Journal of Sacred Work

Days 151-153 - Open Forum

You are invited to post any thoughts you would like to share with your fellow caregivers by clicking on Comments, below.
Thank you and have a Joyful Weekend.
-erie

Day 150 - Mindful Again

    Today's meditation was written by Cathy Self, Senior Vice President for the Baptist Healing Trust.

     Erie Chapman has often noted "our problem is that we forget to remember." This past  Monday and the writings in this week's journal have provided space and time for us to remember to remember. In a time of reflection and reading, I came across an article about mindfulness, and the call to be mindful again, and again. In that article was a reference to Calvin Trillin, a writer I have not visited in some time.

     American journalist, humorist, and novelist Tillin is noted, among other things, for his tributes written to his wife and especially for his book About Alice. Throughout their 36-year marriage, Trillin frequently wrote about his wife, noting her wonderful sense of humor, her style, and her sense of wonder so like a child's. In an interview with the Seattle Times, Calvin answered the reporter's question on the oddity of being a "funny guy talking about such a solemn subject so close to your own heart." Calvin's response was characteristically odd-funny: "The hard part's when I get questions that I don't know anything about, like about making a good marriage. I can't believe people are actually good or bad at it. I think mainly you just meet the right people. It's not satisfying to people to tell them that luck has a lot to do with it, but in fact I think it's true. So that's my advice: Wander into the right party. Just that. It's like the advice I give about childrearing: Try to get one that doesn't spit up. The rest is up to you." Beyond such a quirky quote, however, is a man whose musings have caused more than one to wish for the kind of love he seemed to have for his wife.

Day 149 - Dream catching and healing

I walked around as you do, investigating
the endless star,
and in my net, during the night, I woke up naked,
the only thing caught, a fish trapped inside the wind.
   -Pablo Neruda

   We cast our nets into the world and what do we catch? Perhaps pieces of ourselves. Perhaps, on some days, nothing but fish. Dreams may help us recover our souls. And help others recover theirs as well.
   Neruda talks of a "fish trapped inside the wind." So the net doesn't catch the fish, the wind does. As we sleep, ephemeral images travel our consciousness. We dream whether we remember doing so or not. And what are your dreams as a caregiver?...

Day 148 - The Humanity in PTSD

    Doctors, chaplains and ethicists have begun to publicly recognize the Love and humanity that lives in soldiers suffering Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). "In many ways, a soldier suffering post traumatic stress disorder is maybe a particularly ethical healthy human being who demonstrates real sensitivity to the fact he has killed someone or been subjected to terrible violence," one doctor said on NBC News.
   But in World War II, General George Patton famously slapped a soldier suffering PTSD which Patton thought of, at the time, as simply "cowardice." Cowardice exists, of course, but it may not look anything like what Patton thought.
   How do caregivers deal with PTSD?...

Day 147 - Remembering Maria

   She wasn't a soldier firing a weapon. She was a caregiver who dedicated her life to saving the lives of others. Inside the casket these soldiers are bearing (left) is the body of Captain Maria Ortiz. Captain Ortiz was the first nurse killed as the result of hostile fire in the Iraq War when, in 2007, a mortar round fell into the Baghdad hospital where she was caring for wounded Iraqis.
   Her friend, Wanda Shuler said about Maria, "She was really proud of the fact she was over there taking care of our soldiers, trying to make the situation they were going through a little easier."
   Maria is the kind of caregiver we all want to remember on this Memorial Day. Her life can serve to represent, for all of us, the lives of every caregiver ever killed seeking to heal others in the midst of war...

Days 144-146 - Open Forum

You are invited to join our Open Forum and contribute whatever thoughts you would like to share with your fellow caregivers.
   Click on Comments, below, and type your message to the caregiving community.
Thank you,
erie

Day 143 - The Power of One

Today's meditation was written by Cathy Self, Senior Vice-President for the Baptist Healing Trust.   

     In my mail yesterday I received the gift of a reflection that was written by using only one-syllable words. I confess I read it first with an eye and ear to what seemed to me a very unusual approach to writing. The words were simple and clear, and on second reading beautifully reflected the simplicity and clarity of the message itself. It turns out that writing this way is an old practice and discipline. For example, hymn writer Isaac Watts (1674-1748), who has been referred to as a poetic genius, is believed to have preferred writing hymns in words of one syllable. His hymns are simple and straightforward, yet still able to express a profound experience of God. A professor of English literature and writing has noted the power of one in the structure of the sonnet. In Shakespeare's time, the sonnet was considered the proof of a writer's talent, and in the sonnet we can experience the power of one beat, one word, one sound, one syllable.

Day 142 - Telling the Truth

"There was no doubt that this poor man was mad, but there is something in the madness of this man which interests me more than the sanity of Lord Byron and Walter Scott." - William Wordsworth on the death of William Blake.

   William Blake (1757-1827) is recognized as one of the greatest painters and poets in the history of the English language.  He remains so popular that, for example, actor/director Roberto Benigni famously quoted him when he accepted an Oscar in 1998. "He who kisses the joy as it flies lives in eternity's sunrise," Benigni trumpeted as he kissed the statuette and millions around the world cheered. But Blake himself was condemned during his life because of what many around him considered his irritating tendency to tell the truth. He believed he saw angels and he painted what he saw (above & below, left)...

Day 141 - Compassionate Communication :-)

   Behind intimidating messages are simply people appealing to us to meet their needs.  - Marshall B. Rosenberg, Ph.D. - Nonviolent Communication, A Language of Life

   Gradually, I've come to discover that successful emails can only carry two tones. The first tone is positive. We're all happy to receive affirming messages. The second is neutral. Emails that carry a neutral tone are useful for transactional work such as setting up meetings or sending data.
   What rarely works are emails that criticize. No matter how many smiley faces we attach to the end of the sentences (I do this all the time) bad news does not travel well on the internet . Emails may be the reason for the invention of the :-) emoticon as we struggle to soften words we think may be misinterpreted. Dr. Rosenberg does a beautiful job of explaining communication in his powerful book. His teaching can transform our lives as caregivers...

Day 140 - Presence to Still Life

    Every museum holds paintings that frame the beauty that lives in ordinary homes. We call these paintings still lifes. These images help us pay attention to the everyday scenes that populate our own lives.
    We are each vulnerable to taking our surroundings for granted. The camera, the paint brush, the poem are all ways to help us increase our presence to our lives.
   The images on this page live in our home. Each scene is ordinary. What could be more common than a dish towel?
   Yet, each  demonstrates beauty when we become present to it...

Days 137-139 - Open Forum

   These are open forum days providing caregivers a chance to share whatever thoughts they believe would be helpful to their fellow caregivers.

Day 136 - Love's Laughter

[Today's meditation was written by Cathy Self, Senior Vice President for the Baptist Healing Trust.]

Everything that grows holds in perfection but for a moment. - Shakespeare

     For years I kept this Shakespearean quote on the wall next to my desk. Accompanying the quote was a picture of a tree with great and grand asymmetries. I found great comfort in both the picture and the quote. They were gentle reminders that in this journey called life, I have two choices - I can create a picture of perfect symmetry and freeze it there for all to behold and admire, or I can be courageous enough to grow in many ways, knowing that such growth means that, at times, my "beauty" may be less obvious or even defined differently. I am grateful to have chosen the latter despite some of the funny warts that have appeared...

Day 135 - Uncommon Love

Our biggest fear is that the aftermath could be more lethal than the storm itself.  - Caryl Stern, U.N. Children Relief - about the Myanmar (Burma) cyclone

   So many of us think that Love is obvious. So many imagine that we all agree about the need for Love and no one will get in the way of its expression. Military leaders in the country of Myanmar (aka Burma) demonstrate otherwise. They believe power and control are far more important than Love. With tens of thousands already killed by the cyclone of nature, the arrogant generals that run the country are killing more by blocking the delivery of vital food and medicines. Control is more important to them than the alleviation of suffering...

Day 134 - Spring Flowers of Love

   Flowers appear as great gifts. Their beauty is freely available to anyone whose heart is open.
   These flowers happen to live in our backyard. But millions thrive everywhere that the climate and love will nurture them. Each flower, like every example of beauty in the world, is a reflection of the divine that lives in each one of us. I hope you will listen, for a moment in this day, to the music of each of these lovely beings.
  To see more clearly, click on each image....

Day 133 - Discovering Ubuntu

   A person with ubuntu is open and available to others, affirming of others, does not feel threatened that others are able and good, for he or she has a proper self-assurance that comes from knowing that he or she belongs in a greater whole and is diminished when others are humiliated or diminished, when others are tortured or oppressed.  - Bishop Desmond Tutu (left)

   So often when we hear a story from some part of Africa, it is a story laced with sadness. Images of the beautiful country of Kenya are now sometimes edged with reports of starvation in the north. The suffering and food riots in Somalia are beyond our comprehension. Warring tribes scar the country east to west and in its interior. Amid this strife, a word that represents a hopeful philosophy for caregivers rises into our consciousness...

Days 130-132 - Open Forum on National Nurse's Week

Join in the celebration of National Nurse's Week by posting a comment that celebrates the committed men and women who spend their working lives caring for the sick and wounded.
Click on Comments, below, to add your thoughts.
Thank you,
erie

Day 129 - The Weight of Love

[Today's meditation was written by Cathy Self, Sr. V.P. at the Baptist Healing Trust.]

"We cannot all do great things, but we can do small things with great love." - Mother Teresa

     I have a sense today of exhaustion that may be felt by many good people who aspire to great things - nurses, physicians, therapists, parents, teachers, caregivers all. The headlines in past days have been filled with stories of great need that seems too big to meet. In a recent conversation among fellow caregivers about what matters most, I heard words like overhelmed, discouraged, and even exhausted. These words came cascading from hearts filled with dreams and hopes for meeting vast needs both at home and across our world. The weight of love seems heavy - a social worker who simply cannot be in two places at once, a mother torn between the duty and privilege of her work and the duty and joy of her family, a therapist who hurts deeply about poor choices being made by members of her own family. In his words, author Wayne Muller notes "we are all painfully aware of how little we have to offer, given the weight and magnitude of the sorrow, injustice, or pain we are to witness and heal."

Day 128 - Love & Sorrow

There is so much sorrow in the world. - Keith Hagan, M.D.

   Dr. Hagan knows about suffering. In addition to his medical practice and his charitable work in Nashville, he often travels to Ecuador to care for poor residents who wait for days in long lines to receive his healing touch.
   The May 6 edition of the Nashville paper, The Tennessean, carries what have become the "usual" accounts of tragedy - food riots in Somalia that kill people who are already starving, deadly hurricanes in Burma (Myanmar) combine with the government's resistance to accepting outside aid, the murder of sixteen ranchers in Mexico. But we don't need to travel far to find sorrow. The story at the top of the "Local" section recounts tragedy in a few column inches...   

Days 126-127 - Exuberance!

   On a bright morning in the spring of 1975 a friend of mine was driving his convertible to work near Toledo at a speed fast enough to draw police attention. In court, two weeks later, the judge asked my friend why he'd been speeding. "Frankly, your honor," my pal announced, " I was carried away by the exuberance of the morning.
   Of course, the judge found "exuberance" a weak defense. After all, the rules of civilization are designed to place boundaries around passionate expressions of feeling, positive or negative. We can't be letting people speed just because they're feeling exuberant, can we?... 

Days 123-125 - Open Forum

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