Look To This Day

April 6th, 2011
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 Look To this Day

By Kalidasa

 Look to this day:

 For it is life, the very life of life.

In its brief course

Lie all the verities and realities of your existence.

The bliss of growth,

The glory of action,

The splendour of achievement

Are but experiences of time.

For yesterday is but a dream

And tomorrow is only a vision;

And today well-lived, makes

Yesterday a dream of happiness

And every tomorrow a vision of hope.

Look well therefore to this day;
Such is the salutation to the ever-new dawn!… Read More

A Pocket of Surprising Memories

March 26th, 2011
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The whole world is watching as the Japanese rebuild their lives with quiet diligence. News reports show incredible pictures of houses ripped from the earth, cars piled on top of each other and even the concrete tsunami walls built for protection have been broken up and easily tossed aside.  And then there is the nuclear issue…The enormity of the human and physical devastation in Japan as a result of the March 11 earthquake and tsunami is difficult to comprehend and just seems endless. But one man in particular stands out for me.  I recently read an interview with this Japanese… Read More

Stop All The Clocks. . .

March 19th, 2011
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Someone you love has died. Everything around you, people, conversations, situations, the Earth, even life itself, feels like it has suddenly stopped. To me, this moment of  stillness is very similar to being in a car accident.  After the screeching brakes, the moment of impact, the shattering glass and the crush of metal hitting metal, there is an eerie silence; a tingling in your ears. Your eyes see but what you see doesn’t look real; your ears hear but what is being said doesn’t make sense and you can’t seem to get your breath and breathe.  Nothing is computing and… Read More

Carrickfergus

March 17th, 2011
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In honor of St. Patrick’s Day. a day when everyone likes to think they are Irish, I thought it appropriate to share the lyrics to a gentle Irish song called, “Carrickfergus.” When my husband and I traveled there many, many years ago we were having dinner in the lovely town of Listowel and he was mistaken for a native Irishman a number of times.  Men would walk up to him and start speaking Gaelic.  They were surprised and then sometimes frustrated that he could only speak English.  It still makes me laugh when I think of the expression on both… Read More

More Humor Therapy

March 12th, 2011
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Grief is a journey that sets its own schedule. Grief is unique to the person and their relationship with the person who has died.  Some people cry, some talk, some paint and some even throw plates or other breakables to get rid of their frustration or anger.  Unfortunately, there is no set time for healing. It is always difficult to adjust to a life altering change and face the outside world on your own.  But since we are all in this together, it is essential to reach out and extend a helping hand and let others know they are not… Read More

Humor Therapy

March 5th, 2011
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Do you know there is actually a medical term for using humor to help yourself feel better? According to WebMD, humor therapy or therapeutic humor, purposely uses the power of smiles and laughter to promote healing and distract the person from pain, or in this case, the emotional confusion permeating your life while grieving. New grief is all about learning to live with a sense of unreality.  Unfortunately, until you actually experience this raw emotion, you can’t really imagine how it feels.  You think you know, you think you can conjure up those feelings of deep pain but it doesn’t… Read More

George Carlin’s !0 Life Tips

February 26th, 2011
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The late comedian George Carlin was famous for pushing the entertainment envelope and broke new ground by using a great deal of profanity in his stand-up routines.  Whether you agreed with his style of comedy or not, Carlin truly understood the power of laughter. Laughter releases stress and boosts your immune system.  Finding humor in a situation can also make you feel more in control because you are the one poking fun at something and not the other way around.  Moreover, doctors are reporting that laughter can be a powerful distraction from pain and illness.  If you saw the movie,… Read More

Liam Neeson

February 20th, 2011
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I am always on the look-out for stories where people open up and reveal how they handle their feelings of grief.  As you know, the subject of grief is not considered a mainstream topic of conversation because it is such an emotional minefield.  To do so means revealing deep pain and vulnerability; which is hard for anyone to do; but especially hard if you are a celebrity or a public official. It can be almost impossible to get men to talk about how they feel about most things — unless it’s a sports team or a political party — so… Read More

A Friend In Need

February 15th, 2011
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I recently received a call from a friend telling me that her husband died the day before.  For the past year, I knew something was going on with her husband but she never shared the details with me and I didn’t feel it was my place to ask.  I was shocked as I listened to her tell me the tragic news.  In fact, I was in the car when she called me and I immediately pulled over to the side of the road. A rush of mental images of her and her husband and being in the hospital went through… Read More