Beyond Burnout: listening

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Wednesday, July 18, 2007

Benediction

I discovered there is life after burnout. This is good news, and something good to say about burnout. That is, you can survive it. I found it amusing, teaching a course on therapeutic listening for three years, and occasionally using stories from my own life to illustrate the course.

Caregiver's Alphabet -non Websterian definitions

Awareness – look for those red flags in your daily journey. The ones that say “stop, you’re about to go over the edge.”
Benediction – find something good to say, every day
Compassion -- has boundaries. To survive, set some.
Despair – the flip side of pride. Where you end up, after trying to go it alone.
Ego – that instinctive push to do it all by yourself, to prove you’re god.
Friends – people who come back to help, even when you say “no thanks”
God -- omniscient, omnipotent, the big guy – who to turn to when life hands you something too big to handle on your own.
Honesty – what do I really need, right now? What makes me feel most like me?
Interdependence – not independence. We are the people of God. Plural.
Juice – keeps you flowing. Hydrate, not just with water, but with life.
Love - Loving others as yourself – finding something to love in every person you come into contact with – more anecdotes on that!
Monsters – pain from childhood, people who put you down
No – come on, you can say it. Try.
Offering – when pain is too much to bear, offer it up. It helps. But be aware of times when you need to fix the problem. Don’t offer up everything.
Pride – also known as “little red hen syndrome.” Give it up!
Quiet time – good time to do some breathing exercises, meditate, curl up with a good book, find some stillness in your day. Be still and know that I am God.
Rest – get enough of this, so you don’t spend quiet time sleeping. You need both.
Sanity – five minutes a day, doing something that keeps you sane. See honesty, above.
Trials – Okay, you’ve got some. Accept that into each life, some must fall. Deal.
Unchanging – God’s love for you
Vision – where are you going? Make a plan, set some goals, now.
Whoopla – look it up; it’s in Webster’s. it means “boisterous merrymaking,” When’s the last time you made merry with some friends? Take a break!
X-Ray Diffraction reveals the structure of a crystal by scattering it. Try a little diffraction in your day. Get out of the routine to see where and who you are.
Year of Grace – what Christians call any year after Christ was born. Imagine giving yourself a year of grace. Every morning, start anew as God’s gift of grace to the rest of us. That’s who you truly are!
Zeptosecond – one sextillionth of a second. That’s how much time you should spend worrying. Let go!

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Wednesday, July 18, 2007

Benediction

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Caregiver's Alphabet -non Websterian definitions

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