Day 2752: Do one thing every day to better yourself

On my staycation this week, I am trying to better myself every day by

• going on long walks,
• wearing a mask when I leave the house,
• appreciating the beauty around me,
• spending time with my son, who is home from college,
• getting enough sleep,
• eating relatively healthily,
• showing patience,
• letting go of judgment,
• being aware of others’ pain and suffering without losing myself in it,
• taking achievable next steps towards personal and universal goals,
• coexisting in harmony,
• speaking up against injustice,
• expressing my truth,
• appreciating kindness,
• taking one day at a time,
• having fun,
• listening to music I love,
• learning new things,
• reading,
• writing,
• laughing,
• crying,
• watching enjoyable shows and movies on TV,
• balancing time for myself with connection to others,
• maintaining healthy boundaries,
• letting go of whatever is not serving me well,
• accepting with serenity what cannot be changed,
• having the courage to change what can be changed,
• acquiring the wisdom to know the difference,
• being in the moment, and
• sharing photographs.

Our ailing cat Oscar and my husband Michael (who does not like his picture taken) are bettering themselves every day by spending precious moments together.  I better myself every day by listening to Michael, who said about himself earlier this week: “I can talk a dead monkey down from a tree.” I better explain that’s why I took this photo yesterday:

Here‘s “Getting Better” by the Beatles, performed live in 2002 by Paul McCartney and others:

If you were to do one thing every day to better yourself, what might that be?

One thing I do every day to better myself is to express gratitude, so thanks to everybody, including YOU.

Day 2438: All you need

All you need is …

… love.

All I need is

• love,
• kindness,
• shelter,
• peace,
• the healing power of groups, and
• the chance to pay my respects today to my late friend Hillel and to his family and friends.

All I need is my iPhone to take photos and to post this blog a few hours before my wonderful hostess Julie and I leave to drive to Hillel’s funeral in NYC.

All I need is that Connecticut Cat Nellie and a FaceTime call with Harley to help prepare me for the funeral today.

What’s all you need?

Is this music all you need?

All the love and thanks you need coming at you, here and now, from your grateful blogger.

Day 2041: life-changing magic

Have you heard about this book by Marie Kondo:  “the life-changing magic of tidying up”?

Today, I want to give equal time to the life-changing magic of other things, including NOT tidying up.

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No matter how much we wish to tidy up, there are always new messes to deal with!

Would you agree that there’s life-changing magic in music?

I look forward to the life-changing magic of your comments.

There’s life-changing magic in gratitude, so thanks to all who helped me create today’s post and — of course! — to YOU.

Day 2007: Don’t Look Back

Don’t look back at my recent posts, or you might see this:

Don’t slavishly obey people who tell you what to do or not to do.  Look back if you want to — you might see something important.

When I look back at yesterday, I see all these things, looking back.

 

 

When I look back, I see beauty, clouds, benevolence, sympathy, fear, worry, my son Aaron, his friend Cameron, books, bunnies, and Boston.

What do you see when you look back?

Here‘s Boston telling us “Don’t Look Back.”

When I looked back at YouTube just now,  this was playing after “Don’t Look Back.”

I look forward to looking back at whatever comments there are for this “Don’t Look Back” post.

Don’t look back at my blog if you don’t want to see gratitude looking back at you.

 

 

Day 2002: What gives you a lift?

In times like these,  it’s important to ask the question “What gives you a lift?”

What gives me a lift includes a visit to Chicago,

sunshine, being near the water,

urban parks,

liberty,

freedom of the press,

 

Edinburgh, Scotland (which I’m visiting again with my son in August), good public transportation,

Lyft drivers who have candy for their passengers,

sand sculptures,

embracing that it’s my time to fly, and most of all, coming home.

My friend Dave guarantees that watching this will give me a lift:

 

It did!  I’m sure your comments will give me a lift, too.

Gratitude, as always, gives me a lift. Thanks to all who helped me create today’s post and — of course! — to YOU.

 

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 1592: Mug Shots

My first shot at writing today’s post is defining the term “mug shot.”

mug shot
noun: mugshot
a photograph of a person’s face made for an official purpose, especially police records.
humorous
any photograph of a person’s face.

If this mug wrote that “mug shot” definition, I would have added this:

humorous

any  photograph of a mug

… because I collect and also photograph mugs.

I wanted to start off this mug-shots post with that particular mug shot, because

• we’re going to move, so we need to pack up all our belongings, including our many mugs,
• I’ve been struggling to balance trust lately, because of all the mugs and mugging in the news, and
• if you took a mug shot of my face, it might show worry, acceptance, fear, contentment, confusion, trust, distrust, anticipation, anger, hope, excitement, sadness, or happiness, depending upon the moment of the mug shot.

I think it’s helpful to show on your mug what you’re feeling inside.

Because I knew that today’s post was going to be “Mug Shots,’ I took lots of  mug shots yesterday.

That last mug shot inspires me to share this version of “I’ve Just Seen a Face.”

I’ve just seen a face in the mirror and it looks very grateful, for all who helped me create this post and — of course! — for YOU.

Day 1465: Malware Where?

Yesterday morning, I asked the blogging question  Why Should I be Afraid?  Last night, right before I planned to go to sleep, I’m afraid I downloaded some malware from out there here onto my laptop.

Should I be afraid of malware?  I am, so I spent hours eradicating it here when I should have been asleep there on my pillow.

Malware was here, there, and everywhere. Today, I’m trying to feel safe enough here on this computer.

Likewise,  evil is here, there, and everywhere. Today, I’m trying to feel safe enough here on this earth.

I hear myself say, here and now,  that goodware and good people are also here, there, and everywhere. So  I believe I am safe enough here, in this moment.

Music is here, there and everywhere.

Malware is to share  but  — as Paul tells us there —  love is to share, also.

New photos where?  They’re there on my iPhone, here on my laptop, and now everywhere, shared on the internet.

Change you can wear is where?   As I’m writing this, it’s in my drawer.  Soon, I’ll be wearing it there to work.

Here’s hoping for comments  here, there, and everywhere.

My thanks to all the good people who helped me create this blog post and to all you good people are where?

Here.

Day 822: April Fools

I would be fooling if I wrote that yesterday —  April 1/April Fools Day, 2015 — was an easy day for me.

Was I a fool to see several cardiologists on April Fools Day, as I tried to reach non-foolish decisions about my foolishly unusual heart?

Here’s something I foolishly took a picture of, as I was waiting to see the first cardiologist on April Fools Day:

Here was the most foolishly scary thing I heard all day yesterday, soon after I took that foolish photo:

Your current doctors have been foolish by not replacing your valve before now. Valve surgery is the only thing that can save you. The operation may kill you, but if you do nothing, you will keep getting worse and die a horrible death.

You may think I am foolishly exaggerating what that first cardiologist said. I am not, although I foolishly cannot remember each one of his exact words.

After I heard those words (and many other scary ones), I shed a few tears. As always, it was NOT foolish to cry and to have my feelings.  Then, I went to the hospital where my long-time cardiologists — Dr. Salem and Dr. Estes —  have been treating me non-foolishly for over 30 years.

Here is Dr. Salem, trying not to make a fool of himself as he is interviewed on the phone by the Boston Business Journal:

Dr. Salem discussed many possible next steps with me, including:

• Valve surgery
• Pacemaker/defibrillator surgery
• Heart transplant
• Wait and see.

When I told him the scary words I’d heard from the cardiologist earlier in the day, Dr. Salem explained why those words  were foolish and not true. During the many years I have been working with Dr. Salem, he has helped me let go of foolish fear because of foolish  words I read or hear about my extremely rare cardiac condition, which can easily fool doctors who don’t know me well.

After I saw Dr. Salem on April Fools Day, I met with Dr. Mark Estes, whom I foolishly did not photograph.  Dr. Estes, like Dr. Salem, is no fool. He told me he has spent the last few months talking to as many non-foolish experts about  hearts like mine and reading as many non-foolish articles as he could find, in order to make his best, unfooled recommendation to me. Here was Dr Estes’s April Fools Day recommendation:

Replace my current cardiac pacemaker with a pacemaker-defibrillator combo and add new wires to pace and synchronize both ventricles of my heart.

Because I had foolishly not eaten enough yesterday and because I was still feeling the foolish fears from my first cardiology appointment earlier in the day, I foolishly did not write down all of the details of Dr. Estes suggestions, including the name of his recommended surgical procedure.

I am no fool, though, because I do remember all this:

• This surgical procedure has a 50% chance of increasing my life longevity,
• It is much less dangerous than valve surgery,
• If it doesn’t work, we can always consider valve surgery again,
• We scheduled this recommended surgery for May 4, and
• The first  week of May is the week I was already planning to take off from work in order to enjoy the spring, which will be so foolishly and spectacularly gorgeous for all of us Bostonians who have survived this year’s foolish winter.

Be still, my foolish heart!

Actually, that’s a rather foolish thing to write, considering the circumstances.

Last night, I foolishly took all of these April Fools Day pictures:

          

      

      

What “Fool” song would you choose for this post-April Fools Day post?

Here’s my choice, about a fool on a hill:

No fooling: I’d be foolishly pleased if you leave any fool songs, questions, or comments below.

Heart-felt, day-after-April-Fools thanks to Dr. Deeb Salem, to Dr. Mark Estes, to Paul McCartney and the Beatles, to cardiologists everywhere, to those who try their best not to get fooled again, to hearts that follow their true path, and to you, my non-foolish and much  appreciated reader.