Journal of Sacred Work

It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye.  – from The Little Prince by Antoine de St. Exupery   

In Antoine de St. Exupery’s charming and now eternal story, a little prince goes searching strange lands (click on this illustration from the book). Toward the end of the story, he is advised by a wise fox that one can only see the truth with the heart.

     In a world of health care governed, today, so powerfully by measurement-oriented science, how can we learn to attend to our belief in that which is "invisible to the eye?"  How can we listen more closely to the news from our hearts?

     One way for us to do this is to begin asking questions that plumb the depths of our priorities. What are the days that stand out most in your life? What are the moments that are etched so vividly in your memory that you find yourself calling them up in exact detail as if they happened yesterday? 

     For some, there are the obvious things – births, deaths, weddings, national disasters like 911 or, if you’re old enough, the Kennedy or King assassinations.

     And what of the other days? What about the thousands of days you have lived for which you have no real recollection? Do you remember your 23^rd birthday or the day after it? Do you remember how you passed the twenty-four hours you lived, say, two months ago or two weeks ago? 

     If we’re healthy and have held the same job for a long time, our days may become matter of fact experiences – parts of them lived so automatically and unthinkingly that they become like the drive to work. We see but don’t notice. We hear but don’t listen.

   That’s not how days feel to patients with life-threatening illnesses who live now in hospices, hospitals and nursing homes. One of the first things the dying emphasize is the precious quality of each day – how they notice the minutes. How they rise and watch the dawn, how they dwell in the aroma of roses sent by friends. For these beings, the news from the heart is all that matters.

   What the devil is wrong with the rest of us? Does it require the imminent threat of our own death for us to finally become present to our own lives?

   I want to urge you to acquire The Journal Habit. Read the Journal every day because we all need reminders from our hearts. Read the Journal as a way of reawakening your own wisdom. Confucius advised, "Wheresoever you go, go with all your heart." Yet so many of us live away from the truth of our hearts, fearful of being hurt, or unsure of the power this lies within each of us.

   The five or ten minutes you may spend each day reading the Journal and, hopefully, keeping your own journal, are a marvelous way to learn presence to the day and to your life. Find more time for this, for if you do, your life will be enriched. This kind of journaling is not just about recording the news of what you did that day – your trip to the store, what you had for dinner, the temperature. It’s about the news of your heart and what you are learning about your loves, your joys, your sorrows. In other words, the crucial yet invisible truths of your life.

   The Bible records turning point moments in the lives of saints, prophets and other luminous figures. Paul’s illumination on his trip to Damascus; Moses trip down from Mt.Sinai with the Ten Commandments; the miracle of Christ’s birth, death and resurrection. Other books of faith record turning point moments in the history of the spirit.

   What about we ordinary people? What are the epiphanies that mark our lives and call us to remember that we lived a certain day in a certain way? Epiphanies come to those whose hearts are open to them.

   The art of living is exactly that – an art. It requires attention, education and, most of all, exquisite presence. Don’t let the news on television interfere with your attention to the news of your own life. We each have the chance to remember this very day by how we live it and what we chose to remember in our writing. The way we live this day can enrich the lives of other and ourselves and provide nourishment for our ddays and nights..

   Or, of course, we can wander thought the day semi-conscious and, a week from now, realize that this was a lost day piled on a heap of other forgotten hours.

  To help yourself with the Journal habit, bookmark: www.journalofsacredwork.typepad.com.

   What is the most important thing you will do on this day (or have done already?) How will it enrich the life of another? The choice is in your hands – each moment of your days. What is the news from your heart right now? Write this news in your journal so you may watch, reflect, and grow as a caregiver and as a person.