HOW TO WEATHER ADVERSITY/CHALLENGE

Good Mornin!

Day after the Gala in DC

at the Little SchoolHouse

In Patient Hospice

In Arlington VA

"And I Feel Good All Over"

Can Ya Tell?

I am plannin' to outshine the sun today... Yep, got a plan... Thanks for all the love I received in comments,  tweets and emails of yesterday's blog! HOSPICE rocks and it has been my greatest honor to work and walk alongside many wonderful people in my career...
Healing Heartaches holds many stories from the in-patient building in today's picture and I was still floating from the gala the night before... Guess that hospice is in my DNA ~ Like my new hat? Took it right off the pretty head of my niece Happy who lives in DC the day I spent with she and Audrey ~ She is responsible... she said, "Auntie, you look fly in that hat"! Well that is all it took... Mine now! Thanks Hap!!!
Coffee hot and here I am just waitin on that sun... Blessed and nothing less as my friend Fred Cuellar says!

My heart and prayers continue to be with those in TN and surrounding areas... Such a tragedy... too much it seems once again that we are facing for folks who were just going about their day, just living their lives. I was just with some of those wonderful people who work in that area in Hospice at the Conference in DC; catching up with old friends, meeting some new ones. Talking about traveling there in the near future to hopefully speak and do a book signing... and then WHAM... heartache and devastation for so many and so many glued once again to the television watching and feeling helpless.
It is important to try and remember during times like this
 WE ARE NEVER HELPLESS...
                                   WE ARE THE FORCE ~
WE CAN LEND SUPPORT ~
WE CAN STOMP FOR THOSE WHO NEED US!
WE CAN SEND THEM THOUGHTS,
WE CAN SEND HOPE IN PRAYERS, WE CAN DIG DEEP; EMPTY OUR PIGGY BANKS... if we must!
We can donate time...
YOU may need to have a media "black out" for your sanity... you may need to "turn off" the devastation for awhile... You may need to instead find ways of restoring yourself and finding ways to help ~ To move the emotion through energy ~
Let me say it again... ready?
We ARE THE FORCE!
                                STAND UP
                  S T O M P
                                         SAY YES!
TN, we are with you in our hearts... YOU will survive this.
Our nation is with you in prayers, in thoughts, in HOPE for healing, in mourning for your losses... the American Red Cross will accept your donations of help, HOSPICE is helping, others are helping... Volunteerism is at its finest... People care deeply.

WE ARE THE FORCE OF THE BEST OF HUMANKIND...
uh oh...

Now with my coffee and my thoughts now moving on to things of adversity, challenge, HOPE, healing, thriving... those thoughts just run when that get started...
Hospice, life, challenge, adversity advocacy, and just as the four-leggeds do their NASCAR imitation round the pool, here I go again! Probably should have poured more than one cup this morning just in case...



Adversity or Challenge?  STOMP or limp?







When I hear someone assume they have no power over their own life, when someone says that life is too hard.
I think, hard?
                         As compared to what?






So life is not always easy.
If it were, would we be able to identify the good times? What would we use to benchmark our good days against? Are we not always comparing and contrasting? A great meal is noticeable only because we have had a few that were somehow less than good. If they were all perfect, we would only consider them food, not great food. So we know how good a day is, or an experience is because we have something to compare it to.
This works the same for employment, relationships, weather, flowers, air quality, in fact, in every facet of our lives.






We need life’s challenges because they let us grow. They encourage us to stretch mentally, physically and emotionally. We are not paralyzed by challenges, but rather we discover who we are by the way we face them, and overcome whatever adversity they may hold.

The very measure of who we might become is determined by the way we demonstrate our mettle during tough times.
The way I see it is, challenges faced and conquered let us know greatness.
Adversities overcome, allow us to know and recognize our own strengths.






At the timberline where the storms strike with the most fury, the sturdiest trees are found. (Hudson Newsletter)






The trees there, may be wind bent, shy on leaves, but they are rooted deep. They are strong and sturdy. I am reminded of the wonderful willow... beautiful it is! And... it is strong enough to bend... are you?

A person who has never known real adversity can not know himself fully.
That rare bird cannot advise a friend for he has no firsthand knowledge of how to stand strong in his most vulnerable moments. He cannot bring to the table his wealth of experience staring down the jaws of trouble.

 On the other hand, we face big problems and come up with GREAT solutions. A chance to test ourselves against all life throws at us.

We not only survive, we thrive. Because we are those trees at the timberline. We have been blown and tossed by life’s storms. We sink our roots deep in the good earth and stand tall.

"I know God won't give me anything I can't handle; I just wish He didn't trust me so much" {Mother Teresa}






"The pessimist sees difficulty in every opportunity. The optimist sees opportunity in every difficulty." {Winston Churchill}






Facing the challenges gives us a life that is interesting, but overcoming life’s adversities is what makes us stronger, our lives more meaningful.






In closing, we do not ask for the lightest load, but rather the strongest back to carry the load. We find in ourselves, the ability to face any adversity, to rise to each challenge before us, with our own inner strength. The knowledge that we are strong, that we are already enough. That we possess a CAN DO attitude. WE ARE THE FORCE!

We will survive ~ we will find creative and innovative ways to thrive... We will once again build, re-build and hear sounds that we identify as "laughter" and it will be ours and those that matter... We will heal and re-join the rhythm of life's heartbeat... Healing Heartaches ...

So, STAND UP... S T O M P
TIME FOR WARPAINT, TIME FOR BATTLE...

The fire is burning, its embers are hot... the smell of cedar, sweetgrass and sage fill the air... and so it is good. Thoughts to all this morning ~ ~ ~ :'
Chris in NY, almost time for you to return home to FL minus the "girls (aka breasts you used to have) you know... the ones with Cancer in em?  C'mon on home, get the treatment thing done and let's get this party called life going again... You are in the arms of many who are thinkin of you and holdin strong for you  and with you my friend~ Cancer Sucks.
Jill we are with you kiddo... Fight, CLIMB like Lily the Black Bear and cubbie HOPE... We are with you, fighting alongside you. When you are tired, rest.. we are here... With prayers, thoughts and warpaint on, ready to STOMP... Cancer SUCKS... FIGHT strong, we love and are fighting with you...
Cindy in NC, Cancer Sucks... We are with you dear one, Keep the Faith and know you are never alone... we are standing beside you always.
Thoughts on the gentle wind to 6 year old Shelby, friends/family, Mary, Booker, Charlie Soap and family, Lynn Redgraves family, the families in TN, Liz, Lee, Molly, Joanie, Jude, Matthew, Vicki's Mom, Irene, Faith, Phylis, Judi, Angie, "Southwest Virginia", Laura (MS Sucks),  Dorothy P., Tom, Joe   and.....................................
For those who "you know who you are"
We are here with you... and you are in the arms of the angels... may you find comfort and strength in the knowing that you are never alone... Thoughts to all on the winds...

So before I leave you ... here ya go:
from our dear Doc Seuss:
"You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself any direction you choose. You're on your own. And you know what you know. And YOU are the one who'll decide where to go..."  
— Dr. Seuss (Oh, the Places You'll Go

Walk In Beauty,
DRSES
author of
Healing Heartaches, Stories of Loss and Life
http://www.drsherryeshowalter.com/