Lemons into Lemonade

My dad had flown B29’s in Korea, so ROTC was a no brainer. It would help pay for college and I would become an Army helicopter pilot. Riding back on the bus from Folk Polk after our flight physicals; everyone was hoop-n-hollering except me. I had flunked the flight physical and was in the way back of the bus feeling lousy. One of my favorite ROTC staff came back and we talked briefly. He was an Airborne Ranger who had served two tours in Vietnam. By the time we arrived back at campus I had decided, “If I couldn’t fly them, I’d jump out of them.” That decision, the training, and Army experiences changed the way I approach myself and life. What’s that old saying, lemons into lemonade? Why not make some lemonade today.

Life Energy

When we moved to Baton Rouge in the mid-50’s Paul Dietzel was beginning his career as head football coach at LSU. LSUs undefeated 1958 national championship season was my first season as a Tiger fan. I grew up in a house that lived for Saturday night football. There was never any doubt that I would play football, even at 120lbs. My first play in a varsity game was a kickoff return that I ran back to the 50 yard-line surprising myself and my teammates. I woke up at the bottom of a tackle pile with my breath knocked out and a broken finger. I quickly got my breath back, but the finger and its odd shape has reminded me all my life of the amazing energy we have deep inside. Tap into that life energy today.

The Weekend

Sunday, MaryBeth and I walked early before the heat of the day. When we got back I was soaked, so I decided to go right into the yard work I’d missed two weekends with my trip to Wisconsin. I took off my watch and immediately started working. At some point I paused to watch a blue-black swallowtail butterfly with faint yellow markings play in our garden. I sat on the stone bench and watched him dart from flower to flower, perch on the metal sunflower and move to my neighbors Vinci’s. All day, without my watch to remind me of the time, I found myself drifting like the butterfly, from projects to pauses. My spirit needed a Sabbath, does yours?

Catch the Energy & Release the Potential

My dad was always traveling, so he became a really good Saturday/Sunday dad.  Across the street was the Bankston family with three girls.  Mr. Bankston was an executive for Baton Rouge Water, but somewhere in his busy days he found time to give me several lifelong hobbies.  He taught me the art and love of fly tying, how to use darkroom equipment, and the excitement in looking for and finding fossils.  Yesterday, I taught my FISH!/employee engagement class based on Seattle’s Pike Place Fish Market, and I couldn’t help but think about Mr. Bankston as I talked about the concept of “catch the energy and release the potential”.  Who have you been fishing with lately?

Stressed Out Healthcare Provider or Patient

Daniel Friedland, MD, President-Elect American Board of Integrative Medicine, CEO of SuperSmartHealth was the closing keynote at the National Wellness Conference last week. He talked about an approach to navigate stress and optimize health that integrates research in neuroscience, mindfulness, cognitive behavioral therapy, and positive psychology.  But it wasn’t his words that impressed me.  Danny attended the full conference, participated in breakout sessions; he’s the kind of person you feel comfortable with almost immediately.  Danny’s message focused on the healing from within that inspires a sense of essential wholeness.  Checkout his website and be inspired!

 http://supersmarthealth.com/

Pond Fishing in Pennsylvania

While preparing for my Fish Team work tomorrow, I have had flashbacks of summer trips to the Pennsylvania farm where my mother grew up.  These included memories of playing with my cousins in the barn, tractor rides, and how at night you could reach up and touch the stars.  But my strongest memory is fishing in the pond.  Early walks with Uncle Keith catching night crawlers, learning to bait the hook, Uncle Keith knowing the exact spot on the pond to catch a fish, and wrapping fish in mud and cooking them in the coals of the fire.  What memories are you giving the children of your world?  Thanks Uncle Keith for giving me your time and love. 

http://www.fieldandstream.com/node/57467

Dave's Story of Courage

I tried to bury the dream under the covers, but Dave’s young soft voice was persistent.  It was in the early 90’s and I was a new hospice volunteer, and Dave was dying of AIDS.  Several nights a week my routine was to volunteer at an inpatient hospice unit in the wee hours of the morning.  I’d sit with Dave, sometimes read to him, sometimes just hold his hand, but mainly just listened.  He’d talk about his family and how they wouldn’t touch him during their visits.  Dave’s soft persistent forgiving voice reminded me of the courage it takes to love, when love is not reciprocated.  Thanks Dave for sharing your courage and a few of your last moments in this life with a graduate student trying to understand life. 

Lifelong Friendships

The last 7 days I have been teaching at the National Wellness Conference held at Steven’s Point Wisconsin. It’s a summer camp for wellness professionals with preconference certifications, 85 breakout sessions and 3-hour academy sessions each day targeting individuals working in education, integrative & complimentary medicine, at worksites, and as wellness coaches. Over the years, for me, it’s been an amazing generator of lifelong friendships. Bonnie Ware in her book, The Top Five Regrets of the Dying, tells how many on their death bed have deep regrets about not giving friendships the time and effort they deserved. Celebrate with me today your lifelong friendships. http://www.amazon.com/The-Top-Five-Regrets-Dying/dp/140194065X

Early Morning Goodbye

I knew it wasn’t real and that I’d been there before, but some dreams you can’t stop. She waved one last time as her car passed the big tree, and then grew smaller on my horizon. I ran trying to catch one last glimpse, feeling the morning dew turn to tears as her car disappeared. Left behind, but not forgot we all have soft tender moments in our lives we treasure and keep wrapped within our souls. Caressed / by a memory / I blow a kiss / to a love of long ago

Wild Flowers

My stepmom called me at work and told me my dad had died. We knew his time was short, and at my last visit I kind of said goodbye, but I didn’t get a chance to tell him all the things I was feeling as I held his picture and felt his enduring smile. The day after my mom died I was in a field picking wild flowers, crying, and telling her how much I loved her. The day after my dad died I was back in a field picking wild flowers, crying, realizing both my parents were gone and wondering how life would work. But it has. Dag Hammarskjold said, “Life only demands from you the strength you possess”, and these days I work to maintain my resilience, so I can love and be loved each day. What wild flowers will you pick today? http://www.amazon.com/Markings-Dag-Hammarskjold/dp/0307277429

What Now!

The summer of 1968 I had gone to Washington State to work in the pea factories, but ended up driving big trucks. My first job was for a wheat farmer who had a bunkhouse. Breakfast was at 4:30am with the whole family and table talk about the crops and farm machinery, which always lead to discussions about life. My dad traveled, so growing up we didn’t have a family breakfast, which made this family experience special. Each morning life would somehow be unraveled during the table talk and I’d go to work considering not just what next, but what now. Today, unravel a little of life and consider what now.

Summer Kite Flying - Life Lessons

http://www.wikihow.com/Make-a-Diamond-Kite

Sunday during our morning walk we passed a large open yard that took me back to my boyhood neighborhood and kite flying.  I remember how our handmade 10-foot kite caught the wind, went straight up 30 feet, took a sharp left as Gordon was yelling for me to give it more rope.  The neighborhood gang cheered as it climbed another 50 feet, but the higher it climbed the harder it pulled and I finally let go.  It came crashing down splintering the bamboo frame and destroying its newspaper cover.  The next day, we made a new kite, and flew it using gloves and a ground anchor.  Make a family kite this summer and teach your family life lessons of patience and 2^nd chances.   

Freedom Fighters

Yesterday, I held my dad’s dog tags that he wore as he fought in Korea over 60 years ago, and realized he’d never really talked much about his war tour.  He came back from Korea, left the Army Air Corp and moved his young family to Louisiana to fight in another war.  I grew up in the 50’s and 60’s and my parents would take our family to black churches where they would teach and preach in support of the Civil Rights Movement.  After my mom died, my dad remarried my mom’s best friend, a psychology professor at LSU who fought all her life for freedoms.  Today, I woke up thinking about my three grandsons’ and how best to share this rich heritage of freedom fighters – and then I realized, I just need to be myself, and they’ll grow up experiencing their heritage, just as I did.     

Praying for a Stranger

As I sat in the waiting room yesterday the conversation with the women next to me went from home towns, kids and grandkids, to our cancer journeys.  At some point, she said what we all have felt at times in life, “I didn’t think I’d ever have to go through something like this.”  She talked about her struggles, fears, and I listened, for I knew exactly how she felt – there is no distance between souls.  Whatever our journeys we all are 

indivisible connected by our humanity and search for purpose and wholeness.  A nurse called “William Baun”; I stood, said good luck and as I walked away found myself praying for a stranger, for there is no distance between souls. 

Morning Noises

I rode in early, following the soft golden trail of the waning crescent moon, listening to the sounds of morning.  Passed the prairie park with its native grasses and wild flowers wrapped in sleep as the perimeter trees stretched and yawned, woken by early morning traffic.  Morning noises mix with echoes of yesterday, as I ride into my today searching for tomorrow.  Some morning, by chance I catch a glimpse of the sun before rising, and leave that which I have been chasing far behind, and am awed by the power of presence.  Take moments today to listen as life happens.     http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5064534

First Blush

I woke and found myself dangling – hanging out, just outside the realm of reality.  It’s like sitting on an old suspension bridge, with your legs hanging over the side, softy kicking air with the soft light of the moon rising from the creek bed below.  You can feel the cable under your arms, as you lean forward to watch a leaf as it makes a helicopter descent to the shallow waters below.  Dangling – barely hanging onto reality as morning’s first blush whispers your name and slowly your dreams glide down the shallow creek as you awake.  Tomorrow morning experience the joy of dangling just outside the realm of reality as you slowly wake up.