You probably know the melody to this standard from Bye, Bye Birdie, “Gray skies are gonna clear up, Put on a happy face; Brush off the clouds and cheer up, Put on a happy face.” How often are we offered that advice: buck up; think positive – and by the way, stop the whining! As we grow older we are urged – and you have heard it here many times – to focus on the bright side, appreciating the blessings we experience every day. And that is good advice – to a point.
Because if this “positive attitude” mask is used to avoid recognizing and addressing your deep and personal feelings, it can have a detrimental effect on your emotional health. Michael Learner, PhD, co-founder of the Commonweal Cancer Help Program says “It is much more healthy and healing to allow yourself to feel whatever it is that is coming up in you and allow yourself to express it and to work with the anxiety, the depression, and the grief. Then you can learn a positive way to live with all of those feelings.”
Many days it is a struggle and you feel -shall we say – like “dirty diapers”. You may be scared, anxious, depressed – and you wonder “is it worth getting out of bed?” You know it is and you will, but it is tough. And when someone tells you it is not as bad as it seems, you just want to slap them across the back of their head and scream “You have no idea how terrible I feel!”
While you do the hard work that you must: recognizing and dealing with these feelings and emotions, it is easy to get stuck and forget to also let go of those things causing stress and tension, to spend more time doing what makes you happy, and to take care of yourself by eating well, sleeping enough and exercising often. Not every day has to be or will be a “good day” – but there will be many times when “grey skies will clear up” and you can honestly “put on a happy face”.
Diabetes Discovery Day is a free event and will be held from 11:0 – 3:00 at the new Water’s Edge Facility, at 551 Lone Pine Blvd. in The Dalles. It is an opportunity for those with diabetes and their families to receive the latest information on diabetes. Come hear experts from various fields discuss the latest advances in research and treatment.
On Tuesday nights, the Center is “alive with the sound of music”. And although tonight you won’t find Julie Andrews or Christopher Plummer, you will find the Jazz Generations playing the sounds you use to dance to when you were just a young buck. And next week on November 2nd, Andre Lamoreaux and the Strawberry Mountain Band will be pulling the fire alarm because the dance floor will be ablaze. It’s all free although donations are appreciated to keep the lights on and the musician’s fed.
It isn’t that I have forgotten the speaker for next Tuesday’s Lecture, I just haven’t confirmed it yet. But stop by the Center at 11:00 and be surprised.
I heard several folks enjoyed the “vocabulary test” last week. But I should have disclosed that I didn’t create the test (It was too clever for my pea brain) but I stole it from a website or errant email that I can’t seem to remember.
But for last week’s “Remember When” question I received several more expressions I hadn’t heard for quite some time. Sandy Goforth remembers “Jeez Louise” and “Jumpin Jehosafats”, Marilyn Sarsfield offered “stuffed to your eyelashes” and Bob Haerchral’s answer was “You’re Welcome” since it is now often replaced by “No Problem”. But the winning entry and one that stumped me was from Sandy Haechrel who remembers “How’s Tricks” meaning “How’s things?” Does anyone else remember it?
This week’s question goes back to October of 1962. I remember my parents stocking up canned goods for reasons they didn’t explain and I didn’t ask (It was October – I was more interested in football) which was their response to what international confrontation occurring over several days and brought the cold war close to a nuclear conflict? E- mail mcseniorcenter@gmail.com, call 541-296-4788 or write it on back of a box of Habanos S.A cigars.
Well, that is another mile down the dusty road on these bald and worn tires. Until we meet again, as my wife often reminds me “when you find barking dogs at the door, step over them.”
“Fear less, hope more; Eat less, chew more; Whine less, breathe more; Talk less, say more; Love more, and all good things will be yours” Swedish Proverb quotes