Journal of Sacred Work

Halloween & Reformation Day

Happy Halloween. And Happy Reformation Day as well.
   Halloween also happens to be my birthday. It's an odd time of year to be born - a time when people joke about graveyards and death, not the exultation of birth. I loved, as a child, hosting birthday parties where everyone dressed up. As I got older, the day seemed less entertaining - especially when adults popped up at the door holding out beer mugs for drinks.
   The anniversary I now like to honor on this date is Reformation Day, which began October 31, 1517 when Martin Luther posted his 95 theses on the door of Wittenberg Cathedral calling for reforms and an end to abuses in the Catholic Church. It was the founding of the Protestant movement. Perhaps more important, it was a celebration of the role of independent thinking in the face of authority...

A CEO Summit on Loving Care

   CEOs from America's Healing Hospitals met in Nashville Monday to talk about a single subject: Loving Care. It is a select group. Their numbers are all too few. Every CEO in the country should be discussing the same subject.
   Still, it was encouraging to listen to a wide range of leaders describe caring environments like those that exist at Parrish Medical Center (see photo). Presidents Larry Ainsworth and Jason Barker from California's St. Joseph Health System talked about sacred encounters among nursing staff. CEO Laurie Eberst from Arizona's Mercy Gilbert Hospital discussed the way in which she encourages celebrating employee associates. George Mikitarian from Florida's Parrish Medical Center talked about the tough-minded disciplining of physicians who abuse hospital staff. And all of this work is in the service of growing cultures of loving care.
   There are many reasons to feel hopeful about the progress of the Loving Care Movement....

Love Within

God keeps opening inside of me.
- Hafiz (1320-1389)

   So much of our lives seems to be governed by things from without that we may forget that Love is a force that grows from within each of us. Much is made of life battles between the forces of good and evil. But it is Love that is seeking to guide us amid both good and evil. We need guidance to live love. We need courage in the middle of evil not to let our standards slip.
   The history of nursing is a history of loving care flowing from within. Yet love sometimes slips away from us and is replaced by fear...   

Open Forum

   The Open Forum is an opportunity for you to post a comment on whatever you would like. A good choice might be for you to mention a caregiver whose presence you value and to describe why you think that caregiver has such a sense of grace.
   To post your comment, click on Comment (below). You do not need to fill in the box that asks for a URL.

Thank you,
Erie

Encountering Yourself

...why not consider/ a lasting truce with yourself and God.
-Hafiz (left, early 14th century)

   And while you're at it, why not declare a lasting truce between you and yourself? Is the world in which you live served by you beating up on yourself?
   Our presence is our most valuable asset. We may say that it is the skills we have to offer, the money we make, or the children we bear. And these things may also be true. But it turns out that it is our presence that matters most to others....

Why Presesce Matters

   I had just arrived home for my first break as a freshman at Northwestern University. My parents took my sisters and I to dinner at their country club. Eager to tell my parents about the giant new world I had discovered, I barged into my freshman impressions. Could they tell any changes in me? Could they see how much I had matured? Could they finally sense that I was a man now?
   Midway through the second sentence of my first story, dad pointed to a man across the room and asked my mom, "Who's that, honey?" My mother supplied the man's name. Although surprised to discover my parents were not hanging on every word, I barged ahead. In the early stages of story number two, there had been several more interruptions unconnected to my college experience...

Smoldering Energy

...the spark behind fear/recognized as life/leaps into flame// always this energy smolders inside/ when it remains unlit/the body fills with dense smoke. - David Whyte, from his poem "Out on the Ocean"

   As fires burn across too much of Southern California and people flee homes that have held comfort, I think of the spark beneath fear and another kind of fire. Those threatened by flames today may not appreciate, at this moment, the beauty of the fire within each of us - the fire that lives as Love on the other side of fear.
   The 15th century Indian poet, Kabir wrote: "If you make love with the divine now, in the next/ life you will have the face of satisfied desire....

Hooky

   I'm doing my best to play hooky. I watched the Red Sox win the American League pennant Sunday night instead of writing a post for you (and a sweet victory it was.) But hooky is always a hard thing to enjoy. The voice of guilt pops up in the middle of the hooky experience and throws cold water on the whole effort.
   Or maybe it doesn't. Experts at hooky can dodge school, work, or any other obligation with no fear or guilt.
   Have you ever played hooky? Have you ever called in sick when you were feeling just fine just because you didn't want to work on that day? How did you feel?...
   Some people never play hooky. I feel as though there lives have been limited...

Open Forum

Today is an occasion for you to share, in this space for caregivers, whatever is on your heart. Caregivers are often each others own best counselors.
To make a comment, click on Comment (below.) You do not need to post a URL.
Thank you for participating in The Journal of Sacred Work
-Erie

What Stops Us From Helping?

[The following meditation was written by Cathy Self, Sr. V.P. of the Baptist Healing Trust]

The only way I can prove my love is by scattering flowers... - Saint Therese de Lisieux (left, 1873-1897)

   Religious tradition suggests the Good Samaritan had the capacity to feel compassion. It seems however that today we are more likely to act from self-interest. How many times do we, like the travelers in the story of the Good Samaritan, cross to the other side of the road (albeit sometimes only figuratively) to avoid the risk or inconvenience of offering our help? Or do we sometimes reach out to another but still from self-interest in needing to feel or look good?
   The Good Samaritan parable is part of our healing story not, perhaps, because we are consistently courageous but because our hearts want to always act out of love and compassion....

Fellowship of the broken

Those who are not afraid to hold a hand in gratitude, to shed tears in grief, and to let a sigh of distress arise from the heart, can break through paralyzing boundaries and witness the birth of a new fellowship, the fellowship of the broken.   - Henri Nouwen

   And, truly aren't we all broken? The difference seems to be whether we are fortunate enough to be in the fellowship of those whose brokenness we may hear - and who will hear us.
   Using the power of circles, physicians have been gathering in Nashville for three years now to hold hands in gratitude, to shed tears, to sigh, and to create healing through fellowship. Led by Dr's. Keith Hagan and Roy Elam, they are part of an effort by the Baptist Healing Trust to deal with the issue referred to, somewhat inadequately, as caregiver burnout...

Sports Insanity

   Why do so many of us lose ourselves in sports? I've written before about fans (a word which is probably derived from the word, fanatic.) But I haven't attempted to answer why so many of us literally seem to lose our sanity to the gods of sport.
   As a somewhat newly minted Red Sox fan (drawn to the game by my son) I am doomed to experience the highs and lows of this operatic team. The Red Sox are popular to many because the life of this team so closely mirrors a Greek tragedy. Routinely, they come close, but not quite. In 2004 they actually won it all. But for most of their over one hundred year history, they have simply brushed the edge of the coveted brass ring.
   I wonder if caregivers love sports because they are a pure kind of escape. We marry our passion to a team, scream, shout, cry, and none of it really matters. After all. It's just a game.  Whereas, for caregivers, their work life is all too real....

California Daze

   In a weekend filled with Nashville music, church bells, and the usual glory of October sports, something unusual happened in Nashville. California quietly invaded Middle Tennessee from October 12-14. From the Kentucky border down to Alabama, the weather handed southerners everything but the Pacific Ocean.
   Growing up in Westwood, five miles from the sea, I didn't fully appreciate the gift of a California day until  we moved to Ohio when I was twelve. One winter in the northern snow was fun. But every winter after that left me longing for the smooth sun and gentle breezes that Mediterranean climates offer so frequently.
   For caregivers lucky enough to actually live in the Golden Bear state, I envy you...

Open Forum for Caregivers

   My younger sister, Martha, is a caregiver in many ways. First, she works at a large hospital and cares for hundreds of people each day who come to her desk seeking information, help, and support. Second, she looks after our 95-year old mother. Third, she cares for her friends, one of whom is ill. And finally, she looks after her dog Casey.  When I think of world class caregivers, I often think first of Martha.
   What does it mean to you to be a caregiver? How does caregiving describe and define your life? To share any comment you would like about being a caregiver, click on Comment, below, and post your thoughts. (Note, you do not need to fill out the box that asks for URL.)...

Days of Affliction

And now my soul is poured out within me; days of affliction have taken hold of me. - Job 30:16

   On this day, the above statement is not true for me. I feel particularly good and peaceful right now. And I am grateful for this even as I know states of grace are changeable. I hope this is a good day for you as well.
   At the corner of my consciousness, memories of other, harder times seep in. Thoughts of the troubles of others plague all who care. We all know that so many are afflicted with suffering today.
   The mind's ability to forget its own pain is quite startling. When this phenomenon is in full force, our own comfort may keep us too distant from the suffering of others.
   My wife and I had an experience last weekend that startled our consciousness...

Bringing Angels to "Codes"

    What happens during a "Code Blue" in a hospital? (photo from Riverside Methodist Hospital) Most laypeople know the drill because they've seen it all on television. But a provocative essay by Dr. Katharine Treadway in the New England Journal of Medicine (September 27, 2007) gives us a deeper insight into something critical that has been missing. The essay was brought to my attention by one of America's great, caring nurses. Sarah Kaminski, R.N.,B.S.N., L.N.C, of Greenville, South Carolina, campaigns tirelessly for Radical Loving Care in health care. If you, as a caregiver, are seeking to understand more about the real meaning of medicine, read this essay by Dr. Treadway. (http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/full/357/13/1273)
   In it, this physician tells the story of attending one of her first "codes" as an intern. The senior resident took charge, she tells us, and he was a model of cool competence. But the patient died anyway and one doctor knew something else was wrong....

Trusting Mystery

Do not pretend to understand something that you do not. It is one of the worst possible things to do. - Count Leo Tolstoy
   For the umpteenth time, an individual, this time a highly respected healthcare executive sitting across from me in my office, has questioned me about how you measure loving care. As always, the question is well meaning. The idea seems to be that if we can measure loving care, then maybe we can more easily replicate it - sort of bottle it and sell it (as many have tried to do.)
   Consider the case of the Glasswing butterfly, brought to my attention by regular Journal contributor Liz Wessel, a home care nurse and mission officer at St. Joseph Health System in California....

Open Forum - How Have You Changed?

  Journals and meditations are often designed either to illuminate positive change or to bring it about. We read and meditate to find the kind of peace and wisdom that will help us travel the best pathway in life.
   What are the patterns of thought or behavior you have been able to change and how did you do it? When I consider these questions, I too often default to specific behaviors. I smoked for about a year back in the 1960s. It wasn't that hard to quit. About twenty years ago, I decided to give up desserts. This has mostly been successful. In each case, I found what worked best was to decide that cigarettes and deserts were no longer a part of my life. On the other hand, ...

The Authenticity of Ashes

[The following entry is from Cathy Self, Sr. V.P. of the Baptist Healing Trust]

  Two weeks ago I posted thoughts shared from a young mother’s heart whose child had just been born and was not expected to live. Copeland’s birth was a miracle, that she lived for eight days is beyond our grasp, that she had to die is beyond our understanding. The words written today by this young mother have touched my soul and hold a great wisdom about what grief looks like from the inside. I pass these thoughts along to you, dear caregivers, hoping they will speak to your own life as you reach out in love to those in your work who are grieving.
   “Sometimes grief looks like moving. Sometimes it looks like sitting still. For now, I, like Job, am sitting in my sorrow....

Ray and Emily - Why The War Still Matters

...in extraordinary times, there are no ordinary lives.
-Part of the lead in language to The War, a Ken Burns film, on PBS www.pbs.org

    They probably never met. But the two people to your left are living witnesses to what caregiving was like during a war that killed tens of millions of people. And they are among the many who tell their stories on the astonishing Ken Burns series, The War, still running on PBS. We owe it to them to watch, and to get our children and friends to watch, this powerful series.
   What was it like to care for wounded soldiers in the days after the Normandy invasion? Ray and Emily were there...