The other thing

The last two posts should have made my priorities right now pretty clear. Career-wise I am working on my writing and internally I am working on my feelings about my body. There is one other thing. I am also trying to spend some time focusing on my mother.

I have written about her memory problems before, but only briefly - that is her story, though it does affect me.

We want to slow any decline as much as possible, and we try and do some enrichment activities for that, but there has not been a lot of time to give to it. I have time now.

I have been doing some reading that relates, and I have at least one more book to read, so this is ongoing, but I do have some areas of focus where I want to try and get new things integrated or existing things expanded. I need to be careful that it doesn't interfere with the writing, but some extra time with Mom should be possible.

My interests lie in four key areas:

Enrichment - This is what we have already been doing the most, trying to make sure that every day she does something that's a little bit different and that can help build new brain pathways. She has coloring books and word searches, and those are good, but doing the same activity each day would siphon away much of the impact, because part of the growth comes from variety. I hope to make that time less repetitious and more enriching.

Meditation - Sadly the book I read on meditation was horrible, but I believe it can still be helpful. This is actually one of those cases where I might be best served by doing an internet search instead of reading another book.

Exercise - My sisters and I are pretty regular with exercise, but Mom needs some activities more tailored to her needs. Fortunately we have some videos that she can do on her own, once the DVD player has been set up, and as the weather gets better we can go on short walks. Adrenaline can help memories set, so pumping up the adrenaline more could be helpful, within moderation.

Nutrition - We have already been working on less processed foods, more whole grains, fruits, and vegetables for all of us, with some progress and some more to go. However, it appears that she should also be eating more fish. I will try and make that happen just for her.