Are you making the most of your Lotsa Community? Your Well Wishes Wall just may be the most powerful tool you have. Your own hub of inspiration and love, the Well Wishes wall serves as a place to reflect and be reminded of the active community around you. Here are some tips for making the best of your Well Wishes Wall.
The Power of Positive
The Kidney Cancer Association emphasizes the importance of emotional well-being in the cancer fighting and recovery processes. Studies show a connection between psychological processes, brain functions and the immune system, highlighting a scientific importance of staying hopeful and positive. The implication is that a focus on the good and the love from your community can support a patient’s immune system. This is important for caregivers as well as patients. Caregivers often find themselves stretched thin, constantly pouring energy into their loved ones and draining their own mental and physical reserves. They feel the pressure of their family relying on them and don’t have time to be sick. So, it’s important to remember that positive mental health can be supportive of immune systems, keeping caregivers energetic and healthy enough to care for others.
Your Circle of Community
Both caregivers and their loved ones can feel isolated with impaired mobility, compromised immune systems, and other limitations. The joy of a Lotsa Community is the ability to bring your entire circle of community from around the world into one place. And nowhere is that more evident than your Well Wishes Wall. It’s here where friends and family from anywhere can pop in, leave a note of love and encouragement, share sentiments and prayers, and stay connected with you. It’s a place to be together even when you might be at a distance.
Getting Others Involved
The key to your Well Wishes Wall is the involvement of others. Make sure your Lotsa Community members are aware of the wall and know that you are eager for them to take full advantage of it. The Well Wishes section is easy to find, but can be overlooked if you don’t know to seek to out. When you are logged in to your Lotsa Community, click on Home. The navigation bar below lists things like “Announcements” and “Photo Gallery.” The very last option on the right, is “Well Wishes.” Click that link to see the wall.
Once you are on the Well Wishes page, you can choose to reply to another message or start your own. To reply to a message, you can click “Reply To This” next to the bold subject line at the top of a message. To start your own, use the small message window on the left. Include a subject line and your message and click “Add Message.”
A Place to Reflect
In the MDA ALS Caregiver’s Guide, the Muscular Dystrophy Association talks about the power of mental attitude and how to move from the negative to the positive. In discussing attitude, the chapter explains how it’s normal for patients and caregivers to focus on the negative aspects of a diagnosis. It encourages those dealing with various challenges to change your thinking, shut off the doubt and negative thoughts and ultimately focus on the blessings of life. Your Well Wishes Wall is the ideal place to do this. When those frustrations or negative thoughts begin to cloud your mind, pull up your Well Wishes Wall and read them. You can read them aloud to your loved one or to yourself to start replacing burdens with blessings.
Wherever You Go
The Lotsa Mobile app allows you to bring your community with you wherever you go, on your iPhone or other mobile Apple device. This way, you can take your Well Wishes and community of support with you everywhere. When you’re sitting in a hospital room or at another appointment, you can scroll through the latest posts. If you’re facing a particular challenge, such as a surgery, you may want to ask your community to share poetry, scriptures, or favorite quotes. You can read them with your loved one in the hospital room and feel surrounded by your community.
The Heart of Your Community
If your community is feeling unsure of what to share on your Well Wishes wall or if you’re feeling uninspired about what to share on someone else’s page, remember that it’s more important to share a message than what the message actually says. There’s no special formula or magical phrase. Just knowing you are thinking of your loved one is the real power behind your message. Sometimes just “Thinking of you,” “Praying for you,” or “Loving you!” is enough. If you’re still unsure, turn to a favorite book or song for inspiration. Share a favorite line or two. Laughter is good medicine too, so you might even share a joke or two. Just remember the whole community can read the Well Wishes together so you might want to avoid anything too off-color, embarrassing, or intimate.
On the Home Page of your community, in the blog, in emails to your members, or just in daily conversation, remind your friends and family how important well wishes are to you and your loved ones. Encourage your community members to leave notes often. When someone asks “How can I help?” send them to the Lotsa Community Well Wishes wall. For more information about how to use the Well Wishes page, and other features of your Lotsa Community, check out this Lotsa demo video.