compassion

Joie’s First School Visit a Success!

Posted by Barbara Techel

Joie in tshirt 1200Joie and I are back home after our visit to Trinity Lutheran School! She did very well and as you can imagine, she was a big hit. The gymnasium was lined with posters of “Frankie the Walk ‘N Roll Dog”  and posters announcing “meet the author, May 10th” which were done by the older students.

At the end of the presentation, Mrs. K presented Joie with a gift from the students.  And what you see Joie wearing in the photo is the very special and sweet gift.  It is Trinity Lutheran School’s t-shirt and all the kids signed it!  It is so precious and yes, I got tears in my eyes when I opened the gift.

tshirt collageThank you to all the students and teachers, and principal Greg and Mrs. K for such a warm and kind welcome.  As I told the students, they were the test school and if Joie did well I’d be open to visiting more schools in the future with Joie. They seemed pretty excited to be the school who started a new “walk ‘n roll dog” rolling into a new adventure.

I hope to share a few more pictures from the morning that another teacher  took and will be sending me. It is tricky when kids are involved as you have to have permission to share their photos, so will see what I can share.  But the morning was a success and my heart smiles.

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This Thing Called Life. Changes. Expecting the Best.

Posted by Barbara Techel

 

We have been experiencing a warmer than usual January here in Wisconsin. All this week it has been in the 40’s. I’m loving every moment of it.

I am struck by people who comment on our wonderful weather and then the next statement out of their mouth is, “But we are going to pay for it.” Really? What does that mean?

Instead of just enjoying the here and now of this glorious weather why do we think something bad is going to happen next? Why do we automatically go to thinking we are going to be in deep trouble for having such nice weather?  It’s all going to end seems to be the impending dread.

Things end. Life changes. Isn’t that what this thing called life is all about?

I caught myself in a sad moment of endings as I looked at the above photo of Frankie. On Tuesday we visited Shepherd of the Hills Catholic School and a teacher sent me this shot of Frankie. This is right before I throw a treat for her so the kids can see her walk in her wheelchair.

But I felt this twinge of sadness start to envelope my heart. As I made the decision to semi-retire Frankie this year, I see each school visit as even more precious- not knowing when will be our last. But I stopped myself. I reminded myself to be grateful for each moment with Frankie– enjoy the here and now- don’t look forward- that will come all on its own. And when it does, I’ll then move through it- but not now. These days are just too precious.

I looked at the photo again and was reminded of how my heart feels when I throw the treat for Frankie and she runs after it. The kids excitement of cheers and clapping always makes my heart swell with pride. I am reminded again of all the blessings Frankie is to my life… how far we have come together… the lives we have impacted… the joy and love she has brought to so many.

So no doom and gloom here- but living in each precious moment of each precious day… whether it is 40 degrees, or 40 degrees below zero. This is life and I plan to keep living it.

 

Compassion and Empathy- We are All Connected

Posted by Barbara Techel

I am participating in a 28-day virtual tour for a new book titled Whose Stuff Is This? Finding Freedom from the Thoughts, Feelings, and Energy of Those Around You written by Yvonne Perry.

Yvonne Perry
The book offers empowering, proactive techniques to help empathic people manage energy and information overload coming from the collective unconsciousness of Earth. See http://whosestuffisthis.com/ for details. Yesterday, Yvonne visited the Peer Abuse blog. Today, she is my guest blogger. I hope you enjoy the video about how empathy can hurt and what can be done to alleviate empathic fatigue.

 

Come along on the tour with us. Tomorrow’s blog stop will be at The Shift Guru Radio Show. See the tour schedule at http://tinyurl.com/EmpathTour.

I truly love this book by Yvonne Perry and wish someone had written it years ago when I was in my mid-20’s and early 30’s when I found myself taking on the burdens of so many of those around me. Thank goodness I figured out for myself how to let this go. But this book has reaffirmed for me I did the right thing and that there is nothing wrong with me. And Chapter 9 is my favorite chapter filled with wonderful advice to help empath’s protect their energy. I’m so thankful to Yvonne for writing this book!