My good friend Lola is 88 years old and has dementia.  She says, “BUSY is the new 4-letter word.”  

Blaise Pascal, French mathematician, philosopher, and defender of Catholic Christianity in the 1600’s said, “All of humanity’s problems stem from man’s inability to sit quietly in a room.”   

100% of my good friends with dementia, given a dementia-aware environment to enjoy, will find meaning in the opportunity to reminisce.  And in reminiscing, they ponder.  They ponder the past.  Ponder decisions they have made and circumstances they have walked through.  Ponder how and why life turned out the way it has.  Ponder how their history affects today and what that has to do with where they are now.

It is an honor to be part of that process.  To know how to skillfully and lovingly use the tools of the DAWN Method to lead my friends with dementia to a place where they are invited to reminisce, invited to ponder.

And while they ponder, so do I.  And it forces me to slow down my life and my mind.  To let the cognitive clutter of the intersection between what just happened and what is happening and what’s about to happen, the very skills that my friends with dementia are losing, fade into the background of the moment of now with my friend.  Let me tell you, it is a relief to be in this very place, the moment of now, with my friends with dementia.  

So, my friend Lola and Pascal have a lot in common; they both understand the power of ponder.

There is hope in dementia.  Hope not just for the folks living with dementia but also for humanity in general. There is power in the gift of ponder and I am grateful to be learning what my friend Lola already knows.

Grateful,

Jill

©Jill Couch