“I heard this story about a fish, he swims up to an older fish and says:“I’m trying to find this thing they call the ocean.”“The ocean?” the older fish says, “that’s what you’re in right now.”“This”, says the young fish, “this is water. What I want is the ocean!” “Soul” from Pixar Movie This is something that I come back to over and over again. We are all in this thing together. This thing called life. One big ocean. If…
“The primary cause of unhappiness is never the situation but your thoughts about it.” In my line of work, which is palliative medicine, we are often the last one to come in contact with the patient. It should not be that way. There is a reason that the patients confuse our service with hospice. It is because we are asked right when what they really need is hospice type care. There is so much confusion regarding what our type of…
“It will happen to all of us that one day you’ll be tapped on the shoulder and told — not just that the party’s over– but slightly worse: the party’s going on, and you have to leave. That’s the reflection, I think, that most upsets people about their demise.” -Christopher Hitchens I don’t know about you, but I like nothing more than listening to this man speak. It doesn’t matter if you believe in his ideology or not (he was…
“Fear is the cheapest room in the house. I would like to see you living in better conditions.” -Hafez Happy Shab e Yalda! If you do not have a Persian heritage like I do, you would love to learn about this tradition. It falls on the Northern hemisphere’s winter solstice. It falls somewhere between December 20/21. You have to check with the stars to figure the actual date. Zoroastrian, the oldest monotheist religion known to man, used to believe that…
“Sisters: For me, there is no higher love.” I don’t know what your relationship with your siblings is like. I can tell you that I hope sooner rather than later you can come to terms with the relationship you have with your brother or sisters. There may be a chance that you are an only child. There may be a chance that you don’t even have a sister. I wish someone like that in your life (maybe a friend like…
“We cannot change the direction of the wind,But we can always adjust our sails.” I have often told you that one of the most beautiful parts of my job is to experience love and generosity. This is the love that is shared by the patient with their family. As well as the love of the family shared with the patient. Not talking about in situations where love exists already. I am talking about estranged children moving back to the islands…
“When you make the present moment, instead of past and future, the focal point of your life, your ability to enjoy what you do and with it the quality of your life increases dramatically.” Eckhart Tolle Christmas is here. This year, it seems like it came a bit earlier. It is always strange to celebrate Christmas in tropical climates. The first 13 years of my life in the United States were spent in cold climates. Spokane, Washington. Philadelphia. East Lansing…
We have all heard about the “Gratitude Journal”. This is not woo woo. It’s actual science showing us that keeping a daily journal thinking of three things in our life that we are grateful for actually has a direct positive effect on our well being. I will post something about the “Gratitude Letter” here after I have released my podcast on it, which is this Thanksgiving weekend. But have you heard about “Naikan Therapy?” I lived in Japan for 2…
You can’t lift two watermelons with one hand. Persian Proverb I love this proverb. It sounds comical but it’s implying that there will be times in life that you need help. You should ask for help. You cannot handle life alone. When I was living in Sacramento, my daughters’ Waldorf school was the opposite direction of my hospital. Dropping them off and heading back to work was almost an hour long ordeal. Realizing my work was only one mile from…
‘Wear Gratitude Like a CloakAnd It Will Feed Every Corner of Your Life.’ First of all, you should know that I am a very grateful person. Incidentally, as I type this, there are more than 1100 of you in my “Physicians Living Intentionally” group space, and the podcast that I just started a little while ago has been downloaded more than 2600 times, too. Countries all over the world. My heart is thankful. I am grateful for what you all…