Thanks to a recommendation by someone who reads this blog, I’ve been listening to Daring Greatlyby Brené Brown.
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Here’s a partial list of the chapters in Daring Greatly:
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The bookis helping me let go of shame and embrace my vulnerability as I am daring greatly to share my music with others, despite my inexperience in this arena.
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Do you see anyone daring greatly in my images for today?
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Today I’ll be daring greatly by (1) speaking to another musician I recently met about next steps and (2) looking into getting a new phone.
Here’s what I find when I search for “daring greatly” on YouTube:
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Thanks to all who are daring greatly every day, including YOU!
I have no excuses for the first music I ever bought, after looking at dozens of albums at a local record store.
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I have no excuses for loving jazz so much when I was very young that I didn’t like the Beatles when I first heard them and saw them on the Ed Sullivan Show in 1964.
I have no excuses for totally changing my mind about the Beatles when I saw A Hard Day’s Night at the local movie theatre with my cousin Amy and for loving their music ever since.
I have no excuses for any of my images for today.
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The Daily Bitch offers no excuses for being herself.
I have no excuses for forgetting to take a picture of my husband Michael’s latest culinary creation yesterday.
I have no excuses for ordering the wrong replacement windshield wipers in the mail TWICE. I have no excuses for living this long and not realizing that the best way to replace windshield wipers is to go to my local auto parts store and to ask for help.
I have no excuses for always repeating my blog post title many times during each post.
Here’s what I find when I search for “no excuses” on YouTube.
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I would have no excuses if I forgot to thank everyone who helps me blog every day, including YOU!
Shame is something I feel and think about a great deal and it’s interesting to me how people grapple to define it. For example, the first definition of “shame” I found online this morning …
… didn’t seem to align with the way I think about shame, which may or may not be preceded by “wrong or foolish behavior.” However, the more I thought about it, the more I realized that “consciousness of wrong or foolish behavior” doesn’t necessarily mean that the person feeling shame actually did something “wrong” or “foolish” — they might just think or feel that they had. And, one might argue that any behavior could be seen as wrong or foolish, if one is feeling shame.
A definition I like about shame is “guilt is feeling you’ve done something wrong; shame is feeling there is something wrong with you.”
During my week in NYC at a group therapy conference, I wrote notes on my phone, and here are some notes I wrote about shame:
I have no shame about inviting people to let go of shame in my work as a psychotherapist, even if other people believe that shame can help us grow and develop.
Here is another definition of shame I found online …
Here’s the description of this day from the National Days website:
Because my name is constantly misspelled and mispronounced (e.g., “Anne Caplow”), I will take advantage of National Name Yourself Day to try on another name today and maybe a new personality!
I know what I want my first name to be on National Name Yourself Day — Ace. I’ve never had a nickname and I’ve written before that I’d like that one. Why? “Ace” is close enough to “Ann” (starts with “A” and is three letters), it won’t be misspelled, AND it expresses pride in my own abilities (taking a break from any fears of seeming conceited).
For a last name, I’m momentarily stumped. I could choose something like “Writer” or “Blogger” or “Tweeter” or “Therapist” to further brag about myself, but I don’t love those names.
I could convert my real last name “Koplow” (pronounced “Cop-lo”) to something close. As annoyed as I can get with the constant misspellings and mispronunciations, my husband Michael (who might call himself “Mike” today but never “Mickey”) has suggested that I embrace the most common of those: “Kaplow” which is pronounced like a comic book noise (ka-pow!).
I’m ambivalent about that, because I still remember overhearing two female telemarketers years ago laughing hysterically about what they thought was my name.” “Can you believe that this woman’s name is Ka-PLOW?!” they said, before I let them know that I could hear them and they’d lost the sale.
Well, it’s only for one day, so “Ace Ka-plow” it is!
Ace Ka-plow wants to share these images with you on National Name Yourself Day:
Today is also my friend Jeanette’s birthday, whom I cherish and who is no antique, because she’s ten years younger than Ace Ka-plow.
Here’s a song Jeanette and I have heard in concert many times together, performed by a huge name in jazz — Pat Metheny:
How are you going to celebrate National Name Yourself Day?
No matter what our names are today, I’m grateful for all of us, including YOU.
What is wrong with people asking the question, “What is wrong with people?”
What is wrong with hundreds of people answering that question, including me?
Yet when people ask “What is wrong with me?” in therapy, I answer very differently, with “Is that a helpful question?”
What is wrong with people answering the question “What is wrong with me?” with “Nothing!”
What is wrong with people making a distinction between people as a species and individuals? What is wrong with people letting go of shame (the belief that something is wrong with them) in order to heal?
What is wrong with people sharing their images with other people?
No more! From now on, whenever I get red eye, I shall ask for no pardons. Why should I? After all,
I am appearing as best as I can,
I love the color red, and
nobody’s appearance needs pardoning.
I am also not going to ask you to please pardon the appearance of my latest photos.
I’m also not going to ask you to pardon the appearance of last night’s special at the Birch Street Bistro in Roslindale, Massachusetts, which was delicious.
Personally, I find it very freeing to stop asking for pardons about appearances. Does anybody want to join me in that?
I try to compost when I can and feel guilty when I don’t.
Unless somebody hands me a napkin, I often forget to get one.
Something I have in common with my teacher, friend, and comedian’s comedian Ron Lynch is that napkins don’t like to stay in our laps. During a restaurant meal, I often have to reach down with my hand and retrieve an escaped or escaping napkin.
You have to hand it to me: I’m a creative name-dropper (and napkin-dropper).
My hands have now rewritten the title to this post several times …
Day 2537: Everything we hand you
Day 2537: Everything I hand you
Day 2537: Everything I’m handed
Day 2537: Compostable
Day 2537: Hand outs
Day 2537: Everything
… before returning to my original title. As my fiancé Michael says, “First guess, best guess.”
Now you’re going to be handed more images my hand, heart, and mind have chosen.
Sometimes, everything you’re handed can feel like too much. Please keep these thoughts at hand when you’re overwhelmed:
