Category: Mind

Happy Holiday Right?

Posted on by evebarbeau in Mind, Self Care, Uncategorized

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Okay, you think I’m going to get into a conversation on what is the politically correct way to wish friends and relatives well during this holiday season.

Nope. I don’t care. I wish every one of you well. It’s a wonderful time to celebrate with family. To take time to enjoy. To socialize. Yes, even you, my dear introvert friends. I’m one of you and I’m sure I’ll find a little corner somewhere, sometime, to think of ways to make that chapter sing, or how I to use a resist with watercolour, to…

That’s allowed. It’s also allowed to think about how lucky you are to have what you have, and how wonderful the people around you are. And it might also be a good time, at night before you fall asleep, with your belly too full and your mind still buzzing, to think about the things you did this year.

Take an Inventory

Don’t spend time on shouldas. This is not an exercise in making you feel like crap. But if you are like most creatives, you expected an awful lot of yourself and you’ve noticed all the things you didn’t do, and have forgotten how much you did accomplish. I bet if you take an objective look–do an inventory–you’ll be surprised at how far you’ve come. There are the real things, like the number of drawings and paintings you’ve made, or the number of stories you wrote, the revisions you’ve completed, the rejections you accepted, the acceptances that thrilled you, and then there are the things that matter even more. What did you learn? What new wisdom have you attained? When you worked, how did it make you feel? Did it calm you? Did it give you respite from the craziness of the political world? Did it bring you peace, even for a moment?

I bet this is year was a win for you in more ways than one.

You Want to Keep Your Marbles?

Posted on by evebarbeau in Mind, Self Care, Uncategorized

ElenoraThis may not be the cheeriest topic you’ll find on a blog, but it is, I think, a timely one. You know we boomers have never been ones to step back and let others take over from us.

Hang in there you poor Millennials, we’ll step aside one day, but we’ve still got a lot to do.

Okay, so we’re going to make them wait a bit, but you don’t want them to have to take care of us when they finally get to be boss. It isn’t a fair thing to do, besides, you know, there are still things to do, and you can’t do them if you can’t think.

About 27% of us will get Alzheimer Disease

I know. Depressing! But wait, not one-hundred percent, only twenty-seven percent.

Only about the quarter of the elderly populations get Alzheimer Disease? But what about Auntie Mildred, and Great Uncle John and most of those poor ones in long term care?

The Majority of Dementias are not Caused by Alzheimer Disease.

That’s right! And unlike Alzheimers, you can take actions to keep from developing many of these other types dementia.  I recently picked up Dr. Antoine Hakim’s book called Save Your Mind. Dr. Hakim is a prominent Canadian Neurologist, and he firmly believes that we can stave off non-Alzheimer Dementia by doing seven things.

  • Control you blood pressure. Strokes, even those tiny TIAs hurt your brain/mind. Your brain needs a lot of energy to function, which means you need to get nutrients to it. Hardening of the arteries, doesn’t help you. So take care of vascular issues
  • Eat lots of fruits and vegetables. Lay off the sugars, and don’t go overboard on the fats
  • Learn something new all the time. Read and write. That’s right, writers, you’re helping your brain. Make art. Heck, make anything.
  • Don’t smoke.
  • Exercise regularly – Walking is good.
  • Care about other people and have some good friends who care about you.
  • Find a way not to be sad for long. Depression hurts in more ways than one.

Not so bad, eh? You’re doing all these things already aren’t you?

If you’re not, consider it. It’s not to late to start and you don’t want to burden all those hard working young uns.

Above is a drawing I made of my little sister. Here she is as a young beauty.