Today, I had a deep conversation with a friend that seems to have lost enthusiasm with everything in his daily living.
Every new day seems like a new burden he has to carry, and he is getting weary. The road he is on leads to an undesirable end, but my distance from him limits the help I can provide. So I advised him to try therapy. He did not like the idea.
I volunteered to hook him up with someone I trust. He was still not inclined to the idea.
Then I explained that I intend to give thanks for him today, and it will only be possible if he accepts professional help. He got interested in my gratitude journal, so I went through the various posts on gratitude I have had, and explained the backstory of each. His mood improved. He could connect to many of the stories, and wondered why they did not trigger gratitude in his life. It was a “vuja de” moment for him.
He agreed to try therapy, and he starts tomorrow.
I am thankful for every vuja de moment. The familiar conceals more truth than the unfamiliar, but it reveals all it holds to those who stay curious and grateful – those who renew their eyes.
Day: May 12, 2021
Your inner child
Children are some of the bravest people I know when it comes to accepting death.
People think the reason is a lack of understanding, but it is actually because of an abundance of accepting.
I have read and witnessed it myself. When someone has a terminal illness, the last people they tell are children, because they are scared that it might break them permanently. In a strange twist, the children almost always handle it better than the adults. Children, like adults, cry at the news of the coming loss, but while adults resist the inevitable, children accept it. And because they accept it, they are fully present for the rest of the journey.
The same holds true when children have a terminal illness. They stand in the gap for their parents, who are usually falling apart.
The best part of us is the child in us. To flourish, connect with that child often.
– Osasu Oviawe