Our fate is shaped from within ourselves outward, never from without inward. – from The Anatomy of Peace – The Arbinger Institute
In a true story I use often, a hospital housekeeper hears a cry of sorrow from an elderly patient. What are her choices? a) she can ignore the call – patient care is not part of her job description and patients often cry out from their beds, b) she can report the cry to the nursing station where everyone is busy, c) she can answer the call by listening to Love.
Fortunately for the patient, the housekeeper chose this last option. Putting down her mop, she walked into the room, held the patient's hand, and helped him gain peace.
Who shapes our fate? In yesterday's Journal, I offered a quote from David Whyte about the way we both shape and are shaped by the world around us.
There is a significant risk that we may mistake what Whyte meant. Hopefully, the above quote will help further illuminate the question of how we shape our fate. The world can never determine our destiny us unless we let it.
As caregivers know, it is actually possible for example, for a cancer patient to be happier than a physically healthy rich person. The difference is all in our choice of attitude.
The highly successful author, television star and producer, Art Linkletter (now age 97) says: "It's not what happens to you in life that counts. It's how you deal with what happens that makes all the difference."
Naturally, Linkletter understands that the key lies in how we choose to engage with the life events that swirl about us. Whatever the world delivers to us, we can deal with it if we remember that everything depends on our choice.
The world throws all kinds of brickbats and bouquets our way. How can we choose to receive these deliveries and still maintain our hold on our fate?
This is terribly difficult to apply in so many circumstances. The Old Testament example of Job is the most common illustration of a human who had visited upon him every kind of disaster except death itself. Yet, Job survived with his faith in tact.
What should the housekeeper do if a supervisor criticizes her for stepping outside her job description? The answer may be found in this wisdom: "If we do the right thing, we don't have to justify our actions to anyone else."
What do you think about this? How does this notion of shaping your own destiny help you, if at all, as a caregiver?
-Erie Chapman
Journal of Sacred Work 
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