These are the seventeenth and eighteenth articles in her series.
Make the Most of Your "Windows of Time"
Patricia Wellingham-Jones, PhD, RN*
As a twelve year veteran of chronic pain with neurological dysfunction and fatigue, I've learned a thing or two about coping with the situation and still living the writer's life I so enjoy. Maybe some of the following will help you, or a friend or colleague, deal with your disability and use those tiny "windows of time" when you feel almost human, even good, to build a satisfying life.
Key Steps
The information here comes from personal experience and conversations with patients, family and friends. The first, key, steps you must do for yourself. No one can create the mindset for you. These are:
a.. Accept your situation. Learn to live with the limits and recognize them. Get to know your body as it is now and let it guide you. If you want to stop or lie down, do it-without excuses or feeling bad.
b.. Decide to use the windows of time for enjoyment. It's OK to mourn your lost freedom, but for this little while, set aside your sorrow, anger, and frustration so you can enjoy the good time.
c.. Give yourself pleasure. Treat yourself to the small things you like: a flower in a bud vase, a glass of fruit juice, tapes or CDs right at hand, a photo of loved ones, your child's drawing from school.
Some general things you can do to lift your spirits include wearing bright colors and having them nearby. Get help if you are depressed. Play the music you like-often. Keep a deck of cards handy for solitaire or games with friends.
Before you begin, an important note to remember is-keep the projects handy. Store them in the area you use most, keep a table set up for your work, stack magazines or videos by your chair. You need to be able to grab them and use them instantly, the moment you feel that bit of energy flowing.
Now to Specifics
Readers are the lucky ones. As long as there's a book or magazine available, we can be content. Surfing the Internet can fill hours of time, as many of us know all too well. Remember that email on the Net with old friends, and new, has opened up life for many housebound people.
Writers fall into this category, too. Small chunks of time can carve out poems, a memoir, even a novel for the strong-hearted. This may be the time to write those things you dreamed of in high school. (I'm now a poet because the short pieces fit my new body.)
Related to the reader is the armchair traveler. If you were a world traveler, or simply wanted to be, there are wonderful videos available of all kinds of places and activities from formal tours to wild river rafting to native festivals to fine art exhibits. Many can be borrowed, free, from your library. Books on travel are another way to visit distant lands.
Reminisce with family and friends about the good things of the past; laughing together is even better than laughing alone. And while you're telling the old stories, ask somebody to tape them. That way, your grandkids will know the family history, one of the most valuable gifts you can give them. Better yet, write the stories into your own book. After all, a series of short anecdotes soon makes a collection.
Keep a comfortable chair by the window so you can watch the world passing. Open that window to hear and smell life. You might consider having a bird feeder set up outside your window. Birds are a wonderful source of entertainment. Then you'd want a bird book close by and a pair of binoculars on the windowsill, too. Plus your pen and paper, of course.
The Final Key Step and Further Ideas
The final key step in this process is:
a.. Pay attention to everything. All around us interesting things are happening, from jet trails making patterns in space to ants marching food back to their home. When you really notice, colors get brighter and more complex, days become richer, the world all around you is a busy, interesting place.
A few last ideas for lifting the spirits include:
a.. Wear or surround yourself with bright colors to lift the spirits.
b.. Whenever possible, eat lunch outdoors. Sit under a tree and enjoy the breeze on your skin.
c.. Find things to laugh about (laughter is the great healer). Pets are good for at least one laugh a day, even if it's somebody else's dog. Funny movies and videos can be rented or borrowed from the library; you might want to build your own collection.
d.. Ask your friends to drop by at short notice when you're feeling good. Friends are important and usually want to help, but don't know what to do. Talk, and especially listen, to the neighborhood children and your grandkids. Borrow the neighbor's dog for a brief visit (you might get the neighbor in the process).
Although the ideas in this article apply specifically to people who want to keep writing, the principles transfer to other interests-cooking, gardening, mechanics, carpentry, fishing, needlework, you name it. Your world may have become smaller but you can still enjoy it, if you choose to.
Remember, this is your life. It's up to you how you live it. Make it good.
*With input from Linda Converse, MSW.
Using the Five Senses
Patricia Wellingham-Jones*
All real experience is immediate, direct and sensory. To truly connect with our readers, we must include the sensations of living. Writers in any genre need to realize the importance of tapping into each of the five senses: sight, sound, smell, taste and touch. The specific leads to the universal; what we show in words, others have felt or experienced. For example, instead of writing, "He wore a hat," try saying, "He wore a red wool cap with flaps that scratched his ears." See how much easier it is now for the reader to get a feel for your character? Editors' eyes are also caught by the authenticity that use of the senses gives writing.
How do we teach ourselves to start using all five senses in our writing?
The most important thing is to pay attention. Train yourself to notice everything. If that sounds overwhelming, notice the small things, the little bits others can relate to-smell of a ripe strawberry, sound of a siren shrilling down the highway, velvet fur of a plush cat, flash of a bluebird's wing, the lip pucker from a lemon.
Start right where you are, today, to sharpen your senses and "anchor" current events for remembering later. Jot what you notice into a journal on a regular basis. This helps cement images in your memory, and gives you specifics to use later.
Here are some ideas to help you catch those little things that add color, life, humor, feeling to your writing:
a.. Keep notebook and pen handy at all times.
b.. Eavesdrop (discreetly). Tune into the conversations at the coffee shop, airport, waiting line at the movie. Scribble them down, fast, before you forget who said it how.
c.. Watch how people move: their hand movements, way they walk, how they stand at various activities, when they talk to others. Notice when the body says the mouth lies.
d.. Watch how animals move, too, and choose short colorful descriptions.
e.. Train yourself to notice details. Remember that party game we played as children of identifying all the objects on a tray? That's the idea.
f.. Focus on separate sounds: the plink of rain falling on puddles, a single instrument in a combo, rustle of leaves under the wind, the different rustle of silk against the hand, nylon-clad legs rubbing together and so on.
g.. Use your fingertips, touch things. Stroke, poke, slosh, stir, press, bring things to your cheek and gently rub them against the skin.
h.. Notice and handle textures: tree bark, satin dress, slime of cooked okra, ridges in a rock or crystal, baby skin, cockleburs in the dog's coat, slick paper. Describe subtle variations.
i.. Use your nose. We have no trouble identifying a skunk; sniff for gentler odors as well as pungent ones. Try to identify by smell the herbs or separate vegetables in a meal.
j.. Use your taste buds; savor the flavor. Focus on salt and sweet, sour and bitter, bland and biting and how the flavors blend.
Try using memory to connect to those five senses, then write about events, people, places, things. These triggers, and others, might help jolt the memories loose:
• Sight: photographs and mementos, furnishings and trinkets, special books or movies, your yard or community parks and gardens, ordinary places such as grocery stores, school, library, etc.
• Sound: swapping stories with family and friends, favorite music from your past, remembering somebody's favorite expressions or tone of voice, the noises of nature, meditation.
• Smell: aromas associated with childhood, ones you especially liked-or disliked, favorite foods cooking, scents of nature from barnyard to rose garden to nature trail, the way different buildings smell.
• Taste: again, the foods of childhood, first time treats-or horrors, travel food, dares, remember the texture of things in your mouth.
• Touch: your favorite blanket or stuffed toy, pets, textures of nature vs. manmade, sports activities and injuries, your first high heels.
• And just for the fun of it, write some sentences using all five of the senses in each.
When you pay attention, then add the senses, your writing becomes richer.
*with input from workshop leaders Linda Barnes and Sallyann Keith.
