Decades ago, when I was considering changing careers, a well-renowned aptitude testing organization informed me that I had (1) messy closets and (2) the ability to solve world problems. While I haven’t solved any world problems yet, I’ve been wondering if that ability is related to my frequently waking up in the middle of the night trying to solve problems big and small.
Do you see any world problems in today’s blog post?
.
When I search for “world problems” on YouTube, I find this…
It’s weird to me that, according to Spotify, Weird Al was my top artist of the year.
I love Weird Al, saw him in concert this year, and thoroughly enjoyed the movie Weird, but I find it weird that Stephen Sondheim wasn’t my top artist for 2022.
I find many things weird these days, including applying for Social Security, getting billed for things that my health insurance should be paying for, and Elon Musk.
Do you see anything weird in my other images for today?
It’s weird how difficult it is now to do a screen capture of the National days and it’s weird how my mood always improves on the winter solstice (probably because I know the days will start getting longer).
Here’s what I find when I search YouTube for “weird.”
I want to share photos with you every day, including this one from our local supermarket:
People want to buy many things at a supermarket, don’t they? I want to choose foods from the healthy sections of a market (usually located along the outer edges) but sometimes I want items in the middle.
I want to share a definition of “want.”
I want to point out that “want” means desire, should, AND deficiency. I want to make a brilliant point about that, but my mind is in want of brilliance right now.
Here are some brilliant minds writing about “want.”
.
I want to share more images with you, which I hope you want to see.
.
Here’s what I find on YouTube when I search for “want.”
Lately, I’ve been asking many questions about favorites on Twitter, including these:
A random thought about favorites: I haven’t had to worry about playing favorites with my children because I have only one child. Here’s one of my favorite photos of me and Aaron, taken years ago with Emo Philips, who was the opening act for Weird Al last night:
Do you see favorites in my other images for today?
There are so many National Days today that it’s difficult to pick a favorite. One of my favorite moments from Emo’s set last night was when he asked the crowd to help record a message wishing his friend Red, who is a jockey riding in the Kentucky Derby today, good luck. It was definitely my favorite use of a cell phone at the concert last night.
Here’s my favorite Weird Al song, in the style of Frank Zappa (who is also a favorite).
What’s your favorite part of this post? My favorite part is always the end, when I get to express my gratitude for all who help me blog every day, including YOU.
the conservative U.S. Supreme Court’s intent to take away a woman’s right to choose (a right which a huge majority of citizens support),
how the SCOTUS decision will erode other rights,
the projected outcome of the U.S. midterm elections, with the Democrats losing the tenuous control they now have,
the war in Ukraine,
irreversible global warming,
greed,
fear,
etc…..
… and I felt very pessimistic, helpless, and hopeless. In other words, I felt like I was out on a ledge.
I decided to name those feelings on Twitter, assuming that other people might be feeling the same way. I got a lot of helpful and empathic responses, with some joining me on the ledge and others urging me to get off the ledge and fight for the rights and the future I want.
Are any of my images today out on a ledge?
The Daily Bitch often seems like she is out on a ledge.
When I’m out on a ledge, humor and music can get me off that ledge. Tonight, my son Aaron and I will be seeing “Weird Al” Yankovic in concert and yesterday this song cheered me up immeasurably:
Thanks to all those who help me whenever I’m out on a ledge, including YOU.
I am going to take a brief, precious moment in time to brief my precious readers that life is brief and made up of precious moments.
I find that knowledge very precious because it helps me appreciate each brief, precious moment in time and also recognize that painful moments will, in time, give way to other brief, precious moments.
What’s your favorite brief, precious moment in time from today’s blog?
When I open, with care, every new blog post, I also open, with care, my photo app.
Today I care to open with this photo:
I open my car door with care and I also open with care other things, including:
My mind.
My heart.
My mouth.
My eyes.
Every blog post.
Therapy groups.
Meetings.
Communication.
Presents.
Books.
Conversations.
Songs.
Poems.
Emails.
Packaging.
My laptop.
What do you open with care?
I shall now re-open my photo app with care.
“I’m not anti-social” (displayed with care on those socks, above) is an interesting way to open a conversation.
Note that I opened my list of favorite movies with “Singin’ in the Rain.” I’ve opened up, here, about how much I love musicals. Today, I opened my eyes and thought, “I’m seeing Hamilton today!!!”
Yesterday, in a therapy group, several people were talking about physical and emotional pain and wondering what they had done to deserve all that pain. I quoted the helpful phrase “PAIN IS NOT A PUNISHMENT” which led to an interesting discussion about the painful messages people got in their families of origin, the wish to make meaning of pain, self-blame, and self-forgiveness. Somebody in the group asked me to write “PAIN IS NOT A PUNISHMENT” on the board.
As I wrote that, I was very aware of the pain in my left shoulder, which has been getting worse since my fall last Wednesday. As the pain continued to increase into the night, I spoke to a doctor on call who suggested I go to the emergency room. People there listened to my description of the pain and somebody speculated that I may have torn my rotator cuff, which is often a pain for major league baseball pitchers. I don’t know any other group therapists who have injured their rotator cuffs, but that diagnosis might explain the pain.
As I’m writing this, I’m reminding myself that past pain, present pain, and future pain (which might include physical therapy) are NOT punishments.
I hope it’s okay when I share my pain here and also my latest photographs:
I also found out that taking extra-strength Tylenol over several days disrupted my INR, which is another pain.
I will know more about the shoulder pain when I see an Orthopedic Doctor, probably this afternoon. I hope the news is not too painful.
Here‘s music to remind us that PAIN IS NOT A PUNISHMENT.
Yesterday, I met with a very interesting person who, interestingly enough, feels uninteresting. Feeling uninteresting causes this person to avoid interacting with other people, for fear of being seen and judged as not interesting.
It’s interesting to me how many interesting people suffer from these kinds of fears. I, as an interested psychotherapist, am very interested in helping people reduce the interestingly common cognitive distortion of labeling themselves
uninteresting,
unworthy,
unlovable, and
other harsh, judgmental, painful and interestingly destructive adjectives.
Therefore, I gave this interesting person two interesting prescriptions yesterday, of different strengths:
Here are some other interesting photos I took during my interesting yesterday.
Which photo did you find most interesting? I was most interested in the last one. I was so interested in it, I had the interesting plan of giving this interesting post today the interesting title of “No Title.”
I find it interesting how my iPhone — on which I write these interesting posts — recognized the interesting word “agley.” My phone is more interesting than I realized.
Interested in what interesting music I might choose for this interesting post?
Here‘s the interesting tune that was playing in my interestingly yellow Honda Fit when I took that last interesting photo:
That interestingly reminds me that I should probably go on a grapefruit diet before my high school reunion, which is sure to be interesting, next month.
As always, I am interested in what you find damn interesting about this post.
Interesting and interested thanks to all the interesting people who helped me create this interesting post and to you — interestingly enough — for being interested enough to read it.
The Year(s) of Living Non-Judgmentally 