Life Storms

Yesterday was my son’s birthday, and as we ate lunch at his kitchen table I told him how proud I was that he had become a loving and caring man.  We talked about how he has his grandpa’s entrepreneur spirit and how when you weave in his caring, these two make a potential awesome life journey.  As I was riding home after work at dusk, I felt the storm clouds moving in, as they do in life.  But when I looked up the clouds were framed with a church steeple, and I knew I had one more thing to tell Kaleb on his birthday.  “You have always had the gift of faith; let it be your guide in the life storms that will come”.  Happy Birthday Kaleb

10th Special Forces Lesson

My interview with the 10^th Special Forces group went well, and after a few days I received confirmation they were holding a position.  My colonel said, “Baun, we’ve spent over $100K to train you to protect special weapons, I’m not giving you up”.  Within a year I left the Army as my frustration and feelings of being stuck were too much.  M.J. Ryan in her book This Year I Will… talks about the “elevator being broken, use the stairs”.  For me it was a broken back after the Army that taught me to use the stairs and take one step at a time to a new career, and now my cancer has taught me one day at a time creates a life journey. 

Tachikawa Airbase and Pete

As the holiday season approaches and the layers of holiday memories begin to unfold, I’ve had glimpses of Pete.  The first years of my life we lived on the Tachikawa Airbase in Japan where I had a nanny, but I also had an imaginary friend named Pete.  Pete played with me in the foxholes that ran through the housing area, and then one Christmas Pete became a doll baby I received as a present from Santa.  I carried Pete with me everywhere, but our relationship changed, and at some point I let Pete go.  Learning to let go is one of the hardest lessons we must learn in life, not because we want to, but because we have to, in our journey to be whole. 

Great American Smokeout

Today we celebrate the 39^th Great American Smokeout, because tobacco use is still the number one cause of preventable death and disease.  You’re thinking I don’t smoke and secondhand smoke is harmless, but it’s not harmless!  In this month’s AJHP Editor’s Note O’Donnell describes secondhand smoke as small particles containing high concentrations of chemical carcinogens that have real killing power.  Be around secondhand smoke for just 5 min. and your aorta stiffens, in 20-30 min. blood clotting & fat deposits increase in your blood vessels, and by 2 hours your heartbeat becomes irregular.  Your body can’t put up with an assault from secondhand smoke, why do you? 

O'Donnell "Assault from Secondhand Smoke"

Life Messages

Years ago he suffered a stroke that left him without speech, and at 86 his legs are so weak he barely walks.  So as I walked up the driveway last night I was surprised to find him standing in his front door.  He quickly started pointing at something by the side of the house, and after 30 minutes and a call to the city, I finally worked out that his water was turned off.  I went to bed thinking about how my frustration with our inability to communicate had only been resolved by his determination and persistence; a message life had been giving me all week in my readings in Prayers to the Moon.   What messages has life given you this week or have you been too busy to really listen?

Methodist DeBakey Heart Center

I was running, trying to fit in a mid-morning visit to a friend.  His hospital bed was empty, but the patient care assistant told me I could catch up with him on the 9^th floor at echocardiogram services.  When I arrived on nine, he wasn’t finished, so I somewhat impatiently waited, and explored the nearby hallways.  Funny, how at times life gives us just what we need. I walked by the meditation poster, being pulled by the pulse of the DeBakey Heart poster.  Then I turned; ready to be drawn in by the calmness of the meditation poster, and my heart was realigned, I was no longer running, but had the caring heart I needed to visit my friend.  Be present when life steps in today. 

Cathedral Spaces for Mindfulness

When I was a single dad with my kids in college, and trying my best to keep their school and the three household bills paid, I became a secondhand shopper.  The workers at Salvation Army and Value Village stores became first name friends as I looked for furniture for my kid’s apartments, and clothing for me.  Secondhand shopping is now one of my relaxation practices, self-time looking for odd pieces of art or craft, like the wood cathedral sitting among my small books.  In Peace Is Every Step, Thich Nhat Hanh suggests we set aside space in our lives that remind us to breath/smile, be mindful.  Do you have such cathedral spaces in your life?

Wandering Your Backstreet

Absolutely a beautiful morning!  When the temperature dips down in the 30’s my scooter is tough to start, so I ride my cargo bike to work.  My bicycle route takes me through neighborhoods and back streets of the medical center, places I only see when on my bike.  Funny, how there are pieces of me I rarely touch, until a moment or memory takes me there, and then I find myself wandering around my backstreets and better connecting to me.  When I am in this space I’m reminded of how richer life is when I’m not playing who I am, but really being me.  Wander your backstreets today and experience the richness of life. 

MD Anderson Care Community & Gratitude

Yesterday, I spoke at a nursing pre-holiday party focused on thankfulness and gratitude.  I talked about how gratitude encircles much of what we do and who we are in the MD Anderson care community (employees, caregivers, and patients). When gratitude becomes an integral part of our day it can create a ripple effect through our lives, energizing our search for joy, happiness, inner peace, and wholeness.  Give thanks today and deeply embed gratitude within your soul as you strive for wholeness tomorrow. 

Thankfulness and Gratitude Sparks of Wholeness

My fondest memories at my Uncles farm in Pennsylvania are of the campfires were we would sing, laugh, hear old family stories, and pray together. I learned the meaning of family, and that thankfulness and gratitude are sparks to wholeness. Wholeness is our ability to experience and appropriately manage all of life’s emotions, through the good, bad, and dark times. Wholeness is about owning our emotions and thankfulness and gratitude can get us closer to the “be” of living. Fire up some thankfulness and gratitude today and feel the sparks of wholeness.

Veterans Day 2014

It was one of the very early family stories I remember, 1^st Lieutenant Dwite Schaffner was awarded the Medal of Honor in WWI “for bravery and contempt for danger that inspired his men”.  My dad Eugene Boyd Baun, had been a bomber pilot and flew in WWII and Korea, and I had dreamed of flying helicopters, but flunked my flight physical, so became an Airborne Ranger instead.  Friday morning after my walk, I looked down at the USS Midway in San Diego Harbor pointing at the setting full moon, and felt really proud that I had served like my dad and so many others in the Baun and Schaffner families.  I wear my dad’s and my dog tags today with pride, and salute all veterans who served this great country.  Thank a veteran today!    

Wholeness in "I Am"

Most morning, I realize almost instantly, “I am”.  Maybe it was the Army that taught me how to move from dreams or deep sleep to being immediately conscious, feeling full and whole.  Or maybe it was growing up in Louisiana and Boy Scouts where you were always looking out for snakes seeking warmth in your sleeping bag.  Richard Moss in his book The Mandala of Being describes being aware of “I am” is recognizing our wholeness like water can assume any shape into which it is poured, never losing its own essence.  Pour yourself into life today and experience your wholeness and the inexhaustible energy in “I am”.     

Mindful Moments Living Between the Clouds

The Minneapolis plane was small and half-full, so I sat by the window, read, watched cloud formations, and dreamed of other worlds. Thick clouds met our anxious descent into Minneapolis, but before landing I experienced a brief moment of synchronicity as we flew between two layers of very thick clouds. We didn’t stay there long, but long enough for me to realize there are moments in each day I choose to live between the clouds. These are mindful meditation moments where I focus on my breath, feel my energy life force, and inner peace. Take a moment today to live between the clouds.

MD Anderson Caregiver Week

Yesterday, I facilitated a session called “The High Cost of Caring” to kick off MD Andersons Caregiver Week activities.  Susannah Fox of the Pew Research Center,  said, “More health care is happening at home…as more people are being sent home medically fragile to caregivers who are the first line of defense.”  Four in 10 U.S. adults are caregivers, 86% care for relatives, 66% are female, and 70% report work-life-balance difficulties.  The participant stories brought tears, laughter, and a spirit of comradery shared because caring gives life its deepest significance and meaning.  Don’t miss an opportunity to care today!

MD Anderson Caregiver Week Flier

Heart Steps

At the beginning of last week I taught several days in Palm Beach at the Public Health Department, and had some wonderful walks around the older neighborhoods.  There are days I find I’ve lost touch with me and tend to live too much in my head.  This disconnect, puts me in a box where I slosh around old memories or create life dreams detached from reality.   Old memories and future dreams can be good for the soul, but stay there too long and we begin to miss what Nepo calls “heart steps” that are achieved by living in the present.  The old tree had survived by climbing outside her walls, and shared a heart step with me that day.  Don’t miss any heart steps today.