Facing death, time to drop everything.

by Lisa HarrisNo Comments
When we or someone we love is told they have limited time to live we are often filled with all kinds of feelings and questions. There is anger, denial, maybe hope for a miracle cure. If there is a faith, a calling out to a higher being for help, support, understanding, healing or a smooth transition. Maybe there is acceptance or even relief.Perhaps more often, all of it at once in a kaleidoscope of emotions, thoughts, feelings and behaviours. None of which feel like the right response, usually. I dropped everything and faced death When or if we are told a timeline, we ought to take it seriously.So often our response is, “yes, but ….” followed by all the reasons the time line may not be correct. A miracle cure, a positive mental attitude, a new drug trial, the love of those around them. But that timeline, usually offered by an experienced medical professional or maybe someone who has lived this path...
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Coping at Christmas

by Lisa HarrisNo Comments
Contact your GP, your local mental health crisis intervention team or rapid intervention team if you need immediate support.   Call 111 if you urgently need medical guidance or treatment.    Call 999 if you require emergency (life threatening) medical attention.  Attend A & E if you need urgent medical attention.   If you know somebody is at immediate risk or is harming themselves or somebody else, the safest response is to dial 999.  Staff are trained to deal with crisis situations and can advise you or call on professionals as required.  Samaritans https://www.samaritans.org/how-we-can-help/contact-samaritan/ Call 116 123 free from any phone to talk about anything that is upsetting you. 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.  SANE https://www.sane.org.uk/how-we-help/emotional-support/saneline-services  If you’re experiencing a mental health difficulty or supporting someone who is, you can call SANEline on 0300 304 7000 4pm–10pm every day.  SANEline is a national out-of-hours mental health helpline offering specialist emotional support, guidance and information to anyone affected by mental illness, including family, friends and carers.   The Mix https://www.themix.org.uk/get-support  For those under 25 you can...
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Grief stole my Christmas

by Lisa HarrisNo Comments
When grief stole my Christmas,and the lights from the tree.It also took awaythe light that shone in me. It stole the season's greetingswritten on every card.It dried up all my words,making communicating hard. It stole every bauble I had hungand left my branches bare.The thing is though, if I'm honest,I didn't really care. Grief didn't just steal my ChristmasIt had also taken me.It left a shell of a person.I forget who I used to be. Until one day I was out walking,and there sitting in a tree,was the most beautiful robinstaring down at me. Those bare branches came to life.It shone the colour red.A reflection of its breast,sent memories to my head. With the flutter of its wings,my heart too began to flutter.and then it sang a tuneand with that I had to stutter. The words of Christmas carolshad found their voice again.The glitter that was stolennow fell down with the rain. I couldn't wait to get home.I knew grief would still be there,but it never did steal...
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The unknown soldier.

by Lisa HarrisNo Comments
On November 7th, 1920, in strictest secrecy, four unidentified British bodies were exhumed from temporary battlefield cemeteries at Ypres, Arras, the Asine and the Somme. None of the soldiers who did the digging were told why. The bodies were taken by field ambulance to GHQ at St-Pol-Sur-Ter Noise. Once there, the bodies were draped with the union flag. Sentries were posted and Brigadier-General Wyatt and a Colonel Gell selected one body at random. The other three were reburied. A French Honour Guard was selected and stood by the coffin overnight of the chosen soldier overnight. On the morning of the 8th November, a specially designed coffin made of oak from the grounds of Hampton Court arrived and the Unknown Warrior was placed inside. On top was placed a crusaders sword and a shield on which was inscribed: "A British Warrior who fell in the GREAT WAR 1914-1918 for King and Country". On the 9th of November, the Unknown Warrior was taken by horse-drawn carriage through Guards of Honour...
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Move with the seasons

by Lisa Harris1 Comment
23 years ago, on the 24th July 2002 I arrived in East Yorkshire, utterly broken, with very very little to my name, only intending to be passing through until I found somewhere to settle.I was in my mid 20's. How very different my life is now, although there are different challenges. I have my own home, a career, a business I love and a faith I wouldn't be without. All of which came after 2002. When you have lost everything In 2002 life was very painful and so very difficult, I had lost everything I loved and knew. Injustice stung daily to the core of me. I wasn't sure I could cope with life now or even if I wanted it anymore. If you know how this feels, you know. If you don't, I hope you never will. Depression, anxiety and pain were my familar friends for more years than I care to recall. Tears and loneliness were a daily thing over and over, and...
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Where were you on 9/11?

by Lisa HarrisNo Comments
At times in our lives time stands still. It literally stops. Shock and trauma do that. We can then sit speechless unable to connect to a thought, any thought. Sometimes those moments are unique to us and are a personal experience - sometimes thousands of us share those moments. I've had those personal moments in my life. I also shared hours of moments with milions of others on 9/11. I wasn't there, I was at home, watching it unfold on TV. I watched open mouthed as the news unfolded and I watched live as the second plane hit, as the towers fell, as news of further hijackings and the Pentagon crash came in. I still remember the feelings I experienced that day, and why. I feel them now as I write this, much much less intensely, but my body remembers what happened inside of me that day. I'm writing this today so many years later with much compassion, in remembrance of and with repect...
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My journey to being Lisa Harris

by Lisa HarrisNo Comments
I've always been a people person I've always actively worked with people in one form or another.My first grown-up job in 1993 was as a health care assistant in an old cottage hospital working on long stay care of the elderly wards (as they were known then), often with those impacted by strokes or long-term health conditions. This was my first experience of working with brain injury. Thesekinds of wards don't even exist anymore. I really loved this job. I had so much one-to-one time with my patients to attend to their care and needs and to really listen to them. It was here that I learned that we are all human-first, in very real ways. I progressed to working in a brand-new build hospital working in the diagnostic radiology, the x ray department. I looked after patients' emotional and physical well-being when in the department for any kind of scan, x ray, or investigation. I really enjoyed the personal connection I had...
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