by Kate | Feb 20, 2018 | Chronic healing, chronic illness
When you are dealing with chronic illness, befriending your journey is like peeling an onion. You open the bulb and cry some while you peel and process a layer. You live a little while, discovering more, and then you process another layer and cry some more. In my...
by Kate | Jan 9, 2018 | chronic illness, Disability, joy
This month’s promise is to “live joyfully for no apparent reason.” Lately, I’ve been thinking about joy as a flotation device. I have been sad because my left arm and hand have gotten weaker and less responsive. Often, I am unable to drive my wheelchair. Because of...
by Kate | Dec 5, 2017 | Chronic healing, chronic illness, kind promises, Surrender
Living with an illness, there may be times when the ice cracks and you fall through. Plans need to be released. What worked before no longer works. For a while, you may flounder. Be there, in the depths. Know that you will probably resurface. If you don’t, you get to...
by Kate | Nov 9, 2017 | Chronic healing, chronic illness, Disability, kind promises, Love, Vulnerability
As someone with significant disabilities, I worry that I am a burden on people around me. I tell myself monster-stories about how much better the lives of my loved ones would be if they didn’t have to sacrifice on my behalf. I imagine that such thoughts are noble,...
by Kate | Oct 17, 2017 | Chronic healing, chronic illness, Gratitude
It is gratitude month – the month where I consider the kind promise “I will appreciate blessings.” I have been reading about practicing gratitude here and here (among others). One of the things I like about practicing the promises is the way that I get to give each...
by Kate | Jul 6, 2017 | chronic illness, monsters
It seems my entire adult life has been a process of befriending my mind. It began in an EA 12 step group in Winston-Salem North Carolina with the Just For Today’s. (It’s interesting that, in this brave new connected world, I could find them most easily on an EA...
