Good morning. 💮💮💮

18 May 2026

I just got back from bailing Charlie out. Now he’s home, stretched out like one of us, enjoying his freedom. His first act upon entering the house was to rocket straight to the back door, as if checking to make sure his kingdom was still intact.

Before I left to pick him up, I must’ve gone to fetch my truck key fob three or four times before I actually succeeded. The doorway effect got me good — every time I crossed a threshold, I forgot why I was there. It’s a ridiculous little brain glitch that pops up more often than I’d like to admit. Sometimes I beat it by chanting “keys, keys, keys” in my head as I walk, like I’m casting a spell on myself.

You know I left pretty specific, borderline‑military instructions on how to feed Charlie while we were gone. Half a can in the morning around 0730, half a can in the afternoon around 1530, and in the afternoon they were supposed to arrange certain treats on top of his food like a tiny canine charcuterie board. Judging by the amount of stuff I got back today, they did not follow my instructions to the letter. Next time I might take a picture of his “proper” supper, laminate it, and hang it in a frame like a museum exhibit. 😂

I mowed most of the yard yesterday but still have two sections left, plus the trimming and edging. I was planning to finish today since the forecast said rain for days afterward. Hmm… maybe not. Looks like the rain shifted a bit. Either way, I think today is going to be a chair‑and‑nap kind of day. I can already feel the recliner pulling me in. Lazy day it is. 💤

“My dog greets me like I’ve returned from war.” - thesquotehive.com

“Our perfect companions never have fewer than four feet.” — Colette

“If you abandon the present moment, you cannot live the moments of your daily life deeply.” — Thich Nhat Hanh

#photo #photography #photographer #photographylovers #nature #morning #flowers #dogs #doorwayeffect #relaxation

Rants beget rants

But some people out there are consumed by their constant complaining. And it’s infectious. The more you complain the more you find and see things worth complaining about. And that’s not healthy. It’s not healthy for them, it’s not healthy for the people around them.

I can’t pay you for every minute you have to face something that annoys you—I’m really sorry—but that doesn’t mean you can still pretend I do and see what happens to your mind. You might be surprised.

On complaining – Manu

When it comes to personal improvement, this is one of the things I am constantly working on myself. I love to rant and unlike Manu here, I find myself sometimes consumed by one rant leading to another until my mood is sour while the thing itself hasn’t changed.

Not numbing myself with youtube and podcasts had the biggest effect honestly. Once I stopped constantly feeding myself “content,” I found that I was not really “enjoying” but telling myself a story of faux-productivity. I was just chasing a hit that made me forget about life and the problems facing me and thinking about something else.

Through this, my anxiety keeps growing as deep down I knew I was escaping from reality and not facing it. Instead I turn to writing now. Writing with pen and paper, ideally in some semblance of quiet and I don’t worry about what comes up and just let the mind process.

It not only calms it down, but I usually find that I bring my anxiety down, thinking about the problem and this reinforces itself building a new pattern. The other thing I’ve heard work and sometimes seen work but never practiced is the walk.

The doorway effect is a fascinating effect I learned about recently. Doorways seem to be event boundaries that make us forget about what we were thinking. Now, this isn’t the path to process. However, it does provide a less insidious path to getting past anxiety. Hence, going for a walk before you react. 🙂

#doorwayEffect #Life #neuroscience #philosophy #processing

For today's #doorsday , a fun #psychology fact about the impact of doors on our #memory.

The #doorwayeffect is a short-term memory loss that happens when passing through a doorway or other boundary markers - both physical and imaginary.

Our brain categorizes memories based on events and locations. To become more alert and ready for new information, we "clear the cache" each time we step into a new territory.

That's why you forgot what you needed in the kitchen.

Good morning. 🍄🍄🍄

21 April 2025

This morning, I had to step out for a couple of hours. During that time, I came up with two different ideas to write about, but by the time I got home, both had slipped my mind. I should have written them down, but I was confident I would remember. Naturally, I passed through several doorways—those tricky barriers to memory. At home, I often find myself walking from one end of the house to the other to retrieve something, only to forget what I was after or end up grabbing something completely unrelated. It can take two or three trips to finally get it right. I've mentioned the doorway effect before, and it never ceases to amaze me.

"When one door closes, another opens; but we often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door that we do not see the one which has opened for us." — Alexander Graham Bell

#photo #photography #photographer #photographylovers #nature #morning #mushroom #memory #DoorwayEffect

Good morning. 🍄🍄🍄

21 February 2025

Do you ever open the refrigerator door and just stand there staring, having forgotten what you wanted in the first place? I wonder if it’s the same phenomenon as the doorway effect. I did that yesterday—stood there for several seconds trying to remember why I was there. It was like that scene from the 1982 version of Poltergeist where one of the characters is drawn to the eerie, glowing refrigerator light. But then I remembered, grabbed what I wanted, and went back to my food-related tasks.

"Nature alone is antique, and the oldest art a mushroom." ` Thomas Carlyle

#photo #photography #photographer #photographylovers #nature #morning #mushroom #foliage #forest #DoorwayEffect #refridgerator