Finding life and laughter in the spiritual journey with alzheimer’s

1. Finding life and laughter in the spiritual journey with alzheimer’s Tim Frymire

2. Over 40 Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Under 40

3. Over 40 At least we understand each other on Weds Under 40

4. Stress Test • You will be shown a picture of two identical dolphins. • To the degree you notice any difference between them, to that degree you are under stress and should take appropriate precautions.

7. Alzheimers

11. There are no limits to what the human spirit can do

12. There’s no such thing as too old

13. Alzheimer’s begins in the brain • Explore this mysterious space between our neurons and our nature, between Synapse and soul, between cells and self.

19. What are the implications for person hood when cognitive impairment begins to take away what many would call the basis of our personality and identity • Is the soul/spirit/essence attached or stapled to the Brain?

20. What do near death experiences, out of body experiences and awareness while under anaesthesia say about the nature of human consciousness and the nature of the self ? • It would seem that if human beings can have some sort of awareness apart from the functioning of their organic brains, then a person is more than the sum total of their neurons firing.

21. What are the implications of this for spirituality in the case of Cognitive impairment?

22. Two elderly men are talking about their aging bodies. “We finish off like we began. As babies we had no hair, no teeth, were unable to walk and had to use a diaper. Now I have lost my hair and teeth, I can’t walk, and I think I just peed my pants.”

23. I think I just pooped my pants

24. Twilight travels with my mother by Mary Ann Mayo • growing downnot up. (pg 147)

25. What would a spiritualityof Cognitive impairmentlook like? • “My Journey into Alzheimer's Disease” By Robert Davis 

26. My Journey into Alzheimer’s • Terrors of losing one’s mind and sense of self pg 21 effects ,

28. My Journey into Alzheimer’s • loss of spiritual comfort 47, • Spiritual distress5354 • Answer to prayer 55 & 56

29. Greatest barrier to the goal of the spiritual life is the ego. • Babies don’t have egos.

31. Parts of the brain affected are those that provide through memory and language our self awareness, self consciousness and identity.

32. 3 questions God will ask at the end of life • Who are you? • What was your purpose on the planet? • What have you learned about love? • Every one can answer these questions, even if they can’t speak. Tonight ask these questions of your pet dog and cat. They do not anguish over these questions. The answers are hard wired into their being. • Struggling with these questions is the work of the frontal lobe. When that is taken away, the struggle fades.

33. In the spiritual journey the first half of life is spent establishing an identity,- learning how to meet your own needs while the 2nd half is spent getting the ego and identity to meet the needs of others.We all know those who have never grown up- • Prayer: Use me Lord as your instrument. Help me get myself out of your way.

34. Carl Jung said he never had a patient in their second half of life whose problem wasn’t fundamentally one of a religious or spiritual nature. • Richard Rohr’s tower and jumping off. • Paradox of spiritual life: That which is your greatest gift in life’s first half, without spiritual work, can become your greatest obstacle to growth in the 2nd half.

35. “My Journey into Alzheimer’s”- Robert davis, presents cognitive impairment as precisely this process of stripping away that which prevents us from living in the now, being in touch with our deepest identity, and receiving love and affection from our creator and others. • My Uncle - proud intellectual, cultured and worldly wise- yet also stern, removed, and guarded. His Lewy Body illness has taken away these protective defence mechanisms- coping patterns- to reveal a warm and gentle nature.

36. Davis presents a startling possibility: • As he slips further into the shadow lands and fog of Alzheimer’s he experiences a closer and far more intimate connection with his God, than he ever could have imagined at the height of his intellectual capacity. He is hinting that his very dependency, vulnerability and inability to intellectually understand and explain his situation, can be the key that unlocks the doors of surrender, trust and ultimate innocence.

37. The Divine initiative • Alzheimers presents us with the possibility that, as in the spiritual life, ultimately it is not about us and what we can do. • Rather it is about The Holy one, and what the Divine can do, when we are at the limits of our abilities. • God speaks all languages.

40. When language slips away • My uncle starts many sentences, but finishes few. There is obviously a desire to communicate, but the frustration of the broken communication lines is clear. His meaning doesn’t quite get out. • A spirituality of Alzheimers trusts that the Holy one already knows what is intended and hears at this deep level. • Story of old man in back of church. Pastor asks him what he prays about.

41. Jean Vanier, in his work with the residents of L’Arche- persons with special needs – would also say that these little ones whom the world would judge as less than have much to teach us about living simply and in closer connection with true serenity and peace in life

42. Could this be what the words mean: “Unless you become like little children you shall not enter the kingdom of Heaven”.

43. Perhaps the begining and the ending of life can share a common spiritual dynamic

46. Innocence, guilelessness, transparency are all qualities shared by babies and many cognitivly impaired

47. Share in groups of 2 or 3 an experience where you could see the unguarded spirit of a person with cognitive impairment.

48. Another aspect of dealing with the cognitively impaired is the ability to find humor in relationships.

49. Senility Prayer • God, Grant me the senility to forget the people I never liked anyway, • The good fortune to run into the ones I do, • And the eyesight to tell the difference