Growing with gratitude for life's challenges
We’ve all had them – the uninvited messages, randomly warning us about something that needs our immediate attention. Social media attracts many, but I also have found that downloading certain apps increases the number of email or phone scam messages I receive. I’ve engaged with a few and noticed that there is a pattern to […]
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Multi-tasking becomes a compulsion. I escape quietude at all costs. The urgency that underlies my actions wants me to believe that time and opportunity are running out. Until I catch myself spinning and stop. Question the motivation. Realize the old pattern repeating. Breathe. Now making space for the universe to fill in the blanks.
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A new drawing exercise: draw a self-portrait everyday for two weeks without looking at the paper. It is a challenge, but it’s fun and I decided to add colour in a couple of them. Here’s where I’ve gotten to so far: I may have discovered a new art style. At the very least, it’s fun.
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“What’s this?” My husband slides the sheet of paper onto my keyboard just as I’m shutting down and preparing to leave the house. “Our current budget based on static expenses only.” I don’t look at it for a few days. Procrastination? Maybe. Financial issues always exhaust me. I think it stems from all those years […]
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“How do I know if I am depressed or it’s just the exhaustion of ME?” I asked my therapist in the early days of being bedridden with Myalgic Encephalomyelitis. “It’s simple,” she answered. “With depression, you lose interest in the things you usually love, so you don’t bother. With chronic illness, you want to engage, […]
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“What do you have planned for when you’re older and less able, Mom? It would be good to have a plan documented…” This from a family group chat when I mentioned that my 95 year-old aunt had fallen and broken both legs. Although I’m 66, the addition of a disabling disease makes this question more […]
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How do we face each day? What determines outlook? Is it personality or lived experience that colours perspective? Current circumstances have limited my range of activities, including those I do to distract myself. I forgive myself for any feelings of drudgery, and yet, despite ego’s self-pity, I find my natural curiosity pokes it nose into […]
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The children were decked out in their finest, and polished in their performances. An Easter event combining Ukrainian tradition with Canadian touches. It was a thank you for the volunteers who help the children with homework. I was the MC. Rounds of applause and smiles all around and then it was time for tea, coffee, […]
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In response to my middle daughter cutting off contact, and once I got past the hurt and humiliation, I decided that it is closeness, not distance, I want to harbour in my family. Hence the family dinners. Once a month, same Sunday, I invite our kids to a home cooked meal. My husband suggested that […]
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Clouds, like the hands of some higher being, hold up the sun, obscuring her radiance. I’ve travelled this road before – a dirt path, unfettered by progress – where tombstones mark time and trees bear witness. A mist covers the land, and I have not yet deciphered the omen in it. Still, I will push […]
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One Woman's Quest II 