Do You Ever Feel Impatient?

Do you ever feel like you're impatient with the person who has Alzheimer's disease or with the disease itself? If you do, you are not alone and the feeling of impatience can lead to a lot of suffering. If we're being honest with ourselves, there are so many reasons to be impatient when we are dealing with this disease day in and day out. There are the never ending repetitive questions, or stories, the misplaced items, the emotional ups and downs, the layers of clothes, the hoarding, the pacing, the lack of understanding, the struggles over personal hygiene… the list goes on and on.

A light bulb went on for me the other day when I read that impatience is a sign that your needs are not being met. I'd never really thought about it like that before and so I started to pay attention to the times that I felt impatient. Sure enough, there was a pattern, and it was usually because I felt my needs weren't being met. It is no wonder that people dealing with dementia have impatience as there constant companion!

Recognizing our needs are not being met, begs the question: How then do we get our needs met? I think the fair response is somewhere other than from the person that has the disease. It is impossible to expect that they can meet our needs and unless we change our expectations we will continue to struggle and feel impatient. Without this shift we will continue the impatience, guilt and further impatience cycle. In this scenario, nobodies needs are getting met.

In a previous post, Chose to Practice Patience with Alzheimer's Disease, I described how you can chose to be more patient with the disease. I don't think I did the topic justice!  I think it's much more constructive to recognize the feeling of impatience as an opportunity to look inward and explore our feelings of impatience and our expectations. The important thing is to recognize we're feeling impatient, and let it pass on through. The biggest challenge is to not beat ourselves up over it, and just accept it and observe it like a third party. The very act of doing that will transform the impatience and we may even get a chuckle out of it.

How have you handled impatience with Alzheimer's disease? Do you believe it's a sign that your needs are not being met?

Learn to Go With the Flow With Oprah and Deepak

I am so excited to share about an amazing opportunity to participate in an ALL New 21- Day Meditation Experience, Finding Your Flow starting April 14, 2014.

If you've ever wondered about meditation, or want to get back on track with your practice, this is a wonderful opportunity to be part of something that can make a difference in your life.

Finding Your Flow, is a free, 3 week journey where you'll be guided "as you discover how to experience and influence your own energy flow- a dynamic current that brings more joy, love, and fulfilment to you…through you…and for you."

What has flow got to do with Alzheimer's disease? EVERYTHING. Our energy not only affects us, but those around us. And, the more I learn and practice meditation, the more I have come to learn that the only place to find true peace is by going within.

Meditation can be intimidating if you've never tried it before. So this is a wonderful way to go with the flow, find some peace and take Oprah and Deepak up on their gift to us.

I have participated in the last two, and I am always in a better place when it ends and am sad when the 21 days are over.

Learn more about it and sign up so we can meditate together!!