Wild Strawberries

I thought I would share some pics of the wild strawberries we have at the cottage. They grow in one area of the yard, near a back corner of the cottage, like a beautiful ground cover. The area is kind of like a tiny meadow with a lot of moisture in the spring and some higher grass nearby. They attract birds, insects and other creatures that love to eat them. Wild strawberries are useful, tasty and look beautiful too.

 The berries are so very tiny but bursting with flavour and taste wonderfully sweet.  They are not something we want to gather and use for cooking or a meal because they are too tiny and really not great a quantity of them hiding in the grass. They are perfect for reaching down and having the occasional little berry nibble. 

My family went to the lake last weekend and brought me back a little handful of the strawberries and took some pictures for me.

Strawberries that in gardens grow
Are plump and juicy fine,
But sweeter far as wise men know
Spring from the woodland vine.
No need for bowl or silver spoon,
Sugar or spice or cream,
Has the wild berry plucked in June
Beside the trickling stream.
One such to melt at the tongue's root,
Confounding taste with scent,
Beats a full peck of garden fruit:
Which points my argument. — Robert Graves

Happy Thoughts Journal

Have you ever kept a diary?

I kept one when I was young, like so many other kids. It was filled with notes about where I was going and an inordinate number of entries that included excuses about why I failed to practice piano that day.😊   I have also kept a lot of scrapbooks and photo albums and art journals. I love photography, and I try to put labels by my images to explain what the pictures are about.  

Loving my journals

At one point, I discovered something called Smash Book journals. The idea behind those was to gather up bits of memorabilia, glue them down on the decorative pages of the book, make notations, and add the odd accessory. It was great for me because I had all sorts of things, like cards that I saved because I feel good about them and they did not need to be in any kind of chronological order. Most of the items didn't have to have an explanation unless I felt like adding a special note. When I pick up one of my journals, it is just so much fun to look at. Occasionally the memories contained are bittersweet, but they are also empowering, joyful and full of happy thoughts. You don't need to have a specific journal brand, but you should find some kind of book that is sturdy, and easy to carry and use. It can even be a binder with cardstock pages in it. It should also make you happy just to look at it.  I picked up my current notebook at Dollarama. It is very pink. I find the cover words to be rather encouraging, and I find it handy to clip a pen inside the spiral binding.

I like to add quotes, pictures and cut-outs on bulletin boards and into binders and to the covers of my notebooks. Usually, they are meaningful, and they can be very grounding to me, but sometimes they are just for being cute. I tend to change some things around with the seasons. Right now, I have a lot of pics that include flowers and lakes and not too many snowmen!  I thought my inside cover choice of the sweet picture of the birds' nest and quote to be very appropriate and encouraging during our "Sheltering in Place." He will cover you with His feathers and under His wings you will find refuge. Psalm 91:4

Create Your Own Ideas notebook

... and in His wings, you will find refuge.

Journal entry about Charity event hosted by my college TR Class

Journal entry about my first and last month of college.

I have recently had a few people tell me how hard it is to stay positive through the stresses of the past few months.  They see so much negativity. The isolation and restrictions have been going on for so long that I see people giving in to a sense of hopelessness and feelings of depressions. At first, people believed, "I can do this for a month- it will be like a vacation!". Time is going by, and now our communities are pushing hard to reopen and people want to get their jobs back and their income secure, and even get haircuts and all the other signs that life is normal. We need our friends and family, and it is so difficult to always be at arm's length from the people you care about. It is hard to keep distracted.

One of my friends said she feels like she is just going through the motions. She is just barely getting through the day. Another friend was just about in tears telling me that something good happened to her that day and said she was going to hold onto the memory. We need to make a point of being aware of those good things. We need to try and find some balance.  One popular approach is gratitude journals, where each day you write down something you are grateful for. The internet is full of lists with prompt questions to help you come up with ideas. The idea is that as you make an effort to identify those positive aspects and events in your life, you will start to notice them more frequently and perhaps find a sense of optimism and enthusiasm.

If you like the idea of a gratitude journal, memory keeping, photo-albums, scrapbooking, dream boards/vision boards, diary or my version of happy thought journals, you should just go with it. Online options, such as creating blog posts or Pinterest boards, count too! 

Maybe you want to just focus on a particular topic that brings you joy. How about a gardening journal., a birdwatching notebook, places you want to travel to, favourite books notebook. You could create your own cookbook with pictures of your yummy creations!

When we become overwhelmed, it can be hard to focus on the details of our lives, or perhaps we concentrate predominantly on certain aspects of our life, and those might be the sad and negative things that are happening around us. When we constantly watch sad news and are surrounded by so many other people who are also struggling, this sense of despair is reinforced. If we only look at the negative, we start to have trouble problem solving and moving forward in a healthy way. So my question is, how do we each manage to find optimism in a time such as this?  How do we find a realistic balance between the sad and happy things we experience in life?

I suggested to the friend who shared her good experience that she take the time to write it down and then see how many more good memories she could add to it. I sure hope that she will experience lots of positive experiences to remember and add to her list.  I hope you do too. 

I sure would love to hear how you like to collect and/or share your memories.

Childhood Dreams and Adult Aspirations

Life Goal

What’s one thing that your 10-year-old self thought you would do?

Can you still do it?

How would you approach it to make it happen?

 #HAWMC

Childhood Dreams and Adult Aspirations

When I was a 10-year-old I think I imagined myself a ballet dancer, or a scientist or a zoo keeper or a famous pianist or perhaps I could be a helping people as a missionary in distant and exotic places. Even though I had never gone sailing, I figured that someday I would live on a sail boat in the Caribbean. How can choose only one thing when as a child I thought, like many kids do, that I was invincible and that I could do EVERTHING!

Can I still do it?  I think the bigger question is would I still want to make any of  my childhood dreams come true?

Ballet Dancer?
... all of me hurts at the moment and spinning  and leaping would make me nauseous. I can go in a few weeks and see my 7 year old granddaughter's dance recital and watch her dream of being a great ballerina someday.

Scientist?
... I did become a scientist and worked in that field for about 14 years. I can't do that job any more but that is okay - I am ready for new challenges.

Zoo Keeper?
... At some point I realized that is one really messy job and I wouldn't really want to do it. I do like to learn about ecology and all creatures that have ever  lived, from microorganisms to those extinct dinosaurs. I hope to have more amazing experiences meeting wild animals but I am happy watching the  Discovery Channel.

Pianist?
... I did about 7 years of lessons and it all went away when I got sick. I might be able to get better at playing the piano if I just tried again, but for now I will keep trying to make progress on the guitar.

Distant places?
... I have a daughter who travels to many exotic locations while learning about international health issues and she is doing a lot of good in this world. I can live that dream of mine through her adventures.

Live on a sail boat?
... I had a chance to go sailing on a tiny boat sailing.  I felt sick and dizzy, but loved it anyway. I have plans to go on a Caribbean cruise this year if all goes well.  I think I am okay with living on solid ground.

I have had new goals to work on. This blog, so far, is largely about how I have been working on making my dreams come true.  I am still working on gaining more skills and getting more competent at my older skills. I will just keep taking one step at a time while working on "Leading a Healthy Life".

As I write this I am realizing how many of my own childhood hopes and dreams have been fulfilled in some fashion by my children in their own unique ways. I am proud of my family and ever grateful to them for their patience and support.

 It's not only children who grow. Parents do too. As much as we watch to see what our children do with their lives, they are watching us to see what we do with ours. I can't tell my children to reach for the sun. All I can do is reach for it, myself. 

~Joyce Maynard

PS ~ I have already missed many of the "Daily" posts in the Health Activist Writers Month Challenge. Easter and hurting my back have made this a couple of difficult weeks and I have not been on the computer as much as usual. I plan to still do all the prompts, but they might not be in the right numerical order. I am learning to do only what I can, when I can.

Linda

 

Closing Doors and Opening Windows

Open Window, Etretat

by Henri Matisse

 

When one door closes, another opens; but we often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door that we do not see the one which has opened for us.

Alexander Graham Bell

 

The staff of the college program I am entering, the disability advisor and my job coach have all stressed that I need to let go of my different activities for this coming year. I need to focus on school. I know that college is going to use up most of my energy and that spare time will become a thing of the past.

You know what? It is hard to let go of my activities and social life.  I keep trying to negotiate a way that I can keep doing all the things I have been doing. Moving forward to new experiences means I have to leave past activities behind, at least for a while.

Yesterday I called my guitar teacher and told him I was quitting for now and then I cried. I have put a lot of time into getting that darn thing to sound half decent and I was just started to feel like I was making music instead of doing finger and hand therapy.

Volunteering at the hospital is another hard one to give up. The volunteer coordinator sent me the mailing of the recreation activities they need help with for September and I really want to volunteer with  most of them  but I won't be free. I realized with a smile that my reaction is a good thing. It probably means this Therapeutic Recreation program is a good choice for me.

Girl Guides? Actually this one feels okay. I will maintain my membership, and I will still attend the occasional event with girls and hopefully be a bit of a mentor for the younger leaders in my group. I will kind of take on a Grandma role. I will come to the enrollment and take pictures, I will show up for a couple of events over the year.  Guiding has a Trefoil Group for older leaders to meet for fun activities on a monthly basis and I have participated in that group for a couple of years. I already had to send my regrets regarding attending  a day in the country with the group that will occur on my first day of classes.  I am confident that I have the support of this group of women who have devoted years with a recreation and learning program for girls and young women. They understand about the value of the training program I am about to start.

On Wednesday I chaired my last meeting of the Peer Support Group that I have been involved with over the past several years. I am passing the group on to a couple of wonderful people who have been part of the group and I know that things will go even better with their fresh ideas, I am sorry to be moving away from Stroke Recovery Association of Manitoba but that feels right too. I will still show up when I can and I will keep in touch  with my friends but it won't be quite the same. I talked to the organization's Administrator, Russ, about what a home away from home the organization has been for me. He said that one part of the organization's official objectives is  "To assist the Stroke Survivor to again become a participating member of society through mental stimulation, self-help, and socialization" .  He said that is exactly what I was doing.
Moving forward is what is supposed to happen.

HAWMC -Day 17 Learning the Hard Way

Learned the Hard Way. 
What’s a lesson you learned the hard way? Write about it for 15 today.

I have the timer on.. 15 minutes eh?


One of the things that I have been learning the hard way is that we can't really control absolutely everything, no matter how badly we want to. I would like to fix the world. I would like to help the people around me do well, and I would like to be successful in all of my endeavors, but life just doesn't work that way.

I have kind of believed that lists and determination just might be the  answer to life's problems.  The fact is that sometimes you have to just let go and trust that the world is going in the direction it is meant to go.  No amount of struggle and wishing are going to change the past. What you have to do is look to the future and support those around you in their decisions and you should do your best with your own efforts. Sometime you have to decide things are good enough and then relax and get on with enjoying the fruits of your labour.

 I have had several rather pitiful guitar lessons in the past few weeks. My progress is going very slowly and I feel like my playing is actually getting worse so I have been considering quitting. I reminded myself today that this was supposed to be enjoyable and it is an activity of my own choosing so just go have fun! My teacher, Rob, is a nice tolerant guy, so I decided to just keep playing today and to quit stopping when I make mistakes and to stop worrying about getting it perfect.

I actually did have a fun lesson because I was ready to not take it too seriously. I think I am actually at some kind of technical crossroad in what and how I am learning. Fingering that seemed impossible with my "reluctant left hand" in January actually worked today and I got very excited.  Rob, talked happily about real classical guitar songs that are just ahead of me. It is not about perfection, but it is indeed about progress.

I told my daughter about my theme for this post and she reminded me of some Rolling Stones lyrics.

You can't always get what you want
You can't always get what you want
You can't always get what you want
But if you try sometimes you just might find
You just might find
You get what you need

Rock On!

HAWMC -Day 16 Pinboard

Pinboard 

Create a pinterest board for your health focus. Pin 3 things. What did you pin? Share the images in a post and explain why you chose them.

Oh my goodness!

Today's prompt exposes one of my obsessions and biggest time wasters. I LOVE Pinterest. I would love to have you visit my pinterest boards! http://pinterest.com/lindacooper/

One of my disability issues is difficulty with my short term memory. I forget things-- A LOT, but am left with a horrible nagging feeling and  I usually remember the basic category and have a sense of whether it was something I saw in the past few days, weeks or if it was years and years ago. I went through 2 years of Occupational Therapy to work on these cognative skills and one of the things we found is that I remember things I see much better than things I hear, and I remember images much better than words I read.

When I really need to remember anything I work really hard to paint a picture in my mind of the story or object or person. The more detailed the picture and the more crazy the ideas the better I will remember it. Pinterest is one of the tools in my arsenal for dealing with this part of my disability. Pinterest functions like an external computer hard drive for me. I use it to save information that catches my attention and store it somewhere other than my brain.  I can turn it on when I need to and then rapidly search topics by images.

The HAWMC April writing challenge is part of redefining myself and working on my word and writing skills. I do not think of myself as a writer. I think of myself as a crafts person, a cook, a photographer maybe even a bit of a designer but ....writer ? I am all about the visuals now.

Okay back to the original prompt.

I have bits and pieces of useful stroke related images through several of my boards. I have a fitness board, I have a quotes board, I even have a board of sewing projects useful for my stroke associations auxiliary fundraisers.
Today I started a new Pinterest board for this challenge called STROKE AND BRAIN INJURY.
Now that I have started it I realize that this is a very good idea because I can get some of my resources and book marks all in one nice clickable spot.

I can post quotes and images to inspire or entertain me.

 

 I can put links to my favorite supportive organizations

 

 I can post links to sites I use everyday to help in my rehab like these brain boosting puzzles and healthy recipes on  the Canadian Alzheimer site.

I can post links to helpful ideas like this rice bag that could support my weak left arm when typing.

 

 

 

Yes... I really do LOVE Pinterest.

HAWMC -Day 2 Quotes

HAWMC Day #2: Quotation Inspiration. Find a quote that inspires you (either positively or negatively) and free write about it for 15 minutes.


I am very fond of quotes so you would think this would come very naturally to me. I use quotes quite regularly but the reality of choosing just one is hard. I tend to start with a picture and that guides me in my choices for quotes. I wrote a bit on the topic of my meaningful quote almost exactly a year ago when I was reaching the end of Occupational therapy and I was changing the picture and quote on the front of my therapy resource binder. It had been a year with a lot of growth and improvement for me and maybe it is time to reflect on the whole experience.

Our greatest glory is not in never failing, 

but in rising up every time we fail.  

~Ralph Waldo Emerson

I am always stretching for the next challenge.  I am frequently asking myself "What the heck were you thinking trying to do that?" but I get over it and try again. Sometimes I succeed but it usually requires an awful lot of "rising again".

 A few years back I would not have described myself as a determined person. Many things came very easily for me. I now realize what it means to work hard and persevere. I have been gifted to meet so many strong and determined people with a variety challenges, many far greater than mine, and I watch in awe as they meet each new day with such courage.

My 23 year old says I should quote myself. She says I spend a lot of time saying "NO! I want to do it myself!"  My family and friends worry about my independent attitude and are afraid that because of my balance issues I will fall and hurt myself, and they are afraid that I will be crushed by disappointment for things I am not successful with. I keep coming back to the idea that if you don't try,  if you don't push yourself, how can you ever know what you are truly capable of or what joy your efforts might bring to your life or that of others.  Perhaps you can relearn skills, perhaps  adaptive technology will let you reach your goals. Maybe a friend assisting you will bring joy to their lives as well as yours.

My family makes me want to try harder.  I want to be active with them and I want to be a vital part of  the lives of my my children and grandchildren.  There is so much to see and do, and I want to be doing all that I possibly can, even if it means a few falls and a few failures.

Learning to Dance in the Rain

 

"Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass...It's about learning to dance in the rain."
— Vivian Greene

I have a binder that  I take to my rehab sessions. It includes illustrations for my physiotherapy exercises, my notes from occupational therapy, ideas from mindful meditation sessions and so much more. 

 I put our photograph of storm clouds rolling in over the lake on the binder cover with the quote above written on it. I look at it and I feel inspired to keep working right now. I can't lie around waiting for the perfect moment, or for that full recovery,  life is happening right now so just get on with it and Dance!

My binder is starting to look a bit worn and getting overstuffed,  so I think it is time for a new binder and a new photo. 

What do you think of this one?

 We can only appreciate the miracle of a sunrise if we have waited in the darkness.

          ~Author Unknown

The pictures were taken at my favorite spot in the world, my cottage.

These photos are my work so please do not copy.  linda & bob cooper @2010

This one is for Cassidy.  Keep on dancing. (Post reedited on May 20th, 2011)