There is a unique situation for Reiki practitioners, and in fact, for Complementary practitioners in general that exists this year. So many times I am asked, (and i am seeing courses put together to assist Reiki practitioners in this area) - "how do we approach conventional doctors and hospitals?"
So here are two topics to think about -
1) CMS - The Center for Medicare and Medicaid services, the government agency that pays conventional health care providers, and to some extent regulates them - has identified a concern ..... something that is a national priority to change ..... and it involves how patients who suffer from dementia are treated in nursing homes. This issue is huge, and in the next year every nursing home in America will need to be concerned about this issue....... patients with advancing dementia often suffer fears, agitation, hallucination and aberrant behaviors ..... it is sad and it is a major human challenge, as well as a professional one. What has been happening is that physicians, well intentioned, have been prescribing "psychotropic medications" - that is pills - to stop the behaviors. And what is a nurse to do? A patient suffers from dementia, and they get agitated, they holler out, sometimes they hit or bite or scratch someone else and because of their disease they can't be "reasoned with." What to do? And what has most often been done is to prescribe and give a medication.
Over the past few years evidence has piled up that many of the medications used have no "evidence basis" for use in these situations - that is - conventional physicians are supposed to be "evidence based" and they are using medications here for situations where studies do not clearly support the usage --- well --- of course there can be honorable differences of opinions and the manufacturers may believe studies support usage - but bottom line it has been found that often such medications are used in cases where the FDA judges the medication "ineffective." Since the aggregate costs of these medications nation wide run into the billions of tax dollars ...... this has caught CMS' attention (as in billions of dollars, no evidence of benefit). But what has really changed the playing field is recent data that in some cases these medications in the elderly actually are thought to shorten life....... and so in some cases the FDA has "black boxed" these usages .... that is ordered docs not to prescribe them in certain circumstances ....... and ...... well ...... they are still being used ........
While the evidence supporting the use of Reiki to calm agitated patients is not "certain" - and mostly "needs more study" ..... what is evident is that conventional nursing facilities will need to attempt "non pharmacologic methods" to calm agitated patients ...... and that Reiki is low cost and low side effect (whether effective or not - i tend to think it is effective) and is thus more "evidence supported" than products that are high cost, felt to be ineffective, and in some cases labeled by the FDA as "harmful."
AMDA, the professional organization representing doctors in "the long term care continuum" is actively encouraging (without support of any specific modality) trying non pharmacologic remedies for agitated dementia .......
So .... consider offering your services to nursing facilities in this area ...... facilities that are aware of the torrent of regulatory initiative in this area should welcome Complementary modalities such as Reiki ......
and
2) If you are approaching Hospitals ...... remember that Hospitals are now based upon "short term stays" .... in many states 4 days in the Hospital will be viewed as too long ...... and this is a dilemma as - while Reiki can be offered for pre op surgical patients ..... while in the hospital there isn't much time to get to know people.
Here is what is new : from Oct 1, 2012 Hospitals will be penalized financially by Medicare if patients are readmitted to the Hospital within 30 days of discharge ...... it is a major concern to almost every Hospital in the country.
Hospitals are looking for programs to assist patients who have gone home ...... to succeed at home ...... so.....if you are looking to offer a program more likely to catch a Hospital administrator's interest, consider a program that might meet patients once at the Hospital, but most importantly help them at home ...... one of Reiki's strongest values is reducing worry and anxiety ...... and patients with less worry and anxiety (all other things being equal) are less likely to need to return to an Emergency Room.
This posting is pretty limited ..... it doesn't have any Reiki wisdom, and it doesn't have the joy of getting together for sharing with other Reiki folks, but it does tell you two areas where huge tidal waves of change will be impacting on the conventional health care system. Understanding the challenges that are being faced, and being prepared to offer programs that help in areas of concern, may help open a door.
May your method and your compassion have a chance to help others and make a difference.
Thursday, July 19, 2012
Thursday, June 28, 2012
What is Reiki really?
I have been reading so many posts and emails lately that purport to argue what exactly is Reiki ..... there are so many differing "shiki" or methods .... which one's are really authentic?
Sometimes, Reiki is decribed as "enhanced" and sometimes it is described as exactly as taught by .........., sometimes it is "pure" and sometimes other modalities are added in ..... how do i know what is "right" or "correct?"
I have taken to explaining to groups of physicians - when i attempt to demonstrate Reiki that - there are many people more well trained than i am .... and that whatever method i use is simply a method that resonates for me .... it isn't the only method and i cannot even say it is the best method.
And sometimes in trying to understand what exactly i am doing, in adding Reiki as a complementary technique to care near the end of mortal life, where conventional medicine has failed to cure people, and i am still struggling to care for them, i am moved to realize that simply being present and being caring is important. And strangely we find that some techniques existed prior to Usui ..... and that while perhaps all Reiki comes from Usui not all that is useful exactly does ......
Recently i was in Alaska and visited a Heritage Museum ..... here are some native wisdoms that i found personally moving.
1 - Ten Universal Values - from the Alaska native knowledge network
Show Respect to others - each person has a special gift
Share what you have - giving makes you better
Know who you are - you are a reflection on your family
Accept what life brings - you cannot control many things
Have Patience - some things cannot be pushed
Live Carefully - what you do will come back to you
Take Care of Others - you cannot live without them
Honor your Elders - they show you the way in life
Pray for guidance - many things are not known
See Connections - all things are related
2. Michel Perrin wrote a book in 1976 about the Wayuu Indians and the Guajiro culture "Guajiro Myths and Symbols." He likely did not know of Usui or Takata. The Guajiro are one of the largest Indian ethnic groups in the lowlands of S America. He wrote, "reclining in their hammocks in the evening, a time that lends itself to the excavation of memories, men and women repeated the words of their ancestors. Day after day they became engrossed in painting a picture of the world they had created, the heritage they had received from their forebears, which to their sorrow, they dimly felt was in the process of disappearing. The originality of that world was immediately apparent in every one of those stories, which were the result of centuries of community life and shared thoughts."
3. At the Native Heritage Museum outside Anchorage, with Bear and Moose still wild in the land near the museum, there is a quote from Dolly Komakhuk, Inupiaq, White Mountain : "My grandmother was raised before there was any contact with the outside world. She taught me in the old traditional ways and those traditional ways are caring, sharing, and loving.... today it helps me to know who i am and where i stand."
When conventional science cannot help us, we have the right to seek human wisdom found not only in what we are taught exactly by a teacher, but in originality and stories that bring us to caring, sharing and loving. When we remember the Inupiaq, or the Guajiro, we enrich our own lives - which we are still living even with an incurable illness.
Takata told stories ..... whether they were precisely true or not, they remind us of ancient wisdoms that we can access. Do not worry and do not anger might also be said as pray for gudiance, many things are not known, see connections - all things are related. And for the Guajiro, the Pulowi of the seas and the Pulowi of the land still live. For the Inuit there is a magic mountain and they called it Denali, and for the Guajiro there is a magic mountain that still lives in spirit called Yaulama. Kurama seems to me not just a "physical place," but a magic mountain - when we keep the stories alive, it seems authentic to me.
Hopefully the stories that remind us of caring, and sharing and loving will not disappear - so that - when conventional methods fail us we can still be present and still heal when we cannot cure.....
Sometimes, Reiki is decribed as "enhanced" and sometimes it is described as exactly as taught by .........., sometimes it is "pure" and sometimes other modalities are added in ..... how do i know what is "right" or "correct?"
I have taken to explaining to groups of physicians - when i attempt to demonstrate Reiki that - there are many people more well trained than i am .... and that whatever method i use is simply a method that resonates for me .... it isn't the only method and i cannot even say it is the best method.
And sometimes in trying to understand what exactly i am doing, in adding Reiki as a complementary technique to care near the end of mortal life, where conventional medicine has failed to cure people, and i am still struggling to care for them, i am moved to realize that simply being present and being caring is important. And strangely we find that some techniques existed prior to Usui ..... and that while perhaps all Reiki comes from Usui not all that is useful exactly does ......
Recently i was in Alaska and visited a Heritage Museum ..... here are some native wisdoms that i found personally moving.
1 - Ten Universal Values - from the Alaska native knowledge network
Show Respect to others - each person has a special gift
Share what you have - giving makes you better
Know who you are - you are a reflection on your family
Accept what life brings - you cannot control many things
Have Patience - some things cannot be pushed
Live Carefully - what you do will come back to you
Take Care of Others - you cannot live without them
Honor your Elders - they show you the way in life
Pray for guidance - many things are not known
See Connections - all things are related
2. Michel Perrin wrote a book in 1976 about the Wayuu Indians and the Guajiro culture "Guajiro Myths and Symbols." He likely did not know of Usui or Takata. The Guajiro are one of the largest Indian ethnic groups in the lowlands of S America. He wrote, "reclining in their hammocks in the evening, a time that lends itself to the excavation of memories, men and women repeated the words of their ancestors. Day after day they became engrossed in painting a picture of the world they had created, the heritage they had received from their forebears, which to their sorrow, they dimly felt was in the process of disappearing. The originality of that world was immediately apparent in every one of those stories, which were the result of centuries of community life and shared thoughts."
3. At the Native Heritage Museum outside Anchorage, with Bear and Moose still wild in the land near the museum, there is a quote from Dolly Komakhuk, Inupiaq, White Mountain : "My grandmother was raised before there was any contact with the outside world. She taught me in the old traditional ways and those traditional ways are caring, sharing, and loving.... today it helps me to know who i am and where i stand."
When conventional science cannot help us, we have the right to seek human wisdom found not only in what we are taught exactly by a teacher, but in originality and stories that bring us to caring, sharing and loving. When we remember the Inupiaq, or the Guajiro, we enrich our own lives - which we are still living even with an incurable illness.
Takata told stories ..... whether they were precisely true or not, they remind us of ancient wisdoms that we can access. Do not worry and do not anger might also be said as pray for gudiance, many things are not known, see connections - all things are related. And for the Guajiro, the Pulowi of the seas and the Pulowi of the land still live. For the Inuit there is a magic mountain and they called it Denali, and for the Guajiro there is a magic mountain that still lives in spirit called Yaulama. Kurama seems to me not just a "physical place," but a magic mountain - when we keep the stories alive, it seems authentic to me.
Hopefully the stories that remind us of caring, and sharing and loving will not disappear - so that - when conventional methods fail us we can still be present and still heal when we cannot cure.....
Tuesday, June 5, 2012
Hope in Hospice
It has been 6 weeks since my Mom passed away, and I continue to reflect as I continue my own work in end of life care. We continue in American health care to leave patients and families difficult choices between transitions that are calm and compassionate, and those that are infused with aggressive futile care and "fighting for someone." The "fighting for" mantra - "I will fight for you" (and make your body and life a virtual battleground rather than a place of calm approaching a natural event) cdrtainly makes sense in those cases where a reasonable possibility of success (not even to say "cure") might occur ......
And so I want to relate two cases i have seen in the past month ..... these cases are in fact not so "rare" - we see about 100 new cases on our symptom management unit, some just for stabilization and symptom management, but many with death felt by highly trained and experienced hospitalists to be inevitable .....and about one case in every hundred really surprises us ...... so that with each family who asks me "how long" I always add the proviso that I believe there is a "higher power" who often makes fools of doctors, and that, our Hospice unit is the one place in the Hospital where doctors can "hope to be wrong."
A patient came to see me recently who was not responsive in any way suffering from a glioblastoma multiforme, an aggressive brain tumor. He was also suffering the ravages of aggressive chemo and radiation therapy .....and he was thought to be "imminent." We made as we often do some minor medication adjustments - in our unit we never really try to shorten or lengthen life, simply to seek "palliation" - this might include readjusting anti-convulsant medications and other sedatives and slightly increasing medication that can temporarily reduce the edema surrounding the cancer (and the brain irritation from the "battle" fought by the chemo and radiation agents....) ....... this patient slowly woke up ...... we dared to try to feed him and he ate ...... and when safe we got him up in a chair....... and he ended up leaving our Hospice unit - a place some say is a place to die, for a Skilled Nursing Facility.
To be sure he isn't "cured" whatever extra time he has is likely short. We make no claims of cure ..... only that we used what limited conventional skills we had to stabilize medications and turned a "battle for his life" into a place of calm where he had the opportunity to live.
A few days ago another patient came in for a taper of levofed, a "pressor" agent. This is a medication that ICU's tend to use to stabilize blood pressure when it is too low and there is a sense of desperation. The patients family entered into vigil and the medication was tapered away ..... and indeed the blood pressure was very very low..... some would say "incompatible with life" but the patient was awake and comfortable and talking with the family.
Again ..... no cure ..... nothing magic ..... no huge claims ..... simply exchanging a sense of crisis and running around in circles with a place of calm, a place to live the time one has - and sometimes - for reasons we do not understand .....with calm and serenity and support human beings sometimes live longer than we doctors can imagine possible.
I am acutely aware that this journey is more difficult as a son than as a doctor ....and having been through it in a personal way, it never will be quite the same for me as a professional. I do know in some ways what families are going through (though - each personal journey is different and unique).
If I were to offer one reflection it is that giving up on futile aggressive medical intervention that is obviously not working, does not mean giving up on "hope" ........and that on an evidence basis we do not know what lies beyond death. It seems that most Americans believe in some spirit beyond the physical form, some studies suggest 90-95% and it would seem odd that absent any "evidence based" way of testing that "science" would think it could claim "hope" to be its domain, or to deny the deeply felt beliefs of most people.
It might seem - that absent the ability to prove or disprove a "hypothesis," evidence based practitioners might not undercut "hope" that emanates from simple human faith, and assist in doing what we can to provide calm and compassion, where sometimes for reasons that astound us "miracles seem to happen."
And so I want to relate two cases i have seen in the past month ..... these cases are in fact not so "rare" - we see about 100 new cases on our symptom management unit, some just for stabilization and symptom management, but many with death felt by highly trained and experienced hospitalists to be inevitable .....and about one case in every hundred really surprises us ...... so that with each family who asks me "how long" I always add the proviso that I believe there is a "higher power" who often makes fools of doctors, and that, our Hospice unit is the one place in the Hospital where doctors can "hope to be wrong."
A patient came to see me recently who was not responsive in any way suffering from a glioblastoma multiforme, an aggressive brain tumor. He was also suffering the ravages of aggressive chemo and radiation therapy .....and he was thought to be "imminent." We made as we often do some minor medication adjustments - in our unit we never really try to shorten or lengthen life, simply to seek "palliation" - this might include readjusting anti-convulsant medications and other sedatives and slightly increasing medication that can temporarily reduce the edema surrounding the cancer (and the brain irritation from the "battle" fought by the chemo and radiation agents....) ....... this patient slowly woke up ...... we dared to try to feed him and he ate ...... and when safe we got him up in a chair....... and he ended up leaving our Hospice unit - a place some say is a place to die, for a Skilled Nursing Facility.
To be sure he isn't "cured" whatever extra time he has is likely short. We make no claims of cure ..... only that we used what limited conventional skills we had to stabilize medications and turned a "battle for his life" into a place of calm where he had the opportunity to live.
A few days ago another patient came in for a taper of levofed, a "pressor" agent. This is a medication that ICU's tend to use to stabilize blood pressure when it is too low and there is a sense of desperation. The patients family entered into vigil and the medication was tapered away ..... and indeed the blood pressure was very very low..... some would say "incompatible with life" but the patient was awake and comfortable and talking with the family.
Again ..... no cure ..... nothing magic ..... no huge claims ..... simply exchanging a sense of crisis and running around in circles with a place of calm, a place to live the time one has - and sometimes - for reasons we do not understand .....with calm and serenity and support human beings sometimes live longer than we doctors can imagine possible.
I am acutely aware that this journey is more difficult as a son than as a doctor ....and having been through it in a personal way, it never will be quite the same for me as a professional. I do know in some ways what families are going through (though - each personal journey is different and unique).
If I were to offer one reflection it is that giving up on futile aggressive medical intervention that is obviously not working, does not mean giving up on "hope" ........and that on an evidence basis we do not know what lies beyond death. It seems that most Americans believe in some spirit beyond the physical form, some studies suggest 90-95% and it would seem odd that absent any "evidence based" way of testing that "science" would think it could claim "hope" to be its domain, or to deny the deeply felt beliefs of most people.
It might seem - that absent the ability to prove or disprove a "hypothesis," evidence based practitioners might not undercut "hope" that emanates from simple human faith, and assist in doing what we can to provide calm and compassion, where sometimes for reasons that astound us "miracles seem to happen."
Saturday, May 5, 2012
Only Forever
Tow weeks ago, my Mom passed away pretty suddenly, she was 91. The two qualities that really defined her were her willingness to reach out and help other people, and her tenacious desire to be independent.
She had been battling rheumatoid arthritis for quite a few years, and though sometimes a challenge, i viewed my responsibility as to assist her in living as she wished., not as i thought "safest."
And things went well till late Wed evening when we had to call 911. She made it to the ER but was in "medical terms" desatting, simply put, short of breath from a cardiac event.
The ER offered to put her on life support and she said, "no, its time for me to join your father" (my Dad transitioned in 1986). I asked her to consider allowing me some leeway on her advance directives, and she did allow the doctors to do some treatments.
It is interesting that in Hospice we so often talk about families "not on the hospice page," and i found myself thinking that sometimes, people rebound from cardiac events and maybe we could get to "rehab."
But two days later things had declined and she couldn't eat or talk very much, since when she took the oxygen mask off she got short of breath. We talked with the Hospitalist and Hospice doctor about options, "Mom you can make it to rehab if you wear the mask all the time" and she said "no, i want hospice." Both doctors thought this was best.
We moved to the Hospice unit after my Mom signed her own papers. She was mentally clear, and she was giving me a whole slew of instructions, who to call, where things were, what to do, but mostly she was talking about joining my Dad.
She got a little bit of medication to be sure she was comfortable, and we were surrounded by my Team, so different for me not being the doctor in charge, just being family .....
Lauren helped her take her mask off, she didn't want to wear it anymore, and i just held her hand. It was so calm and peaceful. She passed unconscious after awhile and we all just waited ..... and at one point spirit moved me to kiss her forehead and say to her, "Mom, Dad's waited long enough, you can go now." I could in a spirit way, feel his presence, its hard to explain that in words.
She took a huge deep breath, let it out and she was gone ......
She never seemed to suffer. It was tranquil and peaceful. And we can still perceive the gifts from people who love us...... only forever.
Saturday, March 31, 2012
The soft voice in the lotus
For people who come to my Hospice unit, they are not without Hope, but they have been failed by conventional science. And for each and every one we seek to find the strength that they have within them .... for some it is family, and community, and their organized religion, but for others they are alone, and conventional ritual doesn't resonate for them. After all .... when I enter each room, it is not about me, but about the person i am trying to help.
A Reiki friend wrote that "in spite of the best efforts to stamp it out, the voice of the compassionate elemental still whispers in the ears of our collective consciousness."
What do we mean by "compassionate elemental?" We were trying to seek not that quality which is represented by a "word" or "name" but the underlying quality that each culture is seeking to grasp, understand and name. For while concepts like "God" or "Ki" may translate language to language, culture to culture, human beings using these words are enmeshed within their own cultures concepts of the word ...... they are seeking something common, but they know they are referring to something slightly different.
This concept of syncretizing" is commonly discussed ....for example in Japan, there were Maria-Kannon statues during a time of persecution of Christians, the statue representing to some the Goddess of Compassion widespread in Buddhist Japan, yet at the same time to the adherent representing Mary, the mother of Jesus. And in the same way, as Christianity was sustained in a hidden way in Japan, throughout Africa, and Central and South America the Goddesses of the communities were suppressed in favor of Mary, but within the churches of communities adherents knew that the statue of the Mother of Jesus for them was Tonantzin, or Yemaya or other Goddesses, unknown perhaps by some - but revered by tens of thousands of adherents, even after generations of suppression.
Buddhism, Christianity, Islam, and Judaism all embody a concept of God, compassionate, gracious, and merciful. And yet what sometimes would seem so simple can seem so difficult, being kind and compassionate to others, especially those whose words for describing that which we hold most dear are different.
So what we need to seek sometimes is something deeper than simply clarity, or compassion, or peace of mind, but a mindfulness that leads to peace of spirit. A quiet place inside ourselves where all universes meet...."for the whole universe is him and he dwells within our hearts."
www.lotusheart.us/index.html
So we can .... keep in mind all our science and conventional knowledge, and at the same time, listen to that quiet voice that has not given up trying to reach us. It urges us when we have the honor to care for anyone, to approach them from "their own place." And in a time when they are the most fragile, assist them in using the voice they hold most dear. It places us beyond compassion, in a place of tranquility....
Saturday, March 10, 2012
a mission from the heart
From the Long Term Care Medicine 2012 meeting in San Antonio, AMDA dedicated to Long Term Care Medicine, "A Mission from the Heart."Two years ago, and again last year, we presented sessions asking physicians to have open minds and open hearts, and to open dialogue regarding complementary medicine. Both of the past two years we had 35-40 attendees in what are known as "concurrent sessions." But this year, our session on Pain Management: Pharmacologic and non Pharmacologic drew nearly 200 attendees and our session room was closed due to capacity 10 minutes prior to our session.
The weight of evidence is compelling many physicians to express interest - and one of the most moving parts of the day is having some physicians publicly and some privately, acknowledge their own experiences and interests.
My colleagues for this session were Dr Michael Gloth, who teaches at Johns Hopkins Medical School and Dr Chuck Crecelius, a past president of AMDA and chair of our public policy committee. Neither of my colleagues themselves practice complementary techniques, but they were supportive of having open minds and open hearts, and I am grateful to them for supporting this dialogue.
The program committee also permitted me to do a one hour session demonstrating techniques from a perspective of Komyo Reiki Kai. I was careful to be supportive of all styles of Reiki, but wanted to use Komyo at this session for its simplicity, its motto "Go placidly in praise and blame" and its use of Hatsurei Ho as a Shoden technique. There was no thought of teaching a "level" of doing any Reiju in this setting today, but there was an intention of allowing physicians to feel Reiki energy, and to learn a few limited Reiki tools for self mindfulness. Our Keynote Speaker, Dr. Robert Wicks had set a tone by stating that physicians can share a sense of their own peace with others. He stressed the "necessity of appreciating the building blocks of mindfulness," and i was seeking to provide some simple tools - for use only on oneself.
What i was able to demonstrate is the Gokai, the 5 principles of Reiki, breathing, Gassho, and I was able to take 50 physicians through the elements of Hatsurei Ho as described in the Komyo Style, Sitting, Mokunen, Kenyoku, Joshin Kokyu Ho, Seishin Toitsu, and Mokunen.
Perhaps the ripples from this will include some physicians being more open to work with Reiki practitioners, perhaps a few physicians will seek a Reiki teacher - at the least I believe there will be more discussion - and hopefully more open minds and more open hearts.
My colleagues still know me as a conventional evidence based physician, I have been fairly clear that there are Reiki practitioners and teachers far more knowledgeable about Reiki than myself - and that my mission in the sessions was to share my own practice experience, and to encourage dialogue for our patients.
Sunday, February 12, 2012
Stories....
One thing that has been important in the Hospice movement since the very beginning, is stories. We see moments of caring, heroism, courage and love ..... and in sharing the stories we make them continue to grow. People that we knew, in a way departed, but in a way living on in our memories of their courage and faith, and having their spirit spread by ripples of word of mouth - resonating from soul to soul.
One of my nurses attended a funeral last week - it is not uncommon in hospice, nurses can become a part of precious moments, and sometimes being present is not a simple action of supporting a family in bereavement, but a part of our own closure..... we learn we can at the same time maintain professional boundaries but also let ourselves care, i refer to it as having boundaries but breaking down barriers..... (or sometimes "taking off the white coat.")
She brought me a copy of words from the memorial service, and here was a paragraph, quoting a song "If I could have another dance" by Everett Badmarsh......
"do not mourn the flower as the fruit grows on the tree,
Do not mourn the crested wave returning to the sea,
Do not mourn the starlight at the first glow of the dawn,
Though I might leave, I'm never gone."
The wonderful Buddhist teacher Thich Nhat Hanh teaches that "death ....is the moment when we can feel much regret." At the same time, death can be a time of "happiness and peace." "As soon as we begin to practice the mindfulness trainings, .....we have happiness right in this life, and we do not have to wait for the moment of death.....then we shall know the happiness.....and shall have nothing to regret."
I had some months back the honor to care for a physician colleague in the last weeks of his life. He came to us expecting to be gone in a day, or two at the most, and lived more than 8 weeks. It was .....while not far away or in an exotic place or in a time of war or turmoil - an incredible "profile in courage." No - we do not need to go "over the mountains or across the seas" to see humanity, and caring and courage in the face of suffering .....what he said many times was that, "in hospice we treated him like family." And so many patients express this to us - they know we cannot cure them, but they want to feel that we care. And i have heard it over and over, "I'm not dead yet, i know you can't cure me but i want people to treat me like I'm still here."
Moments that we have can be golden moments, being present, just present, for a life review can be an act of significant caring.
I was speaking with a person recently who has lost a loved one, had actually been present, and told me that it was "the first time" that she had been present at the moment of death ..... and we in hospice are here day after day, in a place that becomes familiar for us ....,never ever mundane, always a sacred place of awe, always an honor to be present, but even when we cannot cure we can assist as a guide - each journey is new, each different, but we have traveled on this river before.
And so - for those of us not able to be Masters or Teachers, but wanting to make a difference, this is what we can do ....
if we cannot embody wisdom and compassion we can hope to accept from a greater power, just a little bit and to use it just for the moment, just for today....
if we cannot hope to end the suffering of all beings, let us strive to reduce the suffering of just one being, if we cannot remove it completely to just reduce that suffering just for the moment, just for today
if we cannot find perfect wisdom, let us hope to be wise enough to work together in a common cause for our patients
if we cannot have perfect faith then let us strive to act to serve the spirit we hope is present, even though we do not have perfect knowledge
if we cannot learn enough to be a teacher than let us continue the journey as students
And share the stories ........today
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