Tammy Stoner, a Licensed Clinical Social Worker, provides presentations, coaching and counseling services. As the developer of the Teddy Bear Technique® Toolkit she demonstrates fast and fun ways to engage in storytelling for adults and children, and quickly reach the hard to reach. As author, presenter and coach, services are guaranteed to create breakthrough results!
The Gift of Life
How often did we take the opportunity to remember how fragile, how special, how valuable life was? When people close to us died, we took note of that. It was during our deepest moments of pain and sorrow that we gained the greatest clarity. We understood that life really didn't last forever. It was brief.. It was short. It could disappear in a moment, in a blink of an eye.
Why was it we could see with such clarity when we were in our deepest moments? Funerals gave us the best perspective of how much of a gift of life, life was. It took losing those most special to us, to take a moment and treasure the sanctity of life.
It came at me out of the blue. Dad was about to turn 70 and here was an opportunity to create a meaningful event. This was a rare opportunity to organize my siblings and create an event that stood for family health and build a family connection. This was an opportunity to create a shift in the family dynamics. This was an opportunity to come together as a group and celebrate in living. I wanted this birthday party to be different
How would we celebrate the 70th birthday? What would we do? How could I create the past to be the past, the present to be the present and the future to be the future? I had no idea how to turn this concept into reality? As I reflected upon the meaning of the age of seventy, I kept creating an image of a tree. A tall strong, old oak tree. A tree lives to seventy. So what I thought. Why couldn't I get rid of this image of a tree?
I wasn't out planting trees. I was planning a birthday party. Then as quickly as I got the idea to create some grand event for dad's 70th birthday, I got it. I would create a family tree around his birthday. That's right, we would recreate the birthday to include a family reunion around his birth.
There were so many things we did for this birthday party that moved beyond the food. Nobody had ever been to a party like this one and everyone insisted that I teach people how to have a birthday party designed to touch, move and inspire. When it was over, so many people told me that I needed to teach others on how to create parties that went beyond the food, and gave meaning to the event that I decided to offer just that service. If you would like to learn how you can create an event that moves beyond food and simple ordinary entertainment for an elderly person, I decided to start a coaching practice teaching families how to do this.
Reprint permission granted in part or whole when the following credit appears: Reprinted with permission from Tammy Stoner LCSW at
http://www.TeddyBearTherapy.com 1-770 639-7719
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