This month, I have been working to review and update some of my previous blog posts. I have added new thoughts and revised my thinking completely in some areas. Life changes – we change.
Last night, I came upon this post from October of 2020. Like many of my posts from that year, it focussed on my thoughts on peace
Peace is something I have been struggling with lately. Despite my best efforts, it has been hard to keep from dwelling on people and events that have been disturbing my peace of mind. It is my peace of mind, I should have more of a handle on it. Right?
Except, that is not the conclusion that I came to in 2020 – after struggling and giving it much thought. So for my update today, I need to look back and learn from the past.
The thing I realized back in 2020 is that peace isn’t something that we can just hoard for ourselves or share with those who are in our good graces. Peace has to be shared with everyone – especially those disruptive influences in our lives.
I don’t know if the peaceful thoughts and prayers that I devoted to those who were stressing me out back in 2020 changed them in any way. I do know they changed me. They made me more peaceful, tolerant, and compassionate. I know, I have to get back on track with this, because with all of the chaos in the world these days – contributing more chaos is not an option. 🙄
That’s it for today. Take care and have a great day! 💞
As we kick off the holiday season, this seems to be a good time to share a few “words of wisdom” about kindness. For many, the holiday season is a time to celebrate and rejoice! For many, the idea of ‘what it should be’ and ‘what it actually is’ makes the holiday season particularly difficult. However, the one thing we can all share in this season is the spirit of kindness.
For those of us who are celebrating and rejoicing, we can share our joy by making a conscious effort to show kindness to others during this festive season. (Sometimes we get so caught up in our own excitement, that it can be a challenge to always think of others) For those of us who are struggling, we can show our kindness by being truly happy for those who have much to celebrate and by being as kind as possible to all. (Sometimes when we are going through a difficult time, it can be difficult to be as considerate of others as we should be). Either way, let us all get into the spirit of kindness this season with these kindly ‘words of wisdom’.
“Be kind whenever possible. It is alwayspossible.” – The 14th Dalai Lama
“Remember there’s no such thing as a small act of kindness. Every act creates a ripple with no logical end.” – Scott Adams
“Love and kindness are never wasted. They always make a difference. They bless the one who receives them, and they bless you, thegiver.” – Barbara De Angelis
“Practice random kindness and senseless acts of beauty.” – Anne Herbert
“Do things for people not because of who they are or what they do in return, but because of who you are.” – Harold S. Kushner
“No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted.” – Aesop
“You can always give something, even if it is just kindness.” – Anne Frank
“Kindness is more than a virtue, it is a source of strength.” – Vivek Murthy
“You cannot do kindness too soon, for you never know how soon will be too late.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
“In a world where you can be anything, be kind.” – Jennifer Dukes Lee
That’s it for today, folks. Take care, be kind, and have a great day!
More Functional Than Pretty But These Curtains and Tracks are Supplied by KM Burgess Agencies Ltd. 🙂
This week I made a trip down the rabbit hole into the world of emergency health care. Fortunately, my distress was caused by nothing more than a case of pneumonia and bronchial spasms. After ekg’s, x-rays, blood tests and a treatment of brochial-dilaters, I was on my way with a couple of effective prescriptions and orders to have follow up x-rays next week.
My husband and I are very fortunate that we seldom have any reason to visit our local hospitals. On those rare occasions when we do make one of these visits, it is such an eye opening experience that I decided to share.
1) Say what you will about public healthcare, we have always been really well treated. Our facilities are aged and definitely in need of upgrading, but for the most part, our doctors, nurses, technicians, lab techs and everyone else on staff are amazing. They make the best of anything they have to work with and do a great job keeping up with the tremendous workload that they have to deal with. I cannot imagine how we are blessed to get and keep such amazing people in our little backwoods city hospitals.
2) Regardless of the urgency of our visit (and we have made a few seriously urgent visits), I am overwhelmed by the other patients and their loved ones – especially the ones whose issues are obviously chronic, long term or terminal. We visit this world once every 5 to 10 years. For so many, this is a regular part of their life. These patients, who are in such dire straights are, for the most part, so patient, kind and grateful. It is incredible to experience such grace under pressure.
3) I have spent a fair amount of time at hospitals with family members – parents, children, and grandchildren. (I am supposed to be there as support, not the main attraction🙄). It blows me away to see this part of life from their side – the side of pain and suffering. I do not think I will ever make a good patient. I am a trainwreck in those places. My previously last visit, I arrived by ambulance with a totally collapsed lung. Within fifteen minutes, I was like “Give me a shot of morphine and I am good to go. Just get me out of here”. Long story short, I went home a month later with nightmares for a year. I am pretty sure there were some staff members (if not all) who were glad to see me gone – especially the head of radiology. In my defence, I had really big bandages taped to my back to protect my drainage tubes and when he whipped them off it hurt – like hell. There are probably still claw mark straight up the wall. 🥺
4) How do hospitals, who are caring for such desperately ill and uncomfortable patients, find a way to destroy every bit of food that comes their way? I was at the hospital for about six hours on Tuesday and had not eaten anything before I got there. Three or four hours in, my husband asked if he could get me a sandwich from the onsite coffee shop as I was feeling pretty weak and shaky. The nurse said she would get me something. Which she did! With all she had to do, getting me something to eat became a priority. I should be grateful. I was grateful. But how thehell do you screw up jello? I realize I was only there for a few hours and was not going to starve with or without jello – but this was not an isolated incident. When I was in the hospital for a month, the only edible food came from the cafeteria or coffee shop. The kitchen sent me a quivering pile of yellow (pudding?) one time that was so hideous I still get nauseous every time I think of it. I may be wrong but it seems to me, sick people would heal faster with say homemade chicken soup. Alas, our hospital dieticians are trained to believe that the road to health is paved with ‘Fish Surprise’ , dry tasteless bread and yellow slime. 🤢. It just seems so mean to feed that to sick, helpless patients.
5) Finally, hospitals are so strangely unreal with their total absense of real world time and order as we know it. Five minutes becomes five hours and hours become minutes. Orderlies whip in and out to take you places and bring you back, random lab techs pop in unexpectedly to take tubes full of your blood, nurses show up to take your vital signs or stick IV’s in you. There are ongoing announcements, bells and whistles, and random clattering and clanging. It is so bizarre and far removed from any regular day in the life of. It is definitely an out of life experience, if not an actual out of body experience.
I am so glad that we have the healthcare that we do in Canada. I am grateful that we have such dedicated people working in our hospitals – doctors, nurses, administrators, facility management, technicians, volunteers – everyone who devotes their days and nights to operating these facilities and providing their capable and compassionate care. Finally, I am so grateful that my husband and I seldom have to take advantage of the health care that is provided in these facilities. We are so blessed to generally have a reasonable level of health and well-being. I cannot imagine anyone resenting paying taxes to support this care that is available to all Canadians who require it. Especially, those of us who seldom require it.
Seclusion 101 with AnneMarie 