Creating in Faith Encouraging Word - Excited

Happy Monday, hope you are having a blessed day where ever you are in the world.  The weeks are flying by so quickly and we are nearly at the end of the month.  So many things have happened over the course of the months that is changing the course of history and life as we know it.

What does change make you feel?  Do you get excited about change or feel stressed.  I know that the changes that have taken place over the months including Covid, the murder of George Floyd and so many other black men women and children at the hands of the police have left people feeling numb, angry, sad, helpless, hopeless, ashamed and so many other emotions we can think of.

As we move forward in a fight to ensure that no one will be discriminated against, that we step up in raising our voices, that we face the issues head on and recognize the injustices of the world and each do our part to stop it from happening.  We all have a voice from the very youngest to the oldest.

In the podcast today I look at the word Excited - what can you think of however small to get excited about in your life around you that you can hold on to and build on.

Listen to the Podcast

You can see more of the art work used for the podcast images, used from my 100 Days of Pastel Series.  Prints and art on merchandise is available HERE

Pastel Paintings part of the 100 Days of Pastels

UBC - Day 5 Independence - Tips for Carers

Welcome to day 5 of the Ultimate Blog Challenge - Independence - Tips for Carers

In 2001 we had a family holiday to Florida with my mum, sister and my husbands side of the family, and mum was in the early stages of dementia, living on her own and pretty much independent.  When we decided to go to one of the theme parks with mum I suggested that we get a wheel chair as there was quite a bit of walking, mum point blankly refused to even consider using it.  While I saw it as a means of convenience and getting around quickly, mum saw it as taking away her independence, and she remarked to a family friend that she needed to hold on to her independence for as long as possible as when there is no one around she is going going to have to take care of her self.  On hearing this I saw how much I needed to at times step back and let her take her own time to do things. 

The world was not going to end if she took an extra 15 minutes to do something and I had to work around her time whenever possible.  I found that while and in the midst of her loosing her independence it actually gave her a sense of being independent, and so impacted on her health and well-being and how she felt.  You have to help the ones that you are caring for feel as if they are holding on to a part of themselves especially, in an environment where nothing is the same and constantly changes as the memory decreases.

For today, give yourself that extra bit of time to get through the days activities, in doing so you create less stress and impact greatly on your overall heath and well-being.

UBC - Day 4 - Remember their story - Tips for Carers

Remember their story........

  

  

Welcome to Day 4 of the Ultimate Blog Challenge. 

In the early days of mums dementia we would find that she would repeat herself a lot of the time.  We didn’t know or expect to be where we are now and the decline over the years rapidly increased.  Mum would talk a lot about my father who had pass many years previously and she would recount the story of them meeting and how she had her eye on him.  She told us that when he saw her he called to her – she played hard to get for a while and then the rest resulted in 3 children and many years of happy marriage.  I didn’t understand how important those stories would be to me as time when on and these are the same stories that I repeat back to her hoping to spark a memory or bring a smile to her face.

The decline in memory even with medication is inevitable but one of the things that I have found helped greatly was putting together a book filled with photographs and a little bit of information.  It is just an A5 book and I printing out some of the pictures, if you want to create something bigger you can.. 

I also created this folder with information that anyone who is with mum can go through with her and get her to talk about some of the images and interact This means that even if you don’t know her you can engage her and help her to recapture her story, sometimes she just listens and sometimes you get a smile from her as she has taken the information in. 

This is also a good exercise to do with the younger generation; if you have photographs of when you were younger get them out and start talking about those times.  There is so much about our stories that are lost and don’t get handed down and end up in a box as old photographs.  I encourage you to spend some time capturing the stories and keeping the memories alive, you can never underestimate the power of those times spent sharing.

For today, take one photo at a time, and remember and record the memories.  Do leave a comment and tell me what you do with the photographs that you have in your collection....Blessings!

Gratitude's and Celebration - Week 27 - Action

Time to take action

Page before I began

This has been a mixed week which has seen me contemplating the passages of time, spending quite a bit of it with my mum, looking back at the things that seem so hard now that were easy for her to do before. 

I guess that I have just adapted to the changes dealing with what is necessary at the time and putting things in place so that she can have an easier time as possible.  She now has to use a wheel chair as walking has become difficult.  It was while we were coming up the 20 stairs to her flat that it dawned on me how difficult it is becoming for her.  I encourage her to lift her feet and take a step chattering at how well she is doing and let her know that there is a lovely cup of tea and biscuits waiting for her, she moves slowly but we eventually get there, she says she is looking forward to the biscuits.  

I am grateful for the time that I get to spend with her, despite her decline still has a strength and resolve about her that see's her get up and with one step at a time hold on to her life.

We never know when we will take our last breath and I celebrate mums life, that gave me life and encourages me to move forward whether going through the ups or downs of the circumstances that may come my way.

I would love to hear from you and share what action you will be taking. As this week draws to a close have a blessed weekend! If you want to see how I made the journal (click here) Blessings!