Day 2806: Stay calm

I’m trying to stay calm as I

• deal with new problems creating these posts because of changes on WordPress,
• blog on my phone this morning,
• get ready to resume working from home as a group and individual psychotherapist,
• attend a challenging Zoom meeting,
• set healthy boundaries,
• respect myself and others,
• balance preparation with spontaneity,
• deal with technological glitches,
• deal with human glitches,
• recover and learn from mistakes,
• accept my natural impatience and sensitivities,
• encounter disappointment,
• feel helpless,
• rush to respond to people as quickly as possible,
• plan my 50th high school reunion on Zoom, and
• face the uncertainties we are all encountering, here and now.

What helps you stay calm? For me, it’s sharing photos like these:

Music like this helps me stay calm, even while reminding me of how fragile we are:

I also stay calm by noticing and expressing gratitude, so thanks to all who help me create these daily posts, including YOU.

Day 2400: Girls never quit

Yesterday, after spending  time with a wise  girl in her 70s who just won’t quit and who recently received a new diagnosis of a chronic illness,  I saw this:

The girl writing this blog will never quit

• appreciating others,
• observing,
• stopping to smell the flowers,
• healing,
• hoping,
• loving,
• connecting,
• renewing,
• revealing,
• looking for the beauty in every moment,
• knowing that life is good,
• putting herself out there,
• believing in the power of groups, and
• taking pictures.

Those last three photos show my boyfriend who won’t quit until he dismantles and gets rid of that hot tub.

This girl never quits looking for videos that won’t quit, like this one by a girl who never gives up:

I hope you never quit accepting all your feelings, which you are welcome to express in a comment, below.

This girl never quits expressing gratitude, so thanks to all who help me continue creating this blog and — of course! —  to YOU.

Day 1965: Finding room for you, me and the stuff

Yesterday, in a welcoming room in Newton Massachusetts, I was finding this, among other stuff:

I love finding things, knowing that there’s always room for you, me and the stuff here.

Whatever stuff there is, it’s smart not to stuff it.  There’s room for you and me to express our stuff, no matter how smelly and improper that stuff might be. Don’t forget:  we can always choose to let our stuff go.

I’m now finding room for all the other stuff in yesterday’s photos.

I’m finding welcome room for my stuff here, even when I don’t know what it is (like the stuff in that last photo).

Here‘s room for George Carlin to talk about stuff.

You’ll be finding room for comments, below.

As always, I’m finding room for thanks to Newton, George Carlin, stuff, and YOU.

 

Day 1602: Millions of Ideas

I have millions of ideas about this one-in-a-million picture I took yesterday.

How could one city have millions of ideas? Do you have any ideas about that?

Actually, I believe that one PERSON could have millions of ideas — some more helpful than others —  so it’s likely that any place in the world would have millions of ideas.

Let’s see if we can find millions of ideas in my other photos from yesterday.

I may have millions of ideas, but I have no idea how that last photo got on my phone.

Here‘s a song with millions of ideas and millions of miracles.

Feel free to express any of your millions of ideas in a comment below.

Millions of thanks to all who helped me create today’s post and to my less than a million readers, including the one-in-a-kashmillion YOU.

Day 1533: Empowerment

What does empowerment mean to you?

To me, empowerment means positively realizing and using personal power.

To the dictionary, empowerment means this:

em·pow·er·ment
əmˈpouərmənt/
noun
authority or power given to someone to do something.
“individuals are given empowerment to create their own dwellings”
the process of becoming stronger and more confident, especially in controlling one’s life and claiming one’s rights.
“political steps for the empowerment of women”

Empowerment can be a powerful matter of survival, especially when balances of power are powerfully misaligned.

Do you see empowerment in the pictures I was empowered to take yesterday?

Here are “Top 10 Girl Power Songs” from watchmojo.com on YouTube:

 

I now empower myself to express gratitude to all who helped me create this Empowerment post and to you — of course! — for being here, now.

 

 

Day 1277: Breakthroughs

Every time I do a therapy group, I witness people making personal breakthroughs.

Yesterday, I witnessed a group breaking through dozens of interesting subjects to choose “Breakthroughs” as the focus of the group’s work.

One of my breakthroughs is to ask the group certain questions  about the topics that break through our discussions:

In case my writing isn’t legible enough to break through into your consciousness, here are my breakthrough questions from yesterday:

1. What is your personal experience of breakthroughs?
2. What are your personal obstacles to breakthroughs?
3. What helps you with breakthroughs?

All the group participants broke through shyness, self-consciousness, and other obstacles to sharing in a group to describe inspiring breakthroughs.

Here’s more of my bad penmanship breaking through in response to Question #3, above:

What thoughts and feelings might break through, for you, regarding breakthroughs?

Do any of my other photos from yesterday — breaking through this post in chronological order — show breakthroughs?

I have some personal breakthroughs coming up soon, including:

1. Presenting about a breakthrough service for patients at work today,
2. Singing in front of a room full of people today and/or tomorrow, and
3. Breakthrough heart surgery at the Mayo Clinic in September.

What music would you choose for this breakthrough post?

Here are the Doors breaking through in their  first TV appearance on 1/1/67:

 

I wonder what comments are going to break  through the internet (where you’re never weird, according to one of the book titles breaking through above).

Many thanks to all  who helped me break through this 1277th consecutive daily post and to you — of course! — for all of your personal breakthroughs.

 

Day 1247: Find your place

As I was finding my place in Newton, Massachusetts, USA yesterday, I found a place with this sign:

I found a place for that image on my iPhone and now I’ve found a place for it, here.

Over the next few months I’ll be finding my place in many places, including

• the Kickstand Cafe in Arlington, Massachusetts, to sing at another Open Mic,
• Simmons College in Boston, for an intensive 3-day conference on group therapy,
• New York City, with another attempt to try out for The Voice,
• Springfield, Massachusetts to see comedian Louis C.K.,
• Edinburgh, Scotland, to attend the Festival Fringe and also get my son settled for his first year of university, and
• the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, for heart valve replacement surgery.

What helps me find a place, wherever I go?

• Love.
• Faith.
• Hope.
• Charity.
• Creativity.
• Openness to new experiences.
• Learning.
• Using all my senses.
• Support from others.
• Self Care.
• Confidence.
• Music.
• Being in the moment.
• Letting go.
• Breathing.
• Self expression.
• Bravery.
• Balance.
• Preparation.
• Spontaneity.
• Humor.
• Curiosity.
• Skill.
• Character.
• Safety.
• Home.
• The right clothes for the weather.
• Blogging.
• Awareness of what’s around me.
• My GPS system, Waze.

What helps you find your place?

I shall now find a place for the other photos I took yesterday. I hope you find your place through each one.

Now that you’ve found your place at the end of today’s photos, I’m finding a place for some music I made yesterday.

I found a place in my day yesterday to make up new lyrics for “So What?” by Miles Davis. In case you can’t find your place through those lyrics, here they are:

I’m gonna have an operation.

So what?

A finer chance I’ve never had.

So what?

They’re gonna do it at the Mayo.

So what?

I’m gonna get a brand new valve.

So what?

I’m gonna have an operation.

So what?

A shiny new mechanical valve.

So what?

They’re gonna do it at the Mayo.

So what?

A finer chance I’ve never had.

So what?

I’m gonna have an operation.

So what?

I’m kind of scared and kind of nervous.

So what?

They’re gonna give me a new valve.

So what?

I can’t wait for it to happen.

So what?

A finer chance I’ve never had.

So what?

I am finding my place, now, to point out that my voice found its place all the way up to high G while I was finding my place at the keyboard, sitting down.

Please find your place for comments, below.

I’ve now found my place for gratitude to all those who helped me create this post and to you — of course!  — for finding your place here.

 

Day 1196: Bunches of things happening all at once

In recent  bunches of days,  bunches of people in my life  have expressed bunches of empathy and sympathy about ..

It happens that bunches of people have expressed bunches of empathy and sympathy to me in bunches of ways, including:

• “You have a lot on your plate!”
• “You have a lot going on.”
• “Your only child is leaving for college soon and you’ve got all this medical stuff to deal with, not to mention a high-stress job.”
• “No matter what’s going on with you, you never stop.”
• “You do more than any other 63-year-old I know.”

For me, it’s difficult NOT to have

For example, yesterday was definitely a day with

These bunches of things included:

• getting a cool new case for my iPhone, which will prevent me from dropping it with bunches of thing happening all at once,
• having bunches of delicious brunch food with my son,
• stumbling across Open Studios in Newton,
• purchasing some fabulous earrings and a necklace made by Deborah Rochman of DLR designs,
• visiting “The Villa” in Newton, which was filled with artwork and color,
• having bunches of awesome conversations with my son Aaron and my boyfriend Michael,
• going to the Burlington Mall, which always has bunches of things happening all at once (including that “Bunches of things happening all at once” sign),
• consulting with bunches of geniuses at The Genius Bar at the Apple Store, and
• getting bunches of storage space freed up on my computer!!!!

Now, for some photographic proof of

I’m wondering if I’ll get bunches of comments about those

If I do, I’ve got bunches of storage space on my computer.

Bunches of thanks to all who helped me create this post and bunches of gratitude to you — of course!  — for reading, even though you might have

Day 1099: Uncategorized

Yesterday, when I was hanging out at WordPress in my usual uncategorized way, I noticed that over 200 of my posts were categorized as “Uncategorized.”  You could categorize my initial reaction to that as “categorically surprised,” since I almost always  categorize my posts as “personal growth” and “photojournalism.”

I  quickly categorized a theory as to why WordPress has categorized so many otherwise categorized posts as “uncategorized” — “uncategorized” is the default categorization used by WordPress for any new post and I need to uncheck a box to un-categorize any post from being “uncategorized.”

Perhaps I shall categorize THIS post as “uncategorized,” but before I do, here are some uncategorized thoughts about “uncategorized”:

• Human beings naturally categorize things, in order to understand them.
• Because I was categorized “ill” as a small child dealing with a congenital heart condition, I categorically resist being categorized.
• As a psychotherapist, I have to categorize people according to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), which I will now categorize as not one of my favorite categories of my job description.
• Today, at work, I am embarking on a  project that’s been categorized as “incredibly helpful” and “ground-breaking” by doctors and other people categorized as providers who work at a facility categorized as “one of Boston’s major teaching hospitals.”
• If you are categorically curious about my Quick Response  project  — where a clinician responds immediately, in the moment, when any patient needs support —  I was going to suggest you see previous posts which I would categorize as giving “background information,” but I can’t find any uncategorized and categorized posts like that besides this one.

Yesterday,  on a long walk through Newton, Massachusetts with Kathy — who I would categorize as “a wonderful friend” and “a fabulous photographer” —  I took all of these uncategorized photos:

How might you categorize those photos?  I hope you’re not categorizing them as “too many,” “too small to read,” or “very slow to load.”

Last night, after my walk with Kathy,  I took a few more photos I would categorize as “uncategorized”:

Feel free to categorized this uncategorized post in any way you choose, in a comment below.

I am now categorizing myself as grateful  to Kathy, to my boyfriend Michael (who made that delicious omelette, which he categorized very modestly),to Newton Massachusetts, to the Newton Free Library, to the major Boston teaching hospital where I work,  to WordPress, to all those who helped me create this uncategorized post, and to you — categorically! — for reading it.

1085: Down and Up

Yesterday — at (1) my new office, (2) Cabot’s Ice Cream & Restaurant in Newton Massachusetts USA, and (3) an open sing of Handel’s Messiah at a local church  —  I took these photos, sitting down:

That last photo shows a tulip on the “stupid phone” of Marlyse — a fellow soprano I met sitting down last night at The Messiah.  Marlyse told me that every year a tulip comes up outside her apartment, only to be mowed down by some groundskeeper. In 2014, the tulip stayed up, which she called “the triumph of hope over experience.”

Here are some photos I took standing up, yesterday:

Do things look different to you when you are down and up?

While I was up last night singing Handel’s Messiah, my voice hit all the notes, down and up, including these:

Hallelujah!

Thanks to my son Aaron (who joined up to sit down with me  for some ice cream at Cabot’s), to Marlyse, to tulips everywhere, to all those standing up and sitting down at the Messiah Open Sing last night,  to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, and to you — of course! — for being up for reading this down-and-up post, here and now.