I was inspired to write this in October 2017 but the thoughts are timeless, never failing to deeply move me as I reconnect to my Mom and the lessons she shares merely by being her genuine self. Thank you for spending a few moments with her beautiful soul as you Pause today along with me.

Yesterday I was gifted with the treasure of visiting my beautiful 80 year old Mom where she is cared for in an assisted living facility. As we live across the country from each other, I don’t get to see her as often as I would like, so it is truly such a treat and a joy to be with her.

She is in the early stages of dementia but thankfully still recognizes her children, stays active, can play advanced Classical piano music (wow!) and continues to bring great joy and energy wherever she goes.

This visit reminded me again of how she is such a true example of love, acceptance and the power of being 100% yourself: she is inspirational!!

I just now realized that her humor, her liveliness, her generosity and her curiosity are not diminished by her “cognitive impairment”.

Not at all!

These attributes are actually all magnified by her tendency to repeat herself so that being with her is uplifting to everyone she meets…

She assumes anyone who crosses her path is gifted, special, one of a kind.

I’m not going to use the phrase “cognitively impaired” to describe her. I can’t!

For I see that her spirit has blossomed into a grander wider version of herself than she ever was before she started having memory issues. (And she was a BIG personality to begin with!)

My Mom is still showing me the power of being 100% genuine…no matter what your age or “condition” may be.

She is the embodiment of Love and views our world and all the beings in it with a childlike wonder and delight…now also magnified by her increasing fervor and vibrancy.

An example:

She saw some purple mums outside and just gasped with joy and exclaimed about their beautiful color. Later we walked by them a second time and she had the exact same reaction. She didn’t remember she had already said those words earlier, and had that same reaction. To her it was brand new…and she got me to see them anew myself! She lives in a world that is never old, dull, repetitive…

Ironically her repetitiveness recreates everything!

I saw that my perceptions have lost some of their vibrancy along the way, and that I can, just by pausing and noticing, bring this brilliance back into my world…

And maybe then into the world of another.

I share all this because I am struck how someone’s condition or “label” can keep us from seeing beyond that condition or label…

We do this to ourselves

To others

To situations.

How easy it is to fall into the trap of habitually accepting things as they are and not pausing to question our automatic thoughts, feelings and reactions.

To not “see” the color of the flowers because we’ve already passed them by before.

My Mom showed me the splendor of her Soul and the Love that is in each of us…

IN SPITE OF LABELS

IN SPITE OF PRECONCEPTIONS

May I always view my world with wonder

With overflowing joy

With endless curiosity

With deepest gratefulness

With unmitigated flamboyance

May I always honor that I too

Am a source of infinite Love

As are every one of you!!

Thank you, beautiful Mom🌹

My beacon of light 🌟

I love you so much!!💕👭💕