Day 3340: 2’s Day

Today is 2/22/22 (or 22/2/22, depending where you live). It’s a day with many 2’s, and it’s falling on a Tuesday (or 2’s Day, if I’m not being 2 punny). This is 2 exciting and 2, 2 rare!

I hope it’s not 2 much 2 ask that my images 2day feature 2’s, in honor of this 2, 2 special day.

Salmon with cous cous, a dish so nice they named it twice!

The National Days don’t recognize 2’s Day, but I’m not 2 concerned about that.

2day’s video features our 2 cats, Harley and Joan. I’m happy 2 report that my husband of 2 years, Michael, was able 2 capture the 2 of them wrestling, times 2! I hope this video doesn’t take 2 long 2 load.

It’s wonderful 2 see the 2 of them having 2 much fun. It’s a great distraction from the news, which can be 2 overwhelming, 2 be honest.

If you want 2 leave a comment about this 2’s Day post, you know what 2 do.

Thanks 2 you for sharing this 2’s Day with somebody who was born on 2/2 — 2, 2 grateful me. Hope 2 see you 2morrow!

Day 2990: An achievable next step

In therapy, when people feel overwhelmed, I ask them to identify an achievable next step.

For me, here and now, achievable next steps include:

• sending an email inviting somebody to connect with me via ZOOM,
• opening up 2020 tax preparation software for the first time,
• entering some tax data,
• sending my video of “Vaccinated Women” to another TV show,
• calling my health insurance company about family coverage,
• calling a new company about my flexible spending health accountability account,
• dancing, and
• sharing these images with you:

According to the CDC, achievable next steps are definitely changing. Change is stressful, even those changes you desperately want. I would suggest choosing and practicing an achievable next step for reducing stress.

For me, sharing music I love is an achievable next step. Here are international women taking achievable next dance steps to “So What” by Miles Davis.

Is an achievable next step for you leaving a comment about this achievable-next-step post?

Gratitude is always an achievable next step for me.

Day 1908: What’s around us

Yesterday, Bernadette at Tufts Medical Center was around me.

We talked about what was around us at work and with our families.  When I asked her if she wanted to appear in my blog (where I document what’s around me),  she said, “Sure!”

I showed her the other photos I had just taken around her.

She said, “Those are great!  Where did you find them?” When I told her they were around her, she was all shook up.  “Really? I’ve never noticed them!”  We talked about how often we don’t notice what’s around us.  We both resolved to not worry, be happy, and notice what’s around us.

Here’s what was around me for the rest of the day:

What’s around you, here and now?

Elvis is no longer around us, but he’s still shaking it up on YouTube.

 

Admiration and gratitude is around us, if we look for it.

Thank you!

 

 

 

Day 1845: I should have known better

#1 on my personal list of what doesn’t help is telling myself “I should have known better.”

At this point in my life, I should know better than to tell myself “I should have known better.”  Nevertheless, I’ve been telling myself “I should have known better” a lot lately, even though it doesn’t help.

What would be better than telling myself “I should have known better”?

Self-forgiveness, acceptance of what is, and identifying  achievable and helpful next steps.

Therefore, I forgive myself, accept what is, and identify these achievable and helpful next steps:

#1.  Include my other photos from yesterday.

#2. Share some music (which should be here and here on YouTube).

#3.  Express gratitude to all who helped me create this should-have-known-better post and  to you!

Day 1793: Start where you are

Where are you? You’re at the Year(s) of Living Non-Judgmentally. Start here.

Where do you want to go from where you are? Start by taking a small step. Then another.

If it’s difficult to start where that caption is, it says

Without any tennis balls around, Zoe has resorted to the limes that fall off the tree…

I want to start being more like Zoe.

“Start where you are” finds lots of videos on YouTube. Let’s start here:

Start a comment, if that’s where you are.

Where I am is here, so I’ll end with gratitude to all who helped me start and complete this post and — of course! — to you, wherever you are.

Day 203: Will

The topic for today is the word “will.”

I had many choices from the Google Buffet of Definitions, this morning. I chose the following, from the Merriam Webster site:

will   noun     \ˈwil\

1. : desire, wish: as

a : disposition, inclination <where there’s a will there’s a way>

b : appetite, passion

c : choice, determination

2

a : something desired; especially : a choice or determination of one having authority or power

b (1) archaic : request, command (2) [from the phrase our will is which introduces it] : the part of a summons expressing a royal command

3 : the act, process, or experience of willing : volition
4

a : mental powers manifested as wishing, choosing, desiring, or intending

b : a disposition to act according to principles or ends

c : the collective desire of a group <the will of the people>

5 : the power of control over one’s own actions or emotions <a man of iron will>

6: a legal declaration of a person’s wishes regarding the disposal of his or her property or estate after death; especially : a written instrument legally executed by which a person makes disposition of his or her estate to take effect after death

— at will
: as one wishes : as or when it pleases or suits oneself

A few random thoughts, about all that (accompanied by my friend, Google Images):

In a previous (personal favorite) post here,  I wrote about To Do Lists.

Something that’s been on my To Do List, for a very long time?

That kind of will.

Also, on my To Do List, for a shorter time, a different kind of will:

A Living Will (which is not included in the Merriam Webster definitions) is defined as

A document in which the signer states his or her wishes regarding medical treatment, especially treatment that sustains or prolongs life by extraordinary means, for use if the signer becomes mentally incompetent or unable to communicate.

Hmmmm. I wonder why I’ve been avoiding completing both of those kinds of wills — The Last Will and Testament and The Living Will.

I repeat, hmmmmm.

Should I label myself “A Procrastinator?”  Would that help?

Nah.

Should I ask you, readers, if you might resist taking care of those kinds of wills?  Should I ask if you’ve encountered other people, in your life,  who have resisted taking care of those sorts of things, and the effect that has had on you?

Sure! I love asking questions like that.  Feel free to answer.

But ultimately, what would give me the will to just get those things done?

I can tell you three things that will help me take an achievable step, on Day 202, of This Year of Living Non-Judgmentally:

1. Having just attended a 43rd year high school reunion.
2. Identifying that achievable next step (calling a lawyer, whom I’ve identified, also).
3. Remembering a “cliche” that my mother used to say a lot:

Where there’s a will there’s a way

(quoted in definition #1a, above).

That concludes today’s blog post, everybody.  Thanks for having the will to read, wherever you are.

Day 190: What I’m avoiding

I may want to avoid writing this post.

But I’m going to “just do it.”

Here are some random thoughts about avoidance, to get me started:

If I’m avoiding something,  there is some fear involved.

It might be fear about an outcome.

It might be fear about hurting somebody else.

Or fear about being hurt, myself.

I might be sullen or angry about something — “I don’t want to do this!”

Sometimes I don’t even know what I’m avoiding.

Avoidance feels a certain way, though.

It feels like this:

My mouth is flat, or turned down.

My brow is furrowed.

My eyes don’t focus.

My thoughts flit around, unwilling to light on anything, like a butterfly trapped in a room filled with lobster sauce.*

(That was, I believe, the first occurrence in this blog of A Deliberate Simile. The first simile after a full six months! And the simile itself was not random; it was well-researched. See here.)

What else do I feel when I’m avoiding?

I feel a pit in my belly.

I think it’s fear, all right.

So I guess I need to ask myself the question, What Am I Afraid Of?

Hmmmmm.

That question isn’t working so well, this morning. (Although sometimes a question like that is really helpful: see here.)

Here’s how I know that’s not the best question, right now. The answer to “What am I afraid of?” is a general one:

Lots of things.

So I’ll try a different question.

What am I avoiding?

Aha!  Better question.

I’m avoiding saying goodbye to a co-worker.

I’m avoiding talking to my son about how scared I am, regarding his recent and sudden illness. (He’s okay, by the way.)

Bingo!

Sometimes I think I should re-name this blog “The Year of Naming Things, So I Can Then Figure Out What To Do.”

I’m not sure, at this point, what I’m going to do about either of these things.

But I’ll quote something I heard yesterday, at work:

It helps to know I have options and choices.  It’s funny how I often forget that.

And, for me, the first step of figuring out my options is this:

To figure out where I am.

Thanks for joining me today, as I figure things out.

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* No good pictures of this (“butterfly lobster sauce”) on Google Images.  Oh, well.