Gratitude and Joy

It's been a rough week for me on several levels. First there was an incident at work where I was verbally bullied by a younger staff member. I didn't  handle it as well as I might have. Physically I had a lot of pain. We received some  very sad news about a member of our extended family. I was disappointed in someone I have considered a friend. That friend didn't have my back when I really needed them. But yesterday was a really  beautiful Thursday. It was easy to put aside the gloom to identify opportunities to find moments of joy and pleasure and to find opportunities to practice gratitude.

Practicing gratitude is especially important for both the caregiver and for the recipient of our care.  Gratitude requires stillness and mindfulness. Practicing gratitude has science based evidence that these effects of gratitude can ne important to our overall health and wellbeing. 

The practice of gratitude is important to our:

• Sound Mental Health 
• Improved Physical Health 
• Maintaining strong Social Bonds and Relationships
• Resilience

In all the books and articles I've read about caregiving and living with a loved one with Alzheimer's or other dementia there is one theme that is frequently of note. We are encouraged to find moments of joy. Gratitude and Joy are like conjoined twin sisters, difficult to separate.Caregiving is harder on some days than others, but cultivating an attitude of gratitude for those sacred ordinary things that make us smile tips the scales in the direction of feeling blessed with recognizing joy, wellbeing and happiness.

We had lunch with our friends Ann and Rick, always a pleasure. When I came home I found a card waiting for me at my apartment door. It was a note from a lovely woman who led a bible study that just ended. Inside was an index card on which each of the ladies present had written statements about their perceptions of me, along with a Bible verse chosen for me. (Jeremiah 29:11, one of my very favorite verses!) I was very touched by the affirmations. The women are all from a much larger church than the church Tom and I attend. They will be going further into another bible study but I will not be joining with them for that. This study took place here st Edgewood, going forward they will meet at their church.

We went to play Bingo midafternoon. Tom enjoys that so much. We each won a quarter. We're 50 cents closer to having amassed a million dollar fortune. I love watching him enjoy the people around him and his childlike joy at winning a small prize.

The weather yesterday was a beautiful spring day with warm sun, blue skies and gentle wind. After Bingo we took our little dog Sunny (aka Sunday) for a walk and sat outside on a bench near the pond for a bit to enjoy the weather and watch the  male Canada Geese strutting their stuff to impress the ladies.  It's a familiar spring ritual. They flap their impressive wing span in a noisy dance that rivals those of choreographed broadway shows. And oh the drama when some bold young gander comes too close to the lady the gander is courting or comes across the boundaries the gander has decided is his territory. The chase that occurs is more humorous than the slapstick comedy of TV romcoms.

These are the blessings, the joys for which I am grateful. God is good! All the time!!