Prior to begining my career in healthcare I worked as a floral designer. During this period of my life I worked in a florist on Long Island. One day a man came in and put some potted daffodils up on the counter. He told me he was a Doctor and wanted to send them to one of his patients. He said I had to tell her today she has cancer and daffodils are the flower of hope, so I want to send her some daffodils. (For those that work in healthcare and are thinking this is a violation of HIPPA, this happened before HIPPA was passed.) Every spring when I see the daffodils start to bloom I think of him saying they are the flower of hope. What a good Doctor. He was reminding his patient of the most important ingredient to any healthcare journey in the begining of her challenge. He was reminding her there is always hope.
When we are fighting any health challenge or I believe any life challenge. We always must leave the door to hope open. I believe everyone that works or has worked in healthcare has seen things that defy what is on paper. There is an element at play that one can not predict.
While working as a COTA sometimes I will have patients that have been through so much they are caught in a negative spiral and be repeating all this negative stuff to themselves. While we are practicing something, they will be saying I will never be able to do or I can't. I remind them the body listens to what we repeat, so it will be hard to do something you keep saying you can't. I do think it is important not to bring in fake positivity. Feel whatever you are feeling, but try and add hope into the mix. Sometimes something is off in the distance, that we could not predict.
As we enter spring may we see all that is sprouting back to life as a sign of hope and renewal. Nature mirrors to us many lessons and I believe this is an important one. Sometimes we must go through periods of cold and turning inward to gain strength and allow for something new to sprout forth. Sometimes what we see as the end is a new begining. Happy begining of spring everyone! #wellness#health#spring#hope#holistichealth