Part One: The BAM! Button
One of the challenges of approaching 80 is that many of us find we are alone. And if this is a new scenario for someone, the skills may not be in place to cope with mental health issues. The memories. The regrets. The ever playing mind-videos of loss.
For example, one minute you are sitting in your favorite chair, alone, watching Wheel of Fortune, and the next, you are being blindsided by a commercial for dementia medication. Or some other elderly affliction. And for those of us who have been caregivers, the reminders are painful. Tortuous. And accumulating. By the end of the 30-minute show, you have been inundated multiple times by elderly trauma.
On a good day, you can mute the TV during the two-minute dialog, and speak life over yourself. But on a bad day, you soak up the negativity.
In addition to the normal interventions like going for a walk or getting around other people, I have found an unconventional technique for combatting negative thoughts … The BAM! Button.
Now keep an open mind …
You know those dog-communication-training buttons … the ones where the pet taps the button and your recorded voice says “water” or some other demand? I bought a set of 6. My rechargeable buttons have all been programmed to speak life, health, and well-being over me. Thirty-second reminders that I am a good person, that God is with me, and that all will be well
So now, when a commercial attacks my peace, I hit the button with a vengeance and allow the words of life to soak in. I call it my “BAM! Button”
Blessings ….. And ….. More
I placed them in strategic places around the house, depending upon what is going on in my life. If I am having trouble with mobility, I have one in the hall that says it is The Lord who orders my footsteps …
Whatever your interventions … from the Brother and I … be encouraged, take good care of yourself, and sometimes – if you have to – exercise vengeance against your circumstances with a BAM!
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Part Two:
Coming soon …