Aspire Magazine: Inspiration for a Woman's Soul.(TM) Aug/Sept 2019 Aspire Mag FINAL | Page 50

The ART of
Self-Nurturing
The Healing Power of
GRATITUDE
BY KELLEY GRIMES, MSW
C
an you imagine living life as if
everything is a miracle? It sounds great,
but when we are feeling overwhelmed
and exhausted it takes real effort to
see a miracle in front of us. I know that
experience well after raising a daughter
with chronic health challenges.
Being the primary caregiver for my daughter
with epilepsy taught me so much about the
healing power of gratitude. When my favorite
musician Michael Franti says “when the hard
times come, the teacher is in the room,” he
speaks truth. When Fiona was two years old
she had her first seizure that lasted fifty-five
minutes and she almost died. The dramatic
beginning of our epilepsy journey was filled
with both terror at the unknown path before
us and gratitude that our sweet girl had
survived this traumatic experience.
My lessons around gratitude continued
each time Fiona had a seizure. The
unpredictability of seizures were anxiety
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