Yesterday, when I went to cardiac rehab, I saw this:
And this is it, for cardiac rehab, because I’ve now completed all my sessions there.
This is it, for Danise.
This is it, for Carla.
Carla is saying, “This is it! That’s the weirdest thing I’ve ever seen” as she’s watching this:
This is it, for Kathy.
Kathy is saying, “This is it! Joel Sartore‘s Photo Ark is perfect for any animal lover!”
This is it, for me and cardiac rehab.
This is it, for the rest of my photos from yesterday.
This is it for today’s blog, as I thank Danise, Carla, Kathy, Mount Auburn Hospital Cardiac Rehab, Joel Sartore, the city of Boston, Tifa the Rabbit, Oscar, Harley, everyone else appearing in today’s post and I also thank you — of course! — for being here, now.
Pardon me for noticing, but people seem very concerned about appearances.
Pardon the appearance of two signs of that in today’s blog.
Are there appearances of anything that need pardoning there?
Pardon me for this: When I’m not at my best, I often want to be pardoned for my appearance.
Please pardon the appearance of the ten pounds I’ve gained since my heart surgery in September.
Pardon the appearance, here, of Judd Apatow‘s explanation for recent weight gain:
“It’s very hard to lose weight in the Trump era, I’m trying so hard to have it not turn into 30 pounds. I think it tests our ability to not want to numb out. There’s so many things that are hard to hear every day that you do want to have some Oreos. Like people say, what do you invest in during the Trump era? I feel like, Hostess Cakes. Most of us are just scared and eating ice cream.”
Pardon the appearance of other photos I took yesterday.
Pardon the appearance of one more photo to express my gratitude to all who have appeared in this post today and to you — of course! — no matter what your appearance, here and now.
a list of questions to ask my cardiologist, Dr. Deeb Salem, at our appointment today,
a list of the roles I occupy in my life, because we were discussing roles in my therapy group yesterday, and
a list of the things that make me feel bad, because I was feeling bad last night.
Well, at least I wasn’t listless.
Do you make lists? What kinds of lists do you make?
On my list of “How to Create a Daily Blog Post” is sharing my latest photos.
On my list of favorite classical composers is Franz Liszt. Did you know his last name is pronounced “List”? My son, who is always on my gratitude list, likes to play this Liszt composition on the piano:
When I was my son’s age, that was on my playlist, too.
On my gratitude list this morning are my son Aaron, my boyfriend Michael (for the delicious bluefish last night and so much more), Dr. Salem, Franz Liszt, Valentina Lisitsa, people who heal in groups, orchids, lists that help me move on, and — of course! — YOU.
Yesterday was a day of too much, so I hope this post doesn’t contain too much for my readers.
Early in the day, I met with my friends Janet and Ray, with whom I’ve had too much fun over the years, and we had too much to eat for brunch. Janet, Ray, and I talked about too much, including how the new President of the United States had done too much during his first week in office. We wondered if it was all too much for the country.
Then, I went to Janet and Ray’s wonderful home in West Boylston, Massachusetts, which has too much space for any two people with grown children. I loved their place too much and took too much time taking pictures. I told Janet that, with all those photos, creating today’s blog post might be too much for me. When I have too much to share, I often include too much imagery without too much explanation.
After I spent too much quality time with Janet, Ray, and their son Spencer, I took too much of my realtor’s time on the phone trying to decide whether to put a bid on a house which might have too much space for me and my boyfriend and which has a price that might be too much.
Finally, just when I thought I’d experienced too much for one day, I took a phone call from Joyce from a professional psychotherapy society.
I had too much concern that Joyce was going to ask me to serve on a committee. I had decided that would be too much for me, since I’m recovering from too much heart surgery. Instead, Joyce asked me if I wanted to be President. Because that was too much to take in, I asked
President of what?
Now I need to decide, before too much time passes, whether being President of that amazing organization would be too much for me. Because I don’t have too much confidence about my Presidential skills, I wrote too much about that to Janet, including this:
I am in a state of shock right now because I just got a call from a member of my professional group psychotherapy organization and THEY ASKED IF I WANTED TO BE PRESIDENT! A very big deal. I didn’t see that coming. My explanation for this is that this is part of the national trend of having Presidents with no experience.
Have I written too much?
Would seventy photos from yesterday be too much for you?
If any of those photos are causing too much eyestrain, you can enlarge any one without too much effort just by clicking on it.
I’m choosing this song without taking too much time to think about it:
Any comment you might leave would not be too much for me. It would be just right.
As usual, I have too much gratitude for all who helped me create this post and for you, of course!
What are safe places, for you? That’s the question I asked people in the safe place of my therapy group last night.
WordPress is a safe place for me to share how I answered my own question:
Are there safe places in any of my other photos from yesterday?
Today, even though the temperatures are SOOOO COOOOLD in New England (where they hate us because they ain’t us), I’m going to safely visit many places including cardiac rehab, the clinic where I get my INR blood levels tested, my workplace, and the south shore of Boston (which may be a safe place to relocate to).
Because I’ve experienced several traumatizing events in my life, starting when I was a child, I have been given the diagnosis of PTSD (Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder).
However, I also have Psychological Training for Surviving Disasters AND Pretty Thorough Skills for Durability.
When Practiced, Those Suffice Dependably.
I am now Prepared To Share Different PTSDs I’ve been experiencing recently:
While I was enjoying a beautiful cup of tea last night, I was equally wondering whether or not that teabag was giving me a compliment. These days, the universe has not seemed as beautiful to me as it has during other times.
However, even though I am equally frightened and hopeful about the future, I believe the universe is still beautiful.
Which means that I am, too!
Are any of my other photos for today as beautiful as the universe?
Tonight, my beautiful friend Barbara and I are seeing Michael McDonald, who has one big-ass voice. Here he is:
To me, “Minute by Minute,” “What a Fool Believes,” and “Taking it to the Streets” are all equally as beautiful as the universe.
Thanks to all the beautiful-as-the universe people who helped me create today’s post and to you — of course! — for being as beautiful as the universe, here and now.
When people ask me how I can blog daily, I reply that there are unlimited sights and sounds that inspire these posts, even when my activity is limited by recent heart-related surgeries.
For example, there seems to be an unlimited number of teabag sayings I can include here.
While I have a limited capacity to believe that I, personally, am unlimited, here is a limited list of unlimited things I experience around me:
I have unlimited gratitude for music, my friend Deb, Watertown Massachusetts USA, walks near water, the beauty of autumn, and you — of course! — for your unlimited generosity in visiting my blog, today.
Behind your view there are other views; to see them, you must first visit the view you see!”
― Mehmet Murat ildan
“I think we each come out of the womb with some unique way of looking at the world and if we don’t express it, we loose faith in ourselves.”
― Gloria Steinem, Revolution from Within: A Book of Self-Esteem
“View every obstacle as a learning post.”
― Azim Jamal & Brian Tracy
“The proper conceptual view is attained only through introspection.”
― Akshay Vijayan
“Stubborness and staunch, they are both same things
from different point of view”
― Toba Beta, My Ancestor Was an Ancient Astronaut
“The forest stretched on seemingly forever with the most monotonous predictability, each tree just like the next – trunk, branches, leaves; trunk, branches, leaves. Of course a tree would have taken a different view of the matter. We all tend to see the way others are alike and how we differ, and it’s probably just as well we do, since that prevents a great deal of confusion. But perhaps we should remind ourselves from time to time that ours is a very partial view, and that the world is full of a great deal more variety than we ever manage to take in.”
― Thomas M. Disch, The Brave Little Toaster
“My father says that there is only one perfect view — the view of the sky straight over our heads, and that all these views on earth are but bungled copies of it.”
― E.M. Forster, A Room with a View
Distance gives a clearer view. You can’t see the facade of a building while staying inside.”
― Michael Bassey Johnson, Master of Maxims
“Unfortunately in this world of ours, each person views things through a certain medium, which prevents his seeing them in the same light as others…”
― Alexandre Dumas, The Count of Monte Cristo
“We can view life as a meaningless journey ending in death or as an evolving spiral of life.”
― Joseph Rain
After viewing that last quote, you might view the possibility of my now sharing thousands of pictures. Not to worry; here are all the views I captured yesterday:
I wonder how many views this post will get? Maybe I can increase the views by including some great music.
Feel free to express your views in a comment below.
Finally, I view all those who helped me create today’s post with gratitude and love. And, of course, I view all my readers the same way!
The Year(s) of Living Non-Judgmentally 