It is always good to be alive. To be in gratitude, to have faith, to know that wonderful experiences and opportunities await each and everyone if we are willing to step out of our own way and let the Higher Power reveal itself to us.

Caregivers, may drift in and out of their faith. I know I have been there as well. I am sure my faith will be tested even more in this lifetime. In sharing with others, I believe that we stray from our faith, at times seeking and questioning the meaning of our very lives. By drifting away, it gives us the opportunity to move forward, embracing our faith even more as we continue to heal, grow and open to love. Without the lows, we would not know the highs. Each is needed as the Yin and Yang of life. There is balance and harmony that we receive from both.

For caregivers, caring for a loved one brings up many mixed emotions. Our faith is constantly tested as we pray for our loved ones to heal and live normal healthy lives once again. At the very same moment, we may also pray that the Higher Power takes our loved one as quickly as possible so that they can be free to go “home” once again.

Even after those we care for leave this plane, we may find ourselves bitter towards the Higher Power. We cannot comprehend all the pain, the suffering and the loss we have experienced. As much as it may sound like an old cliche, time does heal our wounds if we permit ourselves to grieve in our own way. Grieving knows absolutely no wrong or right way. Grieving is what we experience from within and it is unique and personal unto ourselves.

We sometimes forget to identify with our spiritual essence and we give our power over to this real dimension called life and the material aspect that we reside in. When we don’t take time to still our minds and go within, we lose contact with our true soulful essence. By connecting with yourself as a spiritual entity, you are able to detach yourself from your physical identity; your physical identiy being the world of your limited thoughts and feelings. It is then and only then that you are able to attach yourself to your spiritual identity which is your being of inner peace and power. Detachment doesn’t mean that your don’t acknowledge and partake in the world you live in. It means that somewhere within yourself, your remember that you have your spiritual aspect that will bring you back towards your faith once again.

What we must work on remembering is that we are apart of the universe. There is an order in this universe and it also resides within us as we reside within it. The Higher Power is omnipresent…and we are all children of this power. As we enter this new year, surrender your fears, your need to control, and let the natural order of things come into your life with more ease, joy, peace, health and most of all love.

Gail R. Mitchell

Author

  • Ms. Mitchell began her full-time caregiving experience in the early eighties when her husband was diagnosed with cancer. Later on she became the primary caregiver for her father, along with her mother who had become critically ill from burnout prior to her dad’s passing. In recent years, she cared for several friends with AIDS while continuing to care for her mother and actively providing support, information, referrals and resources for caregivers.

    Gail's leadership on the Internet and her success with Empowering Caregivers led her to found National Organization For Empowering Caregivers (NOFEC) INC in 2001.

    Prior to founding NOFEC, she created the iVillageHealth Chat: Empowering Caregivers, which she hosted for over 5 years. Within a month of hosting she created Empowering Caregivers: www.care-givers.com in 1999 as a resource for caregivers around the globe. Over three million visitors have frequented the website.

    She has presented at national and international care-related conferences and programs and has been a keynote speaker for many programs as well.

    Ms Mitchell has assisted thousands of caregivers online and offline in ways to empower themselves in their roles in caring for loved ones.

    For a list of clients and/or her resume, please contact info@care-givers.com

    Gail's articles have been published in many venues nationally and in Canada. Presently, she is a member of American Society on Aging and National Quality Caregivers Coalition.

    Gail has discovered that there is life after caregiving: She has become a successful ceramic artist and installation artist. She created Crystal Illumination Art to bring the transformative quality of illumination, light and color to the human experience and celebrate its ability to inspire, heal and nourish our physical, mental, emotional and spiritual well being.

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By Gail Mitchell