When I scan the news headlines this morning, I keep noticing the word “chaos.”
Some people thrive on chaos. Most people don’t.
How does chaos affect you? Does it scare you?
Should I apologize for the chaos in this random collection of photos?
Time flies when you’re having fun, said somebody sometime. Do you have time for some musical chaos?
Even in the midst of chaos, I give thanks to all who help me create some order out of chaos by blogging and — of course! — to you.
What scares you?
The news?
The weather?
Fire?
Water?
The future?
The present?
Heights?
Depths?
Weapons?
Other people?
Yourself?
Illness?
Poverty?
Ignorance?
Information overload?
Responsibility?
Helplessness?
Evil?
Death?
War?
Loss?
Snakes?
Insects?
Physical pain?
Emotional pain?
Trying new things?
Failure?
Thoughts?
Feelings?
The phone?
Public speaking?
Animals?
Demons?
Humans?
Any of these photos?
A search of “What Scares You?” on YouTube returns this:
Scary movies scare me, so I won’t watch any more of that.
When something scares you, what do you do?
Flee?
Freeze?
Fight?
Name it?
Share it?
Feel free to share what scares you, below.
Thanks to all who helped me create today’s post and to you — of course! — no matter what scares you.
The Wonder Woman who writes this blog wonders about many things, including:
I have the privilege, today, to present a definition of the word “privilege.”
priv·i·lege
ˈpriv(ə)lij
noun
1. a special right, advantage, or immunity granted or available only to a particular person or group of people.
“education is a right, not a privilege”
synonyms: advantage, benefit
I have the privilege and the right to make these two points:
Is that an advantage or a benefit, having only one definition? Does that make things simpler and clearer? With all the discourse over “privilege,” I expected more definitions.
What’s your definition of “privilege”?
Dr. Vivienne Ming talks about a certain kind of privilege here:
Yesterday, I had the privilege of attending a 50th wedding anniversary celebration with people I feel privileged to know.
Happy 50th anniversary, Diane and John!
I also have the privilege of living in a beautiful location.
It would be a privilege to read any comments you might leave, below.
It’s a privilege to blog every day for you all and for that, I’m grateful.
How would you complete the sentence in today’s title?
I have the right to tell you about The Personal Bill of Rights, from The Anxiety and Phobia Workbook by Edmund Bourne.
I have the right to encourage people to use their personal rights in my therapy groups.
I have the right to take photos and to share them here.
I have the right to get out and go to musicals (like Evita at the North Shore Music Theater, where I’ve seen dozens of musicals since I was a little kid).
I have the right to share YouTube videos of different productions of Evita (here, here, and here).
I have the right to request comments for my blog.
You have the right to remain silent or to comment, below.
I have the right to express my gratitude for all who help me create these posts and — of course! — for you.
Get out! I can’t believe that all my recent photos relate to the phrase “Get Out.”
Those last two photos came out of a therapy group where people with histories of emotionally abusive relationships were brainstorming how to get out of old patterns and improve their lives.
What does “Get Out” mean to you?
You can get out to YouTube to hear “Get Out” by Lauryn Hill:
Now I need to get out to work and then get out to a performance of the musical Evita.
Did you think I’d forget to thank all the people who helped me create this post and you — of course! — for reading it? Get out!
One thousand, two hundred and forty-five days ago, I wrote another blog post titled “Facial Expressions.” My facial expression would be happy if you read that blog post. Heck, my facial expression would be happy if you read any of my blog posts.
Yesterday, I drew this facial expression:
Pointing to the bottom face, I asked my boyfriend Michael if he knew who that was. His first tentative guess was “Me?” My facial expression, in response to that, was probably disbelief, because I have never seen that expression on Michael’s face. His second guess, which was correct, was somebody we both know.
How would you describe that facial expression? It’s the expression I most dread seeing on other people’s faces.
I wonder what expressions were on my face, just now, when I realized that most of my other photos from yesterday show facial expressions.
To improve my facial expressions recently, I’ve been listening to the score of “Merrily We Roll Along” by Stephen Sondheim (whose facial expression can be found here). Here‘s a “Merrily We Roll Along” YouTube video that shows many facial expressions.
Those were the facial expressions I saw TWICE on the stage of the Huntington Theater in Boston. Now you know.
I hope you know that all expressions are welcomed, below.
My facial expression, here and now, is gratitude for all who helped me create this post and — of course! — for YOU.
Yesterday, I was asked to facilitate a group for staff, in addition to my usual Tuesday “Coping and Healing” group. As usual, I was honored to provide a safe-enough space for people to express themselves and to connect with others in a healing way.
In both of the groups, people discussed the tragic events in the news. In one of the groups, the members decided to share and comment on each other’s recent dreams. Whenever I work with dreams in a group, I encourage people to respond to other people’s dreams with “If it were my dream, it might mean ….” People’s dreams included sacrifice, animals, losing a baby, wandering in an enormous house, being chased, and communicating with dead relatives. I mentioned that I’d recently dreamed that I was friends with Stephen Colbert.
If it were your dream, what might those dreams mean to you? What dreams have you been having lately?
I snapped only four photos yesterday, two consciously and the other two unconsciously.
During dark times, try sharing your dreams.
Somebody is sharing dreams on YouTube:
Many thanks to you for sharing these dreams with me, here and now.
“It’s too much to process” is something I hear people say, in my therapy groups and elsewhere.
“It’s too much to even process” is something Jimmy Kimmel said in his monologue last night about the Las Vegas mass shooting:
What do you do when it’s too much to process? Do you cry, like Jimmy Kimmel did? Is it numbing, a word Conan O’Brien used in his monologue about the largest mass shooting in U.S. history?
Do you ask, “How could this happen?” as Conan did there? Do you say, “It makes no sense to me”? “Something needs to change”? “I am truly heartbroken”?
When it’s too much to process, do you try to somehow make meaning of what’s happened? Do you try to get people to see things your way? Do you get angry? Do you give up? Do you take action? Do you try to block things from your mind? Do you distract yourself any way you can? Do you look for the good in people? Do you isolate? Do you blame? Do you pray? Do you look for any humor you can find, for moments of relief?
Here are more (usually) humorous people responding to the same too-much-to-process mass shooting:
It’s too much to process that Tom Petty is dead at age 66.
What do you do when it’s too much to process?
When it’s too much to process, I reach out to others.
I’m reaching out to you, here and now.
Feel free to process in a comment, below.
Thanks to all for processing with me today.
Are you listening? What do you hear?
I’m listening.
I’m hearing many different things.
“Are you listening?” is something I saw on a poster near Boston’s Symphony Hall yesterday.
After I saw that poster, I was listening to somebody behind me in the audience of Merrily We Roll Along ask
Is Stephen Sondheim still alive?
I turned around and said, “Stephen Sondheim is alive.”
And then we listened to each other discuss Merrily We Roll Along before the start of that amazing musical. When she asked, “How is the music?” she listened to my reply: “It’s wonderful.”
Because of all the upsetting things I listen to at work and elsewhere, I’m doing my best to listen to wonderful music and the sounds of nature near where I live.
Thanks for listening and for looking at my other photos from yesterday.
Are you listening to this YouTube video about the 2012 production of Merrily We Roll Along starring Lin-Manuel Miranda?
Are you listening to Lin-Manuel Miranda’s pleas to contribute to this relief fund for Puerto Rico? I listened to that, too, yesterday.
Are you listening to my requests for comments?
I’m grateful to all who listen, including YOU.
