Day 3433: Creature Comforts

Can you see why today’s blog post is titled “Creature Comforts”?

I’m comforted to know that today is Veggie Burger Day, since the creatures in this household often have veggie burgers on Sunday. I’m also comforted by how many more creatures survive cancer these days, compared to years ago.

Here‘s “Creature Comforts” by Arcade Fire.

Thanks to all the creatures who comfort me, including YOU.

Day 2981: Come experience the difference

Come experience the difference as I get my hair cut, eat inside at a restaurant for the first time in almost a year, and hang out on Twitter and in other familiar places, completely vaccinated.

Apparently I’m not going viral, AGAIN, because I was not dead when I posted that tweet last night:

I wrote that when I was experiencing the difference of being a vaccinated woman out at our local supermarket.

Come experience the difference of my song “Vaccinated Women” after I had some time to practice it.

Come experience the difference of posting a new comment, below, and the difference of a new expression of gratitude from me to YOU.

Day 2756: Block Party

Yesterday, when my son Aaron and I were in Lexington, Massachusetts, we attended a block party.  Not the usual block party, but an Artwalk Block Party, in which store windows displayed painted and decorated blocks.

Speaking of nurturing creativity, Block Party is also a documentary film which follows comedian Dave Chappelle during the summer of 2004, ending in a block party he hosted in Brooklyn which featured musical artists including Erykah Badu, Mos Def,  Common, The Fugees, The Roots, and the Central State University Marching Band.  Here‘s Wyclef Jean asking members of the CSU marching band what they would do if they were President before he performed If I Was President”:

If any of them were President instead of our current one, I’d be celebrating with a block party.

Wanting to block our current President from getting a second term reminds me of this video from Republican Voters Against Trump:

That reminds me of my other photos from the same block in Lexington yesterday:

Aaron and I had our own socially distanced block party in Lexington yesterday, celebrating near this guy …

… with Cocoa Joel and Cake Batter ice cream from Rancatore’s.  I don’t have any photos of that celebration, but I do have these other photos from various blocks yesterday.

 

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After those walks around some blocks, Michael made us fish cakes with asparagus, turnips, and carrots.

Party!

I shall now invite you all to a commenting block party, below.

As always, I end each daily blog block party with gratitude for everyone who helps me party, including YOU.

Day 1382: Add Sparkle to Your Life

Yesterday, as I continued to sparkle with life after my open heart surgery on September 21, I saw this sparkling and lively sign:

What helps you add sparkle to your life? Personally, my life sparkles when I …

• let go of fear,
• see the love around me,
• take good care of myself and those I cherish,
• embrace all feelings,
• am hopeful about the future,
• am realistic about the past,
• accept both the bruises and the sparkles of the present,
• allow my mind and body to heal from past wounds, and
• take new steps every day.

Do any of my other photos from yesterday add sparkle to your life?

 

 

Here‘s some sparkling music from Earth Wind & Fire:

 

Please add sparkle to my life with a sparkling comment.

Gratitude adds even more sparkle to my life, so here’s a message to all those sparkling ones who helped me create this post and to you — of course! — for whatever sparkle you bring,  here and now:

Day 1228: Danger

Yesterday morning, when I was facilitating a therapy group, I drew this picture

which shows a fish in danger.

Yesterday afternoon, when I was in historic Lexington, Massachusetts, USA, I took these two photos, one after another:

 

For many reasons, I tend to notice potential danger, in the present and in the near future.  Do you?

In my personal and professional lives, I spend a lot of time trying to figure out how much danger people are in, as well as how to negotiate and respond to fear. It makes sense for us to be Fearful of Danger, but how can we accurately assess how much danger we’re in, during any particular moment?  Fear  of danger can save us to live another day;  it can also paralyze and imprison us.

What dangers are you in danger of seeing in my other photos from yesterday?

 

 

 

With all the danger, destruction, death, and dragons we deal with, I sometimes suggest this helpful phrase:

It’s safer than it feels.

Is there any danger of my forgetting to  express gratitude at the end of this blog post?

 

 

Day 1165: Gifts of the here and now

Yesterday, several of my therapy patients talked about the gifts of the here and now. Here and now, I’ll tell you some things they said:

• Being in the here and now — letting go of worry about the future and regrets about the past — increases confidence and inner peace.
• Focusing on the here and now should be called “anti-therapy,” because conventional therapy focuses on the past.
• Staying in the here and now is difficult, because human minds naturally drift to the there and then.

Are you with me, here and now?

Here and now are forty-one photographic gifts from yesterday, when I was there and then during a gorgeous, unseasonably warm March 9 around Boston, Massachusetts, USA:

 

Through the gifts of blogging, I can tell you that this house in Lexington, Massachusetts …

… is where my ex-husband and I got married in 1988, which resulted in the here-and-now gift of my eighteen year-old son.

Here and now,  can you see how this photo

… offers the gift of a musical choice, honoring the Beatles and George Martin (who passed away two days ago)?

Here and now, I would appreciate the gifts of any comment from you.

Here-and-now thanks to those who heal in therapy, to Lexington Massachusetts, to the Beatles, to George Martin, and to you — of course! — for being here, now.