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.

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.

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Days 132-136 – What lives in Negative Space?

May 7, 2017

All day I laid in bed waiting to recover from a debilitating sore throat. The hotel room curtains were closed but a little light leaked in. Had I been racing to an appointment I might not have noticed where it landed.

We move to light. Amid darkness our eyes search out any illumination. Black is often dismissed as "negative" space not worth attention.

Instead, negative space has great power. Black's domination of the right half of this picture determines the power of the left.

The wisest people notice the blank spaces. They hear the beauty between notes. "Empty" moments become rich opportunities.

What if we celebrated the calendar slots where nothing is scheduled rather than trying to fill them?

Every good artist learns that negative space holds the key to positive space. "Empty" areas allow images to breath, notes to sing & caregivers to listen for Love's voice.

As Hemingway wrote in an otherwise so-so poem,

"…if you're made of empty spaces,
Don't ever think it's wrong,
…maybe they're just empty,
Until the right person comes along.”

-Erie Chapman

Photograph: Pillow Study #2 – Erie Chapman

Posted in Uncategorized

6 responses to “Days 132-136 – What lives in Negative Space?”

~liz Wessel

May 8, 2017

Erie, you have a way of expressing the ineffable exquisitely, in a deeply meaningful way that informs our sense of being. The heart of acceptance and non-judgement, through Hemingway’s prose we receive the enCOURAGEment to remember that nothing is wrong but rather “just is.” You invite us to be present in the empty space, where the sacred unfolds.
The dark, the primordial space where creation began; the womb that gives nourishment, the earth that envelops and protects the seed, the cocoon the holds the butterfly into becoming, the small still voice that assures us that Love is with us wherever we go…

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Lynn

May 10, 2017

Impressive writing, Erie. “Empty moments, empty areas, empty spaces”…simply lovely.

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Jolyon

May 11, 2017

An interesting thought on the vagaries of life. The light the dark, the ups the downs, the awareness the ignorance. Gives one a field day of karmic thought when one ponders what the left hand is telling the right… Maybe there was a reason for your sickness that day. You had to be there to see the transition of light and dark, to question what is there in that emptiness of light the mind and eyes do not perceive. Look closely again at the top left middle of the picture as it travels from the brilliance to the dark. There are folds in the fabric. The folds look like it could be a two and a question mark.
To question…

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Terry Chapman

May 11, 2017

One of the first things I learned, when becoming a professional speaker for a national educational association, career coach, and trainer for Wang Corporation, back in the 1980’s was the positive effect of silence in any presentation I made. The more critical my message, the more I would pause unexpectedly, from time to time, and it always brought my audience forward in their seats!
As for calendars, take another look at yours and when you see an open bit of time, simply write the word: ME! Most of us ignore our need for self compassion and keep plodding on, when a few moments to quietly reflect, or an hour to walk outside your work site, would refresh you; enliven your interactions with others, and increase the responses of anyone you connect with. Negative space? Not really!

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Todd Meador

May 13, 2017

This post inspired me to search for a quote I once read.
“So the darkness shall be the light, and the stillness the dancing.”
– T.S. Eliot
and I found another I had never read…
“In order for the light to shine so brightly, the darkness must be present.” -Francis Bacon

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maryjane

June 15, 2017

informative.

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