Because I’m a psychotherapist, a blogger, and a denizen of Twitter, I spend a lot of time responding to others.
Sometimes I feel guilty that I’m not responding more quickly and completely to responses here and on Twitter, but I’m responding to guilt the way I suggest others respond — I’m letting go of it.
Lately, I’ve been responding better to people who respond differently than I do. For example, when my husband Michael and I saw the musical Preludes this weekend, we discovered we were responding very differently: I liked it and he disliked it. Instead of responding negatively to that, I accepted Michael’s viewpoint and was also able to stay with my positive feelings about the play. I have to admit it’s taken me many years to reach that evolved level of responding.
Because responding effectively and appropriately can be complicated, I tweeted this simple Daily Bitch resolution/solution yesterday:
Now I’m wondering how you’ll be responding to that and the other images in today’s blog post.
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The Daily Bitch seems to be letting go of guilt about how she’s been responding.
Here are musicians responding to each other in the movie Whiplash.
Thanks to all who are responding to this blog post here and now, including YOU!
Readers bring part of themselves to a book and audience members bring part of themselves to a performance (who they are at that time), so the response is not entirely in the hands of the creators. Sometimes when I listen to why my kids liked or didn’t like a book or show that I felt differently about,I find out amazing things about my kids or the world.
The snow in your deck makes a most interesting pattern!
A meow can depend on the tone
I wish more people could accept someone else’s personal reaction to something. It’s informative to hear a different personal reaction. That’s something that makes reading groups so fruitful. Five people read a novel and have five different takes.
olive is very clear in giving her ‘chirpy’ opinions, and I honor them but don’t take them personally if I feel differently.
Right now I can only respond to the picture of you standing in front of a mirror with a sign over your face that says “Yale Outlet”, because it reminds me of a story about Houdini: he went to perform his famous river dive at Harvard, but when he took off his robe he was, shockingly, wearing Yale blue swim trunks. The students protested, crying, “Wear Harvard crimson!” Houdini stripped off his swim trunks and yelled, “Is my face red!” before diving into the water.
don’t worry, respond to what you want, when you want, that is what I do! X
Movie about music: “The Piano” I love that one! Of course “The Sound of Music” is a gob of people’s favorite, right? It’s certainly my hubby’s #1.
I delivered our weekly contribution to the new tasty dinner-for-two food exchange we’ve started with Elisabeth and George using my key to their house on Monday, Ann, and cat Ava ran out to greet me with a can-I-have-some-please meow but settled for some pets on the head instead, Ann.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0103110 “Tous les matins du monde” and “Farinelli”, both featuring Baroque music and intense stories are two I really enjoy. In the first, the mysterious “Monsieur de Sainte-Colombe’s cello works are featured in a story involving the musician, Marin Marais as a student. Once Marais becomes a court musician, he realizes he’s aimed for the wrong star, that his mentor had a bigger lesson to teach him, one he missed. In “Farinelli”, Baroque opera stagecraft is shown and the life of the castrato Carlo Broschi is featured. The opera scenes are especially satisfying, as is the fictionalized life story of this 18th Century super star. Immortal Beloved” about a woman Beethoven loved but whose identity wasn’t known is another intense and beautifully told movie featuring his Symphony No. 9 in D Minor. The connection between music and emotion becomes apparent watching any of these movies. “A Song to Remember”, that mid-forties about Chopin was pretty good, too.