The awakened life isn’t somewhere else – in some distant place that’s accessible only when we’ve got it all together. Pema Chodron

Wherever we are right now,

whatever our lives are like in

the moment, there is our mandala,

our working basis for awakening.

Pema Chodron

As I board the shuttle bus and the driver greets me with a smile

As a nurse sits with a patient who’s had both legs amputated

As a person suffering from addiction asks me to pray with him and requests forgiveness

As the interdisciplinary team collaborates on treatment for a patient

As the medical staff disconnects life support from a twenty-two year old man who leaves behind a wife and children

As a patient asks me to visit another patient who needs support

As a husband stays with his wife while she has kidneys dialysis

As the interns share their stories

As a social worker asks me to sit with a patient after his first chemotherapy treatment

As a physician expresses gratitude for my presence

As an oncology patient who reveals he hasn’t talked to God in a long time, asks me to pray with him

As I see the body of a baby who will never take another breath

As a patient asks for a Bible

As I read prayer requests in the chapel

As a cancer patient without hair places a baseball cap on her head

As a nurse welcomes me to a unit

As a patient slowly nods off to sleep while sharing his story

As a female security guard dies while on duty

As our mentor shares his wisdom and experience with us

As our spirituality and faith deepens with every patient encounter…

There is a kaleidoscope of witness.

From the Archives of Teresa Schulz Essays as a Chaplain, June 2005

Think about flipping your orthodoxy:

From:  What to see

To: How to see

The ego wants containment and control. It is only the soul that wants meaning and mystery.

Richard Rohr

When we encounter any pleasure or tenderness

in our life, we cherish that and rejoice. Then we

make the wish that others could also experience

this delight or this relief.

Pema Chodron

Even the simplest of things

can be the basis of practice –

a beautiful morning, a good

meal, a shower. Although

there are many such fleeting

ordinary moments in our days,

we usually speed right past them.

So the first step is to stop, notice, and

appreciate what is happening. Even if this

is all we do, it’s revolutionary.

Pema Chodron

God makes us ask ourselves questions most often when God intends to resolve them. Thomas Merton

Think about flipping your orthodoxy

from: having what you love

to: loving what you have