What If Life Was Spherical?

Fellow blogger Susan presents "What If Life Were A Ball of Yarn" in which she discusses the possibility of a person with dementia being able to experience life as a sphere rather than linear. I like the concept, it can help the person caring for and/or loving the person dementia to be better able to "cope."

Finally, I tweaked it a little.

Click here to see Susan's post. (Opens in a new window.)

This is my reply to Susan:

First, your "disclaimers" are appreciated as that allows one to approach the "Ball of Yarn" theory with a more open mind. Second, I love the model!

While most of us look at time as a linear event, and therefore the passage of our lives as linear, there are also schools of thought that look past that to life in the past, present, and future all existing at the same time. I like that.

Let me tweak your model just a tiny bit, if I may, by saying that to perceive the way in which a person with Dementia/ Alzheimer's might perceive her life doesn't necessary mean their rearranging the bits of life's yarn and reassembling them but rather that they develop the ability (which most of us are not able to do) to perceive the entire ball of yarn at the same time thereby condensing past, present, and future into existing all at once and which could be called the "New Now!"

Since most of those of us without Dementia/ Alzheimer's are not able to do that, we perceive the person affected as "confused, disoriented, befuddled, random, and disorganized" as Susan says. Maybe the person with Dementia/ Alzheimer's is closer to the truth than we are!

Transitions

Dear Readers.

As I make the transition from ending my "Alzheimer's Blog" to re-invigorating my "Writer's Blog", I will double post on both. You can sign up to receive the posts by e-mail or by subscribing. These links are located on the top right side of the page once you are on the writer's blog.

My "mhorvich cares about alzheimer's" blog has been somewhat linear, with some back and forth, but none-the-less following Gregory and my journey since 2010. It shares not only our experiences but also our ups and downs, our lessons, and suggestions that may help you think about life, death, and the activity called living! Even though the journey and the blog are linear, there are benefits from scrolling back through the blog in a non-linear fashion to experience the Journey of Alzheimer's at various twists and turns and rest areas on the path.

My "mhorvich writes" blog is non-linear, more random. I write about what moves me, when it moves me and where it moves me. Sometimes I write about my life experiences, sometimes dreams, often observations and insight into situations, and also just "musings." Some of the writings are in essay form, some memoirs, some poetry. Some are fiction, most are non-fiction. As with a linear blog, you could start at the beginning and work your way through, over time, to the current day post. Or you could dip in here and there to see what you come up with.

Both blogs have "key word descriptions" running along the right side of the page with the number of times that topic has been addressed. If you click on the key word, it will open all of the posts dealing with that descriptor.

Finally, comments are always appreciated. You can sign in with one of the comment accounts or just use "Anonymous." Please add your name or initials if you want me to know who you are. Also, check the "Notify Me"box if you want to receive a reply. I always reply to comments.

Fondly,
Michael