Day 2623: We really don’t know how we affect other people

Two thousand, five hundred, and five days ago (but who’s counting?), I wrote another blog post with the same title as this one.

We really don’t know how we affect other people.

Rhys — the welcoming, perceptive, kind, aware, attentive, versatile, soulful, generous,  and lovable server at Junior’s restaurant in New York City — really didn’t know how he affected me until I published yesterday’s blog post (and today’s!).

I really didn’t know how I affected Rhys until he showed me his instagram account yesterday and asked to get some pictures with me yesterday.

I really don’t know how I affect other people by sharing thoughts and images here, including these:

I’ve encountered so many people during my experience at this year’s American Group Psychotherapy Association conference. They really don’t know how they affected me, which was profoundly.

Perhaps McCoy Tyner, the incredible jazz pianist who died yesterday, didn’t really know how he affected other people.  Here‘s one of the most affecting pieces of music I’ve ever heard (performed live in Berlin in 1990):

Here‘s the recording of “Fly with the Wind” which has affected me for decades:

Here‘s another incredible piece from the same album:

We really don’t know how we affect other people unless we tell each other. I want to tell you how I grateful I am for all of you, every day.

Day 2609: No Filter

Do you know people who have no filter — who say whatever comes to mind?

I thought about people with no filter when I captured this image yesterday:

As I wrote here recently, when  I facilitate therapy groups, I filter my comments through the question of “Who is it for?”

As I’ve shared many times starting here, I do my best to filter my behavior through these three things:

1. Show up.
2. Be gentle.
3. Tell the truth.

Here are my mostly unfiltered photos from yesterday:

 

 

In my groups, I have no filter when I encourage people to be selfish (i.e., practice self-care) and to be in the moment.

Here‘s “No Filter” by Fifth Harmony:

No filter needed for your comments!

No filter for the gratitude I have towards all those who help me create this daily blog, including YOU.

 

Day 1883: Affiliate

Because I affiliate myself with a blog that often defines terms, here are some definitions of “affiliate”:

af·fil·i·ate
verb
əˈfilēˌāt
1. officially attach or connect (a subsidiary group or a person) to an organization.
“the college is affiliated with the University of Wisconsin”
synonyms: associate with, unite with, combine with, join (up) with, link up with, team up with, ally with, align with, band together with, federate with, amalgamate with, merge with; More
noun
əˈfilēət
1. a person or organization officially attached to a larger body.
“the company established links with British affiliates”
synonyms: partner, branch, offshoot, subsidiary

 

affiliated; affiliating
transitive verb
1 a : to bring or receive into close connection as a member or branch. “The medical school is affiliated with a hospital.”
b : to associate as a member. ” She affiliates herself with the local club.”
2 : to trace the origin of. “They affiliated Shakespeare’s “Hamlet” to earlier plays.”
intransitive verb
: to connect or associate oneself : combine.  “She refused to affiliate with any political party.”

 

I am officially attached and connected to a national organization of group psychotherapists which has multiple local affiliates. Therefore, today I am associating, uniting, combining, joining, up, linking up, teaming up, allying, aligning, banding together, federating, amalgamating, and merging with representatives of other local affiliates for many hours in Houston, Texas,  a state affiliated with the United States of America.

Are any of today’s blog-affiliated photos good representations of  “affiliate”?

 

 

 

 

There are many children’s book characters affiliated with Massachusetts.

 

 

That skating rink is affiliated with the Galleria Mall in Houston — an unexpected affiliation to me.

“I L-O-V-E U” by Take 6 uses the word “affiliate” (at 2:01 in this affiliated video):

Since you are affiliating yourself with this blog today, how might you use “affiliate” in a sentence?

Thanks to all who helped me create this post now affiliated with The Year(s) of Living Non-Judgmentally and — of course! — thanks to YOU, no matter how you affiliate yourself.