Yesterday, in a therapy session, I suggested that somebody try unconditional self love. This person asked, “How would I do that?” and I replied, “Redirect some of that unconditional love you have for your children toward yourself.” When they said, “I don’t know how to do that,” I responded, “It’s difficult to do something for the first time, but I strongly recommend that you start trying NOW.”
Why is it so hard for us to have unconditional self love? Earlier in the day, somebody else expressed the fear of feeling too good about themselves. I asked, “Why don’t we have a fear of feeling too bad about ourselves?”
Is there unconditional self love in any of my images for today?
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Here’s what I find when I search for “unconditional self love” on YouTube.
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Unconditional love for all that are here, now, including YOU!
It’s 3:41 AM, I’m thinking about what’s disturbing, and I just posted this on Twitter (excuse me, but I find the new name “X” disturbing):
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For me, here and now, what’s disturbing includes
Physical pain,
Emotional pain,
Social and financial inequities,
U.S. politics,
Fascism,
Gun violence, and
Thoughtless cruelty.
What’s disturbing is that when I encounter unexpected obstacles to pursuing my goals, I can become momentarily burnt out and discouraged.
What’s the opposite of disturbing? Wait a moment; I’ll check.
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It really helps to focus on what’s not disturbing, especially because our minds automatically focus on what’s disturbing.
I’m going to finish this blog post so I can try to get back to sleep and get a rest from what’s disturbing (including my arm that’s very sore from a COVID shot and a flu shot I got yesterday at the hospital).
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What’s disturbing about those daily holidays?
Here’s what I find on YouTube when I look for “what’s disturbing.”
Actually, I don’t want to share what’s disturbing on YouTube. Instead, thanks to all who visit this daily blog, including YOU!
For the last few weeks, I’ve been writing a song — “I Don’t Wanna Be Late (Don’t Wanna Be Early Either)” — which is about maintaining happy mediums.
As I’ve realized how many happy mediums we struggle to maintain, I’ve added verse after verse, until the song is now over 13 minutes long.
I assume that people don’t wanna listen to a song that’s too long (or too short), but this morning I’ve written a new verse about my needing to maintain a different happy medium. I won’t record this verse but I will share it with you:
As all my doctors know, to survive I have to be neither.
What’s so bad if my INR’s too low?
Strokes and a clogged mechanical heart valve, Bro.
What’s so bad if the INR’s high?
Over-bleeding, I might be needing to say goodbye.
A year ago, my INR was too low and I had a mini-stroke. Since then, I’ve been working hard to maintain happy mediums for my INR (above 2.7) until this unexpected reading on Sunday:
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No one was happy about this and to regain a happy medium, I’ve injected myself with something called Lovenox, stopped eating greens, and upped my dosage of Coumadin. But we don’t want me to go too high, either, so I’ll be retesting myself this morning.
In the meantime, do you see happy mediums in the rest of my images for today?
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I need to get ready to retest my INR, hoping that nobody has to take me to a doctor today. If the INR is not a happy medium, I’ll be talking like a pirate (“Arrrrggghhhh!”)
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Arrrgghh! Now it’s too high. (It’s suppose to be below 3.5). As some of us suspected, Sunday’s too-low reading was false one. (That’s the first time I’ve experienced that with my home monitor.) I’m happy that I challenged my doctor’s initial plan for me to inject myself twice a day and wait to retest until Friday. And happy that I’m well on my way to restoring my happy medium.
Here’s what I find on YouTube when I search for “happy mediums.”
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Thanks to all who do their best to maintain happy mediums, including YOU!
What are you looking forward to? I asked that question last night on the site formerly known as Twitter.
Speaking of dangling prepositions, to what am I looking forward? Among other things, I’m looking forward to a day when my jaw doesn’t click when I open it. Since I talk for a living, maybe my jaw will get a much needed rest next week when I’m on vacation, which I’m looking forward to.
Are you looking forward to my other images for today?
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I’m looking forward to many relaxation days, starting (why not?) NOW.
Here’s the first thing I find when when I search YouTube for “what are you looking forward to?”
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Now I’m looking forward to comments about what you’re looking forward to, below.
Thanks to all who give me something to look forward to, including YOU!
Yesterday, on OK day, I figured it would be okay to ask people on Twitter a question related to that — like “what helps you feel okay?” — and I decided to go with a simple yes or no question: “Are you okay?”
While I usually think yes-or-no questions are just okay and not as good as open-ended questions, I went with “are you okay?” probably because I really would have appreciated hearing that question at difficult moments in my life. As a matter of fact, I wrote a blog post many years ago when I was not so okay, citing these “are you okay” lyrics from the song “Smooth Criminal”:
I truly wish people had asked me “Are you okay?” (repeatedly, without taking “yes” for an answer) when I was a brave little girl in the hospital not admitting how scary it was to be experiencing many heart-related surgeries.
And I like hearing “Are you okay?” as an adult, because it tells me that people care enough to ask and hear an honest answer.
Are you okay with this blog post so far and are you okay with these images I want to share with you today?
Are you okay with this video I found on YouTube by searching with “are you okay?”
Are you okay? I really want to know.
Thanks to all who ask and answer the question “are you okay?” — including YOU!
