation (among other stressors), I found “First-Aid for Desperate Moments” online at Sundown Healing Arts, with these helpful phrases from Sonia Connolly, LMT, Reiki Master:

“I give thanks for help unknown already on the way.”

“It ended.”

“This problem is already solved.”

“I am doing the right thing.”

“What if this isn’t mine?”

“Don’t go to the hardware store for milk.”

“Don’t compare your insides to someone else’s outsides.”

“I am already good enough.”

“I don’t need fixing.”

“It’s okay to be where I am right now.”

It was more than okay to be at Sonia Connolly’s helpful website.

I would like to believe that, as a group and individual therapist, I provide first-aid for desperate moments, too.

Here are some moments from yesterday:

 

 

Dining out near the ocean is definitely first-aid for desperate moments and so is music I love. Here’s “First Circle” from the Pat Metheny Group:

 

What is your first-aid for desperate moments?

Gratitude is an aid for any moment, so thanks to all who helped me create today’s post and — of course! — to YOU.

 

 

 

Day 2356: What am I supposed to do?

What am I supposed to do about

• creating a blog with very limited time this morning?
• the state of the world?
• other people’s opinions?
• unhelpful thoughts?
• unfairness?
• injustice?
• imbalance?
• a smudged and difficult-to-clean white board?
• punctuation?
• spelling?
• nutrition?
• climate change?
• other changes?
• stress?
• pressure?
• insomnia?
• difficult decisions?
• self care?
• care of others?
• mixed feelings?
• other people’s feelings?
• thorny problems?
• physical pain?
• emotional pain?
• distractions?
• interruptions?
• fear?
• worries about the future?
• living in the past?
• invasions?
• goodbyes?
• my latest photos?

What am I supposed to do about British Invasion Week?

What am I supposed to do about “What Am I Supposed to Do?” by Whitey Morgan?

What am I supposed to do about  an important discussion from last night’s Coping and Healing group, in which we focused on radical acceptance?

Radical Acceptance means completely and totally accepting something from the depths of your soul, with your heart and your mind. You stop fighting reality. When you stop fighting you suffer less. (From “Three Blocks to Radical Acceptance” by Karyn Hall, PhD.)

What am I supposed to do about asking for comments?

What am I supposed to do about gratitude for all who helped me create today’s post and — of course! — for YOU?

Day 2160: Danger

When you’ve been blogging as long as I have, there’s always a danger you might repeat yourself.  And on May 12, 2016, I published a post also titled “Danger” (which is allowed here in The Year(s) of Living Non-Judgmentally).

In that post, there was a drawing of a fish committing suicide. However, nature seems to be in much more danger now than it was in May, 2016.

Because I’m in danger of being late for work, I’ll quickly share yesterday’s photos, which include danger and also some ways to deal with danger.

\

Here‘s ‘Danger’ dance practice, featuring the  “South Korean boy band” BTS.

I’m in danger of assuming that there are no North Korean boy bands.

I hope you know there is no danger involved if you leave a comment, below.

There’s also no danger in expressing thanks to all who help me create this daily blog and — of course — to YOU.

 

Day 2152: Today is …

Today is …

• the anniversary of President John F. Kennedy’s assassination,
• the anniversary of my first heart surgery and my first pacemaker, at age 10,
• the birthday of a wonderful woman named Jean who reads this blog (Happy Birthday, Jean!), and
• Thanksgiving in the USA!

Today is a great day to give thanks and to share these photos, taken yesterday.

Today is a day to share this: we may rant and rave at the passage of time, but it’s good to be in the moment — today and every day!

Today is the day I discovered Today is master-class:  how to paint a cat.

 

Today is a day for giving thanks to all who help me create these blog posts and to you — of course! — for reading them.

Day 2125: The truth

The truth is that I knew the title of today’s post even before I reviewed my photos from yesterday.

The truth is that when I think of the truth these days, I’m on the verge of tears.  The truth is that the truth seems to depend what side you’re on. The truth is that I can never remember people being so divided about what the truth is.

The truth is that I keep inviting people in my therapy groups to write helpful truths on post-it notes (which, in truth, I call “stickies”).

The truth is that the post-it note above describes the Four Agreements and the truth is that you can read more about those here.

The truth is that I took more photos yesterday.

The truth is that I didn’t mean to take the last four.

The truth is that this sign …

… includes the word “true” in it, which I just noticed.

Here’s “True Colors” by Cindi Lauper.

Is it the truth that the truth was simpler in 1986, or is that just an illusion?

The truth is that I hope you share your truth below.

The truth is that I’m always grateful for those who help me create this blog and — of course! — to YOU, for being true.

Day 1628: Be You

Be you.

Everybody else is taken.

Being me, I am checking whether my memory of that quote is correct. Actually, it’s

Be yourself; everyone else is already taken.

— Oscar Wilde

“Be you” is today’s title because, to be honest,  I see “be you” in several of my pictures from yesterday.

Be you and tell me if you agree.

Someone or something is being difficult: I had to restart my computer twice to post those photos.  Being me, I had to let you know.

Here’s a Be-atle being him:

 

Please be you and leave a comment be-low.

I shall be me and express  gratitude to all who helped me create this post by being them and — of course! — to you, for being you.

Day 1576: Knowledge

When I search for other posts I’ve written here that have “Knowledge,” there’s none to be found. Consider yourselves warned.

Recently, when I was at the building department in Quincy Massachusetts, investigating the history of a particular property, I said to one of the staff there, “Knowledge is power.”  He replied, “Not at my house.”

Yesterday, knowledge showed up on a teabag.

I wonder what the guy at the Quincy building department would think of that.

Do you agree that knowledge is power and that your strength is your own knowledge?

Regular readers of this blog have the knowledge that I always share my photos from the day before. Let’s see if those pictures include any knowledge.

Those last three photos demonstrate my knowledge of the usefulness of having a helpful phrase ready whenever you need it. If you want more knowledge of the “In Case of Emergency, Break Glass” technique, that knowledge is in this post.

Did you know there are DOZENS of songs about knowledge? Here‘s one I know:

You know and I know that gratitude is important, so thanks to all who helped me create this knowledgeable post and to YOU (of course!)  for all the knowledge you bring, here and now.