With palms together,
Good Morning Everyone,
Last night we went to our first Ambercare Hospice Training session. We had a diverse group: elder volunteers, administrators, and a CNA. Two Zen Buddhists do stand out a tad, if not by our POV, but by our essential silence. We watched the documentary, “Solace” which featured several Buddhists including Stephen Levine and Joan Halifax-roshi. Joan is so clear and right there. She is amazing.
I am not sure I will write too much over the next year of this training about it. Then again, such training opens thoughts and feelings. A physician talked about his surgical experience in Viet Nam which spoke directly to me. He talked about the sense of one soldier coming under fire to rescue another. I had such an experience myself and never quite thought of it the way he talked about it. He said it was an experience of unification. I experienced that, but never put my finger of it as that, itself.
On the ground in the dark, wounded and still under fire, a medic ran to me to treat my wounds. There was no hesitation on his part. I remember his voice. He was soothing and calm. There was just us, this group of men, including “the enemy,” on that muddy jungle floor that night. Our lives were one seething process: death, life, pain, joy.
From that night forward, over these last 45 years, I have lived in the moment, letting the promise (or the threat) of tomorrow go. I am grateful for this experience as it allowed me to see the absolute value of the present moment. Just this breath. It is the entire universe. Appreciate it.
Be well.
Good Morning Everyone,
Last night we went to our first Ambercare Hospice Training session. We had a diverse group: elder volunteers, administrators, and a CNA. Two Zen Buddhists do stand out a tad, if not by our POV, but by our essential silence. We watched the documentary, “Solace” which featured several Buddhists including Stephen Levine and Joan Halifax-roshi. Joan is so clear and right there. She is amazing.
I am not sure I will write too much over the next year of this training about it. Then again, such training opens thoughts and feelings. A physician talked about his surgical experience in Viet Nam which spoke directly to me. He talked about the sense of one soldier coming under fire to rescue another. I had such an experience myself and never quite thought of it the way he talked about it. He said it was an experience of unification. I experienced that, but never put my finger of it as that, itself.
On the ground in the dark, wounded and still under fire, a medic ran to me to treat my wounds. There was no hesitation on his part. I remember his voice. He was soothing and calm. There was just us, this group of men, including “the enemy,” on that muddy jungle floor that night. Our lives were one seething process: death, life, pain, joy.
From that night forward, over these last 45 years, I have lived in the moment, letting the promise (or the threat) of tomorrow go. I am grateful for this experience as it allowed me to see the absolute value of the present moment. Just this breath. It is the entire universe. Appreciate it.
Be well.
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