When spending time with one of my companions experiencing dementia, it matters how I communicate with them. They are losing contact with the recent past as their memory skills are changing. So when preparing my greeting, I thought about how I could stay in the “moment of now.”
For example, she will not remember the weather over the past few days, so rather than referring to that, I focused on what the weather was at that moment. Staying in the moment with her allowed for no additional anxiety and an enjoyable time together.
