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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Former President & CEO of multiple hospital systems and founding president & CEO of 20-hospital OhioHealth, best selling author, film artist, ordained minister, composer, published poet, syndicated T.V. host, trial attorney, federal prosecutor and Municipal Court Judge. Erie is internationally known as the founder of the Radical Loving Care(R)movement. He also heads Erie Chapman Foundation, Dane Dakota Productions, LLC, and Chapman Health International, Inc.

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Days 231 & 232 – Your Favorite Quote

August 18, 2008

We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.
– Aristotle (382-322 B.C.E)

The above line is listed as the greatest quote of all time (101 Greatest Inspirational Quotes from Quoteleaf.) It wouldn’t be my first choice. My life-changing line is the three-word description of God by Saint John: "God is love." When I discovered that line, it altered the way I think about God…and life.
But this essay is not really about the greatest quote. It’s about the impact the great language of others has in your life. Someone sends you a card with the line, "Don’t let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do," (Coach John Wooden) and I ask you, How do lines like these change your life, if at all?…

The truth is, our patterns of thinking are so deeply ingrained that it
takes a traumatic or euphoric event to change our lives to a different channel.
Saul walks the rode to Damascus and, hearing the voice of God through a
vision, changes the very direction of his life (and ours) and becomes Saint Paul.
An alcoholic awakens in jail. Even though he’s been there before, he
arises this morning into a sunlight that moves his life in an entirely
new direction. Perhaps he is inspired by the life of Bill W (Founder of
Alcoholics Anonymous.) Or perhaps he is simply moved by the poignancy
of his personal tragedy. In any case, he makes a life altering decision.
What, if any, are quotes from others that have had a meaningful impact in your life?

-Erie Chapman

Posted in Meditations

7 responses to “Days 231 & 232 – Your Favorite Quote”

Diana Gallaher

August 18, 2008

“If you do away with the yoke, the clenched fist, the wicked word, if you give your bread to the hungry, and relief to the oppressed, your light will rise in the darkness and your shadows become like noon.” Isaiah 58:9-10.
In my early to mid thirties, the words from the Ash Wednesday liturgy were placed on my heart. I don’t know how else to say it. It was one of the defining moments for me in my journey. At the time I was employed as an engineer for a defense contractor.

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MFM

August 18, 2008

By the age of 22, I had married my childhood sweetheart, had a nine month old son and just discovered that my best friend and husband were having an affair. To say the least I was devastated. In Erie’s words, this was my channel changing moment. It challenged me to discover who I was and forced me to find my strengths and beliefs very quickly.
One day my mom gave me a card from a lady at her work Colleen, someone I had never met. She simply wrote inside the card, “Hang in there, you are not alone” she also placed a business size inspirational card that read “God’s will, nothing more, nothing less, nothing else” and on the back she wrote “Something you must never forget”…. I have never forgotten!
Annie the Christian counselor told me “God only gives you as much as you can handle” I still recite those words when the going gets tough and often joke God has me confused with someone else as I can’t handle anymore……I am always proven wrong! I am thankful for the times in my life when I have had to change the channel, for as hard as they may be, they always mean growth!

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Yvonne Ginez-Gonzales

August 18, 2008

I recently shared a reflection with a lovely group of people at St. Joseph’s Home Health called “The Echo of Life” during my last clinical presentation. It is the last sentence or quote that has often resonated with me that I try to share it with others whenever I can. I believe in its simplicity and feel that it was one of my guiding motivators going through graduate school. I believe that the people I encounter in life are also not of coincidence but because our paths were meant to cross.
“YOUR LIFE IS NOT A COINCIDENCE. IT’S A REFLECTION OF YOU!” ~Anonymous

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~liz Wessel

August 19, 2008

This meditation could go on into infinity for there are so many wonderful quotes to share. Yet, if I consider how best to Love my life away these are primary.
“Live Love, Not Fear.” Erie Chapman
“We must do small things for one another with great Love.” ~Mother Teresa
“For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink. I was a stranger and you welcomed me, naked and you clothed me. I was ill and you comforted me, in prison and you came to visit me.” His disciples asked, “Lord, when did we do this for you?” “I assure you, as often as you did it for one of my least brothers, you did it for me.” The gospel according to Mathew:25.
To Love without discrimination, or expectation of some reward; to Love without judgment of the gift received; to Love life with acceptance as is rather than how I imagine or want it to be, to keep my heart open and give up my ego’s need to control. These are the lessons that Love has to teach me. These are the lessons I struggle with, but if Love is the only thing that matters, then it is worth all efforts. And Love responds, “Choose me, you can never lose who you are in Me.”
As always, I am grateful for this opportunity to share from my heart. The only truth I know is Love.

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Carolyn Olney

August 19, 2008

thanks for this reflection. Fortunately, John Wooden is still with us- he is 97 years old. He recently spoke with Vin Scully (Dodger announcer) on some of their life learnings, to benefit the Mattel Children’s Hospital at UCLA. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_R._Wooden

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Victoria Facey

August 19, 2008

My favorite quote is “this too shall pass”. I used to think this saying was called on in times of challenge. So, when I think I can’t find any peace or that things are at their worst, I recite these valuable words. And, before I know it, time has passed.
However, I now use it when I need to remember to capture a beautiful moment, or occasion. It’s never too late to savor something nice: a hug, a kind word, a precious mement.

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Xavier Espinosa

August 20, 2008

Every new year I struggled to define what my goals for the upcoming one would be. One year it was to buy a new phone book, another year it was to write in it. I found that setting specific goals- going to the movies at least once every two months, was not a reality and many times I resented that I even entertained the thought that went into making goals that would remain unmet. This past new year I knew that I needed to focus in order to bring peace to what had been a tumultuous past year. I found it in my little book of Zen that I had tossed around from bookshelf to bedside table to chair.
There on a couple of pages was my inspiration and focus for now and probably ever after. It defined for me what I sought inorder to bring calm to my world.
“Face the oneness, The Truth is simple, Do what you know to be right, With Humility.”
The oneness is our truth, our understanding of who we are, how we are seen and what we want to be.
“The truth is simple”, either yes or no- is it right or not? there is no gray with the truth.
“Do what you know to be right”. There are five questions that I ask myself when reaching a moment of truth and deciding on what my next action will be:
1- Is it in keeping with my vision for myself?
2- Will it bring me closer to the goals I have set for myself?
3- Will someone be better because of it?
4- Will I be proud of what I have done?
5- Can I share it freely?
“With Humility” it takes alot not to “Blow your own horn” But there is a satisfaction seeing someone walk taller, take a risk, smile more often, display more confidence due to our good work and determination to “Face our oneness”. That is reward enough.

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