Appreciation activity

"Anything that comes along that is better than what I've got.......I want to know about it," Ernest Holmes.

An activity in the book, What Happy People Know, may be helpful to those of us giving care to someone with a terminal illness. The author, Dan Baker, states that the most powerful tool for cultivating happiness is appreciation, and he suggests that we spend several minutes several times a day thinking about those things we appreciate. He even suggests that one can develop a top 5 list for appreciation, and that this can be applied to an illness. Following his example, we can make one for living with dementia:

Five Positive Aspects of Living with Dementia
1. Dwane's diagnosis caused both him and me to reevaluate what is important in our lives.
2. We focus on creating quality time.
3. We are grateful for those people who are kind and supportive to us, and we avoid the negativity of a few who misunderstand us.
4. We are living the life we want to live, knowing it is finite.
5. We have stopped working so hard, and we focus on fun and finding meaning and purpose in our lives.

If you are living with dementia or any terminal illness, creating a list of what positive things have come from it may be helpful for you.
5.