Even more variety

Just an update....my husband has been move to a rehab unit 40 miles away....!! I get the feeling that his life is well out my control now and I will have to stop thinking otherwise.
The distance means that I shall only be able to visit once or twice a week but I know that he is in good hands. 

In the meantime, I need to get on with my work and create the income that will support us both.
This ageing  stuff is not too good when you are ill, so maybe we should take ourselves in hand and be healthy up to death. I have a friend in Lincolnshire who is in her late 70's and watches what she eats and takes a walk every day. Her philsophy is to 'die healthy' maybe that is what we all should aim for.

My next task is to get an Enduring Power of Attorney set up for me, will make life easier for my family. 

Variety in life is good?

We don’t like to be bored but there are times when constant variety can wear one down.

My husband, who is already ill with Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s , broke his hip just over two weeks ago. That put him in our local general hospital, as I write, now for just over two weeks.  I started to go and visit every day at lunch time, not the official visiting time but to take on the job of assisting him with eating his lunch, to do his shave and generally to help. Visiting at any other time would not be so productive and as there is no conversation, what do you do?

Now he is being moved to a rehabilitation unit, a 20 plus mile round trip away from me. After that he will be assessed and moved again to a nursing home that can cope with his complex needs, where I have no idea. It’s all about where there is a bed space.

During this time I have adapted, not very well in the first few days, as his recovery from the hip operation was touch and go, but adapt I have had to do. I was tapping pretty constantly, which alleviated much of the emotional pain and kept me grounded; in fact I had to resort to using the finger points and imagination as my face got quite tender!!

During all this, there were times when I missed a planned trip to visit my family in London and the stamina to  keep up my EFT coaching practice, but more important, some days I was unable to even think straight.

But in two weeks the trips to hospital have become routine as I have got to know the nurses and staff. Peter’s little side room has become his world and as he has gained strength, mostly feeding himself now and  is looking at the young nurses with a glint in his eye.

So yet again all change……I will not be able to just pop in to see him at the new hospital, so will have to ration my visits, he will not know or understand but I will.

It makes you think!

Just been reading Pat's blog, Wise Woman Travels, her idea is amazing and I am sure it would make her very happy....it makes me think about what I may like to do.
If there was nothing to stop me and I had enough money, what would I do? I expect you have thought this at times. We get stuck into routines and with people that we may not have chosen if we had know how it would make us feel. With EFT of course we can help ourselves to come to terms with our feelings but not subjugate them, we have to know what our true feelings are.

For instance, would you be doing what you do now to earn money, if you had had other opportunities years ago? In retrospect would you have trained to do something else? Hindsight is wonderful…..if I knew then what I know now……but we didn’t so the journey goes on.

But as Pat can show us, is it never too late to do something new, take up a challenge and make a difference to your life and in many cases to the lives of others as well.

My deliberations continue; do I love what I do (because that’s the only way to be happy) or am I doing it for other reasons and does it make me happy anyway?

I just have to remember the wonderful Christmas Cards from clients, the testimonials and outpouring of love;  the ‘Thanks You’ for what I do, so all I have to do right now is  Keep Calm and Carry On….just like my daughters poster in her kitchen. Though there may be a time when my journey takes me in another direction and I think that prospect is exciting, so good on you Pat, get that camper van and take on the world…or the UK anyway!!

My morning walk 7th Jan 2010

Just had a reminder that we can find beauty in everything and nature, raw, cold and just plain amazing! My walk this morning with CJ…he is the one in the blue coat!!

The new year bulge!

"On no" I cried, as I stood on the scales after Christmas. That half stone I lost has now reappeared. I suppose if I had not lost the weight before, I would now be a stone heavier....some consolation.....!
I think this is the most common issue of January, that and having to pay the credit cards. 
It's not that I ate too much, oh no...just sat about more. But in reality my carbohydrate consumption was up. More sugar, pastry…..all those lovely mince pies...roast potatoes and parsnips etc. It's no bad thing to have an occasional treat and lapse in good eating habits and I know that in a couple of weeks, being careful of course, that the extra few pounds will go again.
Fortunately I have a target to aim for, the workshop at The EFT Gathering at the end of the month. I don’t want to look bulging and fat; I wish to feel good about myself, my appearance as well as my skills. Self confidence and self esteem are hard won areas in my life and now, though I am content with who I am, I still wish to present a good image to the world. This is not being egocentric but being the person who practices what they preach.
For instance chocolate no longer has a hold over me, and I know that EFT helps me on more than those occasions. So being an EFT and natural health practitioner encourages me to walk the talk….so less input and more output….energy that is.
Welcome to a healthy 2010!

Changing perspectives and food waste

For my readers who have been asking about my change in diet which I wrote about in November, here is an update.  You may recall that I gave up all meat, fish and eggs (had already not eaten dairy food for a long time) and alcohol. This did me me a great boost, though I found that it was not easy to stick to as I am a busy person and often out and about. Over the last week or so, tiredness and the cold had started to get to me and the choice of vegetables (local and in season) were getting rather boring. Also to compensate I was eating far too much carbohydrate; bread...I love toast....fried potatoes and just more in quantity that was good for me.

So I introduced a little more protein in the form of organic eggs and sustainable fish into my diet, also allowing myself some imported vegetables. This seems to have done the trick and my energy level are returning. It seems that even at my age I do need some high quality protein; pulses and nuts just don't always hit the spot! Tofu is another blog...
It makes me wonder how my parents generation managed during the war, when boring food was the only food and they had no choice, plus quantities were always small and nothing was wasted. No wonder most people at that time were at their healthiest.

I am sure that food shortages will return, not because of war I hope but because there are too many people on earth to feed the way we in the west think we should eat. Therefore, when I come across waste it causes a real angst within me. This festive season please don't overbuy, use up leftovers and be thankful, for this bounty cannot last for ever.

Grandchildren and the passing of time!

My eldest grandchild, James is 20 today. I find this a little disturbing to put it mildly. He is a grown up (has been for a while really) goes to work and leads an interesting and young man about town type of life.
His father Simon was 23 when James was born, I was 21 when I gave birth to Simon. At the other end of the spectrum my daughters children are aged 6 and 2 so these little girls will continue to be children for a good few years yet. In the middle, Simon has another son, now into his early teens who at the moment fits with neither end of children in the family. Fortunately he is well adjusted and has many friends of his own age.

My sister and I are seven years apart and had many years with very little in common and in fact little contact. Then when time evened up our ages we met again, this time on a different level and became the very best of friends. Time changes our response to people of all ages, so if you are having a rough time with family or friends, just give it time.