Tag Archives: hospice
“…you must embrace joy as a moral obligation.” ~Andre Gide How do we avoid getting caught up in the pain and negativity in the world and in our own lives? I remember a quote I heard decades ago by Wayne Dyer that went something like this: You can never be unhappy enough to make someone else happy; you can never be sick enough to heal someone; you can never be poor enough to help someone become rich. This seems obvious…..
Are you feeling dismayed, stressed, and helpless in the face of the current conflict and uncertainty? During this time when the world is experiencing the growing pains that accompany change, the need for compassion is greater than ever. One of the first things the teachers at the ashram taught us was the importance of the “flowering of the heart.” This is the first step on the spiritual path in order to really progress, they told us. And this applies to…..
The temples we visited in India are infused with centuries of ritual—prayers, mantras, and fire ceremonies–performed by holy people. The power generated through continuous repetition of the rituals was palpable as we entered these sacred spaces. But we don’t have to go anywhere to access the benefit of ritual in our daily lives. Creating a personal altar is one way. Although our home altars have not been blessed by centuries of ceremonies, we can infuse them, on a daily basis,…..
Once during a weekly staff meeting at hospice, we were asked what we must let go of when facing death. Mary, one of the other therapists answered, “Well, for starters, we have to drop our idea of who we are.” I don’t know what the other therapists thought of what she said, but her answer resonated with me. I had been attending courses at an ashram in India on my vacations from work, and this was exactly what we were…..
My cousin Lynda died a few years ago after a short illness. We had been close throughout our childhoods and her early and unexpected death was a shock. I was working at hospice at the time, an experience that invited me to reflect on the impermanence of life and the importance of living here and now. And Lynda’s death was a profound wake-up call. It was one thing to work with clients at hospice, but when death hit close to…..
Sitting in the sand one Saturday at Mesa Lane Beach, looking out over the ocean, I reflected on my work at hospice. I thought about how some things—the heartbreaks, the losses, our deepest wounds—can’t always be faced or felt directly. Sometimes we need to get at them sideways through the cracks in our surface lives. But we need to access them one way or another in order to heal and grow. Otherwise, our unfelt pain traps our life energy, our…..
The path to truth, happiness, fulfillment, is not straightforward. Like a children’s scavenger hunt, the final treasure may be located right where we started, but the clues along the way lead us on a circuitous journey that ends where we began. When I worked at hospice, I sometimes brought the parents from my infant loss group to a labyrinth located in a beautiful natural setting in the foothills above town. Its circular path was created with stones, and the large…..
Things don’t always go according to plan in small and big ways in our lives. We are constantly derailed, whether it’s the barista making the wrong drink at Starbucks or our retirement plans going awry through illness or death. Our ability to be present with ‘what is’ is the only predictable thing in our unpredictable, constantly changing lives. One of my clients at hospice brought this reality into clear focus for me. Jerry’s daughter Jeannie (not their real names), brought…..
The summer heat in Arizona was at its peak as extended family gathered together to celebrate Grandma Perry’s hundredth birthday. True to form, she fully enjoyed being the center of attention in her bright red dress with an over-sized, white lace collar. She had been quite sickly early in her life and had almost died in her thirties, but she had gone on to live a full and healthy, not to mention long, life. It seemed to all of us…..
In my book, Simply Sacred, I wrote about a client I called John, a man in his thirties who came to see me at hospice when his wife was dying of a brain tumor. They had tried every treatment to no avail, and she was at the end of her young life. During our first session, he told me he was at peace with the situation. Of course, he was devastated for himself and for his wife, but he had…..
