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.

I had prepared a post about goals and planning but when I saw this TED Talk by Matt Cutts.  I thought this seemed like an interesting idea that I wanted to explore further.
I had made an effort through December to post daily. It did not happen.  I did post more frequently and I posted a lot more than before about my love of holidays and  I shared a lot more about my everyday life during December. I feel like that was a positive change. It also reminded me how much I like taking pictures and blogging.

This Ted Talk did not strike me as being just about goal setting or doing what is needed or even particularly self improvement. What struck me is that this might be more of a challenge to try something new and push through our comfort levels. If you give a project/change a try for 30 days and find you don't enjoy it... then you just learned something more about yourself and can move on. Maybe you will discover that you can say with pride "I did it!" even if you never want to do it again. Maybe you will find a new passion you want to pursue.  I love the idea of taking something I have tried briefly in the past and devoting a month to take it to the next level.

I do want to add that even with a one month project I still recommend using SMART goals. Check out the link to my blog post on the topic.

What shall we choose to try in next month?

A Month of Blogging

I am off to a late start but I am going to try to do the WEGO month of blogging challenge. Wego Health is social media community that supports on-line Health Activists.

They give a blogging topic suggestion every day in April so I want to see what I can do with the topics this year.

 

Imagine your health focus or blog is getting its own theme song. Think “Eye of the Tiger” for Rocky Balboa. What would the lyrics be? What type of music would it be played to?

My song would be optimistic and encouraging and probably set to piano or acoustic guitar music but I don't have the energy today to launch into writing lyrics and a song for this blogging challenge.

 I am doing well right now. My health is pretty good, and yes I still face challenges, but I know that there is still a lot I can achieve. I am in the middle of changing the direction of my life, and not sure what is going to happen in my future, but I feel very positive.

The little community choir my husband and I sing in has picked a garden theme for our Spring Concert. One of the songs we are doing is a Choral arrangement of The Garden Song. I love singing it. It just plain makes me happy.  I also think it fits where I am in my recovery journey and it also goes with my newest focus on learning how to become a recreation therapist.

"Inch by inch, row by row, gonna make this garden grow.... "

I just keep moving inch by inch, row by row ... step by step ... challenge by challenge. Just trying to find my way.






"Garden Song"

Inch by inch, row by row, gonna make this garden grow.
All it takes is a rake and a hoe and a piece of fertile ground.
Inch by inch, row by row, Someone bless the seeds I sow.
Someone warm them from below, 'til the rain comes tumbling down.

Pulling weeds and picking stones, man is made of dreams and bones.
Feel the need to grow my own 'cause the time is close at hand.
Grain for grain, sun and rain, find my way in nature's chain,
to my body and my brain to the music from the land.

Plant your rows straight and long, thicker than with prayer and song.
Mother Earth will make you strong if you give her love and care.
Old crow watching hungrily, from his perch in yonder tree.
In my garden I'm as free as that feathered thief up there.

Inch by inch, row by row, gonna make this garden grow.
All it takes is a rake and a hoe and a piece of fertile ground.
Inch by inch, row by row, Someone bless the seeds I sow.
Someone warm them from below, 'til the rain comes tumbling down.

HAWMC Day 13: Health Acrostic

I thought I would try to  do today's prompt from Wego Health and it was harder than I thought it would be.

Today’s Prompt:

• Write a health acrostic for your condition, hashtag, or username! (acrostic = a poem where every letter of a word serves as the first letter of a word or phrase i.e. DOG = Digs Others’ Gardens)

The first challenge is what word to pick?

a) I really have not gotten into twitter -- so no hashtag.

b) Username? Well  I think they mean my blog title and Leading a Healthy Life seems too long and therefore too much work.

c) My condition seems a bit complicated for a word choice. Nothing was straight forward in the diagnoses, therefore stroke is close but not exactly the accurate term for my condition so brain injury maybe?  Vestibular disorder? Perceptual issues? Cognitive impairment? Left side weakness?

It struck me that is not how I would choose to label myself on the good days. 

I would like to describe myself as a....

Strong

Unique

Resilient

Versatile

Identity

Voice

Organized

Resourceful

 

What a Lot of Blogging!

What a month this had been!

All this blogging has been a lot of work! I think I probably overwhelmed some of my regular readers and few of you writer/ editor types were probably not too thrilled with viewing all of my baby writing assignments.

I can write a mean lab report or a research based science paper. Creative writing? Who me? I skipped that part in high school. I started creating web pages with an interest in the technical aspects and grew to love creating the overall design of documents and web pages. Written content was never my major concern.

I think this experience has been good for me. I really feel like I have loosened up a bit and maybe shared more that I would have without the daily practice. To some extent I was surprised at the range of emotions that certain challenges brought out of me and found that it was a cathartic experience.

I liked producing a variety of post styles. I also enjoyed the challenge of creative freedom within a few guidelines. I even learned about an assortment of online resources. One of the posts involved producing a MadLib poem using an online generator.  The resulting post is kind of odd, but what a useful challenge that turned out to be! I found web pages with lists of parts of speech because I was running out of adverbs. I wanted to use more health related words so I opened a thesaurus for the first time in decades. There was an option to practice editing the resulting poem to try and improve it. All this just had to be good for me as a budding writer!

Through the WEGO Health Activists Writing Challenge I also learned a few things about being an advocate for a health concern. I met new people, and I read lots of different blogs about a variety of health interests.  I signed on to twitter and followed a twitter chat for health activists. I joined Skype in order to be part of a discussion group. I did not find many other participants who were dealing with brain injuries, but I did find a group of bloggers who have formed a community for people with vestibular disorders.  It has been great chatting about issues related to that aspect of my disabilities. I believe that I will now be a more informed blogger, and better able to advocate for people with health concerns in the future.

 Now what?

 I certainly won’t be posting every day but I might post a little more frequently.

I want to work on some of my photography skills this month. I tried, briefly, to take a college Photoshop course only three months after I got sick. I think it is finally time to pick up where I left off.  I will have a few picture posts to share in the near future.

I certainly wasn’t confident that I would last all 30 days but…

I DID IT!

LAST ONE! HAWMC #Day 30 Word Cloud

HAWMC Day #30: Word Cloud. 
Make a word cloud or tree with a list of words that come to mind when you think about your blog, health, or interests. Use a thesaurus to make the branches of your “tree” extend further. http://www.wordle.net/

This is the Last Challenge of the month long Heath Activist Daily Blogging Challenge. Tomorrow will be a little bit of a windup of the month. How do you like my word web? I think it looks great! I used key words from my blog and got a visual display all about my effort at

 "Leading a Healthy Life"

HAWMC Day 29 Six Sentence Story

Six Sentence Story. 

In this day of micro-blogging – brevity is a skill worth honing. Can you tell a story and make it short and sweet? What can you say in six sentences. Check out some here: http://sixsentences.blogspot.com/    

I was trying to shop at the grocery store about a year after my stroke with my cane and my groceries in the cart and me gripping the handles of the shopping cart as if it was a walker.  I was trying to be independent and do something that normal, average people can do every day. I reached up with my good hand for the whipping cream on a higher shelf. The ever-present vertigo and dizziness won out and I fell awkwardly into the dairy section cooler. I was hurt and couldn’t get up. A small child came toward me and her mom screamed at her to stay away from that nasty drunk lady.  I knew without a doubt that my life was not normal or average anymore.

HAWMC Day 26 Creating a tagline

 Health tagline. 

Give yourself, your blog, your condition, or some aspect of your health a tagline. Make sure it’s catchy!

My new choice for a tagline will be:

Leading a Healthy Life:

Moving Toward Wellness in our Community

My blog initially developed in an effort to journal about my own recovery from a brain injury and it has reflected many of my experiences and responses. I have a lot to share on many other topics and I hope to take my blog in new directions with time.

I have dealt with a lot of health conditions in my own life, and that of my family, so I want to leave my blog open to discuss a variety of issues related to wellness and available community events and resources.  I want to talk about weight issues, ADHD, allergies, heart and stroke, brain injury, and mental heath to only name a few of the issues that touch my life and that of my friends. I believe we should be supporting all people in their search for experiences and information related to health and wellness.

 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I also thought about what I could title a blog as a Health Activist with a blog dedicated to my main health focus.

Stroke and Brain Injury:

Working on Recovery with Determination and Dignity

 I am amazed at the way so many survivors rise to the new challenges ahead of them.  I am inspired by the strength of character and resilience that can be seen in so many brave individuals who find themselves facing extraordinary challenges while living out their daily lives.

 

HAWMC -Day 21 Health Madlib Poem

Health Madlib Poem. 
Go to : http://languageisavirus.com/cgi-bin/madlibs.pl and fill in the parts of speech and the site will generate a poem for you. Feel free to post the Madlib or edit it to make it better.

Sunny Day's Sunny Day

      fast i have never grow, boldly beyond
  any bird, your music have their bright:
  in your most green grass are things which run me,
  or which i cannot learn  because they are too quickly

    your worried look patiently will unadmire me
  though i have organize myself as flowers,
  you participate always path by path myself as branch memorize
  (embraceing resentfully, appropriately) her tall bush

    or if your pond be to experience me, i and
  my fish will smell very deliberately, happily,
  as when the books of this bird plant
  the cane gratefully everywhere walking;

    nothing which we are to climb in this lunch carry
  the chair of your forgetful shoes: whose sandwich
  play me with the milk of its toaster,
  enjoying bread and hand with each exciting

    (i do not guide what it is about you that sit
  and hop; only something in me laugh
  the finger of your music is heavy than all branch)
  sweet, not even the tree, has such stylish park

  - Linda and e.e. cummings      

Create Your Own Madlib on LanguageIsAVirus.com


Today is not a heath focus kind of day-- it is a "leading a healthy, happy life" kind of day.
Today is a Grandkid kind of day, and  I just explained verbs and nouns to a kindergarten child since he was helping me.  There is no time for editing today, because we have lots of other fun things to do.  I did find this an interesting tool and the page listed has a lot of "literary" fun to try out some other time.

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 15 Writing with Style

Writing with Style. 
What’s your writing style? Do words just flow from your mind to your fingertips? Do you like handwriting first? Do you plan your posts? Title first or last? Where do you write best?

Do I have a style? I never really thought about this. Any comments for me or gentle suggestions?

I usually use this blog to share different events and activities that I participate in or find of value. It is kind of my personal road map for recovery and --- well--- leading a healthy life!

My "Apple Computer" at the Lake

I normally try to sit down with my laptop about once a week, during those rare moments when it is quiet in the house. I pick a highlight of the week and try and share some of my experiences and a bit of information. It is a very happy bonus if something I post might be helpful to others. If there is anything exciting going on I will post more often in order to keep people up to date.  I need to edit a lot so I go over my posts again and again until I decide enough is enough and hit that post button. I think that I write a lot like I talk, and all this editing makes me question my speaking style too!

Writing the blog was originally a way for me to reflect on what was happening, and in part a way to remember my experiences. It was also an effort to gently keep up the web development  skills that I had enjoyed before I got sick. As time has gone by I have made friends with other bloggers, and now I want to participate in blogging in order to discuss our shared experiences. I am hoping that by participating in this 30 day blogging challenge I will improve my writing and blogging skills and perhaps make some new friends.



The photograph is just me being silly with my computer. (copy-written Linda Cooper 2010). I like the contrast of the high tech computer and the beat up old rocking chair.

HAWMC - Day 11 My Theme Song

HAWMC Day #11: Theme song.

Imagine your health focus or blog is getting its own theme song. What would the lyrics be? What type of music would it be played to?

Today's prompt sounded simple but it was remarkably hard!!! I really like music and respond strongly to certain music and so I have already chosen to share on this blog many of the songs that inspire me. Some brave souls are no doubt writing original music or lyrics and some even are performing their songs and uploading them onto YouTube to share with us.

Someday, in the far distant future, you might check into this blog and see me play my guitar because apparently I am almost ready to start grade one music! lol. I am actually very proud of that accomplishment because 3 years ago I could barely open and close my hand, and when I started lessons a year ago I was having trouble physically holding onto the guitar. Yes, someday you might see me playing Blackbird and I will be thinking about it's lines.. "Take these broken wings and learn to fly...You were only waiting for this moment to arise."

My blog has been changing over the past few years and I think that my choice of songs is also changing from year to year as my heath and recovery focus shifts.

When I started making my first web pages years and years ago I learned to put background music on my pages and one of my best pages about my life at the time used the song Here Comes the Sun -- by the Beatles. Where I live is actually pretty sunny but we sure do have long cold lonely winters and I enthusiastically welcomed spring thaw. I was a mom with four kids so I also liked singing that phrase "Little Darlings the smiles returning to the faces".

Maybe "Here Come the Sun" is still a good theme for me in this "season" of my health journey.  My health has certainly improved and frankly so has my attitude.

• It has been a very long cold lonely "winter" and I was not at all sure that I would come through it and I was pretty darn sure I would not like the life ahead of me.

• I feel that ice is slowly melting. Oh yes, it sure has been a slow process and an unbelievable amount of work but I am getting there, wherever and whatever there might be.

Like the song says - It's all right.

The Beatles - Here Comes The Sun Lyrics

Here comes the sun, and I say
It's all right

Little darling, it's been a long cold lonely winter
Little darling, it feels like years since it's been here
Here comes the sun
Here comes the sun, and I say
It's all right

Little darling, the smiles returning to the faces
Little darling, it seems like years since it's been here
Here comes the sun
Here comes the sun, and I say
It's all right

Sun, sun, sun, here it comes
Sun, sun, sun, here it comes
Sun, sun, sun, here it comes
Sun, sun, sun, here it comes
Sun, sun, sun, here it comes

Little darling, I feel that ice is slowly melting
Little darling, it seems like years since it's been clear
Here comes the sun
Here comes the sun, and I say
It's all right

Here comes the sun
Here comes the sun, and I say
It's all right
It's all right

HAWMC- Day 6 Haiku

 Health Haiku.  
Let’s switch up the writing style a bit for today’s posts! As you probably know, a haiku is a “miniature Japanese poem consisting of 17 syllables – five syllables in first line, seven in second, and five in the last. No rhyme or meter scheme is employed when writing haiku. The aim of the haiku is to create something greater than the sum of the parts.”

 I never ever thought I would be trying to write a haiku! The only thing I have done with this topic was trying to force my kids to do this portion of their Language Arts homework when they were in Junior High School. I remember thinking that I was glad it wasn't me! Man! I really must want to improve my writing skills now! I thought about researching the topic and then decided to just get it done. I took three shots at getting this right.

How life will slow down

when the signals get so lost

and confusion starts.

His words would sputter

listeners look away since

He does not matter.


Helping hands reach out

She, glad not to be alone 
 Grasps at salvation.

~

Health Activist - Day 1 of a 30 days of Blogging Challenge

I am taking part in a month of challenges!

It is  Health Activist Writer’s Month at WEGO Health – " a month dedicated to the art of writing… about health." I signed up and was sent a list of 30 challenges one to be completed each day in April.  I love blogging and making web pages but I have never put much energy into working on my creative writing skills. This seems like a great opportunity to work on my writing and a chance to share and learn with other participants!

Health Time Capsule. 
Pretend you’re making a time capsule of you and your health focus that won’t be opened until 2112. What’s in it? What would people think of it when they found it?

 

Health Time Capsule

 There are lots of things that I could put in my time capsule that reflect the last 4 years.

Cane with wrist strap, computer memory stick and Guiding craft  "Memories"

One would by my laptop. It has been my email/ facebook/ blog contact with the outside world, my journal to complain to, food diary, appointment calendar, source of entertainment and it did all of this while letting me be comfortable on the couch or in bed. It was cognitive therapy with puzzles and games, hand therapy with all that typing, writing practice and a source for health information.

My cane that helps me balance and keeps me aware of where I am leaning in space and keeps some off my sore stiff leg. It also acts as a warning to others that this person wobbles.

My walker was needed to keep me going upright, to sit on when I was tired and to help carry all my belongings.

My bath chair because heat and leaning back to wash your hair in slippery conditions can really get you hurt, especially when you have balance problems.


Railings were put up in our house. I needed railings and grab bars everywhere and... soft furniture to bounce off of when I fell.

Ankle brace, with velcro shoes and now lace up flat waking shoes that are kind of high in the ankle-- all keep my left foot facing forward.


Extra lighting because I largely use my eyes for balance now, not my inner ears, and I keel over in the dark.
I had a handitransit pass.  Our transit system sends a taxi that can pick up to 3 customers in one trip. It is not always easy to use but it does give freedom and some independence to move around the city and get to appointments.

Exercise balls, weights and other "equipment" because that is what is getting me stronger.


My binders of work from Occupational therapy and cognitive skill projects shoud be in the time capsule.

My beloved backpack

My reminder book is important too. I needed a notebook to record everything that I was supposed to remember. It was a band-aid for my damaged short-term memory.

My backpack leaves my hands free for the cane or walker and lets me keep my notebooks, keys, and other items available. Because of my balance it does matter to have the bag balanced over my back and not hanging over one shoulder or to the side.


A guitar because it was a new and happy challenge for me and it is getting my left fingers moving again. Learning music is improving my memory.


My apron- very simply when you don't have two working hands an apron with nice big pockets helps you carry things.

My Girl Guide Membership Pin - we had some rocky moments but I have always felt like a member and I have had wonderful Guiding friends who have stood by me. The girls in my unit made me feel like I was still needed and valued.

My Camera is important too. It has let me capture the memories that were slipping away so fast with my damaged memory.  I felt brave when leaning over and bending down to take pictures and therefore it helped work on my balance.


A picture of all my family members; they support me and make all the work worthwhile.


A button that says not all disabilities are visible should be in there.


There is a little notebook and a pin from my Occupational Therapist that I received when I was discharged from her part of the rehab program at Easy Street.


Little nightly reminders notes with quotes my daughter put out for me along with my medication during a time I wasn't capable of remembering if I took my pills or not.


I value a cross necklace and a St Christopher medallion that I wear around my neck.  St Christopher was the Patron Saint of travel and also of balance. I like the reminder that I am never alone.

Lately a new choice would be-- My iPhone - memos, phone, notes, maps with directions, internet all in one happy little package. Seriously it is an unbelievable help with my cognitive issues, but seems like a cool normal every day tool to use.