Journal of Sacred Work

Days 60-61 An Inward Journey

The season of Lent is an invitation to embark on an inward journey of reflection within the inner sanctuary of one's heart. A time for open receptivity, of quieting the mind  to listen without judgement or the need to fix.

This week I had a less than ideal interaction with a person I care about and hold in high esteem. When a situation arose, I reacted in the moment without pausing to check my assumptions. I immediately felt the impact of my words. That night I did not sleep well.  My mind was ruminating and in hyper mode trying to problem-solve and to fix it.  Finally, I decided to listen to a soothing voice on YouTube that helps facilitate relaxation and sleep. The voice suggested the listener think of someone you may be concerned about, see them in front of you and offer them love. I visualized that person of concern and I repeated this several times with various people in my life. Eventually, a small softening gave way in me and I opened to receive love as well. The sea of anxiety began to recede.

I noticed how hard it was for me to open to receive a little mercy.

The next morning, I called to speak to the involved person about what had happened.  I shared my assumptions I had made about their behavior and I asked them to share from their perspective. We came to a space of understanding and I owned and apologized for my part. We made some new agreements on how best to work together and our encounter ended with a mutual expression of love.

The experience reminded me of a spiritual truth. It is easy to react, point blame and make it about the other person. Yet, in every situation there is an opportunity to instead, focus on our own behavior. One can explore, what is the lesson for me, what am I resisting, how might I change?  This open receptivity enables us to receive a gift that is ever present within an expansive “field of compassion.”

This is what the Lenten journey offers us, an opportunity to increase one’s self-awareness and receive a transforming gift of healing; a Love that is always calling to us…

A Prayer from the book “Fields of Compassion” by Judy Cannato

“Holy One, you have given us the gift of story in our lives, ways of understanding who we are, ways of making sense of our world, of finding meaning and knowing how to respond to all that happens in our lives. Please show us where our stories fall short or are too narrow, where they exclude rather than include, where they divide rather than unite. Help us to see where a story we live out may go amiss of what is real. Where it allows us to escape becoming whole, where it lets us live comfortably in fear. Fill us with your story, the story of unity, compassion and love. Fill us with images that energize us and give us hope and lead us to the fundamental truth that you have tried to teach us all along: we are all one.”

~Amen

Liz Sorensen Wessel
 Mandala By ~liz

Days 55-59 - Peaceful Pictures

   It is just a picture - among millions made each day by millions around the world who see something, aim & push the little button on their cellphone. 

    That is what I did when, sailing along at a mile-a-minute, I saw this field outside the car window, turned & pushed that button.

   What do you see? How do you feel when you see it?

   Have you looked long enough to experience the flashes of purple dimpling the foreground, the layers of dark green sweeping right & left across the vast yellow field, the banks of clouds puffing & swirling as they caravan the sky?

   What life is hidden & revealed here? What life is awakened in you.

   I hope this image brings you moments of peace as you allow this palette of colors & array of shapes to soften the rough edges of your day. 

-Erie Chapman

Days 53-54 One Family

Arriving in Seattle, Hassan, an Uber driver responded to my call. My destination, the Palisades retreat Center for my first session of a Mission formation program. We had a 30-minute drive ahead of us and curious about his accent, I asked Hassan where he was from. He responded in an open manner that he was from Sudan and he began to share a little of his story.

Hassan's home village is near a river where his grandmother farms the land. Hassan expressed worry that his grandmother is working too hard. “If she would only listen to me and sell her crops oversees, she would make a lot more money. Instead, she sells her vegetables to the local community for very little money.”

“Wow, it sounds like she cares more about her neighbors than making money. She is concerned about the people in her community and the common good of others. Perhaps, what matters most to her is seeing that her friends do not go hungry. What an extraordinary woman she is!” I observed. “Yes, she knows everyone in the village and the people all know and care about each other there.”

“Hassan, it seems like you are carrying a weight on your shoulders over this dilemma and you worry about your grandmother's well-being." "Yes, I am. I plan to visit soon and I will time my visit with the harvest, so I can help." I learned that both of Hassan’s parents had died but I did not wish to pry unless he chose to talk about it. He mentioned that his grandmother came to visit him for a few months but she was anxious to return because she missed home. “I have very few friends here. People communicate via social media. It is lonely.” "Yes, it can be. " I agreed. “Technology is a double edge sword. I enjoy glimpses of  my friends and relatives lives who live far away but it has its limitations. Yet, it is incredible that you can google any topic and receive "how to" information at your fingertips. instantaneously; now that I love!”

 Upon arrival at the retreat center, Hassan reached out to shake my hand, as a sense of mutual gratitude passed between us. In our short time together, we learned a little about each other’s lives and discovered a commonality in our values; our love of family and the meaningful essence of human connection that bonds us as family, one to another.

Liz Sorensen Wessel
Photo of Mount Rainier, taken from the plane

Days 50 & 51 - Mercy San Juan Medical Center - Healing Hospital Certified™

™FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Mercy San Juan Medical Center Certified as One of America’s Healing Hospitals™ By Nashville Foundation

Dateline Nashville: Erie Chapman Foundation, Nashville, Tennessee, has announced that Mercy San Juan Medical Center, Sacramento (part of the Dignity Health network) has been awarded Healing Hospital Certification™ (Bronze) for 2019. The recognition was announced January 31, 2020 at a special ceremony at the hospital.

According to Foundation President Erie Chapman, “Mercy San Juan has been recognized for successfully creating a culture of Radical Loving Care™ that emphasizes high competence and deep compassion by every caregiver. This medical center has made major improvements in three areas: clinical quality, patient satisfaction and continuing improvements in budget performance. This is a challenging trifecta. Congratulations to every caregiver on this wonderful accomplishment.”

Michael Korpiel, President of Mercy San JuanMedical Center said, “As part of a faith-based system we are thrilled by this recognition. Every one of our employees is a caregiver and thus credit goes to them for integrating loving care into the culture of this organization. We believe loving care is an essential part of the healing process.”

Laurie Harting, CEO of Dignity Health’s Sacramento Division, said, “Our entire system is about mission excellence and we are grateful that Mercy San Juan Medical Center has received this national recognition. Congratulations to Michael and his team.”

Erie Chapman Foundation is a charitable trust that supports Radical Loving Care™ in hospitals, hospices and in the arts. Hospitals are evaluated on a wide range of criteria including whether each caregiver can pass what the Foundation calls The Mother Test™. To pass, leaders must show that caregivers are delivering the loving support they would want for their mother.

Healing Hospital recognition has gone to a diverse range of hospitals including, The Cleveland Clinic, Parrish Medical Center, Bingham Memorial, Boston’s Beth Israel, Mercy Gilbert, Baptist-Saint Thomas Hospital & The Mayo Clinic.

About Dignity Health

Dignity Health, one of the nation’s largest health care systems, is a multi-state network of 10,000 physicians, more than 60,000 employees, 41 acute care hospitals, and 400-plus care-centers including neighborhood hospitals, urgent care, surgery and imaging centers, home health, and primary care clinics. Headquartered in San Francisco, Dignity Health is dedicated to providing compassionate, high-quality, and affordable patient-centered care with special attention to the poor and under served. In FY 2019, Dignity Health provided more than $1.1 billion in patient financial assistance, unreimbursed costs of Medicaid, community health improvement services, and other community benefits. For more information, please visit their  website at www.dignityhealth.org

Days 46-50 Culture-Changing Stories - Raising The Light

.  For thirty years the night staff exiting towards The Toledo Hospital parking lot could count on a morning ray of love.  In summer light or snowy darkness they regularly received a cheerful greeting from a unique fellow caregiver with a short body & a tall spirit.  

   As Martha Chapman walked towards the information desk to begin her day she would say a bright, "Good morning!" to every departing night-shifter.

   "It seemed to help," Martha told me. "But, one person always walked by with her head down. I greeted her anyway."

   Why send rays of kindness into indifferent shadows?

   "One cold morning the silent woman handed me a note & kept walking," my sister shared. "It said, 'I am so shy that I could never answer your greeting. You kindness every day always meant so much. Thank you.'"

   We underestimate our potential impact. For decades, Martha changed her hospital's culture by raising the light - not by being a doctor injecting 50 cubic centimeters of medicine but by improving everyone's brain chemistry with her thousand-megawatt smile (on display in this picture) & her loving presence. 

   Harried caregivers often say, "I haven't got time to give loving care." Help them by sharing this story.

   Martha's daily kindnesses illustrate what Radical Loving Care is all about. In precious moments each day her rays of love ignited hope in others - including one shy & grateful being. 

-Erie Chapman

Note: Martha just celebrated her birthday on February 15. 

Days 46-47 A Note to Self

Note: Guest Reflection by Chris Falley, esteemed colleague and friend.

           I sit here, with the most gorgeous sunset coming through the window in my office as I reflect on the day. It seems the earth has a rhythm in which she remembers after those moments of energy and busy-ness, it’s time for peaceful, beautiful, reflection. 

         One of the greatest gifts we can give another person is to listen to them.  Listening is truly an art and an act of love.  When others are speaking, it requires that they have our full attention so that we listen not just to the spoken words, but to the unspoken message as well.  When we feel listened to, really heard, we feel cared for, valued and like we matter. We matter to one another here ~ not a single one of us could do our work in the community without the others on our teams, both locally and throughout the healthcare system as we expand and create our larger “team.” And to listen we must let go of the busy-ness and settle in; and maybe some of our assumptions.

          In addition to really listening to one another, it is important that we listen to our inner self as well.  It is said there are three inner “whispers” that deserve our attention:  First are the whispers of the body.  The more “in our head” we are, the more we tend to ignore the whispers of our bodies, and forget the care it needs.  Second, there are whispers of the heart – of all the people we love and who love us.  Those whispers that sustain us and guide us and often provide us our true north. Third, there are whispers of the spirit – quiet whispers that comfort, heal, inspire and often sustain us during some of our most difficult times.  When we ignore these whispers, our lives are diminished. 

           Hopefully today you were able to be still for a moment...to begin to listen, really Listen.

 How “still” are you right now?  Are you able to hear the whispers of your body, your heart, your spirit? Did you recognize the human spirit in the last person you were listening to?

Written by Chris Falley

Days 40-45 - Hiding

   Last week, in the year of the Journal's 15th anniversary, I found myself (for the 1st time) unable to complete a column - either then or this week. I will return shortly.

   Meanwhile: Thank you Liz Wessel for your profound volunteer commitment each weekend. Thank you cousin Terry for contributing with columns of your own.

   I picked up David Whyte's Consolations (2015) & randomly opened to this chapter, "Hiding":

 

 

Days 38-39 Slow Me Down

Slow Me Down

Slow me down, Lord!
     Ease the pounding of my heart by the quieting of my mind.
     Steady my harried pace.
    With a vision of the eternal reach of time.

Give me,
     amidst the confusion of my day,
     the calmness of the everlasting hills.
     Break the tension of my nerves with the soothing music
     of singing streams that live in my memory.

     Help me to know
     the magical power of sleep. Teach me the art of taking
     minute vacations
     of slowing down
     to look at a flower,
     to chat with an old friend or make a
     new one;
     to pet a dog, to watch a spider build a web,
    to smile at a child, or to read a few lines from a good book.

     Remind me each day
     that the race is not always won by the swift;
     that there is more to life than increasing its speed.
     Let me look upward
     into the branches of the towering oak
     and know that it grew great and strong
    because it grew slowly and well.

     Slow me down, Lord
     and inspire me to send my own roots down deep
     into the soil of life's endearing values
     that I may travel toward the stars of my greater destiny.

Written by Orin L. Crain

Watercolor by Liz Wessel

Days 32-33 Our Stories

" God made man because he  loves stories." Elie Wiesel

In ancient times before the written word, familial lineage was passed on through the oral tradition. Spiritual wisdom is often transferred best through metaphors found in the magic of storytelling. The richness and depth of life experiences captivates our imagination in our yearnings towards life's great potential.

When we read a book, gaze at a painting or  watch a movie we discover a portal into another’s universe and for a time, we live in the interior world of the person who is sharing their story. We can feel, see, glimpse and touch upon a mutual vulnerability and intimacy. We enter into a sacred realm of human connection that elicits an infinite range of possibilities .

You won't want to miss this wonderful story (3-min video) by StoryCorps that beautifully illustrates the impact we can have on one another lives. I am astounded by how an act of kindness can have a unfathomable impact that travels far beyond our awareness.

https://storycorps.org/animation/the-treasures-of-mrs-gradys-library/

Think of the people who have informed your life, perhaps they were there for you in times of adversity, moments of joy and or sorrow... There are people who will speak your name as well, when they recall those defining moments in life and the difference you made in their life journey. Love expansiveness is not bound by time or space and is continuously unfolding in a glorious mystery.

I thank you for your presence in my life.

Liz Sorensen Wessel
Artwork by ~liz

Note: You can subscribe to StoryCorps and you be inspired by what you hear; stories of hope,  courage, triumphs, forgiveness, redemption and expressions of pure love. StoryCorps mission is to preserve and share humanity’s stories in order to build connections between people and create a more just and compassionate world. https://storycorps.org