As best I can, I try to include what matters to me (and others, I hope) in this daily blog.
What matters to you in my images for today?
https://twitter.com/YakeEric/status/2107880270431191448/video/1
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The Daily Bitch is very clear about what matters to her.
Here’s the wonderful TED talk I find when I search for “what matters” on YouTube:
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What matters to me, here and now, is expressing my gratitude to YOU.
Whenever I’ve had a spare moment lately, I’ve been problem solving about my upcoming album release (next week!).
This problem solving has included creating a Spotify Canvas for my song “I Left the House Before I Felt Ready.”
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Here is how Spotify describes a Canvas:
(One problem I would like to solve is the overuse of the term “immersive experience.”)
For days, I’ve been struggling solving problems while trying to create an eight-second loop that allegedly quadruples engagement for songs on Spotify.
ChatGPT, while solving problems about this, has also sent me down many rabbit holes about how to create a Canvas. Originally I tried to animate the background in this image, provided to me by my friend Janet.
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I spent days solving problems of getting that to work, all to no avail.
After watching a few videos about artists creating a Canvas for a song, I decided to just loop a video I already had. I found one of the cats running down the stairs toward the door and decided to use that. After solving problems and creating an 8-second loop in the right aspect ratio, I showed this to my husband Michael.
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Michael thought it could be better, so decided to solve the Canvas problem by creating a new video of Joan leaving the house.
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I believe a continuous loop of that will be solving the problem of a good-enough Spotify canvas for “I Left the House Before I Felt Ready.” Actually, Joan is always ready to leave the house, but her acting in that video is solving the problem.
Do you see problem solving in my other images for today?
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I wonder if I’ll get a break from problem solving on National Relaxation Day.
Thanks to all who help me with problem solving, including YOU!
As a group therapist, I know that when people share their hidden thoughts they often discover they are not alone.
That’s why I wrote and sometimes perform “Hidden Thoughts.”
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Here and now, one of my many fears about the rapid changes in the USA is that some of us who disagree with the government might increasingly have hidden thoughts. Also, if Medicaid is drastically cut, my patients may be unable to express their hidden thoughts in therapy.
No matter what, though, I’ll keep unhiding my hidden thoughts here and elsewhere.
Good question, Daily Bitch.
Feel free to express your hidden thoughts in the comments section, below.
Thanks to all who help me express my hidden thoughts every day, including YOU!
The places that scare you might include hospitals, social media, the ocean, the stage, or anywhere that greedy, selfish, and villainous people are in control.
Yesterday, I revisited a place that has scared me for decades — a hospital where I’m getting a heart-related surgery. However, because I was surrounded by wonderful, caring people, I wasn’t scared.
Do you see any places that scare you in my images for today?
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I’m smiling on World Smile Day as I share that there aren’t many places that scare me these days.
I’m not scared as I share these two original songs I uploaded to YouTube yesterday:
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What are the places that scare you?
Thanks to all who help me feel safe in the places that scare me, including YOU!!
I’m thinking about persistent effects as I prepare for my heart-related tests and surgery today at the hospital.
It’s very important that I get the persistent effect of this special pre-surgical soap …
… so I’ve effectively and persistently used it twice, as directed.
Because taking the ferry has a positive persistent effect on my psyche, that’s my choice of transportation this morning.
General anesthesia usually has negative persistent effects on me, so I’m hoping to recover quickly. A persistently kind and wonderful co-worker will be driving me home from the hospital, which has a very calming effect on me.
Do you see any persistent effects in my other images for today?
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Here’s what I find on YouTube when I search for “persistent effects.”
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Well, I’ve had persistent atrial fibrillation for many years, so I appreciated those effects.
Sometimes I wonder if any of my blog posts will have persistent effects.
Now it’s time for me to share the persistent effects of my gratitude for all of you!
What I want is for the Democrats to win the USA Presidency, the Senate, and the House of Representatives.
What I want is for my creations — including this blog, my therapy groups, and my original songs — to help people feel better.
What I want is for my very unusual heart to sustain me long enough for me to get what I want.
Can you see what I want in my images for today?
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What I want is to find a relevant video on YouTube.
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What do you want?
What I want is to thank YOU for being here, now.
Yesterday, in a Coping and Healing group, one of the members said that they were “bad at making decisions” — not because they made bad decisions but rather because they were taking a long time and doing a lot of research before making a decision. They also experienced the decision-making process as painful.
I made the decision not to interrupt this person in my group, but my thought was that I could relate to their decision process.
Here and now, I need to make decisions about how to describe my upcoming concert of original songs on the venue website and in an invitation to the show. I’m procrastinating making those decisions, maybe because I’m “bad at decisions.”
What decisions do you see in my images for today?
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I have no trouble making the decision to play my ukulele on National Play Your Ukulele Day. I’ll also make some decisions today about the descriptions of my concert (where I’ll be playing ukuleles, the piano, and drums).
Here’s what I find when I search for “decisions” on YouTube.
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I wonder what decisions people will make about leaving comments, below.
Thanks to all those who have to make decisions every day, including YOU!
I don’t know why I’ve always been so crazy about cats, but I do know that having a cat when was a kid with a crazy heart condition kept me from going crazy.
If you’re not crazy about cats, there are still a few images you might like in today’s blog. If you are crazy about cats, get ready to purr!
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Because I’m so crazy about cats, I keep thinking I should write a song about cats. (Is “I Wish I Were More Like My Cat” a great title?) In the meantime, here’s what I find on YouTube when I search for “crazy about cats.”
My “crazy about cats” search also found this crazy cat:
Thanks to all the cool cats that helped me create this crazy-about-cats post, including YOU.
People have told me that some of my songs have great titles — specifically “I Left the House Before I Felt Ready,” “Everybody’s Somebody’s Asshole,” and “I’d Like to Win a Grammy for Best New Artist.”
Yesterday, when I spoke to some lovely people at Samaritans (where I got the title Ann 1360* when I volunteered for their suicide hotline in the 90s) about contributing proceeds from my June concert and album to them, I mentioned my song with the title “Don’t Kill Yourself.”
I don’t know if “I Love Myself” is a great title, but I started writing this new song yesterday:
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Do you see any great titles in my images for today?
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Here’s a song with a great title: “How Can I Miss You When You Won’t Go Away.”
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Thanks to all who help me find great titles, including YOU!
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* Everyone who volunteers at Samaritans gets a great title comprised of their first name and a number; while I do remember my first name, I’m not sure about that number.
Yesterday, on OK day, I figured it would be okay to ask people on Twitter a question related to that — like “what helps you feel okay?” — and I decided to go with a simple yes or no question: “Are you okay?”
While I usually think yes-or-no questions are just okay and not as good as open-ended questions, I went with “are you okay?” probably because I really would have appreciated hearing that question at difficult moments in my life. As a matter of fact, I wrote a blog post many years ago when I was not so okay, citing these “are you okay” lyrics from the song “Smooth Criminal”:
I truly wish people had asked me “Are you okay?” (repeatedly, without taking “yes” for an answer) when I was a brave little girl in the hospital not admitting how scary it was to be experiencing many heart-related surgeries.
And I like hearing “Are you okay?” as an adult, because it tells me that people care enough to ask and hear an honest answer.
Are you okay with this blog post so far and are you okay with these images I want to share with you today?
Are you okay with this video I found on YouTube by searching with “are you okay?”
Are you okay? I really want to know.
Thanks to all who ask and answer the question “are you okay?” — including YOU!
