Thursday, October 2, 2014

If a praying mantis has crawled into your space

The day didn't turn out the way I expected but ever so grateful anyway.

I knew the day would come when I would have a health challenge as many others have . Well it did. However, I will fast forward to my fortunate outcome, or I will be going off subject, and will never get to tell you about my Praying mantis.

My sons always fill my life  just by their presence. They are my roots to the most meaningful days of my life. So like their Dad was, they are so very special.  Nurses witnessing their strong presence at my bedside, couldn't help but comment in many complimentary ways. I felt their radiating love and at peace.

For awhile, I was in role reversal for a change, being cared for, instead of  "caring for" which allowed me the unique ability to understand the clinical environment, much like  the nurse I am or maybe more like an angel looking down from above.  I filled my soul with my private Lord's Prayer and said it to myself over and over again, never sure that I actually completed it.

Well, all good things did came together and I returned home in a week. My ailing heart battered and bruised but full of the healing love of family and friends.

Seeing the largest Praying Mantis that I ever saw at my door entry, my sister told me it had been there since my arrival home. Always amused by this insect, I decided it was a good omen, and researched a bit. I  found lots of negative things written about this insect. However, I also came across the "spiritual" side. So, because the writer in me preferred to focus on the positive. I again decided this was a good omen.

" If a Praying mantis has crawled into your space :"

 "Usually a Praying mantis makes an appearance when we have flooded our lives with so much business, activity or chaos that we can no longer hear the small voice within us. Taking a step back and some simple meditation would be in order here because the external din we created needs to be quieted so we can come back to our own truth. The Praying mantis always comes to us when we need peace, quiet and calm in our lives."

" Allow stillness to feed your creativity, only in the quiet moments will your ideas gel and take root."
 
"The Praying mantis"

http://spirit-animals.com/praying-mantis/


Oh dear, now the poor thing has been lying too still for days.

 However, because someone I love said "leave him there he's still working."  there he rests. That sounds  just fine to me.
 

XOXO Olivia







Tuesday, August 12, 2014


Robin Williams, you made us laugh until we cried. RIP





Was his life so full of sadness

and his heartache hidden well

Was his humor but the armor

that hid a life of living hell



Did his salty tears fall down

upon the clown face that he wore

was his body wracked with pain

of an illness we never saw



When his laughter died away

was there not a soul sitting by his side

to hold the hands of someone

who could make us laugh until we cried



Was the outside smile upon his face

really coming from within

or just the painted picture

hiding sadness, or unforgiven sin



Our sympathy to all his family and friends

we feel somehow we all have lost

the pleasure of his company

our funny man, who gave us so much





Olivia Bredbenner 8/11/2014




Thursday, June 5, 2014

Did I hear rationing healthcare ?


 


We all know the time has come that in order to afford the high standards of care to which we have become accustomed,something has to give or change. It is a hard fact of life and a big step, but it will be taken whether we like it or not.

Rationing health care for seniors sometimes makes sense as long as the priorities are right. Who among us has the least to loose ? It would require a new mind set. A change in how we believe things should be in our health care delivery system. In health care, the goal has always been the pursuit of excellence. However, attaining and maintaining this goal, is now cost prohibitive. Abuses in the Medicare system are wide spread and seems to be self perpetuating. Everyone including seniors should educate themselves and observe how personal physicians, and other health care providers must follow guidelines according to insurance providers, especially how they bill to Medicare. Just as quickly as we complain for the charges we incur personally, so should we if we see inaccurate charges passed on to Medicare. If we don't then we are reinforcing abuses in the system.

There are movements in new directions.“ Savings Beyond Price “ blog. Robert T. Yoki- President and chief value Strategist—Strategic Value Analysis {R} In Health care. The early stages for changing health care are as visible as they are necessary .

Yoki quotes Aristotle in saying ” Excellence is an art won by training and habituation.” He states that training is the path to improvement ,reducing resistance to change and changing behaviors. The goal being “unfreezing” existing thinking and to replace it with new ideas, along with new learned behaviors and practices. Ideally they are then “frozen” to create a whole new way of doing things.

To change health care Yoki advocates taking one small step in the right direction. So where do we begin. Wiser minds than I , are hopefully attempting to redesign our health care delivery system. In our life time I imagine these changes will not come easily. But they have come non the less.

Perhaps rationing health care for seniors is the beginning of the beginning, but certainly not the end of a long unpaved road. It will not be a pleasure trip, maybe more like a survival course. Hopefully ,the next generation will benefit from a refined health care delivery system.

In the USA,we would be wise to use our advances in health care with a greater respect. To consider carefully about those that would benefit most and how we are to pay for the delivery and the expertise needed. Limits in the pursuit of a prolonged life beyond what is reasonable and after it is of no value to the patient, is not considered morally right by those of us that have such a compass. Yet , we continue to struggle with its ambiguity and against tides.

There are religious implications against the removal of a feeding tube, on a poor lifeless and mindless soul . Considered wrong by some, as it is said, there is considerate merit to man's suffering.

We need a change . We need appropriate health care that does not hold over its head the threats of disproportionate liability for those in its practice . Something that has often lead to “ defensive medicine” a practice that has always meant increasing the cost of the delivery of health care.


By the provision of broad stroke education to the public on self care as it relates to basic health maintenance, and chronic disease management, has been known to maintain optimum health for those who practice it. Improved health of the general population ,is a possibility who's time has come.

Will the change be to socialized medicine ? Many other countries that have this in place are unhappy with it and others continue to come to the shores of our United States for our high standards of care. As it is, health care is designed for the young and the well. Others who are our citizens , must walk away as it is not within their reach in the new plans.


We have been both blessed and cursed by our success in the delivery of our health care. We still are one of the best. Hopefully, in our attempt to make it affordable ,we don't have to “throw out the baby with the bath water.”

Tuesday, May 20, 2014

Have you seen my Muse ?

Hello my dear followers

I'm on a mission to find my long lost muse. I miss him and his company at my side. Especially his silent manner that left my mind free to fill empty pages with stories and musings of the moment. He didn't leave in a ranting rage, he just quietly slipped out the door when a man, someone special, came into my life
.
In spite of my full life, I long for the time for free thought and space for creativity. I miss my unassuming muse, when I search among the archives of my mind, Where I find the loose and meaningless mantra of my thoughts and fine tune them until I make sense of them and turn them into a story.

If you see him please send him back to me. You will recognize him because of his red curly hair. Although it could have a spattering of gray. Until he returns my "creativity " is packed inside with all of life's other clutter. Tell him I am sorry that I let him down and that I have fluffed up his pillow on his chair and set it in the sunlight. A seat he always loved.
Thank you, Olivia