(random, therapy notes, exercise, night watch, morning watch, sky

[elainegrey]

Christine's daily haiku/imagery/composition for Dec 19 has a bit of the season to it: https://17sounds.substack.com/p/the-ends-of-the-world A bit of bells in the soundtrack?

Last night, the first quarter moon sparkled through the trees to the south west. Today is the last cloudless day in the forecast -- tonight i will try and give the moon a bit more time since its likely the waxing moon will be behind clouds for the rest of the week. Cassiopea high during my evening moments under the night sky, the big dipper during the early morning moments.

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The AbleTo Resilience program has an exercise of journaling several times a week "To express and narrate your experience, your fears and hopes for the future, and your values." There are some prompts, one of which is,  "The main internal strengths I have are... The main external strengths I have are..."

I am not really sure what internal and external strengths are? Searching a bit turns up SWOT (Strength - Weakness - Opportunity -Threat) analysis, which i don't think is the point?    Unless i interpret "external strength" as an opportunity?  Finally,  the article cited below describes the researchers classifying the "strengths" narrated by the people with chronic illness as external when it wasn't intrinsic or learned, such as being financially well off.

Kristjansdottir, Olöf Birna, Una Stenberg, Jelena Mirkovic, Tonje Krogseth, Tone Marte Ljoså, Kurt C. Stange, and Cornelia M. Ruland. “Personal Strengths Reported by People with Chronic Illness: A Qualitative Study.” /Health Expectations : An International Journal of Public Participation in Health Care and Health Policy/ 21, no. 4 (August 2018): 787–95. https://doi.org/10.1111/hex.12674.

I spent much time taking some "skills inventory" tests and reading about why focusing on strengths is apparently Good For You.

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I am getting better, i think. Still coughing, still sinus drainage.  My physical activity has ground to a halt as i've saved energy for work. But last night i did (most of) the NY Times' Joy workout.  I hope that the next three workdays are not as crowded as the previous two, and that i can get in my quick walk down the hill.

Now that i've invested in resistance bands and tubes, i need to find ways to use them. I am happy that,having both found the bands uncomfortable for some moves and then found there was yet something else i could buy, i used toweling (of which i have a surplus) and "industrial" velcro to make my own padding.

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