Author: Neal Saye

Posted in My Saturday Evening Post

My Saturday Evening Post: World Kindness Day 2021

Posted on by Neal Saye

Did you know that today is World Kindness Day?! No? I kinda didn’t either. But according to a quick Googling (should that word be capitalized since we’re using it as a kinda generic verb now?), WKD is celebrated every year on November 13.

Here’s my kinda extensive research:

Coincidentally, I snapped this photo the other day of a cool and kinda appropriate-for-today t- shirt.

We CAN be both. Or at least we kinda can.

And here’s a little about how World Kindness Day got started:

If you’re interested, here’s a kinda informative and encouraging article about ways to be kind … to yourself, family, community and the earth:

https://www.cnn.com/2021/11/13/health/world-kindness-day-2021-acts-wellness/index.html

HAPPY KINDNESS DAY 2021!

LET’S FIND A WAY OR TWO TO BE KINDA TODAY — AND EVERY DAY.

Posted in Throwback Thursday, Neal’s Post from the Past

Neal’s Post from the Past: “Solitude & the Absent Smile”

Posted on by Neal Saye

Here’s a rather messily photographed past post from back in 2014. I may still have had a flip phone. I’m loath to change.

*******************

Yes I admit it, I’m an optimist. Pollyanna’s a very good buddy. We take tap dancing together.

What I actually mean is I’m USUALLY a somewhat cheery person. But not always. A while back, I underwent a fairly unpleasant medical procedure. (I’m a big baby when it comes to anything that hurts at a .5 or higher on a 1-10 pain level.)

Here I am in the waiting room, reading about blogging:

Finally I was called back to the eerily quiet and humanly empty procedure room where I had to wait in nervous solitude for quite a while. The doctor was running way behind.

I got bored pretty quickly and started playing with the IPhone’s … reverse camera capability. Doesn’t that sound better than saying I took a bunch of selfies?

I looked at these terrible pictures, grimaced at their muted and otherworldly haziness, realized I wasn’t smiling–and started to delete them.

Then it hit me.

“Get real, Neal. It’s okay not to smile. It’s okay to be muted and hazy … and to be by yourself for a while. Being out of focus doesn’t mean being out of life.”

Posted in The View from Behind

The View from Behind: Introduction

Posted on by Neal Saye

For some reason, I have always appreciated, even revered, “the view from behind.”

As a child, on the first day of each new school year, I was a nervous wreck waiting for the teacher to announce our seating arrangement. Front of the class? 😢 Too much exposure! Too revealing! Too out there! Far too much responsibility to “be.”

A nice, comfy seat toward the back? 😁 Perfect. I get to observe, to “see.” To calmly breathe.

Note to self: ASAP, schedule at least three long therapy sessions to discuss the three short paragraphs above.

But for now, allow me to introduce my newest NealEnJoy blog category: “The View from Behind,” where I invite you to join me somewhere in the back.

Little gator and me, Okefenokee Swamp Park, Waycross, Georgia

Always hold an “alligator” (or any challenging life … critter) in front of you, and if you can, kindly but temporarily tape its mouth closed.