By Paula Jackson Jones
because seeing what others have is a reminder of what they have lost. There is a Yiddish proverb that goes, “If you can't be grateful for what you have received, then be thankful for what you have been spared,” and I see this everyday with ev- eryone that I encounter. When I share my personal story with people, it puts their journey into perspective. Sometimes just validating what someone else is going through (or has been through) is enough to give them strength to continue.
T
Perspective keeps things real for us. I often feel petty when I complain about things because, even though I don’t have it all together, I have it better than some. Something as simple as speaking or thinking positive can have a pro- found impact on the outcome. How we perceive things alters and changes the reality of our situations.
As an advocate, one of the toughest
jobs I have is keeping someone positive. Knowing how hard their journey is to find diagnosis and to respond to treatment, when all around there are people that are either getting better or succumbing. When you’re caught in the middle, in the gray, with no idea whether you’re ever going to get better, its those times that I speak about the choices we have and how making posi- tive choices can lead to positive outcomes. We gain nothing by focusing on our pain, on our loss, on the longevity of our situ- ations. We can take that time and energy and speak positive power into it, over it and through it every day. We can pick one thing each day that we are thankful for: a cat, a dog, the neighbors, the mere fact that we are breathing while reading this column. It doesn’t have be a big thing but each day, pick one thing to be thankful for and every morning, before you get out of bed, take a few deep breaths and speak health and healing into your day:
22 ELM® Maine - January/February 2020
he holidays are officially over, but the beginning of the New Year can be a difficult time for some people
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