Life Is Good!

Physio is working. My feet are healing. The sun is shining and Life is Good!

I move forward in Life with Joy and Ease - my foot affirmation. It's working. So are the new specialized shoes I bought. I'm riding a wave of good energy once again. No matter what's happening around me, I need to stay happy. To begin each day with Joy.

In reality, Hubby has severe COPD (as everybody knows). I feel trapped most of the time. My granddaughter is still sick with GERD - and not improving yet. There are always a few more things in life to complain about as well.
But, I am beginning to discover - dwelling on the stress, anxiety and pain only brings more pain. I can feel it in my body when I am worried. I contract. My muscles become sore.

Realizing I am only making things worse, I consciously take a deep breath and force myself to relax. Suddenly, a funny commercial pops up on TV. A friend calls on the phone. I step on the scale to find I've lost a pound (o.k. maybe 1/2 a pound). It doesn't matter. Good things flow towards us when we relax and allow them to.

When I was a nursing student, (a few years ago) I walked into a patient's room to check her surgical incision. This patient had had abdominal surgery for bladder cancer. Not fun. They had to close up the usual opening and create an artificial one in her abdomen for her urine to flow out of. Somewhat like a colostomy (sorry - for all you faint-of-heart or stomach).

I had been off sick with a cold a few days previously - this was my first day back on the ward. I hadn't looked at the name on the chart - just waltzed merrily into the room. I was astonished to see my neighbour, Isabel, sitting up in bed, hair done and make-up on. She looked a whole lot better than I did. And this was after her surgery. She was expecting visitors, and evidently did not want to look sick.

To preserve her dignity, I asked another student nurse to come in and assess her incision. Isabel and I chatted about our families, the neighbourhood, our grandchildren (yes, I took my nurse's training late in life) and at the end, she took a deep breath, smiled and with a sweeping gesture, as if brushing away her diagosis of cancer, said " Besides this - Life is Good!"

I was shocked. I would have been moaning and groaning and asking "why me?" I probably would not have wanted visitors. I'd have been a miserable patient.

Well, maybe she'd already done all her moaning and groaning and had come to terms with it. Or maybe she really is one of those lucky people who accepts what life throws at them and just focuses on the good.

I do admire her.
And I am determined to begin each day with "Life Is Good"!