The quotes on the next three pages are divided into categories:
Illness
Grief
Healing
I looked for passages that
expressed a full range of human emotions from sorrow, anger and despair to faith, hope and love. Use them to reflect a moment in your journal, or for mediation and prayer. Perhaps you
will want to do nothing at all. Follow inner guidance.
Journals are not for everyone. If
you decide to keep a diary of your caregiving experience, here are some
suggestions to get you started, but your own ideas always work best:
1) Write a quote that resonates with you across the top of the page. Free associate for a few minutes and
write whatever comes to mind. Do not censor your thoughts. Read it again a month from now. Note any observations or insights
that come to mind about caregiving.
2) Save your entries and read them at a later date. Are there any changes? If
so, describe them.
3) A part of us dies when a loved one dies—the life we shared is gone. But if we allow ourselves to fully grieve,
we will find one day that our loved one lives on in the life we create after loss. What is your reaction to this statement?
Express your personal experience of caregiving or anticipatory grief.
If writing is
not for you, consider using a tape recorder to chronicle your inner most thoughts and feelings.
Refer to Give Sorrow Words for other approaches to journals including Focused Expressive Writing (FEW).
