It may be the bias of a grandfather speaking, but I see a certain transcendence in the image at left. Nine weeks into this life, little Sonia still holds the sense of beauty and wonderment that only infants seem to possess.
We have been talking this week about beauty in the ordinary. Perhaps today is an opportunity to share more of your experiences as a caregiver. What beauty do you see each day in your work?
February 29 is also a Leap Year day. An extra day that gives us a chance to contemplate what it means to have a single day in our lives; a day that can be filled with the sacred.
Click on ‘Comments,’ below, to offer your reflections…
Thank you.
Journal of Sacred Work
Caregivers have superpowers! Radical Loving Care illuminates the divine truth that caregiving is not just a job. It is Sacred Work.
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9 responses to “Day 60-62 – Transcendence”
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Yesterday I attended a conference where much of the day was spent learning about diversity. It was very interesting and I am glad I attended. What we as caregivers can bring to our patients evryday is acceptance. That is beauty I see each day at work.
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I misspelled the word everyday. Sorry.
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Erie, your comment about your bias as a grandfather reminded me of a conversation with my father this week. I was speaking of my dog’s (Wendy) beauty and wanting to capture it in a painting of her. He responded that all mothers think their children are beautiful.
Lorilee, I think you are absolutely right about the beauty of acceptance.
When I think of experiences of the sacred from the every day in work, I keep thinking of one image in particular. It is the image of a co-worker in my previous job sitting at the feet of a young man. He had a serious health condition and he was losing his health care coverage. The setting was a state office building just prior to a hearing about his health care coverage. The rest of us were sitting in chairs as we talked to people, with our pen and pad of paper props. This co-worker sat at this young man’s feet, no props, and looked up to him as she spoke with him.
She sat at his feet and looked up to him.LikeLike
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I still see that look on my daughters’ faces when they are sleeping. The worries of exams and breakouts fall away when they rest. I love the ages they are, but miss the innocence of their infancy.
Sacredness is found in the soft slope of their necks, where hair has protected soft skin from the harsh sun. Pink spots and the subtle fragrance of babyhood remain there, marking them still as a perfect creation.LikeLike
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When I look at the photo of little Sonia my heart melts with a sigh. Yes, I agree, it all comes down to acceptance. I feel inspired by the beautiful sharing my fellow Journal companions.
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I am no longer in a position in which I have direct patient contact. Recently however, a patient arrived at our office and requested that a nurse change her lower leg dressings because the bandages were too tight and causing her terrible pain. The manager came to speak to the patient and explained this was not a patient care area and that she would have to leave and schedule an appointment with a nurse. The patient refused to leave before someone loosened the painful dressings. The situation began to escalate and I could see that the manager and patient were at a stalemate. I stepped in and offered to help with the dressings. I suggested we go to a quiet area where she could sit down. She was very overweight and her legs were terribly swollen and huge in size. It took a very long time for her to walk with her walker to a place where I could loosen her dressings. I went to get supplies and an HR representative came to caution me about safety liabilities, I decided to override her concern and told her, “This is the right thing to do.” I listened to this woman talk about her difficult situation and lack of support systems. Her legs were weeping fluid and she apologized for the bad smell. I told her not to worry. I told her as kindly as I could that, her legs were in very bad shape and that she needed to be in a facility, where she could receive proper care. She listened and seemed to understand. She was greatly relieved to have her dressings loosened and I was happy to relieve her discomfort. When we were done, I walked with her very slowly out to her car. Once outside, we had to maneuver down three steps with her walker and there were no handrails. I was very nervous that she might fall. Just then, a therapist happened to walk up and stopped to see if we could use some assistance. (Whew!) We made it safely to her car. We chatted about an interesting book I noticed on her car seat. This all took about an hour. I returned to my desk feeling good about the outcome. The patient was very appreciative; I averted a disaster, saved the manager time and frustration, and assumed problem-solving responsibility. I thought it was a win-win for all involved. However, to my dismay the co-workers involved were angry. I guess it was perceived that I had undermined their authority; it seemed to me like a control issue. They saw a “non-compliant patient” I saw a woman trying to live life despite horrific challenges. In the end, I still know I did the right thing. On a positive note, my bossed affirmed my decision.
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There is beauty in the workplace – and outdoors. I know, it’s a small comment, but given that we spend so much of our busy, challenging day in the workplace, you know the feeling of peace when you step outside. If only to run an errand, take a break to let the sun kiss your face, grab lunch, or at the end of the day.
I am grateful to have a chance to be here AND to be with those who I respect and have true relationships with – if only five days a week. I can’t tell you how much beauty there is in my workplace. There is kindness, wisdom, inspiration, forgiveness (which I seem to need often) and fellowship with others who believe in what they do and WHO they really work for = our patients.
A little wordy here, but I mean every word I say. There is a sense of dignity and love (Sacred Encounter) when you recognize where to find all the good things in your work day.LikeLike
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I just learned this morning that writer/poet/spiritual teacher, John O’Donahue died in his sleep on Jan 8, 2008, an untimely death at age 52. In his memory I share these beautiful thoughts that he put to pen.
“It is strange to be here. The mystery never leaves you alone. Behind your image, below your words, above your thoughts, the silence of another world waits. A world lives within you. No one else can bring you news of this inner world. Through the opening of the mouth, we bring out sounds from the mountain beneath the soul. These sounds are words. The world is full of words. There are so many talking all the time, loudly, quietly, in rooms, on streets, on television, on radio, in the paper, in books. The noise of words keeps what we call the world there for us. We take each other’s sounds and make patterns, predictions, benedictions, and blasphemies. Each day, our tribe of language holds what we call the world together. Yet the uttering of the word reveals how each of us relentlessly creates. Everyone is an artist. Each person brings sound out of silence and coaxes the invisible to become visible.” John O’DonahueLikeLike
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Words to grace this Sunday morning.
This is the title of the last chapter of John O’Donohue’s book Beauty: The Invisible Embrace:
God is Beauty
“The heart is where the nature, feeling and intimacy of a life dwell, and without heart the world grows suddenly cold. In its desire for beauty, it reaches toward the beyond. This poignant desire for beauty suggests that beauty is the homeland of the heart…. When God created [the heart], it was fashioned for an eternal kinship with beauty; God knew that the human heart would always be wedded to him in desire; for the other name of God is beauty. The heart is the tabernacle of divine beauty. St John of the cross puts this poetically:
I did not have to ask my heart what it wanted
Because of all the desires I have ever known,
Just one did I cling to
For it was the essence of all desire:
To know beauty.LikeLike
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