I was feeling low today. The sun was shining, the dog was happy, people were kind. But… my back hurt. Yes, I had overdone some – “if you do this, then you will get that” exercise/make me a better person thing-a-ma-jig. And now I was hurting. And I’m all grown up, right? And not supposed to be ever feeling this way, right? Etc. All the cliches: “wherever you are you take yourself with you” echoing through my brain that was stuck in stuck mode about dumping on being stuck.

In this midst of this pity party, my dear Ariella phoned from Algeria. As she was sharing how she was finally overcoming the massive culture shock she’d experienced in her first months, she talked about the relief of not being around the aggressive overachieving American culture, “where you read that the most successful CEO’s are admittedly the most unhappy people”. Yes. Talk about trying and trying to get there.

Where?

So, in my dumpy mood, I was doing the only thing possible in that state: playing with my art. “This color, yes, and that, no not there…got it. Ooops… There, now it’s working.”

And as I begin to feel better, I wonder how did that happen?

(Not with those better person exercises…)