Like the wisdom contained in the heart of this 1,500-year-old Wally Waldron tree on Mt. Baden Powell in the San Gabriel Mountains, these curated article excerpts provide inspirational ideas to make caregivers’ lives better while offering insights like Walmart’s healthcare initiative and taking a gap year at age 60.
Why I’m Taking a Gap Year at 60
“After a lifetime of living other people’s stories,” Kay Holden, writes, “I’m finally choosing my own.” Some high school and college graduates take a gap year to travel and discover what life has to offer. Caregivers, if you feel trapped by a lifetime of circumstances, it’s never too late. Holden breathes life into our hopes of overcoming life’s challenges after she suffers greatly. “I wept until I couldn’t breathe for my lost child, for my lost mother, for my un-lived life.”
MetLife’s 17th Annual US Employee Benefit Trends Study 2019
This year’s U.S. Employee Benefit Trends Study looks at how employers can attract, engage, and retain the best talent by helping employees thrive in work and in life. Click on the interactive links on the page. The study’s top five insights include the need to find multifaceted purpose at work, employers who support employees as individuals, and flexible careers. A good resource for caregivers and other healthcare professionals seeking a new environment for their talents.
Walmart Healthcare – Will it catch on?
[TCV Update 11/6/2020 HBR subscription required to access URL] Walmart has established a program of Centers of Excellence across the nation. Employees opt for quality healthcare options while reducing healthcare costs for themselves and their employer. The email sent to The Caregiver’s Voice included the following promotional message: access to superior providers; all travel, lodging, and meals covered for the associate and a caregiver companion… and (with a few other exceptions) no co-payments, coinsurance, or deductibles.” Will this expand to the general population? An email request for more information went unanswered.
Ten Harmless Mind Tricks
“When a person does a favor for you, it actually makes them like you more.” Dr. Travis Bradberry, co-author of Emotional Intelligence 2.0 shares this and more tips. In a group, when people laugh, they’ll make eye contact with those they feel close to. Nodding your head while asking a question will make people agree with you more. Leaving things unfinished will help people remember and chewing gum helps you focus.
When You Attempt to Force an Outcome, the Universe Will Resist
[TCV Update 1/18/2023: URL removed from Medium by author] Follow the “law of least effort” to do more of what works. This is not the way many of us were raised. We learned that hard work—”taking the bull by the horns” gets results. Brianna Wiest, who writes about how to use our emotional intelligence, invites us to reconsider. “Our bodies heal themselves when we don’t interfere with the healing.” “Wanting something puts you in the energy of not having it.” “There are things out of our control that sort of redirect us to outcomes greater than we would have initially chosen for ourselves.”
