My Garden Guest

There came a little garden guest
a rapping on my door
to ask of me about my quest
and about the pain I bore.

She delighted me as she flew
and looked me in the eye
as if to tell me that she knew
I worked to just get by.

There comes a day, she conveyed to me,
when hope will find a way
to let me know friends are the key
and love me come what may.

And as she spoke to me that day
the tears began to flow.
I had no single word to say
so how was she to know?

The loneliness of this disease
just claws within my soul
and makes my pain so much to bear --
a mean and nasty foe.

But the wisdom of those simple words
console me through tough times
and soar within my soul like birds
with love and joy divine!



This poem is a tribute to Sid, my best friend and life partner, and to all of my friends  that stand by me every day during this journey with love, compassion and hope.  May each of you be blessed with enough love to make each day better and give you hope for tomorrow.  Blessings to you!

Change is inevitable . . . fear and anxiety are optional

If there is anything I know for sure it's the reality that change is inevitable.  We live in a dynamic world that keeps changing at an ever faster pace.  Our own bodies are dynamic and change throughout the day; some of those changes are visible as decades go by.  We also feel the change in our bodies, especially when a chronic illness comes knocking.  As people age there is a tendency to feel more vulnerable, which is frequently expressed with fear, anxiety and depression.  People that suffer from a chronic illness are also prone to developing fear, anxiety and depression, and people with fibromyalgia are no exception.  Living with those feelings of vulnerability and the accompanying fears are difficult to cope with every day and can be debilitating.

I have experienced these emotions throughout the decades of my life during times of significant change.  Those times gave me an opportunity to examine my own perceptions about the events that had immersed me in a dark and scary place.  But I have learned that if I don't like a situation I have three choices:  I can either accept the situation as it is, I can alter or change my participation in the situation or I can change my perception of the situation.  That is the only control I have in the whole world; control over myself.

When I think of all the changes in my life it is apparent to me that many of those changes orignally presented themselves as a larger than life negative challenge.  Most of the life challenges and changes

Preserving and celebrating your authentic self

This life journey that we travel is such an interesting path.  We all start with our own roadmap that is unique to each of us and we have the ability to make changes in that roadmap as we learn and discover who we are and where we want to go.  There are so many opportunities that present themselves to each of us every day and the choices we make and the way we think shape who we are.  I have always thought if everyone was just like me what a terribly boring place the earth would be.  It is the richness in diversity of thought that truly makes each of us different from one another.  Throughout my life journey there are certain aspects of myself that have not changed and that is the core of my being.  That core of my being represents who I really am and is the foundation for my authentic self.  As I have grown older and embraced all the experiences that life has placed before me, I have learned to appreciate the unexpected detours in my roadmap.  These detours have always caught me off guard and have been some of life's most challenging moments.  As I ponder those challenging life moments I realize it is these unexpected detours that have given me opportunities to discover my authentic self.  Without life's challenges how would we really know who we are and what we are made of?

From the time I was in my 20's, which was the 1970's, I have pondered the wisdom that stereotypes are a bad thing.  When I consider stereotypes I do believe that making statements that categorize people can be damaging in the context that this is who they are rather than a component of a whole.  Stereotypes is the brain's method of creating categories in order to organize an otherwise chaotic