Day 3109: Starting today

Starting today, I am going to

• be braver,
• not assume,
• breathe more deeply,
• be less afraid of other people’s anger,
• take more breaks, and
• only Tweet when I’m at home, because I’m close to exceeding my monthly mobile phone data.

Starting today, if I’ve overslept and I’m running late in the morning, I’m not going to feel guilty about throwing my blog post together quickly without much explanation or organization.

Starting today, if I don’t have time to include music or a video in my blog post, I shall feel no guilt.

This is not starting today, but as usual I feel and express gratitude for everyone in my life, including YOU!

Day 2731: Smiles

I wonder how many smiles appear when the latest post of The Year(s) of Living Non-Judgmentally shows up (even when it’s late, like today)?

In a Coping and Healing telehealth group today, the mindfulness exercise was focusing on smiles. We talked about how even a fake smile can get endorphins going and improve somebody’s mood.

Smiles are particularly difficult to come by these days because of

• tension,
• stress,
• worry,
• fear,
• uncertainty,
• discomfort,
• loss, and
• masks.

How many smiles can you find in these recent photos?

 

You may need to click on some of those smaller photos to look for smiles, but smiles are always worth looking for.

Here‘s a song about smiles:

I’ll smile if you leave a comment and I hope gratitude makes you smile.

Day 2610: Welcome to My Happy Place

Welcome ….

… to my happy place.

Every day, this blog is my happy place, because I choose to focus on

• kindness,
• love,
• gratitude,
• humor,
• music,
• cooperation,
• connection,
• hope,  and
• what helps,

rather than

• cruelty,
• hatred,
• fear,
• divisiveness, and
• what doesn’t help.

Sometimes, I get bored with humans who focus on those other things.

.

I look for photos and stories to make this my happy place.

While that dog doesn’t look happy, I saw that at somebody else’s happy place.

Here‘s “My Happy Place” by Odds.

 

What’s your happy place?

Thanks to all who make this my happy place, including YOU.

Day 2589: 02/02/2020

Today is

1. Groundhog Day,
2. a palindrome date (the numbers are the same backwards and forwards), and
3. my 67th birthday!

In 2018, I wrote a song titled “Shameless Appeals for Applause” which starts out

I’ve made it to age 65,

Nothing gets in the way of my passion and drive,

I was born with heart problems but I’m still alive.

I wonder if I need to rewrite that opening?  If so, not today.  Today I’m going to

• watch if the groundhog sees his shadow.
• think about the return of spring in the midst of winter.
• spend the day with my eminently quotable husband Michael who recently said, “If you’re going to learn something, you have to not know it first.”
• enjoy a new production of the musical “Hair.”
• enjoy not having to color my hair.
• get a free meal.
• watch for this Super Bowl commercial, which mentions my hometown:

• share my latest photos with you.

I have all I need in this corner of the world on my birthday, including YOU!

 

Day 2484: Girding and preparing for the day ahead

A few weeks ago, after girding and preparing myself for the day ahead,  I gave a speech at my 45th college reunion where I mentioned this daily  blog, as follows:

Also, seven years ago I expanded my network of friends by starting a daily blog. Every morning, including today, I’ve written about my heart, my son, my passion for the healing power of groups, my song-writing, my cats, my hopes, my fears, this speech — whatever helps gird me and prepare me for the day ahead.

Girding and preparing for the day ahead includes

• getting in touch with my priorities,
• observing what is,
• relentlessly celebrating the small things,
• awareness of loved ones who have passed,
• connecting with humans and other creatures, and
• sharing my photos from the day before.

Here’s the obituary of Debora Carmichael, past President of the Northeastern Society of Group Psychotherapy, who was such an inspiration and support to me and so many others.

I am girding and preparing myself for a day without the earthly presence of Deb,  friends, family members, and other shining lights who have passed.

Girding and preparing myself includes listening to music I love. Yesterday, when I was walking amongst the creatures and environs around me, I was reminded of a musician I loved when I was young — Jacques Loussier, who played jazz versions of Bach pieces, like this one:

As always, girding and preparing includes sharing my gratitude to all, including YOU.

Day 2344: The goods

Yesterday, as I was looking for

• a good haircut,
• good people,
• good conversation,
• good animals,
• good gifts,
• good places to hang,
• good books,
• good reflections,
• good walks,
• good advice,
• good neighbors,
• good memories,
• good homes,
• good puns,
• good food,
• good weather,
• good material for this blog,
• and other goods,

I encountered the word “good” (and other good words) several times. Can you find the goods in the good amount of photos that I took yesterday?

Did you spot the goods?

Good people who have been reading this blog for a good many years might have recognized our good neighbor Karen and her good dog, Faxy, among all the other good images.

Also, I took two  good shots of this good mural …

… during a good walk through the good Neponset River Reservation because my good son and good boyfriend were trying to guess what was on the missing panel (in the upper left corner next to the good bee).  What would be your good guess?

What would be a good song to include in this post?

Gratitude is always good, so thanks to all who helped me create today’s good enough blog post and — of course! — to YOU, my good readers.

Day 2236: Build your own adventure

Yesterday, when I was building my own adventure, I saw this:

Actually, I need help from others to build my own adventure.  How do you build your own adventure?

When my son was very young, he posted a build-your-own-adventure game on YouTube, which I can’t find.  Therefore, shall we build our own adventure together, here and now, using forty-eight of my photos from yesterday?

You can further build the adventure if you click on any photo you’d like to more adventurously explore.

Here‘s what comes up on YouTube for “Build Your Own Adventure”:

 

I don’t have time to make the choices for that scary adventure, because I’ve got to go out into the world and build my adventure for today.

I look forward to the adventures people build in the comments section, below.

Gratitude helps me build my own adventure, so thanks to all who helped me build today’s post and — of course! — YOU.

 

 

 

Day 2184: What’s going on

Yesterday, when I was going on with my son to buy last-minute Christmas presents and cat food,  this sign was going on inside the Fresh Pond PetSmart in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA:

What’s going on with you, dear readers?

Could it be the holidays?

What’s going on in my other photos from yesterday?

What’s going on as I end up this Christmas Eve post, with happiness about my almost six years of blogging about what’s going on?

Animals singing “The Twelve Days of Christmas” ….

… and lots of gratitude to all who help me capture what’s going on in these daily posts and — of course! — YOU.

 

Day 2141: Who needs a smile today?

Who needs a smile today, besides me?

Let me know if any of these photos — which I needed to take yesterday — give you a smile.

 

Who needs a perky turkey hat today?

I also needed a smile nine days ago, so I took that photo of somebody at my hospital who needed that hat that day (and I shared it in this blog post).

My search on YouTube for “who needs a smile today” found this today:

In order to smile, I need to hear words like “Hospitality and cordiality are very sincere here” (at :36 in that video).

Who needs to share a comment today?

As always, I need to express my thanks today to all who helped me create this post today and — of course! — to YOU.

Day 2107: Insanely calm

In the midst of insanely upsetting local and global news, it might seem insane to be calm.

Nevertheless, that is my goal: to remain insanely calm.

Taking photos helps me stay insanely calm.

I wonder what the best solution for Person Anxiety is. In other words,  what helps you be insanely calm?

Here are the rest of my insanely calm photos for today:

Tea helps me be insanely calm and so do sayings like “Experience will give you the power and confidence to be you” even when my photos are insanely unfocused.

I was drinking delicious and calming Yogi tea last night while Michael and I watched The Phantom Thread, which — now that I calmly think about it — featured people being insanely calm.

Here is some insanely calm music from The Phantom Thread, by Jonny Greenwood of Radiohead:

I look forward to insanely calm comments from my insanely loyal readers.

Finally, some insanely calm gratitude for all who helped me create this insanely calm post and — OF COURSE — for you.