That last photo shows a question I asked my Coping and Healing group yesterday, after making sure I wasn’t missing other important issues. What’s missing for many women are a sense of self esteem and self worth, so some members of the group had trouble answering that question. Other group members helped provide the missing answers.
Yesterday, after making minor adjustments so we could connect beautifully on a ZOOM call, my friend Barbara and I talked about her brilliant realization that major issues like the current pandemic can become much more bearable if you make minor adjustments.
During the call, we made minor adjustments so we could see and hear each other better and we discussed minor adjustments to important relationships, interpersonal strategies, our health, nature walks near us, our living spaces, our diet, our weight, Zen-like attitudes, and high school connections. Here are the photos I took of Barbara while we were talking about minor adjustments:
That’s Barbara showing me a sunset outside her window and also a view within her apartment which reminds her of a Thomas McKnight painting. Later in the day she sent me a better photo of that view which I should be able to find and share once I make some minor adjustments. Hold on ….
Those minor adjustments included saving the draft of this post, shutting down my laptop, using my iPhone to find and include that photo, saving the post again, and restarting my laptop to continue creating this post, but I’ve adjusted to the minor adjustments required to bring you these blog posts, every day.
Do you see minor adjustments in any of the other adjusted images I’ve captured recently?
Yes, I sometimes need to make minor adjustments to my self esteem and reading helpful feedback like Maddie’s helps in a very major way. The minor adjustment I would make to that text exchange is the fact that I am no longer President of my local group therapy organization. I am having no trouble adjusting to that.
Also, I’m making minor adjustments to the original song I’m planning on singing at my Zoom-based 50th high school reunion in September. I’ve adjusted this verse …
Now it’s 2020 and we’re all here
To connect over food and beer
To embrace the living and to miss our dead
As we gather here in Marblehead.
… to this …
Now it’s 2020 and we’re all here
To connect and give each other cheer,
To appreciate the living and to miss our dead
As we gather here on Zoom instead …. of Marblehead.
Knowing me, I’ll keep making minor adjustments to that song until I sing it on September 12.
I just made the minor adjustment of following Zaccai Curtis on YouTube.
Please feel free to express minor or major thoughts about minor adjustments in the comments section, below.
Gratitude is another minor adjustment with major effects, so thanks to Barbara, Maddie, Zaccai Curtis, Thomas McKnight, my family, my high school friends, adjusting cats, and everybody else who helps me create and adjust these daily blog posts, including YOU!
Hello, beautiful. On our beautiful flight to Disney World last week, I wrote a new song called “What Are Other People Thinking About You?” which included this lyric:
What are other people thinking about you?
That is something you will never know.
Then why not assume they’re thinking you’re gorgeous,
Smart, and someone they would want to know.
When I looked at those lyrics yesterday in the harsh, cold light of Boston, I realized I could make them more beautiful if I didn’t rhyme “know” with “know.”
Hello, beautiful. Here are my other beautiful photographs from yesterday:
My beautiful boyfriend Michael, who made that beautiful Portobello Burger last night, often says these beautiful words:
It’s not where you are, it’s who you’re with.
And since you’re always with yourself, why not enjoy the beautiful company?
Yesterday, on Facebook, I posted and posed the question: “What’s the worst thing that anybody ever called you?”
Was that called for, to invite people to remember the worst thing they had ever been called? I believe that if we expose and share the worst thing we have ever been called, we can
Now, somebody may call me out and ask, “Ann, what if the worst thing that anybody ever called me IS true?” If there is truth in it, you can decide what you want to do about it. However, in all my years of asking this question, and people answering
stupid,
lazy,
worthless,
crazy,
selfish,
fat,
ugly,
incapable, and
other harsh, hurtful, and over-generalized judgments,
I have seen no helpful truth there.
We could do worse than examine today’s photos for worst things we’ve been called.
Has anyone ever called you despicable, including yourself?
Has anybody ever called you gross? Artificial?
Has anybody ever called you out for hanging on for too long?
Has anybody ever called you weird-looking? Scary? Too starey? Too expressive? Too transparent?
Has anybody ever called you an ass? Too distant?
Has anybody ever called you too spacy?
Has anybody ever called you foolish? Greedy? Not knowing what’s good for you?
Has anybody ever called you vain? Up-tight?
Has anybody ever called you pushy? Has anybody ever told you you’re not doing enough with your life?
Has anybody called you thoughtless? A doormat? Catty? A baby?
Has anybody ever called you a psychopath?
I’m working on a song called “Don’t Call Me” (and I’ve called out the lyrics here). Before I can call that song finished, here’s “Call Me” by Blondie.
Is it appropriate for me to tell you that I’ve never written a blog post with the word “appropriate” in the title before? It is appropriate to reveal the inspiration for today’s title?
That’s a sign for a parking lot where I work. I don’t park there. Does that mean I’m not appropriate?
When I read the news these days, I see a lot of inappropriate behavior, which contributes to my sense of chaos. Is it appropriate to ask whether we can agree on what behaviors are appropriate?
Are these photos appropriate?
Is it appropriate to discuss stool/poop in mixed company? Is it appropriate to use the term “mixed company”? Was it appropriate for Michael and I to both wear that cat head at Target and then not buy it? Is it appropriate for me to share what I write during group therapy sessions about topics like self esteem? Is it appropriate for me to reveal that one of the group members talked about “dumb asses” before I wrote down some thoughts about self esteem?
Is it appropriate for me to bombard my readers with so many questions?
Is it appropriate for me to use this photo to introduce today’s music?
Please leave an appropriate comment below.
Can we agree that gratitude is an appropriate way to end all of my daily blog posts?
Several years ago, I participated in a group therapy exercise where we created a personal flag. I hope it’s okay if I ask what you would put on your personal flag.
Here’s my okay flag:
Telling myself “it’s okay” helps me deal with a lot, every day.
A few months ago, a more-than-okay person shared a variant of “it’s okay.”
It’ll be okay in the end. If it’s not okay, it’s not the end.
It’s not the end yet, so here are my other okay pictures for today.
Here and now, I’m blogging inside that gazebo and let me tell you — IT’S OKAY!
