Stress Relief for Male Caregivers
By · CommentsHere are some tips especially for you. Get a shave in a barber shop where they use hot towels and offer a scalp massage. Have friends over for poker or pool. Find a group of women who can be with your wife or loved one on your night out. Have these women visit another day while you get in a round of golf. Learn something new that has nothing to do with the illness. Become an expert in astronomy or become a wine specialist. Find or start a Men’s Support Group through your church, synagogue or Council on Aging. Be sure and check out the book Coach Broyles’ Playbook for Alzheimer’s Caregivers “Tips and Strategies for all stages” www.alzheimersplaybook.com Especially good for male caregivers. Although it is written for Alzheimer’s it applies equally well to any illness.
Quotes
By · CommentsDo you love to collect quotes? I do. Today I share some of my favorites. Cut them out; paste them on your mirror or in your journal.
“You can love other people only to the degree that you’ve come to love and accept yourself.” Shakti Gawain
“Work as if you don’t need the money/Dance as if no one is looking/Love as if you have never been hurt. Anonymous
“Your life is not a problem to be solved, but a gift to be opened.” Wayne Muller author of How Then Shall I Live.
“There is no cure for birth or death save to enjoy the interval.” George Santayana
“Patience makes lighter what sorrow may not heal.” Horace
Touch of Joy
Give and Receive
By · Comments“The Giver is always giving, and yet it needs a receiver to complete its circuit of circulation. Are you a receiver? We must learn to give and receive.” That statement is by Lloyd Tupper, OurAbundantLife.com.
When you are a caregtiver it seems like you are always giving, and giving, and giving. And you make the ill person take, and take, and take. Neither feels good about what is happening, and some of us get downright angry about it. Receivers who are ill feel guilty for having to be taken care of. They want to help out in some way. Caregivers need the chance to be on the receiving end once in a while.
Two things need to take place. One: agree that you are Care Partners in this experience. You are on the journey together and each has a role to play. Two: Caregivers need to ASK for help and ACCEPT help from friends and family because they want to be in the giving role and you need to receive their help. How do you ask? Be specific about what you want. “Can you take the car and have it washed and gassed up?” Can you stay with Jim while I run to the grocery? I will be gone 2 hours max.” Both of you will receive the JOY of being givers and receivers. Try it, it works!
Touch of JOY
