Saturday

Follow Your Gut Feelings - They Know More Than You Do.


I was just reminded of a St Patrick's Day when I was in my early 20's working at the nursing home. I was excited to get out of work to celebrate with my friends, but my last patient was an Irishman whose only wish was for a McDonald's Shamrock Shake. He was not diabetic, was considerably underweight and was a dear lonely soul. A disabled Veteran with no family, he was a bit of a curmudgeon. I always gave extra love to those who were rough on the edges. I knew they needed it more than anyone.

Much to his surprise I came back to his room about an hour later with an extra large Shamrock Shake for him. His eyes were wide and his smile was so big! He reached his bony hands out for the plastic cup and awkwardly fit the straw into his mouth. You should have seen his face; he was in Seventh Heaven. He drank about 1/4 of it and then asked to me to put in the unit fridge. He would sip on the rest in the morning.
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The next morning I came in to work and learned that he had passed in the night. I was at the nurse's station with tears in my eyes, unprepared for such news. The Charge Nurse, my superior, took me by the shoulders and with a sharp glare shook me to my senses. "You can't go getting upset every time someone dies here! People are always going to be dying here! " Well, it was not the last time I cried over losing someone. I was so glad I did that for him.

Now that I know what I know about nutrition, I can't help but wonder if I pushed him over the edge with all that sugar and sodium! ...But no, I actually think he was able to leave once he knew that someone cared...once he knew that he had been considered beloved and valued upon the earth.  


Walking Over the Bridge into Shamrock Heaven

Wednesday

Editing Grief for a Happier Ending

My goal is to help you to heal first and foremost with this post, so if it means pointing something out to you that can help you to achieve this, then I will point it out to you.

There are quite a few of you who do this. Many health experts say we must heal from the inside out, but sometimes we need to change something OUTSIDE of our ourselves if we are having a hard time healing the INSIDE of ourselves. One thing you can change has to do with how you express yourself in writing.

When you use a lot of exclamation points, it fuels the urgency and the pain of the past. It actually keeps the incident alive inside of you. It empowers the things you are talking about which are the memories that continually come back to haunt you. No wonder they keep coming back...You keep fueling them!

Here are two examples. Read the first one, with the exclamation points. How do you feel? Then read the second, with the exclamation points replaced by periods. How do you feel? 

Feel free to leave a Comment below if you have any thoughts... or if you feel different. Some of you may not. Some of you will. Some of you can move towards healing just by changing the way you "talk" about things! 



Our thoughts are what create the inner environment. They can affect our total health, inside and out. With just a little discipline and "tweaking," you can shift your world and expedite your healing.  

Monday

You're Gone...



You're gone.

Just another case of
Not getting what I thought I wanted.

Instead 
I'll get what I'm supposed to have
Because the Powers That Be
Can make much better decisions for me
Than I can.

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