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 and 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 and 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 1-3 – New Year’s Actions

   We all know that New Year's resolutions don't mean much. It's New Year's actions that count. 

Dick clark   As I watched Dick Clark countdown the final seconds of 2009, I thought about the Dick Clark I watched on American Bandstand in the 1950s. Today's he's referred to as America's oldest teenager. A stroke has changed his speech but his energy remains bright. Clearly, after his stroke, he resolved to recover and to continue hosting his ritual New Year's eve event (his 37th.)

   Whenever I see someone famous like Dick Clark, I always think of the vast legions of America's caregivers who draw so little attention and even less thanks for their great work. Many of us are taking this opportunity to pledge new actions – to do more right things and fewer wrong things. 

   It takes a change of mind and heart to truly change our lives. It's remarkable how ineffective to-do lists are when it comes to the important things in our lives. 

   This year, each of us are certain to experience significant changes. You work near people who will come to you with critical needs. You are likely to experience critical needs of your own.

   I never get tired of being reminded that it's not what happens to us in life that counts but how we react to life's events – whether good or disastrous. What single thing could we choose to do this year that would make the biggest difference in the lives of the people who come to us in need?

   The heart language that always matters most amounts to aligning all our actions with Love's energy. Each of us, as caregivers, decides each day what that means in our lives.

   Happy New Year.

-Erie Chapman

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3 responses to “Days 1-3 – New Year’s Actions”

  1. ~liz Wessel Avatar
    ~liz Wessel

    As I reflect on the wisdom offered in today’s New Year message and your thought provoking question I realize it is all about attitude, my attitude. I will keep the focus of change on myself, not on others. It seems easy to find fault outside myself rather than to look inward and what a waste of precious energy. I will focus on keeping my heart open and accepting of “what is” speak from my heart, not run from difficult conversations… a life long quest.
    Happy New Year Erie and everyone! May it be a year filled with abundant actions aligned with Love’s energy.

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  2. Bobbye Terry Avatar
    Bobbye Terry

    Life can punch a person right in the gut, and he can go down without a whimper–OR he can keep on going and show that life circumstances are merely an illusion of what truly is, an illusion colored by perception.
    Your words have hit it right on the head. Yet, it is so hard to remember to take a step back and realize that those circumstances that threaten to sweep us off our feet don’t have to do so. It takes courage. That courage comes from strength of character, and strength of character is developed and maintained by the divine spirit living in our lives and through our actions.
    THE RACE FOR MAN
    Based on Hebrews 12:1-15
    We are running in the long race
    Of the brotherhood of man,
    We must persevere and conquer,
    Helping others all we can.
    Discipline is what we all need,
    Discipline He will provide,
    For the pain that we do suffer,
    Fades to peace if we’ll abide.
    Drooping hands we will raise up high,
    Knees we’ll strengthen for the run,
    We’ll race hard and all together,
    For there’s work left to be done.
    Bitterness can not spring up now,
    We must help, give hope to men,
    Strive for peace with those around us,
    Go in faith, and live for Him.
    Happy New Year to you all!

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  3. ~liz Wessel Avatar
    ~liz Wessel

    As I reflect further on one single decision I can make, an action in this new year and distill it down, it is attention. A focused attention, which is prayer. Whether the activity is creative, or as mundane as housework, or as sacred as being present with another. I heard a most inspiring podcast today on Speaking of Faith, called approaching Prayer and I highly recommend a listen.
    The following is an excerpt from Patricia Hampl’s book Virgin Time: In Search of the Contemplative Life.
    What is prayer?
    I make a list:
    Praise
    Gratitude
    Begging/pleading/cutting deals
    Fruitless whining and puling
    Focus
    There the list breaks off; I had found my word. Prayer only looks like an act of language; fundamentally, it is a position, a placement of oneself. Focus. Get there, and all that’s left to say is the words. They come: from ancient times (here, the round of Psalms, wheeling through the seasons endlessly in the Office), from the surprisingly eloquent heart (taciturn Thomas last night with his intercession, precise as a poet), from the gush and chatter of the day’s detail longing to be rendered.
    So what is silence?
    Silence speaks, the contemplatives say. But really, I think, silence sorts. An ordering instinct sends people into the hush where the voice can be heard. This is the sorting intelligence of poetry, marked by the unbroken certainty of rhythm, perfect pitch, the placing of things in right order as in metrical form. Not rigid categories, but the recognition of a shape always there but ordinarily obscured by—what? By noise, which is ourselves trying to do the sorting in an order that may be a heroic effort but is bound to be a fantasy.

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