“Tools for Coping”

I’m sure there are things you already know for sure (as Oprah Winfrey has made many millions of dollars saying…)

So, let me ask you now, what do you know for sure?

Maybe right now it’s all gone out the window. You know nothing ‘for sure.’

You’ve had no choice but to look at life differently, to see maybe more of the shadows and less of the light?

Let’s go to Tool #2.

Re-minding.

Re-minding is returning to your right might. It is remembering the things that were rock-solid and reliable for your before your child got sick or you did, or something else catapulted you into a harsh new landscape.

Re-minding is taking control over the rushing thoughts, the doubts and fears that are like a ride over the rapids of a crazy river.

Re-minding is equipping yourself for the journey with the things you already know for sure.

For example:

• I always knew I could find beauty. So, I reminded myself to look for it. Something beautiful was usually right outside the window and sometimes right there in the room with us.

• I would remind myself about possibility. And I’d let myself wonder about how to bring some new possibility into our lives.

• I would remind myself of the world beyond the walls of the hospital – where there was joy and there was sorrow, and we were a part of all of it. And it was a part of us.

By re-minding myself of these things, I could come out of the “terrible” and into the possible – for myself and for Yousef.

And, believe me, when I didn’t think I could remind myself of something good!

When I didn’t think I could go into that spiritual place to find hope for myself!

I absolutely could, and had to, and did do it for my son.

I am here to remind you that you can too.

For just this moment, entertain it as a possibility, won’t you?

Sending you hugs,

Helene