Author: Michelle Terrill Heath

Joseph Campbell advises us to, “LIVE JOYFULLY IN THE SORROWS OF THE WORLD.” 40 years ago in August 1982, I was pregnant with Andy’s and my first child. We came to Taos for the first time to explore the idea of birthing our baby in […]

Climate change is nothing to worry about unless you understand who we really are, what lies beneath each and every one of us. The trees are not the only ones with roots all entangled together. We live and die as one. Every morning I wake […]

Instead of banding together and working to defeat a health threat that effects everyone, we have allowed ourselves to be divided into factions that are not kind to each other but vilify, name call, humiliate, and take power in being separate. We have been living […]

Our capacity for sacrifice to become an option we choose, depends on our ability to go beyond that first part of the definition. No one will willingly give up something of value without believing that their choice will allow something of more value be obtained. […]

The new paradigm asks each of us the question, “Are our elders worth interrupting our own lives?” My friend’s father, Norm, had been institutionalized for a long time. In fact, he and his wife put themselves into the Lancaster, PA retirement home so they wouldn’t […]

This simple example is the new paradigm and it is very old fashioned. It begins with a willingness to interrupt plans, change goals and visions and be in immediate response to what is happening, offering our help. I am a caregiver and my life showed […]

For me this story illustrates how easily the calm, hard working, exhausted, sometimes discouraged caregiver’s needs can be overlooked in the drama of the patient’s illness. Sheila is a powerhouse ballet teacher who’s list of students who have become illustrious, professional, principal and solo dancers […]

 My dad has been a moral compass for me; not because he is always right but because he takes responsibility when he is wrong. My father is 89 years old and I find it fitting to write about him in my 89th blog. He is […]

No person IS their disease but a person can feel like that disease they are experiencing erases them. Recognizing this is a good step towards taking action to help someone living with disease to come home to themselves. When I was a young mother I […]

The good news for us was that the friends who were able to show up and the friendships forged after the disease was well into play, have been reliable, steady and true. After a disease is diagnosed, some relationships will change or end. We all […]