So suggests patient-expert Riva Greenberg who has certainly done that with aplomb! Riva joined Jeff and Heather for a second visit, as she has far too much to share for 30 minutes.
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In our latest, and one of our greatest, interview, Riva reminds us that life with diabetes goes through cycles. Most of us move through shock, grief and anger, after our diagnosis, to a place of acceptance. Yet many move beyond, to a place even greater – that of flourishing with diabetes! How do you get there? By turning the pain of living with diabetes into purpose. The outcome: a life that’s even healthier, happier and more meaningful than before. Riva also talks about how health care practitioners can help patients flourish.
How do we get on this road to “flourishing with diabetes” especially with all the work of managing diabetes and the fears and worries that sometimes nip at our heels? Riva suggests some sure-fire ways:
1) Be armed with practical, medical knowledge about diabetes: Ask your health care practitioners questions, comb books, magazines and web sites. Plan to know more about diabetes than your doctor! After all, it’s your diabetes.
2) Look forward to move forward: Focus on what you want (health, happiness, managing diabetes well) not on what you don’t want (complications). Moving toward what you want creates the energy for you to sustain healthier behaviors. Being fearful does not.
3) Acknowledge your successes: Look at what you’re doing well and congratulate yourself! Then build on your successes. Ask yourself what 1 small step you can take to do a little better. Be specific about how you are going to do that, include the “when,” “where,” “how” and “how much.”
4) Connect with your strengths and resources: Think about a challenge you overcame in the past. How did you do that? What skills did you use? How can you apply those skills now to better manage your diabetes?
5) Hang out with your positive emotions: Spending more time in appreciation, gratitude, awe, curiosity, love and hope shifts our brain, as Barbara Frederickson says in her book, “Positivity,” to a place of greater openness, creativity, building and engagement with others. This puts us in a place of emotional resilience and physically puts less stress on our hearts and endocrine system.
Here’s the BIG one: “Meaningfulness.” When you connect with why you want to be healthy, what or who makes it meaningful to you to have your best health, then you’re on your way to connecting with a deep energy to flourish!
Don’t despair:
It’s not necessarily a straight line to “flourishing.” Sometimes you will have a day when anger and grief are as fresh as those months after you were first diagnosed. That’s O.K., it’s all part of the process. Listen to the broadcast again and get re-inspired. If, however, you’re having difficulty just getting by, you may want to seek professional help.
We’d love your comments, thoughts, and insight into your own process of turning Pain into Purpose. Email us.
heather@yourdiabetespartners.com
Books by Riva:
