CareGiver Advocate & Guide

08/15/2024

Why gratitude?

Gratitude is the ground of peace and joy.

When we consider each thing for which we can be thankful, it is difficult to feel separated from a spirit of peace and joy.

By taking account of what we already possess, we move our focus away from what we think is missing to be happy. There always appears to be something missing in our life. If we continue to focus on what is missing, we will never be content.

The contemplative monks of the first centuries after the birth of Christ taught a simple prayer: ‘want what you have so you can have what you want.’ What they were teaching is that until we are content and grateful for what we already have there is no room for anything else to enter our life. Our discontent with what we already possess becomes the barrier which prevents other new good things from coming into our life.

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Richard Anastasi, The Keys to Peace & Joy: Forgiveness, Gratitude & Compassion

How does a CareGiver (or anyone leading a stressful life) remain at peace with an attitude of joy amidst the chaos called caregiving? Develop these three skills: Forgiveness which will liberate you from what binds you. Gratitude which teaches you to reconstruct the story you have told yourself ab...

07/17/2024

Richard Anastasi
CareGiver Advocate & Guide

"You Can’t Care For Another Unless You Take Care of Yourself…First!” Creativity is a essential tool for reducing stress as a caregiver. The tasks of caregiving are often repetitive. Same action, same time, different day. However, consider adding a little creativity to the task to make it less routine. Before you begin, play some music, recite a favorite saying, prayer, or poem. Look for humor in the moment. Recall a time of happiness. Find an object of beauty to look at. Simply something to break the chain of repetitiveness.

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07/10/2024

It was just 4:44 PM CDT on July 10, 2024. There may be significances to the clock reading 4:44 – or not. For me, it’s a hint to take an action. I want to share quickly 6 tips for caregivers and those seeking less stress and more joy in their lives. Become compassionate. Listen attentively. Love Fully. Keys to Peace & Joy: Forgive, Be Grateful, Live with an attitude of compassion.
Become A Compassionate CareGiver. Reduce Stress. Avoid Burnout.order: https://www.amazon.com/Become-Compassionate-CareGiver-Stress-Burnout/dp/0692701524

The Keys to Peace & Joy: Forgiveness, Gratitude & Compassion order: https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/1546380272?pf_rd_r=SBJ0JDCJQ4DTXECNC3YB&pf_rd_p=edaba0ee-c2fe-4124-9f5d-b31d6b1bfbee

How does a CareGiver (or anyone leading a stressful life) remain at peace with an attitude of joy amidst the chaos called caregiving? Develop these three skills: Forgiveness which will liberate you from what binds you. Gratitude which teaches you to reconstruct the story you have told yourself ab...

06/11/2024

14 Aphorisms of Dr. David Loxterkamp, MD., Belfast, Maine, In 1997, he published A Measure of My Days, The Journal of a Country Doctor.

1. Health is not a commodity.
2. Risk factors are not a disease.
3. Aging is not an illness.
4. To fix a problem is easy; to sit with another suffering is hard.
5. Doing all we can is not the same as doing what we should.
6. Quality is more than metrics.
7. Patients cannot see outside their pain; we cannot see in; relationship is the only bridge between.
8. Time is precious: we spend it on what we value.
9. The most common condition we treat is unhappiness.
10. The greatest obstacle to treating a patient’s unhappiness is our own.
11. Nothing is more patient centered than the process of change.
12. Doctors expect too much from data and not enough from conversation.
13. Community is a locus of healing, not the hospital or the clinic.
14. The foundation of medicine is friendship, conversation, and hope.

04/04/2024

What do you do when you face the call to be the CareGiver of someone you love: a parent, a spouse, a child or even a dear friend? Twenty-one years ago, this May I had to commit to this call to care for my mother as she was dying from an incurable liver disease. The head of the software company I was working gave me a stark choice: work for the company or care for my mother – you can’t do both as I had hoped would be possible.
Whether you have time to prepare or whether the call comes suddenly, there are tasks to do: get legal documents (wills, advanced directives, powers of attorney); evaluate resources to pay for care (insurance, savings, government programs) and putting together a care team. You don’t want to do this alone.
A critical response to the call is not something you do, but who it is you need to become: A Compassionate CareGiver. The self-gift of compassion is what will sustain you in your role as CareGiver.

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08/01/2023

– MAXIZING YOUR MITOCHONDRIA
Mitochondria are the part of the cell responsible for producing energy (ATP).
MITOCHONDRIA ESSENTIAL FOR GREAT HEALTH. They provide the energy for good cell functioning and combatting disease The brain, heart, eyes, and muscles have high demand for energy. Thus, their cells have more mitochondria. As we age, the number of mitochondria decrease. Mitochondria also regulate the reproduction of cells. If a cell does not reproduce well, the mitochondria signal the cell to die (apoptosis). When mitochondria fail to signal cellular death, the damaged cells rapidly reproduce and become cancer cells.
HOW TO MAXIMIZE MITOCHONDRIA
MoreMito offers Restore 3.0 and Rejuvenate to improve the functioning and number of mitochondria in the cell. Learn more at https://moremito.com/rjanastasi. Use the PRODUCT tab get the details and how to order.

11/15/2015

"What can I do?" After the terrorist attacks in Paris, that is the comment that disturbs me most. The most powerful energy in the world is love. If each of us today would sit in silence and contemplate in love, God, ourselves, family, friends, and then intend that love for everyone, including the terrorists, a major shift in the world would happen. If no where else, at least, in your own life. But. I admit, I often act, as if that is just the naive thought of an idealist. Love is truly an energy that can overcome anything. "God is love. And those who abide in love abide in God and God in them." 1 John 4:16 and from 1 Cor 13:8 "love never fails." Take the time today and sit in love. Remember: "The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing." - Edmund Burke

08/10/2015

Please check out my latest mini-ebook: "5 Proven Strategies I Have Used to Reduce the Stress Level of Being a CareGiver" https://sites.google.com/site/caregiverstressrelieflp/

07/27/2015

A Poem:
Death is Not a Problem to Fix

Death is not a problem to fix,
Nor a puzzle to solve.
Death is not
what you think
death is.
Death is not the end
of you,
unless you think
you are just your body.
Death marks the end
of your mind,
if the mind is merely
the activity of your brain.
Death is the end
of pain and pleasure,
as both require a body to feel
sensations and emotions.
No death, no fear.*
No death, no tears.
If you fear death,
You will fear
for your life.
You will fear life.

*No Death, No Fear is the title of a book by Thich Nhat Hanh

Richard Anastasi
August 2, 2014

07/14/2015

Care Giving is fundamentally about relationship - between the Care Giver and the Cared For. How do you measure a relationship? As the song says, "Measure it in love." Listen to it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s1c3MARlJ0Q

07/08/2015

Here is a process to quiet yourself in times of chaos and stress. I call the Accept/Surrender Process. Here's the link to it: http://www.caregiverja.com/?p=305

Find a quiet place. Sit comfortably. Then as you breathe in, say to yourself “I accept …” and repeat one of the phrases in blue. Then exhale, and say to yourself, “I surrender…” and repeat the corresponding phrase to the right that is in red. Do this for each row in the table.

07/03/2015

The Way of the CareGiver

Find Beauty in the Small Places of Your Life!

Is there a plant growing in crack in the sidewalk? Did you stop to notice it?

Did you take hear the cooing of a morning dove as you backed your car out of the garage?

Did you notice the play of colors on the bedroom wall reflected from the mirror on top the cedar chest?

Did you see the sun peeking through the clouds of pink and grey?

Beauty surrounds us, each and every day, unnoticed in the small places in our lives.

Gather that beauty into your heart. Store it away to draw on when worries mount and hopes fail.

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Greet The Present Moment!

Take a breath.
Take another, slowly. Inhale …Exhale.

Take a moment to notice what you are feeling.
Can you locate this feeling in a specific part of your body?

Have you felt this feeling before?

Notice what happens as you slowly inhale, and exhale.
Feel your lungs and diaphragm as they inflate and deflate.

Can you feel your breath as you exhale as it passes over your upper lip?

Rejoice that you are alive, that you can breathe, that you can feel the air passing in and out of you.

Rejoice that you can feel the touch of those you love and who love you.

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