From Amanda's very early writing (1990s to early 2000s), shared as it was originally written.
sudden illness
"There is no such thing as a sudden heart attack. It takes years of preparation!" I read this in one of the journals to which I subscribe and thought WOW! How appropriate for how most of us live our lives!
What are you preparing for yourself in future years? Very few people have some sudden illness or disease or back pain or neck pain or ulcers.
As the quote suggested, years of preparation have gone into the development of these disorders. And usually years of ignoring warning signs from our bodies!
If you imagined that you were a child who was actually living exactly the way you are living right now, what advice would you give them? As you think about this lifestyle, abserve the child's (who is really you) life and emotional, mental and physical states. How happy are they? Fulfilled? Challenged? Stimulated? Appreciated? Popular? Happy? Balanced? Or are they sad? Frightened? Alone? No energy or enthusiasm? Worried?
Let me define living because I think lots of people are actually unaware that they died some years ago! Their spirit and zest for life died anyway. They live 'life' in a rote , routine, boring, depressed way; they take everything that happens desperately seriously - especially themselves! And they make everything a crisis or a life threatening experience. Life has no laughter - or just occaisonal giggles!
Living is when we wake up with some energy and enthusiasm for the coming day. When we are excited by new ideas and concepts and opportunities to learn. When we have moments of great contentment? When we accept others and ourselves and enjoy differences. When we take sensible risks that help us grow. When we laugh lots and especially at ourselves. When we see the positive aspects of others and of situations rather than focus on the negative. When we take responsibility for ourselves and take control over what we can in our lives. When we make an effort to see friends and maintain relationships. When we have a higher purpose than making it through to the next day. When we help or try to help others. When we can make worthwhile contributions to the community or others less fortunate than ourselves. When we are thrilled by beautiful scenery or music or poetry. When we can feel emotions. When our bodies feel healthy and flexible and alive. Etc Etc
So what advice would you give your child?
What lifestyle and emotional changes would your gently help them understand? How would you suggest they motivate themselves to make the changes? How could they incorporate these changes into each day with an easily managable program? Could you suggest a timetable that gradually incorporated a series of changes? How important is it that your 'child' begin some of these changes soon? What would you say was the most important priority change.
After all as Dr hazel Shorter said "at the end of the day put everything back into your desk, lock it up, go home and forget about it. Believe it or not, it will still be there the next morning". Sudden illness most important priority change? how would the child know if the changes were working? What benefits would they see? What would happen to them if they continued their current lifestyle? I'm sure that you, as a caring and lovign parent, could think of lots more questions to ask this child. And lots more help you may be able to offer.
And perhaps you might help them understnad
when you think of the wayin the shape you are in and think about this lifestyle, othe concept of '' Ha, Ha! Well, t Life has no laughter - ve moments of great contentment. Or some contentment anyway.the When we treat ourselves and our loved ones with great respect. .st important priority change? Hthat you, as a caring and lovingand advice you might like to give this childps you might help them understan the importance of looking after themselves on a weekly basis rather then waiting until they find themselves with a major illness to make the changes. And you might suggest they keep events in perspective - are most events really crisises?
Or could we view them in a different way - a more realistic way?
After all as Dr H So maybe at the end of the day, put everything that's worrying you onto a piece of paper which you then put into a drawer, close the drawer and forget about it. With any luck, the things you've written down will be less troublesome by the next morning. doesn't happen very often - unless you are hit by a truck and then was it a result of you being tired or stressed and not paying attention? So, was it a sudden illness? Most illnesses that affect us today are created by consistent poor lifestyle habits or by us ignoring our wellness needs. And by keeping things that happen to us in perspective and unwinding from hectic activities. What are you doing on a daily basis to create that sudden illness? And what are you doing on a daily basis to avoid that sudden illness? What will you do to boost your energy, vitality and wellness on a daily or weekly basis?
