Many times we aren't aware of our daily thoughts and how they can impact our overall well being. Our thoughts and feelings are projected by the words we use and the tone we use when saying them. The thoughts we think will either tear us down or build us up. If we don't take control of our thoughts we can even be terrorizing ourselves and zap our energy. Thoughts such as "No matter what I do it's never enough" leaves us feeling like were not good enough which in turn only makes us feel like giving up. If we replace that thought with "I always do my best to care for my _____, leaves us feeling good about what we are doing and that in turn gives us a sense of accomplishment and supports our feeling good. As caregivers we find ourselves giving lots of love to the ones we are caring for and now we need to show love to ourselves as well. Lets see how many ways we can come up with to give ourselves this love.. How many ways can we add to this sentence to complete it.. "I love myself therefore..
I love myself therefore I take a bubble bath when everyone is in bed.
I love myself therefore when I make a mistake I forgive myself and others.
Now it's your turn...
now its laundry , dishes , blah blah , i just appreciated that i am able to do it all .
lalalaaaa ...
If we have a tendency to thinking the "what ifs" with regard to our parent or whomever we are the caregiver for we can create so much fear that it not only affects us mentally, emotionally but physically. Here is some of my favorite affirmations to combat the "what ifs"
My loved one is safe and I am at peace.
I am safe and care for all my needs.
I replace my fears with love
I've also found that in my own experience as a Caregiver that this affirmation supports how I feel about the one I care for and how they in turn feel about me..
I love my _______ therefore everyday I am learning new ways of looking at the crazy things he/she says and does. I pray dear God please help me to see this person and everything about this situation differently. And the list can go on and on but this is a good place to start.
i am able to get up and move around to take care of my love ones .
i would realy love myself -if i could lay on the beach and have someone to take care of me .
bring me margaritta - bring me fried lobster tails - more margaritta .
yummie .....
when u get the chance and see one on ur menu u shall order some .. :-)
... I'll always make time to look good.
... taking to the bottle is not an option.
... I have a right to be happy; even for 5 minutes every day.
... I won't hold grudges or harbor any resentment towards anyone.
... I won't allow anyone to dictate who I'm supposed to be, how to feel about myself, and how much I'm worth.
Good night family!
AnnT, I loved what you said "Am I too good to let someone help me? Just because I used to wear a suit and now I don't I should now feel like nothing? Did the suit make me? NO! I was just wearing the darned suit! " I love it when we get real with ourselves like that and know that we are MORE than our circumstances! Big HUGS to you!
Blessings,
Bridget
We should think thoughts that make us feel good
We should make choices that make us feel good
We chose actions that make us feel good
Okay this gives me reason to reflect.. I was emptying the clean dishes and putting them away and while I was putting the silverware away I was thinking How can doing this make me feel good? The answer came to me that It makes me feel good to have organized silverware. I know this is a simple thing but as caregivers our lives are full of to many of these simple and not so simple tasks and I think it might be helpful to us to ask ourselves these questions.
What thoughts do I have that make me happy (try to focus on them when we can)
What choices do I have that make me happy (even the smallest ones can make a difference in that it reminds us that we do have some choices) especially if we feel trapped in caregiving with no relief in sight.
What actions make me feel good? (even if its only getting to wash my own face)
always brings a smile on my face .
thats what makes me happy .
makes me happy every morning to see that my dad looks so comfertable in bed and he is still breathing . thank u jesus ...
what makes me happy is to wake up feeling pain free . thank u doctor ....
another thing makes me happy to see aging care dot com .
xoxo