I remember when I was a child being sick and aside from getting to stay home from school, I remember my mother comforting me.  There was always Lipton’s chicken noodle soup.  I like the noodles better than Campbell’s.  Comfort takes many forms and how we internalize it helps in our healing process.

I’ve been a quilter for over thirty years.  I can’t think of anything more nurturing than getting cozy under a quilt, especially one I’ve made.  I’m also a knitter.  About ten years ago I started knitting Shawls to give my mother and her best friends.  I wanted these shawls to be legacy pieces.  They would be handed down to a woman in the family attached with the story of how they had received the shawl.  I’ve extended gifting these shawls to women I admire.

Being kept in someone’s consciousness is another way of being comforted.  Psychologists may call this “object constancy”, but on a bigger scale, there is a psychic connection, an invisible thread bonding us and when the individual facing a Health Challenge feels a tug on the string they feel comforted.

I have a lot of friends who are nurses.  When I was studying at the medical school in the program on health humanities and ethics, we discussed the difference between treatment and care.  Often, doctors provide treatment.  They diagnose, prescribe medication, and perform procedures.  Doctors will see the patient usually twice a day.  Nurses on the other hand, walk beside the patient.  They not only carry out the orders set in place by the doctor, but they anticipate all the needs of the patient.  They support the family and provide reassurance even when the outcome doesn’t look favorable. When we comfort it can’t be about us.  It needs to be given without expecting anything in return.  We comfort others to ease their pain, and in the world alleviating pain is a big task. Comforting those facing a health challenge could be a text, reading to someone, cooking their favorite meal, or accompanying them to an appointment.  On a more intimate note, it means allowing the person facing illness to be honest about their physical, emotional, and spiritual challenges.  It’s about creating a safe space, so they don’t have to take care of others. They can focus their energy on getting better.  As I always say, we can all get better, but we all may not get well.

For more art and prompts (I’ve posted over 1,000 collages) follow me on Instagram/Threads: @drfiber