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Showing posts from April, 2018

A new perspective in grief

Typically, the beginning of a new year has always prompted in me a fresh resolve to begin or recommit to a resolution that fell by the wayside long ago; usually a casualty of the inevitable hurly burly of life and the big beautiful mess that it so often is. The turning over of a brand new calendar page will evoke in me an optimism for the year that lies ahead. I am an optimist at heart and therefore am hopeful that a new year will be a little better. Summer has naturally been a time to take stock and plan for the year ahead.  However, this year I’ve approached things very differently. The events of the past 18 months have left on me a big heart wound. Last year was filled with so much sadness and grief, one does not simply turn the page and move on as if all that was in the past has no lasting impact on the present. While the end of a year naturally brings to a conclusion some things, feelings and emotions are a little more elusive to box up. Rather than resolving to do and be someth

Self Care

  Once upon a time there was a woman (a mother in fact) who was feeling so tired and run down that the only thing that encouraged her to keep on going was her great love for her family. With every need she felt a tug on her compassionate heart. With every chore, she wanted to provide a home of safety, warmth and comfort. With every tear, she wanted to be that shoulder to cry on. As days rolled into months, rolled into years, she felt the well of love for her family begin to slowly deplete. What once was over-flowing became ever close to empty. No matter how much she tried to just continue living on love, droplets of frustration, exhaustion and discouragement began to fill her well. When the needs of her loved ones confronted her each day, instead of meeting them with patience and kindness, she felt herself quickly turning to anger (an emotion that she hated, yet felt powerless to oppose).   Then one day in utter despair, she confided in a friend her growing concern that the cherished