Posts

Messages from the Yei-Be-Chei to the Rest of Us: What Are We Creating with Our Precious Breath of Life?

Image
This is a painting by Navajo ( Diné)  artist David K. John , called "Emergence Song." Not many paint female deities, but he created this one in honor of his mother, who had passed away not long before (2017).  Many of his paintings represent Yei-Be-Chei, sacred spiritual messengers of the  Diné. His great grandfather was a medicine man, who instilled strong spiritual beliefs and practices while raising him. David grew up attending and participating in many healing events, from seasonal rituals to sand painting. The most revered members of his culture instructed him, as he grew.  His work has always held me spellbound, and this image especially touched my heart. A peaceful yet powerful quality exudes from it. He often shows his Yei-Be-Chei with the breath of life coming from their mouths. These are holy people who were here before humans -- and in  Diné  culture, they created everything in the universe. So, these are creation images. In ceremonies today, people wear masks to p

Bilbo the Cat: Bearer of Compassion and Soother of Souls, Before I Realized I Needed Those Things

Image
Have you ever loved a pet -- and had that pet love you in return? I surely have. The photo above is of Bilbo, who was my loving companion in medical school, residency, and beyond. My then-boyfriend gave him to me as an early Valentine's gift. At least that was the story he told. More truthfully, we rescued him from Zayre's Discount Store one snowy afternoon, when we were shopping for a few other things. Bilbo was a scrawny kitten sitting all by himself in a much-too-big cage, yelling his head off as I walked by. A sign said he was "free to a good home." I knelt down to his level on the floor, and was smitten from the first eye contact. The little fluff-ball knew it, too. Reaching his paw out through the bars of his prison, he fully claimed my heart with one tender touch. That was it. D's objections were futile. Our shopping list expanded to include kitten supplies and toys, along with food for his hungry belly. (Zayre's profited by giving him away that day!) H

Loving, Holding, and Letting Go

Image
I haven't been in South Carolina for many years, but am here now for a dear friend and colleague's memorial. She didn't live here herself, but her parents moved to Hilton Head in 2000. The place became home for her family, and served as a delightful setting for many joyful reunions.  So it's no wonder her memorial would be held here -- amidst palmettos, salt marsh, and constantly changing skies. I took a sweet walk at Pinckney Island National Wildlife Refuge [pictured] yesterday, just to savor the place.   It has been a time of fullness, connection, weeping, laughter, remembering, and dwelling at the confluence of spirit and flesh. Since it's January, the skies wept along with the humans. There have also been multiple uncanny events which I will not describe right now, because I do not yet understand them. Later, for that.  Sue and I met when she decided to change her specialty from Ob-Gyn to Psychiatry. I felt so fortunate to participate in her training, because sh

Creativity in Physicians: Vital to Our Lives, and to Medicine Itself

Image
  I met with a new coach the other day, as part of a business-building program. "Why are you focusing so much on physicians?” he asked. “There are so many other people out there, after all."  It seemed a reasonable enough question. Yet my first response (kept to myself) was thinking that in his eyes, I was doing something "wrong." I felt inadequate and shamed – as if caring for my colleagues as a psychiatrist my entire career, was lackluster. These people have always sought me out, everywhere I’ve worked. They've been in all stages of career, from medical school through retirement; many have also been medical leaders. Helping them through whatever they’re experiencing, has come very naturally to me. Beyond my office though, I knew many physicians were suffering even if not diagnostically ill. What about them? Thousands were slogging through burnout, just as I had multiple times myself. I knew they didn’t need psychoanalytic “there and then” approaches so

When Mindful Self-Compassion Turns Painful: How to Work With "Backdraft"

Image
Physicians and other healthcare professionals naturally extend compassion to others; they want to ease suffering. This deep urge calls many into Medicine as their vocation, despite realizing that the path will be difficult. Compassion for others is part of our very nature.  We're often uncomfortable or unfamiliar with extending this same compassion towards ourselves, though. We may have grown up in families who valued outer achievements over inner experience. We know how to work hard, and push through pain. We've few (or no) real-world models for approaching life in any other way, or even imagining that we deserve love and compassion ourselves. While serving these up generously for others, we don't even include ourselves at the table.  Enter an onslaught of online information about self-compassion, as if it's the answer for every ailment. Since our whole world seems to be starving for compassion, the topic's popularity makes sense. Naturally, my physician clients st

What is Mana -- and Do You Have to Be Special to Merit Some?

Image
  "Mana, my young friend, is a power that holds the secret to your very existence. Mana on its own has neither definite shape nor form, yet it is in everything that exists. Mana is the power that holds this world of ours together. Mana is pure energy. It is virtually impossible for anyone to explain what Mana really is because it is of spirit essence. Mana cannot be seen by the naked eye. It must be absorbed by a positive feeling. It is Mana that helps wash away the illusionary values you place on life. It is the sustenance of the wise." -- from "Second Chance," by Sydney Banks. (pg 68-69) The above quote comes from the author's character, Mamma Lila, a Hawaiian elder who some considered "plain crazy." Nonetheless, she had the gift of 'ike papalua, or being able to see multiple realities at the same time. She had been guided in this understanding from childhood by her grandfather, who was a wise and well-known kahuna.  Such capabilities exist in al

Beyond Ho'oponopono Alone -- and into the Intelligent Energy (Mana) Within Us All

Image
From the formless, into form I am expanding the subject area of this blog beyond Ho'oponopono alone, although Ho'oponopono remains a beautiful part of my life. For all the peace Ho'oponopono brings in this world, it is still a formed practice. By their very nature, all formed practices can become niduses of argument. People react, judge, examine and shred with fine-toothed combs, quibbling over each point. They debate what various aspects "mean," especially in the case of religions. They draw lines between themselves and others -- with self (of course) being "right," and others being "wrong." Ho'oponopono has certainly been an inflammatory subject like that. For my support of teachers like Morrnah Simeona and Dr. Ihaleakala Hew Len, I have been criticized by native Hawaiians who feel these teachings and practices disrespect or even attempt to steal their culture. Or they describe it as a watered-down, fake approximation of the "real&qu