Day 2823: Use my words against me

“Use my words against me” is something that wordy U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham said in 2016 when he opposed giving a hearing to President Obama’s pick for Supreme Court Justice, the honorable Merrick Garland.

Here are more of Lindsey Graham’s words, which I would like to use against him:

“I want you to use my words against me,” Graham said during a 2016 Senate meeting. “If there’s a Republican president in 2016 and a vacancy occurs in the last year of the first term, you can say Lindsey Graham said let’s let the next president, whoever it might be, make that nomination.”

Not only is the vacancy occurring — because of the death of the honorable Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg — in the last year of a Republican President’s first term, it is occurring mere weeks before the Presidential election. Therefore, many people are using Lindsey Graham’s words against him. But that’s not stopping Lindsey Graham from using more words to declare that he will vote to confirm Donald Trump’s conservative pick to replace liberal icon RBG, even before he’s heard any words about who that person would be.

So I would love to use Lindsey Graham’s words against him, but I don’t know how, since his new words indicate that he is against many words I am for, including honor, honesty, and justice.

Yesterday, when the former words of many other wordy Republican Senators were being used against them to no avail, I decided to go for a walk looking for other words to use against them. Specifically, I was looking for these words:

“Don’t let them win.”

I couldn’t find those words, but I found other words instead.

I am doing my best to use words against many U.S Republican senators , including their own from 2016:

Feel free to use my words against me, including these words of gratitude:

Day 2822: Great things

If you’re like me, you’ve been having trouble finding great things in the news lately.

Together, let’s look for great things in my photos from yesterday.

Did you find great things?  What great things did you find?

Did you notice great things here?

Sometimes we have to look close and hard for great things in order to find them. Sometimes those great things seem broken, but we need to keep looking, feeling, thinking, and acting.

The late great Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg said many great things, including these:

“When a thoughtless or unkind word is spoken, best tune out. Reacting in anger or annoyance will not advance one’s ability to persuade.”
— From Ginsburg’s 2016 book “My Own Words”

“I went to law school when women were less than 3% of lawyers in the country; today, they are 50%. I never had a woman teacher in college or in law school. The changes have been enormous. And they’ve gone much too far (to be) going back.”
— From a 2019 NPR interview

“I pray that I may be all that (my mother) would have been had she lived in an age when women could aspire and achieve and daughters are cherished as much as sons.”
— From her 1993 Supreme Court acceptance speech, about her mother

“I see my advocacy as part of an effort to make the equality principle everything the founders would have wanted it to be if they weren’t held back by the society in which they lived and particularly the shame of slavery. I don’t think my efforts would have succeeded had it not been for the women’s movement that was reviving in the United States and more or less all over the world at the time.”
— From a 2013 WNYC interview

“Women will have achieved true equality when men share with them the responsibility of bringing up the next generation.”
— From a 2001 interview with the New York City Bar Association

“One thing that I did feel in law school was that if I flubbed, that I would be bringing down my entire sex. That you weren’t just failing for yourself, but people would say, ‘Well, I did expect it of a woman.’ … I was determined not to leave that impression.”
— From a 2020 Slate interview

“Dissents speak to a future age. It’s not simply to say my colleagues are wrong and I would do it this way, but the greatest dissents do become court opinions.”
— From a 2002 NPR interview, on her Supreme Court dissents

“The number of women who have come forward as a result of the #MeToo movement has been astonishing. My hope is not just that it is here to stay, but that it is as effective for the woman who works as a maid in a hotel as it is for Hollywood stars.”
— From a 2018 interview at the National Constitution Center, on the impact of the #MeToo movement

“If there was one decision I would overrule, it would be Citizens United. I think the notion that we have all the democracy that money can buy strays so far from what our democracy is supposed to be.”
— From a 2014 New Republic interview, on Citizens United v. FEC, which ruled that corporations could fund political speech under the First Amendment

“Fight for the things that you care about, but do it in a way that will lead others to join you.”
— From a 2015 luncheon at Harvard

Who wants to join me in the fight for the things I care about, like the great legacy of Ruth Bader Ginsburg?

Here‘s a great 2017 interview with Ruth Bader Ginsburg:

Here‘s a great appearance by RBG on the Stephen Colbert show:

Here‘s Stephen Colbert last night about the great loss of Ruth Bader Ginsburg:

I look forward to great things in the comments section, below.

As always, I have great gratitude for all the great things in my life, including YOU.

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Day 2821: Fall

As we approach the fall of 2020, I’m wondering what is going to fall apart and what is going to fall together.

Do you see fall in these recent images?

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Those who forget history are doomed, period, so VOTE this fall.

Here‘s a tribute to Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg which falls beautifully into place:

I look forward to reading whatever thoughts and feelings fall into the comments section, below.

Gratitude prevents me from falling every day, so thanks to all who help me create these fall, winter, spring, and summer posts, including YOU.

Day 2820: Hear my cry

Yesterday, after hearing people cry, I saw this:

Hear my cry about

• the death of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg,
• the state of the USA,
• injustice,
• suffering,
• climate change,
• imbalance of power,
• greed, and
• inhumanity.

I cried when I took one of these photos.

When I’m crying, I breathe in support and love and I breathe out fear and helplessness.

Here‘s “Hear My Cry” by Marvia Providence:

Of course, I want to hear your cry, laughter, love, hope, despair, and anything else in the comments section, below.

Hear my gratitude, here and now.

Day 2819: A Nation Reveals Itself

A few hours before it was revealed that my nation’s Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg had died, this revealed itself to me:

A nation reveals itself by its

• leaders,
• priorities,
• values,
• humanity,
• awareness,
• respect and protection for all,
• focus on the future,
• engagement in the world, and
• justice.

Because of how our nation has been revealing itself, I and those I love were immeasurably grief-stricken and devastated by the loss of Justice Ginsburg.

Senate leader Republican Mitch McConnell, who blocked President Obama from choosing a Supreme Court Justice many months before the 2016 Presidential election because “the people should decide,” has already revealed his plans to rush the process of replacing RBG with somebody diametrically opposed to her judicial values, scant weeks before the election.

A nation reveals itself by the hypocrisy, partisanship, greed, and injustice of its leaders.

A blog reveals itself by its words and images.

A blogger reveals herself by taking a picture of a plastic pig, because I am so sick of the greedy pigs running and ruining my nation.

In this televised tribute to her last night, RBG reveals that she was taught by her mother never to respond in anger.

I have much to learn from her.

I now look for hope and justice to be revealed, somehow, in the days ahead.

Feel free to reveal yourself in a comment, below.

Gratitude reveals itself here every day, so undying thanks to the amazingly courageous Ruth Bader Ginsburg and to all who witness what I reveal here, including you.

Day 2507: What are you looking at?

What are you looking at?  This blog post?

What is Harley looking at?

What am I looking at?  The clock, because I overslept and I’m supposed to be at work early today. I’ve got to get this blog post done!

What are we looking at?  Some of my other photos from yesterday.

I made it!

 

Thanks to all who helped me create this very quick post for you to look at, here and now.

Day 2346: The Pest Reliever

Sometimes, the first photo I take affects how I see things for the rest of the day, as well as the contents of my next blog.

Here’s the first photo I took yesterday:

 

It’s a relief to share that I can see myself as a kind of pest reliever — relieving  what pesters my patients and also myself. Those pests include:

• shame,
• worry,
• stress,
• anxiety,
• depression,
• perfectionism,
• traumatic memories, and
• harsh judgments (like the inner critic).

Pest relievers can include:

• acceptance,
• appreciation,
• forgiveness,
• humor,
• welcoming all feelings,
• self-expression,
• self-care,
• care for others,
• compassion,
• celebrating,
• being in the moment,
• nature, and
• community.

Let’s see if there are any pest relievers in my other photos from yesterday (presented as taken chronologically, so I don’t pester myself about any “right or wrong” order):

Michael’s cooking is definitely a pest reliever.   I sometimes pester Michael for his cooking secrets to share here: there’s no pesto on that salmon, but rather a delicious lime, mint, and fresh peach sauce.

Music can be another pest reliever, so here’s “Voodoo Mambo” from The Pest, starring John Leguizamo.

 

Now I’m going to be a pest and ask for comments, below.

As always, a great pest reliever is gratitude, so thanks to all who helped me create this pest-reliever post and thanks to you — of course! — for visiting.

Day 2252: Open

As you open today’s daily blog, what are you open to? Are you open to new information?  Challenges to your assumptions?  Dissenting and different opinions? Difficult experiences?  Transforming old and unhelpful patterns of thoughts and behaviors?  Balancing your needs with other people’s needs? Self care and care for others? Whimsy? Wonder? Curiosity? Trying new things?

Yesterday, I was open to meeting wonderful WordPress blogger Debra in Los Angeles during an opening in my group therapy conference schedule.  We were both open to hugging each other, even though we had never met outside the blogosphere before. Debra brought me a present which I was happy to open and we were both open to accepting help from a stranger to take a photo. We  talked about the importance of remaining open to  multitudes of opportunity for change and growth throughout our lives.  I opened up with Debra and told her that I look for the word “open” when I’m open to capturing images with my camera.

After I met Debra, I was open to attending the Friday night dance of dozens of group therapists at the conference I’m attending. I expected to be too exhausted to stay long, but I love to dance, so I was open to getting on the dance floor when invited.  I was open to the surprising realization that I was able to keep up with the other dancing group therapists for over an hour, despite health challenges and my age.

Are you open to seeing all my photos from yesterday?

That’s Erica, an incoming President from another local affiliate of the American Group Psychotherapy Association, who was open to posing with me and a flamingo last night at the dance. Erica is open to receiving my daily blog in her email but I don’t know how often she opens it. Erica seemed open to the idea that we both use the image above for our official presidential photos.

What YouTube music video would you like to open this morning? I am open to learning that  Van Morrison and Pete Townsend wrote and sing different songs about how love can open the door to your heart (here and here).

I am open to reading any comment you make, below.

I may not open these posts with gratitude but I always close with thanks to those who help me create this blog and the sweet wonderful people  who read it (including Debra, Erica, and YOU)!