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Family Outreach
WFF Family Outreach Recovery ProgramsThe tough part of being acquainted with the Wildland Firefighters Foundation is that you are probably here because of a loss. For that we are so very sorry. We wish that were not the case but if it is, please know that you are surrounded with friends who genuinely do care about you. We are dedicated and firmly entrenched in your lives, being available and always there when you need us.
I will be available to you via email, telephone, Outreach Programs and our Family Outreach Online. Please check the website regularly for updates, suggestions and tools that will hopefully be helpful for you.
At our Family Outreach Programs, we work on a variety of tools and we hope that you might find them useful for you as well. The first tool that we work on to become skillful at is the tool of focus. We want focusing to be a natural part of who we are. We’d like to suggest that you make a concentrated effort to practice making it part of your world starting today. It has proven to be one of the most valuable new habits that we work diligently on to master.
Choose a trigger word that feels somewhat like a reprimand to you. Mine is bogus which reminds me that it is bogus to practice negative behavior. Next, make a promise to yourself to stay very aware of what people are saying to you, (listen with full attention), drive with your attention completely on where you are, how fast you are going and details around you. Drive somewhat like you did when you were first learning. Read with such focused attention that you don’t need to go back and re-read what your eyes just scanned over. Watch television or a movie with such focused attention that you do not need to see the credits rolling before you realize that you missed the entire program. Do not find yourself regretting having not heard what a child was saying to you or the shared thoughts of a special friend who needed your listening heart. When you catch yourself daydreaming, slap your hands together sharply and firmly say your focus word. The hand clap will sting a little, the noise of your hands clapping provide audio as well as your voice saying your trigger word giving you a reminder that you had checked out. This action will bring you back into focus quickly.
This exercise is effective but it takes work and dedication to make living in focus, your new habit.
Make going on a focus walk everyday to help yourself learn this new challenge a priority. Listen to what you hear that you hadn’t noticed before. Feel the temperature of the air on your cheeks. Is it cool? Warm? Nippy? Are you feeling heat from the sunshine? Feel the breeze in your hair, listen to the sounds of your own footsteps, see the neighbors smiles, smell the soft fragrance of the season, touch the bushes you walk by. Enjoy the unlimited opportunities to hear, see, smell, feel and know. Be able to recall what you saw, felt, smelled and heard on your walk when you get home from each one of them. Email and let me know how you are doing and if you would like any other tips on practicing and skillfully accomplishing the use of your new tool of focus! If you tell me that you are already focused, I will smile and tell you how glad I am for you. If you tell me you might work on the focus tool, I will cheer for you and encourage you to work on it with all due diligence. It’s so important and it helps in a plethora of ways. The first thing you will notice as you start to practice is that it’s not as easy as it initially sounds. The second thing you will notice is just how out of focus you have been.
When you experience your first "I got it" please email me and let me know! :)
If there is anything that I can do please call or email me.
Heart Hugs!
Sherrie
Sherrie Kvamme
WFF Director of Family Outreach Programs
familyoutreach@wffoundation.org
Web Links
Wildland Firefighters Life Challenge Program
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