Posts Tagged With: lasagna

Day 4972: Kindness

If you pay attention to the news, kindness seems to be in short supply.

As a therapist, I know that kindness can be a life changer.

I’m so hungry for kindness these days that I almost couldn’t bear to watch the excellent TV mini-series Portobello, about a miscarriage of justice. Now that we’ve finished that, my husband and I have returned to a familiar dose of kindness — another TV series about veterinarians.

I believe that the more you look for kindness, the more you’ll find.

Do you see kindness in my images for today?

Here and now, I’m appreciating the kindness of lefthanders like me being celebrated (instead of being stigmatized or repressed).

Here’s what I find when I search for kindness on YouTube.

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Thanks to all who show kindness, including YOU!

Categories: personal growth, photojournalism | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

Day 4853: Syncretize

What do you think “syncretize” means?

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Every day, I syncretize differing things to create these blog posts.

Ready, set, syncretize!

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Every day, there’s so much to syncretize.

Here’s what I find on YouTube when I search for “syncretize.”

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Thanks to all who help me syncretize every day, including YOU!

Categories: life in the USA, personal growth, photojournalism | Tags: , , , , , , , , | 7 Comments

Day 4503: Steps

In my therapy sessions, we talk about achievable next steps. It’s often helpful when people think of these next steps as baby steps, especially when they are changing old patterns and habits.

Yesterday, when I was taking many steps in my neighborhood, I saw this:

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What steps do you see in my other images for today?

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I’m not finished yet. Here’s another one of my favorite jazz tunes: “Giant Steps” by John Coltrane.

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What steps are you taking these day?

Thanks to all who help me complete the steps for creating this daily blog, including YOU!

Categories: personal growth, photojournalism, Psychotherapy | Tags: , , , , , , , , | 7 Comments

Day 2874: I know things ordinary people don’t know

I know things ordinary people don’t know because I

  • was born with a very unusual heart,
  • grew up in an Orthodox Jewish household,
  • had an incredibly funny, creative, and kind father, who loved to make people laugh,
  • had an incredibly caring, kind, clean and neat mother, who loved to laugh,
  • realized I had a connection with cats when I was very young,
  • had my first major heart surgery when I was 10 on the day that President John F. Kennedy was assassinated,
  • have relied on cardiac pacemakers to keep me alive since that day,
  • spent a lot of time in hospitals where I met many different types of people,
  • danced in our basement to musicals when nobody was watching,
  • read voraciously when I was young,
  • learned to play the piano, guitar, and ukulele,
  • attended three schools where everyone there knew I had a heart condition,
  • travelled across the USA by bus when I was 21,
  • visited many different countries,
  • danced, danced, danced in the 1970s even though my heart rate was fixed at 72 beats per minute,
  • majored in English literature at college,
  • worked as a technical writer, marketing writer, teacher, manager, and psychotherapist,
  • volunteered for several years at a suicide hotline,
  • attended graduate schools for film studies and social work,
  • love hearing other people’s stories,
  • married two extraordinary men,
  • gave birth to an extraordinary son when I was 45 years old,
  • saw people behave at their best and their worst and everything in between (including me),
  • survived the coronavirus,
  • have kept learning from all the people I have encountered in my long life, and
  • have the Daily Bitch calendar, which knows a lot.

Can you tell that I know things ordinary people don’t know from the rest of today’s photos?

Harley knows things that ordinary cats don’t know, but he’s not telling.

It’s a good thing I know things that ordinary people don’t know, because I’ll be teaching several interns about my Coping and Healing groups this morning at 9.

Here is “I Know Things Now” from Into the Woods by Stephen Sondheim, whom I’ve known I’ve loved for a long, long time.

I also know gratitude that ordinary people don’t know, every day, so thanks to to all the extraordinary people I’ve known, including YOU!

Categories: group psychotherapy, heart condition, heart surgery, life during the pandemic, personal growth, photojournalism | Tags: , , , , , , , | 32 Comments

Day 2742: Staggering

Our 18-year-old cat, Oscar, who has cancer, has been staggering, sometimes, when he walks. Otherwise, his appetite is good and he does not seem to be in pain. He continues to be a staggeringly sweet kitty who wants to be close to his family.

It is staggering to me ….

  • What world leaders will do to hold onto power,
  • The increase of coronavirus cases in the United States,
  • That the U.S. President discourages testing and social distancing despite the recommendations of his own staff,
  • How people can ignore facts and science because of fear, anger, and denial,
  • How pernicious white male rage can be,
  • How some people are valued over others,
  • How kind, perceptive, and thoughtful my 22-year old son is,
  • That my son Aaron thinks that people should have the option of euthanasia and animals should be allowed to die naturally,
  • How long the line and wait was yesterday for Aaron to be tested for COVID-19,
  • How quickly we got the good test results,
  • How beautiful the South Shore of Boston is,
  • How everything my husband Michael cooks is so delicious, and
  • How great it is when the whole family is in the house.

Do you see anything staggering in my photos from yesterday ?

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It is staggering to me that somebody posted a negative comment at the end of this article in the Deseret News starring yours truly.

https://www.deseret.com/platform/amp/indepth/2020/5/31/21264377/coronavirus-anthony-fauci-socks-quarantine-pandemic-covid-19-tees-tshirts-masks-etsy

It is staggering to me that

  • Jennifer Graham, the awesome writer of that article, found me through this blog and
  • the article links to this performance of my original song “Left the House Before I Felt Ready”!

My viewer numbers on YouTube are still less than staggering even after the publication of that story. However, I will keep staggering along in my pursuit of fame and fortune.

In the meantime, I am staggeringly grateful to all who follow me here, including YOU!

Categories: life during the pandemic, personal growth, photojournalism | Tags: , , , , , , , , , | 29 Comments

Day 2187: Be a hero.

“Be a hero” — a sign I saw yesterday —

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reminds me of a post I wrote my second week of blogging, almost six years ago: Day 11: You might as well be the hero of your own story.

As you can see from the blog title and from the post itself, being a blogging hero, back then, meant using far more words and a lot fewer photos.

I guess being a hero changes as we grow, learn, and mature.

Be a hero, to me, and check out my other photos from yesterday.

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Last night, Michael was being a hero by making our favorite vegetable lasagna for me and my son Aaron.

Because I’m feeling nostalgic today, here’s the first appearance of my hero Michael and his heroic lasagna in my blog (starting at 1:23).


Be a hero and please leave a comment, below.

Being a hero includes expressing appreciation and gratitude, so thanks to every hero who helped me create today’s blog and — of course! — to YOU, my heroes!

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Categories: group therapy, personal growth, photojournalism | Tags: , , , , , , , , , | 17 Comments

Day 1920: What’s bad for you? What’s good for you?

Yesterday, in a therapy group, people made lists of what’s bad for them and what’s good for them.

What would you put in your lists of what’s bad for you and what’s good for you?

Do you see anything that’s  bad for you or good for you in my photos?

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Here‘s a Good AND Bad Song from The Powerpuff Girls.

 

It would be bad for me to miss my 7:30 AM Physical Therapy appointment, so it’s good for me to end now with thanks to all who helped me create today’s post and — of course! — to YOU.

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Categories: group therapy, personal growth, photojournalism | Tags: , , , , , , , | 15 Comments

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