Heart Attach

Everything changed for me on December 22, 2013. 

We were in the middle of a power outage due to a severe ice storm in Toronto. I had not slept because the house was very cold. In the early morning I went out to the front door to see my husband attempting to get a layer of ice off the windshield of his car. It was strange to see him try to pull out the driveway since there was a tree atop both of our cars. 

The neighborhood looked like a beautiful but eerie place in the dark. Seeing everything covered in ice made the world look like a giant ice sculpture.

After my husband managed to leave, I realized that I would need my car
the next day to go to work. So I decided not to wait for my husband. I
found a saw and started to cut the tree into pieces. My neighbor came out with a large pair of pruning shears. So I began cutting and sawing away.

Soon after, I started feeling pressure in the center of my chest. I
tried to ignore it, thinking it was probably from the cold or
exertion. After another 30 minutes I decided to go inside and lie down

I am a registered nurse so I was looking at this from a position of a
healer, not a patient. Medics are known for their tendency to dish out
advice to others but not use it on themselves. Doctors and nurses are
notoriously "bad" patients.

After a few hours, I started feeling shortness of breath, light
headiness and tightness in both sides of my throat. My family was very
concerned. After a while, I finally relented and we called the EMT
service. As they arrived I started feeling a sharper pain on the left
side of my chest.

The first blood work in the emergency room, after being transported
via ambulance, came back normal. I felt bad that I had made a big deal
out of nothing. Yet, my second blood enzymes came back slightly
elevated small MI (myocardial infarct or heart attack.) The third
enzymes came back with a definite diagnosis of HEART ATTACK!

My head was spinning. This did not seem right, I'm not ready for
this...I'm not old enough ...this can't be.. I have things to do...
work to go to ... I do not have time to stay here!!!

Yet, hospital is exactly where I stayed for almost a week. My family
was not used to me being away from home and wanted to stay close to me
in the hospital instead of being home without me. Seeing the sad,
tired, weary, concerned look on my husband's face all week made it
clear that he was not ready for this either.

It was then that I realized that this had to be a new beginning....
not the beginning of the end...but the REAL beginning.

I decided to change the course of my thinking from a potential feeling
of depression to a new opportunity of a fresh start. Since I was not
allowed to do many of my routine activities, I had lots of time to
think and 'listen' to myself. I also had time to spend with friends
and family who came to see me. We sat down, without being rushed and
had long heart to heart conversations. Of course, my old self would
be running around doing things in the kitchen and then lament about
missing the most important conversations.

People that came to talk to me were affected as well. It made everyone
stop and think about not taking their lives for granted.

This heart attack MADE me stop, reflect and listen to my own thoughts.
I started feeling positive, thankful, philosophical and spiritual. It
was empowering to realize that we are not always in control of
situations but are only responsible for our response to them.

I decided to write some of the lessons down. I hope you will find them
useful to trigger your own thoughts about more meaningful life. Some
of the ideas are very specific to me. While I write from the
perspective of a religious Jewish woman, I think these ideas can be
applied to anyone with their own ideas of spirituality. 

The title of these ideas is "A Wake Up Call"

· I don't have to do everything.

· Its okay just being myself.

· I am valuable just as I am.

· I don't have to be perfect.

· My to do list does not define me.

· My worth is not measured by how much I accomplish in a day.

· I need to learn to understand myself in order to take care of myself.

· I must take the time to stop and listen to my own thoughts.

· I need to find joy and satisfaction in everything I do.

· I need to live in the present not ruminate about the past and not worry about the future.

· I need to know that GOD has my back and if I stop fighting HIS guidance I will find the right solution.

· Sabbath is for reminder that BEING is just as good or better than DOING.

· I need to slow down, stop and listen to what people around me have to say.

· I need to hear what people around me truly want and not assume that I know what's best.

· I can open doors but can't force anyone to enter.

· I can sometimes help others more by just letting them figure it out themselves.

· If I help others too much I will render them helpless since doing less for them sometimes helps them more.

· Remember the story of the butterfly, if you help it break out of its cocoon, its wings will not get strong from the struggle and it will not be able to fly.

· I need to make choices based on more accurate information, by learning more about myself - not by being guided by guilt or unrealistic expectations that I have of myself or perceive others have about me.

· I need to take care of my health, exercise on a regular basis; 3 times per week for 30 minutes consistently.

· I need to monitor my stress levels and realize that being stressed will not change anything except increase anxieties and blood pressure.

· Learn to recognize what I can and cannot control.

· I need to forgive myself and let it go of pain.

· Live in the moment without regretting the past or thinking about what has not happened yet.

· The past, present and future are a progression of life. We can only stand on the stepping stone of the present.

At my next appointment my doctor noticed that I was having an unusual reaction to having a heart attack. He was surprised that unlike most people who feel depressed after such a health failure, I was experiencing very positive emotions.

Of course, to keep the positive changes in our lives is a constant
life-long project but NOW is the time to start.

 

 

 

Full story coming soon on hearttoheartwithsharon.com blog For comments email sharon@hearttoheartwithsharon.com

 

 

 

 

A Chilling And Awe-Inspiring Malaysia Air Flight 370 Story

The whole world’s eyes are on the far east, wondering how a Boeing 777 can just disappear without a trace.  Malaysia Air Flight 370 took off from Kuala Lumpur at 12:43am this past Saturday morning and has yet to be located.  Flying is the safest mode of transportation that exists today, so the disappearance of an airplane like this is really sobering.

 

I heard the following story firsthand from the travel agent involved.  He is an avid DansDeals follower that I’m friends with.  He sent me the unedited exchange that follows and I made the necessary edits to protect the privacy of the parties involved.

The saying goes, “More than the Jews have kept the Shabbos (Sabbath), the Shabbos has kept the Jews.”  When I think of that saying, I picture my life if I were constantly wired 7 days a week.  As it is, I feel like a slave to my digital devices, but the knowledge that Shabbos is right around the corner keeps me going. From sundown Friday evening until when the stars come out on Saturday night it’s 25 hours spent completely offline and it’s blissful.  It’s 25 hours spent praying to G-d and consuming obscene amounts of calories eating scrumptious meals with family and friends.  It’s perfect.  Sure anyone can always disconnect, but there’s something awesome about the forced routine that can’t be properly explained to one who hasn’t experienced it.

But the saying goes much deeper than that in this story.

 

Click on any of the emails to enlarge them.

On 01/13/14 Andy emailed his travel agent his desired itinerary:

 

 

The travel agent, an Orthodox Jew, proposed the following business class itinerary, slightly altering the Kuala Lumpur-Beijing flight from Saturday to Friday.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Andy loved the price, but again requested the Saturday morning flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing:

 

 

The travel agent responded that he would not be able to book travel for him over the Sabbath, but that he was free to book that flight by himself:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Andy agreed with that and planned to book the flight by himself:

 

And the travel agent noted that if he changed his mind to just let him know:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Shortly afterward Andy did just that:

 

And the travel agent recommended a place to get a nice kosher meal and booked him the originally proposed itinerary, flying from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing on Friday early morning instead of Saturday.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fast forward to 2 days ago.  The travel agent is in Israel and reads this email once Shabbos is over.  The email was sent after shabbos, at 7:15pm Beijing time/1:15pm Israel time:

 

 

And the travel agent wrote back, equally in shock at the realization of Shabbos saving his client’s life:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Indeed, due to the travel agent worrying about the religious observance of a fellow Jew, Andy was persuaded into flying on Malaysia Air 370 exactly one day prior to the ill-fated flight he wanted to take.

It’s not often we hear a story like this.  It’s been 103 years since Rose was saved from the devastation of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire thanks to observing Shabbos.  And now it was Andy’s turn.

Prayers go out to the families of those still missing.