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.

Recent Posts

About

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.

Days 253-255 – One Good Word

"People are hungry,/ and one good word is bread/ for a thousand."  – David Whyte

Words 2    The ability of words to heal or to harm is well known, but chronically underestimated. How conscioius are we of the impact of our words? What does it mean to you when someone shows they care for you by the way they speak words of compassion? How much more could we do for each other if we could consciously choose words of warmth and peace and love?

   We all know the right words which makes it all the more confusing when we use the wrong ones. That is why I like to read poets like David Whyte, whose life is created around the words he chooses.

   We may not be able to write like Whyte. But, we can read him and other poets so that our ability, as caregivers, to express love to others becomes more eloquent and more healing.

   The words we say to others can change the body chemistry of both listener and speaker. Perhaps that is why we feel better when we use the language of Love.

   Wherever you are when you read this, I send you love and gratitude for the commitment you make to engage Love's light to meet the needs of the sick and vulnerable.

-Erie Chapman

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4 responses to “Days 253-255 – One Good Word”

  1. Karen York Avatar
    Karen York

    Thank you for your loving gifts Erie and Cathy, in writing to us every day.

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  2. Avatar
    Anonymous

    One good word births forth into the light of a new universe. One syllable, one uttered sound, one thought, one good intention can create…imagine. I’m grateful to you for your one good word of Love.
    ~liz Wessel

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  3. ~liz Wessel Avatar
    ~liz Wessel

    In response to the stirring questions posed, I wish to share the following with readers.
    “On this day in 1846, Elizabeth Barrett Browning and Robert Browning were secretly married because her father forbade it. She was 39, an invalid, and reliant on morphine to ease her pain. Robert Browning was a famous poet, too and started the courtship by writing her a letter telling her just how much he admired her writing. The courtship continued in secret for a year and a half, and then, on this day of the clandestine wedding, Browning mailed her off a letter that he’d written the day prior, which said: “Words can never tell you, however, — form them, transform them anyway, — how perfectly dear you are to me — perfectly dear to my heart and soul. I look back, and in every one point, every word and gesture, every letter, every silence — you have been entirely perfect to me — I would not change one word, one look.”
    “During their courtship, Elizabeth Barrett was composing sonnets for Robert, which she presented to him as a wedding gift.” Source: The Writers Almanac
    Sonnet 43: How do I love thee, let me count the ways by ~Elizabeth Barrett Browning
    How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.
    I love thee to the depth and breadth and height
    My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight
    For the ends of being an ideal Grace.
    I love thee to the level of everyday’s
    Most quiet need, by sun and candlelight.
    I love thee freely, as men strive for Right.
    I love thee purely, as they turn from Praise.
    I love thee with the passion to put use
    In my old griefs, and with my childhood’s faith.
    I love thee with a love I seemed to lose
    With my lost saints—I love thee with the breath,
    Smiles, tears, of all my life!—and, if God choose,
    I shall but love thee better after death.

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  4. Marianna Avatar
    Marianna

    I enjoyed reading this posting very much, because it seems so simple to say a few kind words.
    Working as a nurse for eight years it seems as though I hear more complaints from patients, but when a kind word comes along my spirit becomes so much brighter.
    Thank you for the wonderful posting that reminded me to continue and say kind words rather then let them pass in silence.

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