In every therapy group I facilitate, people have choices about how they participate and about what topic we choose to focus on. Yesterday, the group members had many choices and decided on the topic “choices.”
My choices of photos, above, include only what I chose to reveal in group. My handwriting is not choice, so I choose to type my choices of what I shared.
What is your personal experience of choices?
I like having choices.
What helps with choices?
Self-care.
Realizing what the choices are.
Checking out choices with others.
Self-confidence.
Realizing I’ve made good choices before.
Recognizing that most choices are not irrevocable.
Before the group, I made these photographic choices:
Are my photographic choices good enough?
Many people I know feel guilt, shame, and regret about choices they’ve made in the past. I invite them to make these choices, moving forward:
Recognize that they were doing the best they could at the time and
Forgive themselves.
As always, there are many choices of songs to share.
You have the choice to make any comment you choose.
As always, my choices for ending a blog post include thanks to all who helped me create it and — of course! — to YOU, for making the choice to visit here, today.
Appreciation and gratitude increase my sense of safety, so thanks to all who helped me create today’s post for safety and — of course! — thanks to you.
I assumed that page was from Vivian, drowning in all the tasks she needed to complete. And it was. However, that page could have been from a lot of people, because many of us are drowning in tasks, work, obligations, news, politics, self-recrimination, violence, worry, guilt, and shame.
What do you do when you’re drowning? Do you reach out, like Vivian? How do you reach out?
I don’t worry about drowning in water, even though I can’t swim. Being near water keeps me from drowning. And so does blogging and taking photos, like these:
In all the one thousand, nine-hundred, and fifty-three days I’ve been blogging here at The Year(s) of Living Non-Judgmentally, this is the first time that the title of the post has been the same as the number of the day.
Any guesses as to why that might be?
After I write for approximately 1953 seconds, I’ll tell you the answer.
I’m not going to share 1953 photos today, because that would take too long. However, I will share these 2018 photos.
Let’s stay engaged, experience discomfort, speak our truth, and expect and accept non-closure as I try to list important 1953 events.
Top News Stories from 1953
Population: 4.378 billion
Nobel Peace Prize: George C. Marshall (US)
Joseph Stalin dies (March 5). Georgi Malenkov becomes Soviet Premier; Lavrenti Beria, Minister of Interior; Vyacheslav Molotov, Foreign Minister (March 6).
East Berliners rise against Communist rule; quelled by tanks (June 17).
Korean armistice signed (July 27).
Moscow announces explosion of hydrogen bomb (Aug. 20).
Tito becomes president of Yugoslavia.
Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II (2 June)
U.S. Events
President: Dwight D. Eisenhower
Vice President: Richard M. Nixon
Population: 160,184,192
Life expectancy: 68.8 years
Homicide Rate (per 100,000): 4.8
Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower inaugurated President of United States (Jan. 20).
Julius and Ethel Rosenberg executed in Sing Sing prison (June 19).
Alleged Communist Charlie Chaplin leaves U.S. for good. Justice Dept. warns him any attempt to reenter the country will be challenged.
US GDP (1998 dollars): $379.7 billion
Federal spending: $76.10 billion
Federal debt $266.0 billion
Consumer Price Index: $26.7
Unemployment: 3.0%
Cost of a first-class stamp: $0.03
World Series
NY Yankees d. Brooklyn Dodgers (4-2)
Wimbledon
Women: Maureen Connolly d. D. Hart (8-6 7-5)
Men: Vic Seixas d. K. Nielsen (9-7 6-3 6-4)
Kentucky Derby Champion
Dark Star
Pulitzer Prizes
Fiction: The Old Man and the Sea, Ernest Hemingway
Drama: Picnic, William Inge
Academy Award, Best Picture: The Greatest Show on Earth, Cecil B. DeMille, producer (Paramount)
Nobel Prize for Literature: Sir Winston Churchill (UK)
The first issue of TV Guide magazine hits the newsstands on April 3 in 10 cities with a circulation of 1,560,000.
Playboy magazine hits newsstands. A nude Marilyn Monroe graces the cover.
Books
William Burroughs, Junkie
Randall Jarrell, Poetry and the Age
Henry Miller, Plexus
Alain Robbe-Grillet, The Erasers
Jean Stafford, Children are Bored on Sunday
James Baldwin, Go Tell It on the Mountain
Saul Bellow, The Adventures of Augie March
Nobel Prizes in Science
Chemistry: Hermann Staudinger (Germany), for research in giant molecules
Physics: Fritz Zernike (Netherlands), for development of “”phase contrast”” microscope
Physiology or Medicine: Fritz A. Lipmann (Germany-US) and Hans Adolph Krebs (Germany-UK), for studies of living cells
Rosalind Franklin (England), Francis Crick (England), and James Watson (US) discover the double-helical structure of DNA.
Edmund Hillary of New Zealand and Tenzing Norgay of Nepal reach the top of Mt. Everest (May 29).
First successful open-heart surgery is performed in Philadelphia.
I’ve had 1953 days of gratitude here at The Year(s) of Living Non-Judgmentally. I’ve also had 65 years of gratitude here on this earth, since I was born in 1953.
This is how a human being can change:
There’s a worm addicted to eating grape leaves.
Suddenly, he wakes up…
Call it grace, whatever,
something wakes him,
and he’s no longer a worm.
He’s the entire vineyard,
And the orchard too,
The fruit, the trunks, a
Growing wisdom and joy
That doesn’t need to devour.
With growing wisdom and joy, I believe we are one. Do any of these photos show that we are one?
One of those photos reminds me of this one joke:
What did the Zen master say to the hot dog vendor? “Make me one with everything.”
There are more than one “We Are One” songs (which are currently one with YouTube here, here, and here).
Vivian is a social work intern who makes me smile, especially when she shows me photos like this:
Yesterday, Vivian and I made each other cry because it was her last day at work. Soon, as a new graduate, she’ll be off on her own road trip to Chicago.
Vivian, who is a very gifted student, shared many gifts yesterday.
In honor of the many things Vivian and I shared this year, here‘s Jackie Chan singing “Believe in Yourself.”
I hope Vivian believes in herself, as many of us in her community believe in her.
Vivian let me know she appreciates my gratitude. I am very grateful for Vivian, Jackie Chan, Nikita Gill, A. A. Milne, Rupi Kaur, healing groups and communities, and — of course! — YOU.
WATCH OUT! This is the first post in one thousand, nine hundred, and forty-eight consecutive blogging days to be titled “WATCH OUT!” although I watch out for things and also have a lot of watches.
WATCH OUT! Here’s the inspiration for today’s title:
What does “WATCH OUT!” mean to you?
To me, it means danger, pay attention, and also yesterday’s delivery of more unsalted sunflower seeds in the shell from nuts.com.
WATCH OUT! I’m not going to link to the nuts.com website because ever since I reordered my latest batch of unsalted sunflower seeds in the shell, when I watch a video on YouTube it’s preceded by an advertisement from nuts.com. WATCH OUT! Advertisers are watching out for themselves by watching us.
WATCH OUT! When I look for a song titled “WATCH OUT!” on YouTube, they all have explicit lyrics. WATCH OUT! The first line of “Watch Out” by Rich Brian is “They be salty like sodium” and the next lines are too salty for this blog (unlike the sunflower seeds from nuts.com).
WATCH OUT! Here are all my photos from yesterday, in consecutive order.
Harley feels safer when he can watch out from a higher level.
WATCH OUT! One of my photos inspires the choice of this musical selection, which you can watch on YouTube.
WATCH OUT! I assumed that there was a song “Meet Me in the Dugout” by Pink, but there isn’t.
WATCH OUT! Before I decide on a song we can watch, I want to suggest that you WATCH OUT! for world leaders who tweet in upper caps.
Here‘s “Watch Out” performed by the cast of Empire.
WATCH OUT! I’ve got to stop blogging this morning if I’m going to get to Physical Therapy on time.
WATCH OUT! There’s always time for thanks to all who help me create these posts and — of course! — to YOU.
