The Breathing Spaces Blog

Not Leaving Ourselves

CindyG - Trees - May

This morning, I noticed something small—but important. A thought came in, followed quickly by a feeling. Nothing unusual about that; it happens all day long. But what I noticed was what came next. There was a moment—brief, almost imperceptible—where I could have gone along for the ride. I could have followed the thought, believed it, and allowed the feeling to take over. Or… I could pause, and become curious.

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When love isn’t enough:
Recognizing when your aging parents
need a caregiver

Aging Parents

As I have written in other articles, families often gather together for Christmas and the holidays. Adult children may fly in from faraway states, or even countries, to celebrate with loved ones. In our household, one set of elderly parents in their 80s bravely flew in to stay with us in Los Altos from Beijing, and in the other case a trip to Florida to visit 90-year-old Grandma for Christmas was a blessing.

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The Seven Ages of Caregiving

7agesofcaregiving

Yesterday was Earth Day. Today is Shakespeare’s birthday. It feels like the universe is asking us to pay attention to cycles — what grows, what endures, what we tend, and what tends us. In As You Like It, the melancholy Jaques famously declares that all the world’s a stage, and one man in his time plays seven parts. He wasn’t wrong. But he left someone out. All the world’s a care home, and all the men and women merely caregivers. They have their exits and their entrances, and one soul in her time tends many parts, each act being one of seven ages of caregiving.

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