Over and over again, different thoughts and feelings come up.
Over and over again, I let them flow through me, replaced by more.
Over and over again, I resolve to live more in the present and less in the past and the future.
Over and over again, I look at the news and wonder about the wild ride we are all on together.
Over and over again, I quote Yogi Berra: “It’s like déjà vu all over again.”
Over and over again, I need to get my teeth cleaned to prevent endocarditis (which I used to get over and over again) and I need to get my cardiac pacemaker replaced (some time in the next few months).
Over and over again, I wonder who will show up for my ActBlue fundraising concert on August 31. Over and over again I wonder if I’m ready to put on a good enough show.
Over and over again, I listen to music that I love as I walk all over my neighborhood.
Over and over again, I try to upload photos into this blog from my phone.
Over and over again I try to be patient with the process, no matter how long it takes.
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Over and over again, I post the daily holidays on social media and clear up ambiguities about them.
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Over and over again, I share the Daily Bitch Calendar here and in my therapy groups.
Here are some of the songs that people listen to over and over again:
This is Celine Dion singing Edith Piaf at the Olympics; just click to see it.
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Over and over again, I am grateful to all of you!!
I love this 2018 tweet the late U.S. Representative John Lewis made about trouble:
“Do not get lost in a sea of despair. Be hopeful, be optimistic. Our struggle is not the struggle of a day, a week, a month, or a year, it is the struggle of a lifetime. Never, ever be afraid to make some noise and get in good trouble, necessary trouble.”
What kinds of troublemakers do you see in my latest photos?
I hope I didn’t make trouble by presenting so many pictures together in that photo montage. To see any of those more clearly, you need to go to the trouble of clicking on them.
These are my favorite photos from yesterday, so I’m taking the trouble of enlarging them for you:
That was actually no trouble at all.
Because so many people are making trouble for each other on Facebook, I reposted this message there recently:
Reposted from a friend.
Just a note for my right leaning family and friends from my left leaning self as we near voting day:
They say we want to disband police departments (and that we hate the police): we don’t, that’s a lie. We want to weed out racism and unnecessary police brutality and for those who abuse their power to be held accountable.
They say we want to release all prisoners: we don’t, that’s a lie. We want to weed out racism and ensure the punishments match the crimes and to deprivatize prisons.
They say we want open borders: we don’t, that’s a lie. We want asylum seekers to be given their chance to seek asylum. We want to help people who are coming from unimaginable terror and poverty help to give them the chances we have. We want to ensure children aren’t separated from their parents and that nobody is kept in cages. But we do want proper vetting.
They say we want to take away your guns: we don’t, that’s a lie. We want logical gun control to help prevent mass shootings.
They say we want to wage a war on Christianity and Christian values: we don’t, that’s a lie. We want people of all religions to be able to practice and worship freely.
They say we want to get everything for free: we don’t, that’s a lie. We want to work hard and make sure that healthcare and education are affordable for all.
They say we want a war against traditional marriage: we don’t, that’s a lie. We want people of all sexual orientations to be able to love freely, no matter whom you love.
They say we want to destroy or rewrite history: we don’t, that’s a lie. We want to recognize the ugly parts of our past and do everything we can to say “that’s not okay, let’s not honor those aggressors, let’s not let those things happen again”.
They say we want to take away your constitutional rights: we don’t, that’s a lie. We choose to believe science and wear masks and try to prevent the spread of this disease.
They say we hate America: we don’t, that’s a lie. We just recognize our faults and want us to do better, be better.
Please stop with the us vs. them. Stop with the straw man arguments. Our position is one of empathy, compassion and logic. Stop believing the hype. Stop with the division. Just because we want equality for all doesn’t mean we want to take anything away from you.
***Please copy and paste***
If there are any troublemakers from my high school who insist on talking politics at our upcoming Zoom reunion, I’m going to the trouble of making breakout rooms for them to do so. I’m hoping that, for one night, we can focus on easing each other’s minds, not further troubling them.
No matter what kind of trouble I’ve made in these blog posts, I always make room for gratitude at the end, so thanks to all who helped me create this “Troublemakers” post and thanks to YOU for taking the trouble to be here!
Loss is nothing else but change, and change is nature’s delight. — Marcus Aurelius
People lose people, we lose things in our life as we’re constantly growing and changing. That’s what life is, is change, and a lot of that is loss. It’s what you gain from that loss that is life. — Thomas Jane
When you have a tough loss, go through it and agonize. I had one loss that I still want to change, but at the same time I realize it is an important part of who I am. — Andrew Shue
There is so much inherent drama in the matter of change. Disappointment in yourself and others, coping with the fact that life is essentially a shipwreck, becoming a person you yourself could not imagine yourself to be, for good and for bad, and then ultimately there is the basic matter of loss. — Jane Hamilton
The garden is growth and change and that means loss as well as constant new treasures to make up for a few disasters. — May Sarton
Do you see loss and/or change in my photos from yesterday?
I changed my framing of “CARE” to “CA” above because of an upcoming change: I’m flying to CA for a group therapy conference in three weeks. Chances are that I’ll experience and witness change, loss, disasters, and treasures while I’m there.
I was very aware of the loss of Bob Marley yesterday, because of this:
Any thoughts or feelings about loss and change?
Something that doesn’t change: how I notice and share thanks with YOU.
Illness is the doctor to whom we pay the most heed; to kindness, to knowledge, we make promises only; pain we obey. — Marcel Proust
The great art of life is sensation, to feel that we exist, even in pain. — Lord Byron
I imagine one of the reasons people cling to their hates so stubbornly is because they sense, once hate is gone, they will be forced to deal with pain. — James Baldwin
Pain reaches the heart with electrical speed, but truth moves to the heart as slowly as a glacier. — Barbara Kingsolver
All of us have ways in which we mask and cover our pain. — Iyania Vanzant
Find a place inside where there’s joy, and the joy will burn out the pain. — Joseph Campbell
Pain and pleasure, like light and darkness, succeed each other. — Laurence Sterne
Pain is the most private experience, but its causes, whether natural or man-made, demand public accounting. — Nancy Gibbs
To truly laugh, you must be able to take your pain, and play with it! — Charlie Chaplin
If my art has nothing to do with people’s pain and sorrow, what is “art” for? — Ai Weiwei
One good thing about music, when it hits you, you feel no pain. — Bob Marley
Champagne for my real friends and real pain for my sham friends. — Tom Waits
