Thank you all for the good wishes. Certainly not pathetic Hodge, kitchen parties are very enjoyable, we have them at home and attend them at friend's homes as well. When Newfoundlanders leave the island, they often remark that the kitchen party is something they especially miss. Yesterday's was lovely, we had our Australian neighbours over for it as well, and there was dancing and storytelling, another one of our traditions. Jim told a couple of stories, he's quite excellent at telling them.
Quote:
Originally Posted by anthony  Maybe Jim needs to give himself a kick in the arse and try something that he likely knows will create pain for him. |
I'll let him know you said so Anthony! He will likely warm up to the idea eventually, only he is rather stubborn at first always. He tends to say such exercises are "bullshit", however I feel it is simply an excuse on his part to not do it. I remember him saying the mental imagery exercise was bullshit also, before he did one himself. Afterwards however he had to admit it was helpful.
I believe this grief workbook is going to be most helpful. I will share the exercises here in this thread, as I do them, as others who are grieving may also find them helpful. The first exercise is for grieving families, and you must obviously have your family's cooperation. In any event, the exercise involves looking after each other's basic needs, so no one becomes ill. Jim has actually agreed to doing this one. Here are the steps:
- each family member is to make a short list of the things they absolutely must do to take care of themselves each day - eat 3 meals, get 8 hours of sleep, exercise, talk about their grief, and so on - no more than 10 items.
- the lists are to be printed out in checklist form so one may tick them off as they are accomplished.
- each family member is assigned another family member they are responsible for. it is their job to make certain that family member is doing the things on their list. everyone in the family is responsible for someone else in the family, and this way everyone is being looked after.
For the next few weeks, there are only 3 of us in the house, so it's fairly simple. Jim is checking up on Evie, Evie is checking up on me, and I am checking up on Jim. In any event I am quite excited to see how it works out. It seems like a very good idea; no one is overwhelmed as we all only have one person to be responsible for. Evie is excited that she gets to nag
me to do things now.
