“Being here, being there” is something I wrote on the white-board wall while human beings were being here and there during a Coping and Healing group yesterday.
Being human beings, their thoughts went here and there to regrets, the past, the present, the future, work, other people’s reactions, progress, tears, fears, emotions, death, showing up, reservations, reasons, sleeping, bravery, speaking, not speaking, triggers, early, late, and choices, among other here-and-there meanderings.
Being that triggers were affecting all the human beings in the room, “triggers” ended up being the topic of choice, including what helps dealing with them:
Being there, I couldn’t help but notice that “YouTube” made it to the list of what helped those human beings deal with triggers (along with breathing, acceptance, self care, sleep, safe spaces, kindness, music, and other helpful choices).
Being here, I’ll search for “being here, being there” on YouTube.
Here‘s “I Love Being Here With You” by singer/songwriter Peggy Lee.
I love being here with you, and I loved being there when I took all these other photos:
Being that you’re here, why not leave a comment?
Whether I’m being here or being there, I’m being thankful for all who help me create these posts and — of course! — for YOU, here and now.
Shocking confession. I often steal the titles for these posts.
I’m wondering if this shocks my old friend Lawry, a lawyer who specializes in intellectual property and who used to read this blog every day. Shocking confession: Lawry and I are both attending our 45th college reunion this weekend.
Shocking confession: I keep rewriting the first paragraph of the five-minute “Ted Talk” I’m giving at the reunion, which includes shocking confessions.
Everyone in our class, I’m sure, remembers where you were on November 22, 1963. I’m different from you. I have no memories of that day, because I was having heart surgery to get my first cardiac pacemaker. While the world was being traumatized by the assassination of President Kennedy, my family and I were being traumatized by that unexpected surgery, by hospital rules preventing parents from staying with their children, and by medical staff not knowing how to answer the questions of a frightened 10-year-old girl, like “What’s that coffin on the TV screen?” and “What’s this giant thing sticking out of my body?”
It’s shocking how many mistakes people made back then. Unless I’m mistaken, giving this speech in front of my classmates will be a reparative experience, even if I make mistakes in my presentation.
Shocking confession. I’ve made mistakes every day of my life. Let’s see if I’ve made mistakes in my other photos from yesterday.
Shocking confession. I like to make up stories based on what I see around me. What story might you make up using the photos in this post? Don’t worry about making mistakes.
Shocking confession. One of the people pictured in today’s blog played the role of Ursula in a local production of “The Little Mermaid.” Can you guess who that was? Here is a song Ursula sings about mistakes being made:
Shocking confession. We’re all poor unfortunate souls who make mistakes. Ariel makes the mistake of giving up her voice in the Disney version of “The Little Mermaid,” but she recovers it in the end.
Shocking confession. I’d love to see your comments about this post and I’m grateful to all who helped me create it.
… it was easy for me to get in touch with these two notifications on my touch screen:
I don’t know if adding a phone number to Oscar’s Facebook page would make it easy for people to get in touch, since Oscar doesn’t talk on the phone.
It’s easy for people to get in touch with my life because I share so many photos, like these:
It’s easy for me to get in touch with Oscar, Harley, and all of my photos, for now.
Thanks to YouTube and Spotify, it’s easy for me to get in touch with music I love.
It’s easy for people to get in touch with the comments about that live performance of “Song for Bilbao” by the Pat Metheny Group, including these:
Noemi Zaffanella
2 years ago (edited)
I heard Pat Metheny and Lyle Mays since I was 6. I remember my mum when she told me that pat’s music is ever green. It’s true, I’m 19 now and I listen pat metheny every day for 13 years.
Steve Tocco
4 years ago
They’re all exceptional artists and I’m convinced Antonio Sanchez is not human.
Steven Reichert
3 years ago
A stage full of geniuses.
Luiz Janela
4 years ago
Heard trumpet sound, came to see if it was Pat soloing, but this time i was wrong. Great Cuong Vu. Beautiful!
geraldotorres35
5 years ago
Lets not forget Mr. Steve Rodby this guy sure keeps a smooth steady pulse love his groove PMG pls get back together …plssss
Joyce Sweeting
4 years ago
Pat becomes one with his guitar …you gotta luv it! 🙂
00xanawolf00
4 years ago
This is the first time I’ve heard this…
My mind is blown.
Fabio Copponi
4 years ago
Bona’s solo is a piece of magic…the calls to old jazz pieces are fantastic
edward shivers
4 years ago
GREATEST LIVE PERFORMANCE OF ALL TIME
Sometimes it’s easy for people to get in touch with appreciation.
Here and now, it’s easy for me to get in touch with my appreciation for the cats, pop-up shopping experiences, the Pat Metheny Group, the beauty surrounding me, and — of course! — YOU.
Almost two years ago (but who’s counting?) I wrote a post titled “Appropriate.” As I often tell members of my Coping and Healing groups, whenever we name an important topic in the room, the opposite is also implied. Therefore, anything I write about “Inappropriate” today would also include aspects of “Appropriate.”
I think it’s appropriate that I move on with this blog post.
The inspiration for today’s blog post is somebody saying inappropriate things to me yesterday. By inappropriate, I mean
disrespectful,
toxic,
unprofessional,
unpleasant,
misdirected,
insulting,
condescending, and
probably dishonest.
Is it inappropriate to consult an online dictionary to see if that definition includes any of the same words in my list above?
in·ap·pro·pri·ate
/ˌinəˈprōprēət/
adjective
not suitable or proper in the circumstances.
“there are penalties for inappropriate behavior”
synonyms: unsuitable, unfitting, ill-suited, unseemly, unbecoming, unprofessional, unfit, unbefitting, indecorous, improper, lacking in propriety, ungentlemanly, unladylike.
“Unprofessional” makes it to both lists of “inappropriate.” Almost all of the other “inappropriate” words are appropriate to my experience yesterday (although I wonder about the appropriateness of “ungentlemanly” or “unladylike”).
When somebody is inappropriate, I
am shocked,
get angry,
feel at a loss for the right things to say,
try to get away from the person as soon as possible, and
enlist appropriate people to help me deal with the situation.
What do you do when somebody is inappropriate?
I’m not sure if any of my photos from yesterday are appropriate to today’s topic.
Is it inappropriate that I also featured an Australian band in yesterday’s post? Is it inappropriate that I’m guessing how my readers from Australia are going to respond?
Gratitude is never inappropriate, so thanks to all who helped me create today’s “Inappropriate” post and — of course! — to you, my always appropriate readers.
As usual, my mind is crowded with lots of thoughts, including ideas about what to write in today’s blog post.
Last night, I watched part of the debate among the crowded field of Democratic candidates for President of these United States. Did anybody stand out from the crowd, for you?
Yesterday, my day was crowded with three Coping and Healing groups — two for patients and one for staff.
In one of the groups, I handed out the Rumi poem “The Guest House” which mentions “a crowd of sorrows.”
I love this kind of acceptance of whatever thought or feeling enters our crowded hearts and minds. In other words, nothing we feel or think should be considered trash.
The white boards in the group rooms were crowded with lots of topics.
The word “unexpected” stood out from one of those crowded lists.
It looks like the letter “D” has been crowded off the page in that photo.
Let’s see what other recent photos are on my crowded iPhone:
Our awareness of our positive qualities are often crowded out by our focus on our negative ones. That’s why we made a list of positive qualities in one of yesterday’s groups.
Hey now, hey now, I’m facing a day crowded with individual therapy appointments and two groups, so this post is over (but not before I share a crowd of thanks).
Yesterday, in a Coping and Healing group, non-difficult people talked about difficult people.
If it’s difficult to see “difficult people’ in that list of topics, it’s on the third line, third topic from the right. Some solutions to dealing with difficult people are also on that third line: “self care” and “letting it go.”
Coincidentally, I was researching difficult people the day before that group. Here‘s a link to a Psychology Today article by Kimberley Key — “How to Handle a Crazymaker: 4 keys to keep from losing it when they start playing games.” Kimberley Key’s 4 keys to dealing with difficult people are:
Take an observer’s point of view.
Maintain a healthy sense of self worth.
Keep a healthy distance.
Cultivate internal validation.
I need to deal with a difficult person at work today. Blogging about that, here and now, is reducing the difficulty for me — I’m actually looking forward to the opportunity to practice these helpful skills.
Is that difficult to believe?
Let’s see if there are difficult people in my other photos from yesterday:
Harley deals with difficult people by hiding under the bed.
Even difficult people can inspire good things. It was because of a difficult person that I wrote my first original song, 16 months ago:
And a difficult person inspired my latest song, which I performed at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe last month:
How do you deal with difficult people?
Here’s another way I deal with difficult people: I get in touch with the gratitude I have for all the non-difficult people in my life, including YOU.
