Posts Tagged With: Mary Oliver

Day 3992: You don’t have to be …

You don’t have to be in the dark about the title for today’s blog post. Yesterday, when I was at Tufts Medical Center, I saw this:

You don’t have to be big, strong, or good, as I learned from Mary Oliver’s poem “Wild Geese.”

You don’t have to be anything, right now, and I hope you enjoy the rest of my images for today. (You don’t have to be a cat lover to enjoy them, but it helps).

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You don’t have to be nice to everyone, says the Daily Bitch.

You don’t have to be listening to one of my favorite albums when I was a kid, “You Don’t Have to be Jewish.”

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You don’t have to be leaving a comment about this post; I’m just grateful you’re here!

Categories: personal growth, photojournalism | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , | 9 Comments

Day 3814: Finally…

I saw a great sign yesterday with a Mary Oliver quote that starts with “Finally…”

Finally… I saw (again!) that worrying had come to nothing. So I took my old body (and young cat) out for a walk, checked out an open house, sang, had a cookout with people I love, and finally reunited with my dear friend Ada after a too-long absence.

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Finally…I’ll rise, but I will be shining with gratitude for all who make my life better, including YOU!

Categories: friendship, home repair, personal growth, photojournalism | Tags: , , , , , , , , , | 14 Comments

Day 3666: I’m good enough, I’m smart enough, etc.

I’m good enough, I’m smart enough to remember Al Franken’s Stuart Smalley character from Saturday Night Live.

Stuart, who was not a licensed therapist (unlike me) often said “I’m good enough, I’m smart enough, and doggone it, people like me.”

Yesterday, I was good enough and smart enough to talk to another licensed therapist about Stuart Smalley and that catchphrase. In EMDR therapy, I’ve been working on believing that I’m good enough and smart enough to trust myself, and I imagined saying those affirmations to myself and believing them.

I’m good enough, I’m smart enough to realize that even though Stuart was a character on a sketch comedy show, he is still good enough and smart enough to help others, including myself.

Are my images for today good enough and smart enough?

Thanks to all those who are good enough and smart enough to help me create this daily blog, including YOU.

Categories: personal growth, photojournalism, poetry, therapy | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , | 12 Comments

Day 3272: Animals

Hello, fellow animals! I’m starting out today’s blog post with some quotes about animals.

As you can tell by my greeting above, I’m thinking of humans as animals today, but this animal still loves those quotes.

Here’s a poem I love about animals:

How many different animals can you find in today’s animal blog post?

In respect for National Barbie and Barney Backlash Day, I won’t include a song by that purple dinosaur. Instead, here’s a song by the Turtles …

… and Sting’s “Language of Birds” (which Spotify tells me I listened to many times this year).

This animal is grateful for all animals, including YOU!

Categories: personal growth, photojournalism | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , | 16 Comments

Day 2210: My thoughts

My thoughts, as usual, are going many places.  I’m so glad I have a place to put my thoughts.

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Here’s a thought: Perhaps if I didn’t have this blog to express my thoughts, I would need a journal like that one.

Some more thoughts:

Wild Geese

by Mary Oliver

You do not have to be good.
You do not have to walk on your knees
for a hundred miles through the desert repenting.
You only have to let the soft animal of your body
love what it loves.
Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine.
Meanwhile the world goes on.
Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain
are moving across the landscapes,
over the prairies and the deep trees,
the mountains and the rivers.
Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air,
are heading home again.
Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,
the world offers itself to your imagination,
calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting –
over and over announcing your place
in the family of things.

  • That poem is good for my thoughts, feelings, imagination, body, and soul.
  • My thoughts are with all who knew and loved Mary Oliver.
  • Yesterday, my thoughts went many places, but kept returning to Mary Oliver.

My thought is that it’s time to share my other photos from yesterday.

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My thought is that “Family/Friends” and “Vacation/Travel” are what many people enjoy most about winter, which leads to my next two photos showing Vacation/Travel with Family/Friends:

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My thoughts, like my phone, go everywhere with me:

My thoughts tell me that you can click on any of those photos if you think you want to see them more clearly.

My thoughts are that this …

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… is a sign about what music to include in today’s post.

My thoughts are returning to Mary Oliver, so I’m also including this:

My thoughts now turn to your thoughts, which I hope you express below.

My thoughts are full of gratitude for all who helped me create today’s post and — of course! — YOU.

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Categories: personal growth, photojournalism, tribute | Tags: , , , , , , | 20 Comments

Day 523: A Day in My Life

Woke up, got out of bed,

Saw a cat there at the head,

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Found my way downstairs, and had a bite,

Looking up, I thought I might be late.

Found my coat but not a hat,

Made my car in seconds flat.

Found my way up there and saw these things:

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Somebody spoke …

When Death Comes – A Poem by Mary Oliver

When death comes
like the hungry bear in autumn
when death comes and takes all the bright coins from his purse

to buy me, and snaps his purse shut;
when death comes
like the measle-pox;

when death comes
like an iceberg between the shoulder blades,

I want to step through the door full of curiosity, wondering;
what is it going to be like, that cottage of darkness?

And therefore I look upon everything
as a brotherhood and a sisterhood,
and I look upon time as no more than an idea,
and I consider eternity as another possibility,

and I think of each life as a flower, as common
as a field daisy, and as singular,

and each name a comfortable music in the mouth
tending as all music does, toward silence,

and each body a lion of courage, and something
precious to the earth.

When it’s over, I want to say: all my life
I was a bride married to amazement.
I was a bridegroom, taking the world into my arms.

When it’s over, I don’t want to wonder
if I have made of my life something particular, and real.
I don’t want to find myself sighing and frightened
or full of argument.

I don’t want to end up simply having visited this world.

~ Mary Oliver ~

And I went into a dream.

Thanks to the Beatles, to Mary Oliver, to the Longwood Medical Area of Boston (including Children’s Hospital, where I spent many days in my life), to my workplace, and to all the participants at the Northeast Society for Group Psychotherapy’s yearly 3-day conference in Boston (for which I arrived five hours early, yesterday). Many thanks to you, especially,  for glancing and observing, on this day in your life.

Categories: personal growth, photojournalism | Tags: , , , , , , , , | 43 Comments

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