“The work of the mature person is to carry grief in one hand and gratitude in the other and to be stretched large by them. How much sorrow can I hold? That’s how much gratitude I can give. If I carry only grief, I’ll bend toward cynicism and despair. If I have only gratitude, I’ll become saccharine and won’t develop much compassion for other people’s suffering. Grief keeps the heart fluid and soft, which helps make compassion possible.” -Francis Ward…
“I dreamed I called you on the telephoneto say: Be kinder to yourselfbut you were sick and would not answerThe waste my love goes on this wayTrying to save you from yourself I have always wondered about the leftoverenergy, water rushing down a hilllong after the rains have stopped or the fire you want to go to be frombut cannot leave, burning-down but not burnt-downthe red coals more extreme, more curiousin their flashing and dyingthan you wish they weresitting there…
Today I want to talk about: “Rituals” I am hoping this won’t be triggering to any of you reading this, as it’s about the context of my line of medicine: palliative care.We are all familiar with Full Code and DNR status. When a patient is very sick and it seems unlikely that they can survive hospitalization, no matter what medical interventions we may offer, I recommend to the family to consider DNR. I see it as sort of a soft…
Today I wanted to talk about a concept that is very near and dear to my heart: “Holding Space” Have you ever heard of it? Do you know how to describe it? I will first start with the definition and then give you an example.‘Holding Space’ means being physically, mentally, and emotionally present for someone. It means putting your focus on someone to support them as they feel their feelings. An important aspect of holding space is managing judgement while…
It has come to my attention, that often times, we worry that if we were to discuss a poor prognosis or terminal condition, we feel hesitant because we worry that by being upfront we are taking the patient’s hope away. Is that a thing? If a patient wants to know the prognosis and you know the prognosis, do you think sharing that information would harm the patient? Another way to think about it is that if that was you, would…