I got to see one of my all time favorite musicians last night — the incredible Jacob Collier.
One of my all time favorite musical experiences is being in a giant audience chorus directed by a joyful, creative, and generous genius.
Because I don’t know if any of my photos will load today, I know this post will be one of my all time favorites if I also share this:
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One of my all time favorite ways of approaching life is to keep trying, despite obstacles, holding out hope for the best, so let’s see if my photos load today!
Yay!After an upsetting experience yesterday, I went to Sephora and met Mary Kate! She is now one of my all time favorite beauty consultants. Here are two of my all time favorite Jacob Collier fans — Aija and her son Daniel. Aija told me about their involvement in many musical, artistic, and other creative endeavors, including the Baltic Film Festival. Aija also showed me a picture of her all time favorite kitten.
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After I got home from one of my all time favorite concerts, I asked a question about all time favorites on Twitter.
One of my all time favorite things to do on Twitter is to share the Daily Holidays.
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Let’s see if today’s Daily Bitch is one of my all time favorites…
Nah. But this is one of my all time favorites:
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Thanks to Jacob Collier, Mary Kate, Daniel, Aija, my friends on Twitter, the Daily Bitch, cool cats, and my all time favorite readers, including YOU!!
Today, I’ll be taking chances as I facilitate two groups, try physical therapy again for what seems to be a chronic (and perhaps unresolvable) problem, practice two of my original compositions with an old friend, and stay out late for the second night in a row at a concert with the amazing Jacob Collier.
Because I wasn’t given too many chances when I was young to survive to my current ripe old age, taking chances seems to come naturally to me. I talked about that last night at a Freedom Seder hosted by dear friends — Jonathan Gershon, Daniella, and their daughter Freedom — in Providence, Rhode Island.
Do you see taking chances in my images for today?
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Whenever I create one of these blog posts, I am taking chances that my photos for the day are going to load properly. Today, I had to work really hard to get any images into this blog, which makes me wonder if I’m taking chances by holding on to my old phone and laptop.
Here‘s what I find when I search for “taking chances” on YouTube.
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Chances are that you know that I’ll be thanking all those who help me in taking chances, including YOU!
Yesterday, I told my coach Jeff Leisawitz my fears about wrong notes.
When I was young, a singing teacher told me (1) if I sang a wrong note, that was all my audience would remember and (2) the only notes that were interesting in my voice were the very high notes I could sing (up to Bb over high C).
Jeff said that those notes my singing teacher gave me were wrong and he gave me an invitation to deliberately sing wrong notes in front of my husband Michael.
Do you see wrong notes in my images for today?
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On True Love Forever Day, I’m going to hazard a guess that my husband Michael will still love me even if I sing some wrong notes.
Here’s what I find on YouTube when I search for wrong notes.
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Besides talking about wrong notes, Jeff and I discussed fantasy collaborators and Jacob Collier would definitely be one for me.
Feel free to leave notes about this wrong-notes post, below.
Thanks to all who help me hit the wrong notes and right notes, including YOU!
I’ve been spending many hours thinking about how to remodel our upstairs shower, because I want that to be a hideaway.
I don’t want to hide away why that’s so important to me: When I was a child spending too much time alone in the hospital, the private bathroom with a tub, at the end of the long hallway, was really my only hideaway. The rest of the time, I was under the eyes of doctors and nurses, hooked up to a cardiac monitor that beeped out my unusual heartbeat, day and night.
Years ago in therapy, I gave myself the healing assignment of drawing a floor plan of that Children’s Hospital cardiac unit, and the room with the tub stood out as a precious and safe hideaway.
Feet are on my mind this morning because I love to walk and I’ve been having some pain in my feet.
I wonder if my feet will take me to a doctor before taking me on to a plane this Monday to fly my feet and the rest of me to Portland, Oregon.
Yesterday, I was on my feet while I was capturing these images:
I don’t know if my feet will let me celebrate Dance Like a Chicken Day, since I have been groaning after putting on my shoes, just like the Daily Bitch.
This was what my ears were listening to yesterday when I started worrying about my feet:
Before my feet lead me into this beautiful day, thanks to all who help me take the steps to create this daily blog, including YOU!
People often come to therapy for good answers to troubling questions about life.
This book, which was recommended by my good friend and fellow therapist Megan …
… is giving some good answers to the question of how to deal with painful feelings in ourselves and others. Here’s what I’m reading this morning:
Though all emotional healing requires it, listening to pain is difficult — and the greater the pain, the more difficult it is to listen to. The dark emotions are uncomfortable; they are also contagious. Their energies flow through and between and among us without regard for the boundaries we erect to keep ourselves separate. If we are unable to tolerate some discomfort, it’s hard to listen to dark feelings in ourselves or others. Our best, most compassionate intentions are thwarted, our connections marred by the shadow of intolerable emotions. We become inured to the incessant cacophony of the world’s suffering, limited in our authenticity and responsiveness. And we suffer from not knowing the darker side of ourselves.
Greenspan, 2004, p. 15
Often a good answer to the unrelenting grief, fear, and despair in the world is to take a break from all that. Those breaks can be moments of deep breathing or getting away for a vacation. A good answer for me, here and now, is taking two weeks off from work, starting this Saturday, and flying to Portland, Oregon to visit my college roommate Maria.
Do you see good answers in any of my other images for today?
The Daily Bitch often has good answers, don’t you think?
Here’s my good answer to my own question of what music you would like to share with others:
I look forward to people’s good answers in the comments section, below.
Gratitude is a good answer for everything, so thanks to all who visit my daily blog, including YOU.
Last night, after a two-year COVID delay, I finally got to experience, in person, the incredible musicianship, energy, and harmonies of Jacob Collier in concert. This is how Wikipedia begins the entry on Jacob Collier:
The atmosphere at Boston’s House of Blues last night was filled with harmonies, with the audience in rapt attention, Jacob and his band and crew creating otherworldly harmonies, and no restrictions on photographs or videos! At one point, I did try to capture the exquisite harmonies of a Jacob Collier concert with this video:
I just searched YouTube for “Jacob Collier live audience harmonies” and immediately found this.
The teenage boys behind me in line seemed to know everything about Jacob’s harmonies and they were very impressed when I told them I had seen Miles Davis in Boston in 1969. The guy sitting next to me at the concert, who used to play guitar with Rahsaan Roland Kirk and who sang some great harmonies with me, told me he had seen Jacob twice before and that it was “life changing.” Jacob had so much fun creating harmonies with his amazing band and with us that I got home very late, but I’m ready to create harmonies with the world and at work as soon as I finish the harmonies in this blog post.
I look forward to the harmonies you create in the comments section below and thanks to all who help me create harmonies in this blog every day, including YOU!
It’s fascinating to me how much it improves my mood to title today’s blog post “Fascinating” (rather than “Afraid to Look” or “Big Setbacks” or other more negative titles I was considering).
If I can approach life with curiosity and openness to how fascinating everything is, I feel stronger, more hopeful, and better equipped to meet the inevitable ups and downs of existence.
Which of today’s images do you find fascinating?
It’s fascinating to me that today is National Black Dog Day, National Hair Day, Fire Pup Day, National Homemade Cookies Day, National Manufacturing Day, National Body Language Day, AND World Smile Day.
Here’s Gershwin’s “Fascinating Rhythm“ as performed by Jacob Collier…
It’s fascinating to me that when I wrote that, seven months ago, I had no idea how controversial the COVID vaccines could be. It’s fascinating that I had no hesitation in getting the booster shot as soon as I could, and yet people I love and respect are refusing to get vaccinated at all.
What do you find fascinating? I look forward to reading your fascinating comments, below.
It’s fascinating how much gratitude helps, so thanks to all who read this blog, including fascinating YOU!
