“Everywhere I’m turning, nothing seems complete. I stand up and I’m searching for the better part of me. I hang my head from sorrow, state of humanity. I wear it on my shoulders, gotta find the strength in me.”
Alicia Keys, ” Superwoman”
Food For Thought: Recipe of The Week
Recognizing that meal preparation is difficult for some people due to limited physical or cognitive ability, food or cooking knowledge, or time, we are providing healthy options that are simple, fast to prepare and nutritious. The weekly Food For Thought recipes are recipes that can be made in bulk, stages, or the day before, or can be easily packed into a transportable lunch.
With the freezing temperatures and “polar vortex chill”, warm up with a nice bowl of stew. The following beef stew recipe from spoonful.com is healthy, quick and easy to make, and easily freezable so you can enjoy leftovers another time.
Spoonful.com: Best Ever Beef Stew
Daily Dose of Inspiration
credit: www.rishikajain.com
Make Time For Family Dinner Time
In today’s busy world it can be hard to make family mealtime a priority and in some cases it has become a thing of the past, or takes the form of people eating while texting, checking a phone, or using a game system. However, making the time to sit and eat together has valuable physical and mental health benefits. The following from Health magazine discusses the important advantages of family dinner time.
Daily Dose of Inspiration
“I ask not for a lighter burden, but for broader shoulders.”
Jewish Proverb
How do YOU do it?
I received a lovely email recently whereby the writer was painting me as some form of saint. But the question of “how do you do it” is one I have been asked before. Four kids, a business, house, dogs, a strict fitness regimen, clean-eating, volunteering, part-time MBA. This is my life and to me, nothing to be awarded a cape over.
Ironically, the question of “how do you do it” is one I too ask other people. I am inspired all the time. How do you have a job that is rigid and requires you to show up at a certain time, leave at a certain time, eat at a certain time, prevents you from seeing your child’s Christmas play, picking them up when sick, and restricts your vacation plans? How do you commute 1 hour or more to work in consistently terrible traffic? How do you manage the demands of your stressful job as a police officer, lawyer, adjuster, doctor? How do you manage the demands of caring for a sick or disabled child or an ailing parent? A medical or mental health condition? Single parenting? How did you lose 50 pounds, quit smoking, overcome cancer, beat rare odds, or kick an addiction? How did you cope with the death of your mother, father, child, sibling or spouse? How do you survive on such a restricted income, or with no support from others? Homelessness? Lack of education? How did you deal with the sudden loss of your job, the trauma you experienced as a child, or the daily struggles you might experience as someone with a disability?
We all need to remember that our own tolerances for the trials of life are very much determined by the experiences we have had up to this point. We are all saints – worthy of superhero status – for something. Our behavior, thoughts, beliefs, and practices are all explained by our past, our upbringing, and our genetics. We are all doing our best. And our future, I believe, will be ours to create with the choices we have. Perspective is everything. So, while I go about my day thinking about all the wonderful people that I encounter and that inspire me, do the same. And tell me, how do YOU do it?
Daily Dose of Inspiration
“It doesn’t matter how slow you go, as long as you don’t stop.”
Confucius
Weekly Mind Bender
What do you put in a wooden box to make it lighter?
Holes.
Spinal Cord Injury: It’s Much More Than Being Unable to Walk
The number one cause of spinal cord injury is car accidents, but falls in the elderly are also rising as precipitating factor. Those suffering from a spinal cord injury struggle with mobility, bowel and bladder control, muscle spasms, and many other secondary effects of being unable to walk or use their upper body. Occupational Therapists are integral to the process of adjusting to life post spinal cord injury as we look at all areas of function and promote independence through creative solutions to immobility. The following video created by the Spinal Cord Research Foundation describes the effects of a spinal cord injury and helps the general public to understand this condition.
More than being unable to walk from Wings for Life on Vimeo.
More than being unable to walk from Wings for Life on Vimeo.
Daily Dose of Inspiration
“When you’re weary, feeling small; when tears are in your eyes, I’ll dry them all. I’m on your side when times get rough, and friends just can’t be found. Like a bridge over troubled water I will lay me down.”
“Bridge Over Troubled Water,” by Simon and Garfunkel