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The Path to Serenity

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Serenity is not freedom from the storm, but peace amid the storm.

— Anonymous

Recently, it was brought home to me how quickly things can change.  It seems that a columnist from the Times in London, Melanie Reid, who had been riding horses competitively for 30 years, fell off while doing some cross-country jumps and broke her neck.  In the amount of time it took her to fly through the air and land on her face in the dirt, her life changed drastically.

More Than You Can Handle

It is a measure of how important writing is to her that despite the fact that she can’t physically write or type she is still Continue reading » The Path to Serenity

A Fine Line – Caring for Elder Bodies

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Dear Caregivers —

Whatever challenges you face in caring for your loved ones today, know that with the passage of time these challenges will change. The current issues will fade, and there will be a new set of challenges awaiting you to solve…or at best, survive.  When you’re feeling like you can no longer persevere, remember you are warriors and time and patience are your allies.  Hang in there!

TenderLovingElderCare.com

As a child, I was raised with a sense of paranoia about the unknown that continues to affect me to this day.  Because I am the eldest and also the one who was “most responsible” as a child, I assumed that I would be the one to take care of my parents as they aged.

We have a long history of taking care of elder bodies in the family.  Although my maternal grandparents died relatively young, their siblings lived into their eighties and nineties and my parents both shouldered the responsibility of taking care of them.  For these folks, that meant Continue reading » A Fine Line – Caring for Elder Bodies

Stay Here, Now!

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Things are more like they are now than they ever were before.

— Dwight David Eisenhower

Last year, after Randy Pausch died of pancreatic cancer, Primetime aired Diane Sawyer’s interview of Randy, his family and friends.  Much of the footage was of conversations that took place prior to Randy’s death.  In addition to the phenomenal courage and the deliberate way that the Pausch family planned for and dealt with Randy’s death, one interchange between Diane and Randy’s wife, Jai, has stayed with me.

Diane and Jai were talking about how Jai was making it through each day.  Jai replied that in therapy they had discussed how we humans tend to project into the future.  When she watched Randy and kids play, she would go to Continue reading » Stay Here, Now!

The Decade of Testing

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Creative Commons License photo credit: Sabrina Campagna

Testing leads to failure, and failure leads to understanding.

— Burt Rutan

At dog park the other day, my neighbor asked me if I had seen the latest Time Magazine.  He explained that according to Time, the last decade, from 2000 to the present, had been the decade from hell.  At first I didn’t want to read it but I decided that it might be interesting to see what had caused them to designate the last 10 years as the “decade from hell.”

Some of the things included in the article were:

  • The 2000 election with its disputed results
  • September 11th
  • The war in Afghanistan
  • The war in Iraq
  • December, 2004 tsunami
  • Katrina
  • Recession
  • Bernie Madoff
  • Disintegration of Detroit
  • Guantanamo

Yes, there definitely were some challenges in the last 10 years.  AND there definitely is a bias to see things as only negative.  Although none of us would have chosen these events if we were given a choice, I find the list to be hopeful – here’s why:  Continue reading » The Decade of Testing

Living with Confidence

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With confidence, you can reach truly amazing heights; without confidence, even the simplest accomplishments are beyond your grasp.

— Anonymous

As I sat down to think about what I should write today, I asked myself, “Self, what seems to be most lacking these days?”  And into my head came “confidence.”  If you don’t follow “the market” you may not be aware that there are certain statistics that are tracked weekly, monthly, quarterly and yearly.  And when the market runs – up or down – it is often the result of one of these statistics.

These days the market is obsessed with the strength of the consumer.  70% of the business that occurs in the United States is you and I buying products and services.  When we decide that we’re going to stop spending and start saving or pay off our credit cards, the overall amount of money going into the economy shrinks.  When you and I are no longer spending, Continue reading » Living with Confidence

Cup o’ Inspiration

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Take a short break and consider the following:

“The final wisdom of life requires not the annulment of incongruity but the achievement of serenity within and above it.”

Reinhold Niebuhr

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Recommended Reading

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