Yesterday, myself and several other selves discussed “Self Acceptance” in a therapy group.
All the selves in that group agreed that “Self Acceptance” is an important topic and something that people need to practice, practice, practice.
Here and now, I’m practicing self acceptance as I make decisions about what to pack for my trips to Iceland and Edinburgh. I will accept myself whether or not I bring along my ukulele and/or my laptop.
I am also practicing self acceptance about the other photos I took yesterday.
Yesterday, both of my therapy groups wanted to discuss people and situations that drive them nuts.
If idioms you don’t understand drive you nuts, here’s an explanation of “driving me nuts” from knowyourphrase.com :
Meaning:
To be greatly frustrated or annoyed. The word “nuts” is sometimes replaced by the words crazy, bonkers, bananas, insane, or up the wall. However, the meaning remains unchanged.
When people are annoyed to the point where they can no longer tolerate anymore, they might use this common idiom to describe their frustrations.
Origin:
According to the website Word-Detective, by the mid to late-1800s, the word ‘nut’ was slang to mean a person’s head. Not long after, it looks like it also acquired the meaning of someone who was not acting right in the head, e.g., a person acting strange or crazy might be described as “nuts” or being “off their nut.”
The earliest example I could find of this phrase in writing comes from the newspaper The Bilioxi Daily Herald, printed in the year 1884. The idiom is written under an advice column, where people could write in asking a woman named Ann Landers for advice:
“DEAR ANN LANDERS: I am a boy, 18 years old, a high school senior, and my dad is driving me nuts! He has read a lot about drugs and is scared to death I might be trying something.”
Example Sentence(s)
* My neighbor is blaring loud music and it’s really driving me nuts. Maybe I should go tell them to stop.
* Emily is driving herself nuts over the job interview she has tomorrow, and she’s having trouble sleeping from the anxiety.
Ann is driving herself nuts over (1) the plane trip she is taking tomorrow and (2) how painful her shoulder is, and she’s having trouble sleeping from the anxiety.
When people in my groups kept focusing on what drives them nuts (which included rude people and politicians), I eventually drove the discussion towards coping strategies. I asked people to focus on what helps when things drive them nuts, and they were able to identify many things , including:
taking a breath,
taking a shower,
nature,
patting a cat,
phoning a friend,
reading,
writing,
good food,
cleaning,
being in the moment, and
getting something done they were procrastinating.
It’s driving me nuts that I can’t remember any more of the many coping strategies people discussed yesterday.
Do any of these photos drive you nuts?
It drives me nuts what happened to Whitney Houston, whose birthday was yesterday. Here and here are some of her amazing live vocal moments:
Feel free to comment about what drives you nuts and what helps you cope.
I hope gratitude doesn’t drive you nuts, because I have a lot of it for all who helped me create this post and — of course! — for YOU.
Yesterday, in a therapy group where many thoughts were expressed …
… I said, “A thought is just a thought.” One of the group members thought that thought was important, so I wrote it up on the board:
The group members thought that was helpful, because the thoughts people expressed in the group included fortune telling, catastrophizing, mind reading, personalization, all-or-nothing thinking, over-generalizing, jumping to conclusions, labelling, shoulds, and other cognitive distortions. For example, my expressed thoughts included, “The plane might crash on Saturday!”
As I’m writing this blog post, my thoughts include this one: “My shoulder, after my fall in January, will never be right.”
We all have lots of thoughts. Thoughts are NOT the same as actions or accurate forecasts of the future. I’ve thought, many times, to challenge a thought with this question, “Is that a helpful thought?”
A thought is just a thought and a photo is just a photo.
A thought is just a thought, a barrier is just a barrier, a verb is just a verb, a memory is just a memory, and a theme song is just a theme song.
Feel free to express your just thoughts in a comment, below.
Gratitude is just gratitude, so thanks to all whose thoughts helped me create today’s post and — of course! — to thoughtful YOU.
“Who is the most stupid here?” was one of the top two choices in my YouTube search for “You choose” and has 5.8 million views. Do you choose to believe that “Who is the most stupid here?” explains your personality?
Another one of my priorities for these daily blog posts is sharing my photos from the day before:
Obviously, my priorities today didn’t include repositioning any of those photos. However, my priorities always include thanking all who help me create these posts and — of course! — YOU!
Here’s a meaningful thought: This is my first post in many years of daily blogging that’s been explicitly meaningful. I mean, I’ve written four previous posts focusing on meaning (here, here, here, and here), but never one with the word “Meaningful” in the title.
It’s meaningful to me where “meaningful” comes from today:
I saw that meaningful poem last night in the window of a shop in Brookline, Massachusetts. Apparently, that store held a meaningful contest for meaningful children to write meaningful poems, including these:
All of the images in today’s blog post are meaningful to me — otherwise I wouldn’t have taken them. However, one seems particularly meaningful to me, here and now.
Which one of those photos do you think is most meaningful to me? Even more meaningful, which photos are most meaningful to you?
Yesterday, I looked for the good in a local production of the musical Chicago starring my son Aaron’s cousin Victoria as Velma Kelly. I found a lot of good AND a foolish, naive character singing “A Little Bit of Good (in Everyone).”
Everybody has hidden thoughts. I hope I make it safe enough for people to express their hidden thoughts, here and in therapy.
I sometimes express my hidden thoughts in pictures.
It seems hidden from Harley that I’m not trying to harm him with my iPhone. There he is, trying to hide himself upstairs after I tried to take a photo of him when he was hidden behind the downstairs curtains.
My hidden thoughts about having to return the wrong-sized ukulele case I ordered from Amazon included this: “Why wasn’t I smart enough to measure the friggin’ ukulele before I ordered the friggin’ ukulele case?!?!”
It was very hot and humid yesterday, and legal spaces for me to park my car were hidden from me. I expressed my hidden thoughts to a policeman directing traffic as follows: “I need to get to the Amazon return center. I can’t find any legal place to park around here!” After taking a pause for some hidden thoughts, the policeman said, “I don’t think there will be a problem, but park on a side street and if you get a ticket bring it back to me.” I did find a legal space, a ten-minute walk away. I encountered the policeman on my walk to the Amazon return center and expressed these hidden thoughts, “Are you the best policeman ever? Could I take your photo for my daily blog?”
Donald didn’t agree that he was the best policeman ever, but he did let me take his picture. I wonder what his hidden thoughts were there.
Can you find any hidden thoughts in my other photos from yesterday?
I wonder what the audience’s hidden thoughts were last night about my third original song, “Hidden Thoughts.”
Please express any hidden thoughts in a comment, below.
As always, there is no hidden gratitude towards all who help me express my hidden thoughts in this blog, including YOU!
If it were your dream that I’ve written about discussing dreams in therapy groups before, that dream would be true (see “Shared Dreams,” here).
Yesterday morning, people shared and commented on each other’s dreams in group. Because the dreamer is the expert on the dream, everyone else began their reactions with “If it were my dream it might mean …”
My dream is for all people to have the space and time to make their own meanings, instead of being told what their dreams should mean.
Last week, I dreamed that I was good friends with somebody with whom I’ve had years of conflict, bad feelings, and strife.
If it were your dream, what might that mean?
If it were your dream to share a dream below, please do so.
I dream of street signs like this, everywhere:
If that sign appeared in your dream, what would it mean?
If it were your dream to share a song about dreams, which one would you choose?
\
