Monday, July 07, 2008
THE THREE L L L'S
Life, love and laughter. Those three little words and an apple a day will make you healthy, wealthy and wise. They are the three most important words to keep you mentally fit and physically strong. Or is it mentally strong and physically fit? Take your pick, either way they are important. If I had to choose between mental and physical I would keep my mind. It’s a terrible thing to lose and much of the time the physical part of us can mend and redeem. If we lose our minds we are totally “lost.”
At the present time I have a relative who is in the mid stages of Alzheimer’s….not so bad that she can no longer remember things but her thought process wanders in and out of the present and the past. It is truly sad to get her letters and see that each time they come they show her decline in comprehension.
I’ve always said if I could keep my hands (to crochet, knit and read) and my eyes to see what I’m doing and my brain to keep it all straight…….I would be a happy woman. My mother was in a wheel chair in her last years but was an example of accepting “what was” into the present with grace.
I have always admired the older ones in our family because they had a lot of knowledge I didn’t find in books. It was also puzzling to find they knew everything I knew. How did they do that? I didn’t know until I became older. Our brains soak up a lot of stuff in daily life that is filed away somewhere…..especially if we are good readers, keep abreast of the local and national news and are somewhat social. Family and friends can offer a lot to us if we listen and apply it to our own situations.
Interest is an important word. How many times have you heard a parent lamenting that their child’s report card was bad because so and so wasn’t “interested” in the subject? Teachers (good ones) constantly strive to make their lessons interesting for the students so they will be more informed and knowledgeable. It seems to me (though I haven’t had a child in school for many years) ….. it seems there are more visual and audio aids to help teachers capture their interest.
The chief factor when in a conversation is not only to look interested but to really listen to what is being said. Waiting to jump in and do all the talking or talk while the other person is talking is definitely not the way to go. At first it’s hard but the older I grow the more I keep my mouth shut………as the old cliché’ goes you learn more by listening.
Listening……….hummmmm…maybe there are four “L” words to live by.
Essentially Esther
At the present time I have a relative who is in the mid stages of Alzheimer’s….not so bad that she can no longer remember things but her thought process wanders in and out of the present and the past. It is truly sad to get her letters and see that each time they come they show her decline in comprehension.
I’ve always said if I could keep my hands (to crochet, knit and read) and my eyes to see what I’m doing and my brain to keep it all straight…….I would be a happy woman. My mother was in a wheel chair in her last years but was an example of accepting “what was” into the present with grace.
I have always admired the older ones in our family because they had a lot of knowledge I didn’t find in books. It was also puzzling to find they knew everything I knew. How did they do that? I didn’t know until I became older. Our brains soak up a lot of stuff in daily life that is filed away somewhere…..especially if we are good readers, keep abreast of the local and national news and are somewhat social. Family and friends can offer a lot to us if we listen and apply it to our own situations.
Interest is an important word. How many times have you heard a parent lamenting that their child’s report card was bad because so and so wasn’t “interested” in the subject? Teachers (good ones) constantly strive to make their lessons interesting for the students so they will be more informed and knowledgeable. It seems to me (though I haven’t had a child in school for many years) ….. it seems there are more visual and audio aids to help teachers capture their interest.
The chief factor when in a conversation is not only to look interested but to really listen to what is being said. Waiting to jump in and do all the talking or talk while the other person is talking is definitely not the way to go. At first it’s hard but the older I grow the more I keep my mouth shut………as the old cliché’ goes you learn more by listening.
Listening……….hummmmm…maybe there are four “L” words to live by.
Essentially Esther
