Journal of Sacred Work

Cultivating Gratitude

I was listening to one of Tara Brach’s podcasts on cultivating gratitude this morning. I would like to share just a few pearls in what I heard. "There is an oft-quoted Taoist saying that every human life contains 10,000 joys and 10,000 sorrows."  It's human to suffer, to struggle with painful emotions like sadness, loneliness or anxiety. But it's also inherently human to experience positive feelings like joy, happiness and love. 

 

Brach shared this story told by a Great American historian journalist author James Agee. He recounts an experience during the Great Depression. He found the impoverished elderly woman in the hollows of Appalachia, and she was living in this tiny shack with dirt floors and no heat and no plumbing. So, he asked her, “What would you do if someone came along and gave you some money to help you out?” She was rocking in her chair and shook her head, and she said, “Well I guess I'd give it to the poor.”   

 

Brach offers this epiphany, “What’s so striking about this story is that within it is one of the greatest of the spiritual teachings- the teachings of awakening- which is for true happiness.  It's not about what's happening but how we are relating to it. So, we can be in any state but whether or not we're happy, whether or not we're feeling our hearts are open, it's going to depend on how we're relating to what's happening.”

 

It seems like the people who have the least are often the most generous, sharing what little they have and helping each other.

 

As we enter into this Holy season that is often filled with lots of activity. It is wise to be intentional about taking care not to get so caught up in the busyness that we miss the beauty, mystery and goodness that's available every day. Mindfulness practices can help keep us grounded and aware.

 

I enjoy taking my dog for walks in the neighborhood a couple times each day, He has become so accustomed to our walks that he comes and expectantly waits for me to stop working and get going. It is good for both of us and I find myself increasingly grateful for the nudges that he gives me, our companionship and experiencing and enjoying fresh air, sunshine and beautiful cloud formations depending on the day. An additional benefit is that I am feeling more at home in the nieghborhood, saying hi to people I've never met and engaging in waves, greetings and smiles. It has been lifting my spirit. The two St bernard dogs Abbie and Pugsly are huge furry teddy bears who love for us to stop and pet them. Chance would rather keep on going but he patiently standsby or gives a little yank on the leash to give me a cue.

 

With gratitude,

Liz

Artwork by ~liz

Does A Hospital Leader Matter?

     A month before I departed as CEO of Riverside Methodist Hospital (RMH) and OhioHealth, questions arose about new leadership. As a lame duck CEO, I was powerless to delay layoffs initiated despite the system's booming bottom line and sky-high morale.

    I asked a doctor his thoughts.

   "Not sure the leader matters that much, Erie," he said.

   Months later a colleague called, "Did you hear about Marcy?"

   "No, how is she?" I answered.

   A thirty-year veteran, Marcy Alton* (pictured) whose HR role was organizing events, was one of RMH's most well-loved employees. Her perpetual smile raised everyone's energy. 

   "She was fired," my friend reported.

   "What?" I said.

   "It gets worse. Several employees saw security escorting her to her car. Staff-cut," he said with disgust. "Every eliminated employee is escorted to their car."

   "If they treat Marcy like that, what about me?" staff wondered. Instead of saving money, the bottom line went down as did patient/employee satisfaction.   

   Culture determines behavior. Leaders determine culture. Only the board can remove them. Staff, including doctors, have no vote. 

   Sadly, this story returned eight years later. As I prepared to turn over the reins of Nashville's Baptist Hospital System** to a new President, a neonatologist saw my dismay.

   "Don't worry," she said. The leader doesn't make much difference."

   "What about workplace culture?" I asked

    She shrugged. And was wrong.

   Once again, my successor needlessly cut staff. Once again, satisfaction scores and finances tailed down. 

   Like it or not, every leader, like every parent, store owner, coach and President, impacts energy. Radical Loving Care^® matters. 

   We ignore that truth at our peril. 

-Erie Chapman

*Marcella "Marcy" Alton (1948-2020.) I told her story in 2021 and retell it today.

**Renamed St. Thomas Midtown

NOTE: Please support our mission of loving care via http://www.eriechapmanfoundation.net  or by check to Erie Chapman Foundation, 112 Dunham Springs Lane, Nashville. 

   

One Small Step

One Small Step is a StoryCorp Program that invites two people who are stangers with differing political views to come togehter for a conversation about their lives not their politics. The beauty of these encounters is that sthe conversations are about getting to know the person rather than by labeling someone. To really see the person beyond surface impressions. At the end of a 50 min conversation would be strangers are now friends. This is a wonderful example of planting seeds that will someday blossom. Seeds of healing for a nation that is in desperate need of reconcilation, forgiveness and finding a path towards unity.

I just love these two short (2 min) videos that reminds us of who we are and celebrates our humanity.  May we find our way home to each other.

 

Tell us what you think.

Shared by Liz Sorensen Wessel

Changing the Face of the Mountain

Once upon a time, in a remote, unfriendly village that clung to the side of a mountain, there lived an old woman whose habits seemed strange to her neighbors.  Since the harsh winters kept most villagers huddled near their fireplaces, they did not cultivate the art of hospitality, and rarely spoke to anyone outside their immediate families.

The mountainside, itself bleak and barren, beckoned no one toward its slopes, even in the less harsh seasons of the year.  Only the children ventured to climb, ever so stealthily, partway up its side; a daring feat that they were cautioned not to do by their parents.

During such furtive forays, they inevitably met the old woman.  Most of the time she was bending over, digging a little hole in the ground, and dropping a tiny something into it.  The braver children asked: “what are you doing, old woman?”  Her reply was always the same: “I am changing the face of the mountain.” 

The children grew into adulthood, and most left the village for the world of cities.  It came to pass, however, after several decades, one grown child returned to show her husband and children the harsh environment of her youth that she had often described to them.  She came back but she did not recognize it. 

The mountainside was ablaze with a dazzling array of colorful flowers gently swaying in the breeze.  Clusters of bushes and young trees lent their foliage as shade to the myriads of children and adults gathered along the base of the mountain.  All spoke to each other, laughed and played games.  Families and neighbors picnicked together.

The woman who had returned stopped one of the villagers to ask: “When did all of this come about?  What happened to the bleak and barren mountainside of my childhood?”  The villager replied: “Do you remember the strange old woman who lived here, the one who would wander up and down the mountainside?”  It was she who planted these seeds.  She went out every day, intent on her sowing; believing all the while the results would fruit.”

The woman did recall the image of this old and bent figure from her childhood.  At last, she understood the meaning of these words: “I am changing the face of the mountain.

 

This story was shared with me some years ago. However, this week it surfaced in my thoughts as a message that I needed to hear and reflect upon. May we plant seeds for the good of all. 

Artwork by my dear friend Diane Barrows

Shared by Liz Sorensen Wessel

 

Change or Revelation?

   Near the end of a long and unusual career, it is affirming when caregivers say, "Erie, you changed my life. You discovered a strength I didn't recognize."

   Today, I realized those two sentences signal very different processes. The first implies "changing" another. The second honors what was already there. 

   The second approach rings truest today.   

   Kirsten, my profoundly encouraging wife of 58 years, elicits my best. Her ability to expose my weaknesses highlights better paths. 

   The best aspects of parenting our children Tyler and Tia, honored their potential. Luckily, that offset some mistakes. 

   We are grateful rather than proud of them and the parents they became.  We did not change them. We encouraged. 

   Good leaders, like OhioHealth's first HR Senior VP Mark Evans, mirror good parenting. He focused his team's energy on strengths rather fault-finding. 

   For years, I have campaigned for leadership that catalyzes positive powers. This Journal contrasted this Presidential campaign's leadership styles as a learning for all leaders.

   In fact, this election taught a huge lesson I did not foresee. 

   President-elect Trump, the same leader who incited a mob to stop the Senate from certifying his loss, recognized that America's frustration was not a trickle but a raging river. He opened the floodgates for Americans, who were "mad as hell and wouldn't take it any more!"*

   Anger's energy can be converted for good. What Trump does with the immense resource of American's frustration is far more important than winning the election.

   Will he lead like President Theodore Roosevelt who saw the potential of America's natural resources and founded our national parks. Or, had he been President then, would Trump have envisioned the Grand Canyon as a real estate development?

   Will he change our lives by revealing our best, like Lincoln, or incite our worst like Jefferson Davis**? 

-Erie Chapman

Photo: National Park Service/M. Quinn

*Paraphrase from "Network" (1976) 

**President of the Confederacy

 

      

Blessed Are You

Blessed are you who see it all now.
The terrible, beautiful truth that our world,
our lives seem irreparably broken.

And you can’t unsee it.
The hungry kid. The exhausted mom.
The woman who wonders if any of this is worth it.
The loneliness and despair.

Blessed are you who glimpse reality and don’t turn away.
This kind of seeing comes at a steep cost,
and it is a cost you may not have paid intentionally,
but here you are.
Seeing things clearly.

Blessed are you who have worked hard
to keep your heart soft.
You who live with courage,
fixing what is in your reach,
praying about what is not,
and loving, still.

May you experience deeper capacity and glimpses of hope, as
you continue to see the world as it is.

Terrible. Beautiful. Fragile

~ Kate Bowler

Shared by Liz Sorensen Wessel

Charity Toward All, Revenge, or Bless Them, Change me?

I. "Bless them, change me"

   My friend, perfectly named Ed Goodrich, changed my life today. He knows my distress amid our national leadership crises and how it may impact caregivers.  

   "There's a four word phrase that could help," he said. "When insulted, pray: 'Bless them, change me.'" 

   Instantly, I felt better. No more saying "I'll pray for you." That sounds like I'm asking my God to change your "wrong" into my "right." Bless you. Change me. 

   Beware of political brain fog. Because we support Trump or Harris does mean we ARE either. 

II."With charity toward all"

Cursing fellow Americans while refusing to practice love can be deadly.

  "We are not enemies, but friends," our most admired President told 25,000. "We must not be enemies," he begged; passion may strain friendships, but, "it must not break our bonds of affection."

   Listen to "the better angels of [y]our nature," Abraham Lincoln implored.

   The crowd agreed and fatally failed to heed.

   It was March 4, 1861. Just thirty-nine days later, April 12, 1861, Confederate soldiers fired on Fort Sumter. Deafness to the new President's appeal triggered the most tragic display of homicidal idiocy in American history.

   March 4, 1865, precisely four years later, a victorious and heartbroken Lincoln, appealed once more to the best angels among his 40,000 listeners. Millions had died or suffered other unspeakable loss. Northerners wanted what men's darkest demons always seek: Revenge. 

   Lincoln, would have none of it. "With malice toward none, with charity for all" he told the startled crowd "...let us bind up the nation's wounds, care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan...do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace..."

  April 14, 1865 the calendar again tolled tragedy. Four years and two days after Rebels fired canon balls into Fort Sumter, a revenge-poisoned Rebel fired a single bullet into the head of our finest President.  Lincoln had joined the list of the Civil War dead.

III. "Ultimate and absolute revenge"?

  The same revenge-devil that poisoned Lincoln's assassin now darkens the voice of former President Trump. Increasingly over recent days he has repeatedly promised "ultimate and absolute revenge" against anyone, including Republicans, who opposed him. The list grows by the hour and now includes not just Harris and Pelosi but numerous former members of his own cabinet. A few days ago, he said former Republican Congressman Liz Cheney, should be "shot in the face" by a 9-person firing squad.  

   Will we choose a champion of "Charity toward all" or break "the bonds of affection" by choosing an advocate of violence by Americans against Americans?

   Yes. Trump remains a child of God. May God's blessing quiet hate from both sides, and change us. 

   Meanwhile, why wait for leaders to unite us? Regardless of party, why not heed the voices of our better angels?

-Reverend Erie Chapman, M.T.S., J.D.