On the recommendation of a social work intern who is co-facilitating a Coping and Healing group with me, I’m listening to the audiobook of A Little Life.
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A Little Life is not a little book, and it tackles big themes including trauma, child abuse, love, friendship, and art.
At the same time that I’m listening to many harrowing descriptions in A Little Life, I am living my own little life to the best of my ability.
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When I attended another Open Mic in my little life last night, I performed this original song:
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Here’s what I find when I search for “a little life” on YouTube.
I wonder if I’ll get to see that in my little life?
Thanks to all who share a little life with me here, including YOU!
For four thousand, seven hundred and seventeen days (but who’s counting?), I have come up with today’s theme, hoping that each daily blog post has something that helps somebody besides me.
What is today’s theme?
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What’s today’s theme? I think it’s our group membership with people who are doing our best to love and accept others and ourselves. Actually, that’s every day’s theme here at The Year(s) of Living Non-Judgmentally.
Here’s what I find when I search for “today’s theme” on YouTube.
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Thanks to all who are here for today’s theme, including YOU!
Yesterday, I was talking to a social work intern about letting smiles and other facial expressions show when facilitating a therapy group. I have never been a “blank slate” kind of therapist. I am aware, however, that smiles might seem jarring to somebody who is feeling traumatized, triggered, or despairing, so my smiles disappear when I witness somebody’s pain.
I look for smiles when I share my songs like Artificial Intelligence, which will be released as a single on Spotify, Apple Music, etc. on November 7.
I hope those non-artificial percussion tracks — which I did by clicking my tongue and popping my cheek — get smiles.
The good news is that my coach Jeff Leisawitz was all smiles yesterday when he reacted to my music and suggested that I reach out to mental-health-oriented podcasts to get my songs out there.
There are definitely smiles in my images for today.
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In my defense, I’m hungry to share my music, and I think this song gets the most smiles.
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Thanks to all who are here, now, for the smiles, including YOU!
In my therapy groups this week, people shared that there was too much going on in the news and in their lives. Because there was too much to talk about, it almost took too much effort on my part to make sure that each group ended on time.
Yesterday I had too much to do, including individual therapy, group therapy, supervision, sharing my music, connecting with friends, preparing for future protests, and going to my yearly visit with one of my cardiologists.
I hope there’s not too much in today’s post.
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Who thinks there is too much on that list of World Observances?
Here’s a song I wrote about having too much to do when there is too much going on:
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I had to do too much to successfully share that video here, but I don’t want to say too much about that.
Is it too much for me to ask for comments, below?
Thanks to all who help me deal with too much, including YOU!
One of my priorities is becoming known for my open-access, attend-when-you-choose therapy group and also for my original songs.
What’s becoming known to me is how little I know about becoming known.
The best I can do for now is to keep doing what I love and to be aware of opportunities for becoming known. It’s also becoming known to me that I shouldn’t be too invested in becoming known, since that might interfere with the wonderful experience of getting to do what I love to do.
As I discover over and over again in my therapy groups, we all have a need for becoming known — not necessarily becoming famous but definitely becoming seen and recognized for our authentic selves.
As the news is now becoming known all over the world, I feel very sad about the death of Pope Francis. Pope Francis always seemed to be a good, empathic, and caring man, while others in positions of power have been becoming known as capricious, vengeful, and greedy.
(Which reminds me, I’m going to record my protest song “You Don’t Scare Me” today with hopes that it will becoming known.)
It’s now becoming known to me that Pope Francis requested another break with tradition for his burial place, which will be the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore, the first place we visited last month when Rome was becoming known to us.
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What’s becoming known in my other images for today?
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When I search for “becoming known” on YouTube, I find this …
I believe that my therapy groups, my original songs, and this blog offer stress reduction. I would like to offer this stress reduction to many more people but haven’t figured out how to do that yet
Yesterday, I did a mindfulness exercise where I invited people to focus on what makes them happy. Because our minds can automatically focus on what’s wrong or dangerous, it often takes effort and practice to think about what makes us happy (especially during unhappy times like these).
Here and now, one of my many fears about the rapid changes in the USA is that some of us who disagree with the government might increasingly have hidden thoughts. Also, if Medicaid is drastically cut, my patients may be unable to express their hidden thoughts in therapy.
No matter what, though, I’ll keep unhiding my hidden thoughts here and elsewhere.
Good question, Daily Bitch.
Feel free to express your hidden thoughts in the comments section, below.
Thanks to all who help me express my hidden thoughts every day, including YOU!
