Near Enemies & the Maker of the Trees - A 4 min IDG Reflection

Rev EM · Near Enemies & the Maker of the Trees - a 3 min IDG Reflection 6.15.23

In these IDG reflections, in the middle of our healthcare workday,
my intention is to offer useful pointers and effective methods to remember the circle of care… which we are a part of… and to midwife that wholistic care into the present moment - no matter what is in front of us.

They are a better remembering… to what we already know but as human beings we forget.  We are better and healthcare is better when we care for ourselves, as much as we do our patients…. (or how about this... as we care for our patients on our good days...) because it can be quite challenging in these trenches of caring.

One of my basic tools are the Buddhist concepts of the NEAR ENEMIES.  This balance a spiritual-secular check list… because we live on the edge of worlds in hospice and palliative care… and even in healthcare.  Life is uncertain.  We are better able to meet it when WE are balanced.

If we don’t recognize these near enemies, it will deaden us… our lives and our care.

There are several Near Enemies but I will review four.

          1. Loving kindness and attachment
          2. Empathy and pity
          3. Sympathetic joy and comparison
          4. Equanimity and indifference

If we don’t recognize this near enemies, it will deaden us… our lives and our care.

I end with a Native American Prayer… which is deeply interwoven with nature…

          May all that I say
          and all that I do
          be in harmony with thee.
          God within us,
          God beyond us,
          Maker of the Trees.

Blessings on your day, week, patients and your own good self,

Rev. Em

Garden of Change IDG 3 min. Self-Sustaining Staff Reflections   WWW.GardenofChange.Org
Offering head, heart, body, & spirit staff-care for healthcare workers in disciplined 3 min reflections… because what we do is hard. Each day we work on the edge of the medical model and walk with our patients to the edge of the Great Mystery. It takes daily self-sustaining practices to stay the course.

Garden of Change also offers branded bereavement mailings for mandates by MCoP/CMS 13 month aftercare.