Parkinson's: What Do You Love?
Yesterday I came upon this and thought about my life and how that way of holding on to the good things could help me: “What do you love Isabelle?” He asked this of an inspector that had been badly wounded, and was listing all the parts of her body and the lacks in her brain's ability to think that she now hated.
She whispered “Some days I can't remember their names...My own children” And I immediately remembered the time my mom in her Parkinson's journey came to be writing her children's and grand children's names on the door to her bedroom and on anything around to try to remember them.
“And what do you love Isabelle?” Gamache closed his eyes and quoted from a
poem by Rupert Brooke a soldier in the first world war. “White plates and cups, clean-gleaming,
Ringed with blue lines;
and feathery, faery dust; Wet roofs, beneath the lamp-light;
the strong crust of friendly bread.”
Gamache goes on; “It helped him in the hellhole of the
trenches to think of the things he loved. It helped me too. I made a mental
list and followed the things I love, the people I love, back to sanity. I still
do.”
“What he was suggesting wasn't a magic cure for a bullet to the brain. A huge amount of work, of pain, physical and emotional, lay ahead. But it might as well be done in the sunlight.”
Blessings on us all,
Nancy and the Snark
Lovely, Nancy. Not surprisingly, this parallels something I am learning -- acknowledge any darkness that arises, it is asking for my loving attention -- but then focus on the light, see myself where I desire to be, already there. Say, "I love that these exercises are strengthening my muscles, making them strong and flexible. I love that I am getting help from exactly the source that will help me in the way I need it most right now. I love it that I am open to receiving healing on the level that I am able to receive it right now. I love it that I am letting go of this emotion that no longer serves me." What do I love most? Having a friend who reminds me to think about the things I love. Yes, it might as well be done in the sunlight. Thanks, Nancy.
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DeleteI love Louise Penny's Gamache books! At first I gobbled them up, then I made myself slow down so I'd always have another one to read, rather than outpace her ability to write them. I believe the book this happened in is the one I read most recently - very powerful.
ReplyDeleteHaving gratitude seems to be coming more naturally as I age and have aging Parkinsons. Thanks for the heatfelt reflections. Neil
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