Tuesday, March 19, 2024

Honoring Coach Daney

Coach Daney (center) with his wife Paulette (to his right) and family at the hall of fame induction

I had the chance to visit the Oneida Nation in Wisconsin this past week. My youngest accompanied me, so I had a traveling buddy. It has always been my style to have a child at my side at conferences and business trips.

We were there to support a local elder, Mike Daney, as he was inducted into the North American Indigenous Sports Hall of Fame for both his achievements as an athlete and as a coach.

Like Henry Rono, who I shared about a few blogs ago, Coach Daney is a legend and someone who we are fortunate to have as a part of our Albuquerque community. Hailing from the Choctaw Nation, he has been a mentor to thousands over the past five decades, coaching 41 All-Americans through Haskell Indian College and the Southwestern Indian Polytechnic Institute (SIPI). His unwavering commitment to provide opportunity for Indigenous athletes to excel at the highest levels is incredible.

As we entered the ballroom where hundreds gathered to celebrate the hall of fame inductees, you could feel the power in the room. Tribes across North America represented, with sports ranging from rodeo to rowing, from boxing to wrestling.

The Twitter hashtag for the room would have been #IndigenousExcellence.

Coach Mike, like the teacher he is, continued his teaching during the weekend.

He gave generously.

He did what many servant leaders find so hard – accepting accolades and praise for his accomplishments. The night before the ceremony, he texted, “Honestly, I didn’t think this was going to be that big of a deal. But, I’ve changed my mind.”

But the most excited I saw him the entire weekend was not in receiving his award, but in rushing about the room to tell people who had been his heroes how much they meant to him. Here he was being inducted into the hall of fame, and his biggest joy was celebrating the greatness of others.


 (R to L) Coach Mike, his coach Jerry Tuckwin, and Brent Reiter, who ran under Daney as who was also inducted into the hall of fame this weekend.

To recap the teachings: give generously, accept praise and celebrate the greatness of those around you.

Mike, we celebrate your induction into the hall of fame. We are honored to learn from your words and example.

Keep running. For health. For life.

And tell everyone you pass on the trails of the Bosque that they have just crossed paths with a hall of famer. 😊

Our daughter Sihasin and Coach Mike. He gifted her the turtle and she gifted him the self-portrait


Thursday, March 7, 2024

IT Issues

She texted me.

“I am having IT issues.”

“Oh no!” I thought.

I knew this condition too well. Plus, she was going to lead yoga for our group that afternoon.

“I am so sorry to hear this,” I responded. “Which leg is it affecting? Can you still make it today?”

The Iliotibial (IT) band connects our hip/pelvis (ilium) with our knee (tibia). 

IT Band Syndrome can be quite painful and often gives pain just above the knee on the outside/lateral aspect of the knee. Causes include overuse and inflexibility.


“I think I can still make it today,” she replied. “It’s not that severe.”

Reaching deep into my empathy reservoir, I shared about my recent brush with this condition. I told her that I would be sending good energy for healing her way.

No response.

Had I over-shared? Was she in too much pain to respond?

Then, after what seemed like an eternity, she responded.

I opened her text with anticipation.

“My computer is giving me fits."

She added, "Why would my leg hurt?”


I hope this makes you smile, even just a small polite smile, the type you give out of courtesy when there was an ill-fated attempt at humor in your midst. The above was taken from a conversation last week. As a doctor, I often hear things from a medical lens and thus assumed that "IT issues" was a medical statement, not a computer issue. I hope that you will be free of all types of IT issues today!

Friday, March 1, 2024

Remembering Henry


We lost Henry Rono on February 15th at the age of 72. 

From the Kalenjin Tribe in Kiptaragon, Kenya, Henry is most famous for a 3-month span of running greatness in 1978 where he broke 4 world records. This from a boy who couldn’t walk until the age of 6 due to a bicycle accident and who didn’t start running until the age of 19. Due to Kenya’s boycotts of the 1976 and 1980 Olympics (over Apartheid) he never got a chance to shine on the biggest stage.

After living much of his life in Albuquerque, he returned home to Kenya a few years ago. He had been struggling in New Mexico for decades, and the hope was that he would find the support he needed in returning home. From being greeted at the airport with a hero’s welcome, it seemed that being back in Kenya was exactly what he needed. In fact, he was starting to get excited to coach young runners again.

You may not know this, but there is a steep, rocky hill in the foothills known by the running community as “Rono Hill”. Henry would bring runners interested in being coached by him to the hill – sort of a running initiation. Some of us met to run Rono Hill in his memory, sharing stories about him. 4 times up the hill, one for each world record.


Mbarak Hussein, a fellow Kenyan professional runner, remembers as a little boy how excited he was to meet Henry as came back to Kenya after climbing to the top of the running world. I asked him about his biggest learning from Mr. Rono and he shared this.

“Whatever he set to accomplish, he would always pursue it to the fullest with no negative thoughts. He was also honest about his life. He would tell us all, ‘I have gone to both worlds, from the very top to the lowest of the low.’”

Another local professional runner, Chokri Dhaouadi, remembers asking Henry to offer some coaching to customers of his running store. With laughter, Chokri recounts Henry giving these newbie runners who just wanted to meet him, workouts more suited for someone training for the Olympics. A frustrated Henry exclaimed to the group, “I am not asking you to fly. I am asking you to run.” Needless to say, that experiment was short-lived.

What I remember about my first meeting Mr. Rono:

He did not use many words. He didn’t need them. His presence was enough.

Henry, we will miss you.

We already are.

May you rest in peace.


A picture of Henry, myself and Isaac Dyer at a running workshop

Friday, February 23, 2024

The Present

priceless

precious

sacred

gleaming

glittering

            cannot be      

            captured

                        contained

                        commodified

                        saved

                        hoarded

            cannot be        

                        tweeted

                        liked

                        snapchatted

                        tiktok’d


can only be

            experienced

its presence

a present

to the undistracted

 

in joy, seek it out.

in gratitude, spend more and more time

with it

                                                                                                in it

                                                                                                embraced by its warm glow

                                                                                                embracing it in return

                                                                                                embracing yourself


This picture was taken in a moment of being present earlier this week. 
The NM sky seen through the sunroof in my car. I paused to embrace 
the present before heading to work.

Thursday, February 8, 2024

Mission: Making Others Feel Special

I was finishing a check-in with my supervisor earlier this week.

I thought we were done. Then she said, “Before we end this meeting, are there any people you would like to give a shout out to for their work to support you?”

It was a great question, but one I hadn’t prepared for.

I stalled for time.

“Isn’t the weather nice today?” (It wasn’t)

“Is it me, or is it cold in here?” (Darn, that doesn’t really work well for Zoom meetings, huh?)

“Did you hear about the game last night?” (The Lobos lost. I shouldn’t have brought it up)

Finally, I had a few names for her. I talked about how these people had supported my journey.

Shortly after the meeting, my supervisor sent an email to these peoples’ supervisor to share the praise I gave them for their work.

To me, this really simple practice was worth sharing with you all.

It was a change in direction from what we usually think as the “agenda” when asked to meet with a supervisor, taking the attention from “How are you doing”” to “How are we doing?”

A concrete way to improve all of our work and service.

I felt great for being able to share praise and then see the people recognized in a meaningful way.

I am sure the people receiving the praise smiled a bit.

And I sense that it brought joy to my supervisor to have this on the agenda for her check-ins with folks.


So, beautiful people, here is the recipe:

1. Make an intention to make someone feel special today.

2. Turn #1 into an act today. Put recognition of others on your agenda, your to-do list.

3. Repeat #1 and #2 tomorrow and onward.

4. Watch great things happen - inward and outward.



Graphic obtained from Piyussh Nasa's Linked-In Account


Wednesday, January 31, 2024

Let Go!

I was attempting to ski.

It wasn’t going very well.

They don’t tell you how steep those downhills are going to be.

And I had not figured out how to slow down.

So, I asked my son Bah’Hozhooni for his advice, as he was clearly doing a lot better at this than me.

“How do keep from going so fast that you feel out of control?”

“Dad, its simple. You have to just let go. Don’t focus on trying to slow down. Just let go and let the hill take you as fast as it wants.”

Hmmm.

It is both difficult and beautiful when our children become our teachers.

            

                        ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 


Let’s apply Bah’Hozhooni’s wisdom to our life today.

When we find ourselves resisting gravity, frustrated as I was on those hills where I couldn’t stay upright,

1. Take a moment. A deep breath.

2. Ask yourself “How am I resisting?”

3. Dig deeper: “Why am I resisting?” Usually, we are scared of something – name that thing.

4. Ask the question, “What would happen if I just let go?”

5. Try it.



 

p.s. Anyone available to give me some ski lessons?

Friday, January 19, 2024

Serving Those Who Can't (Yet) Dream

“They don’t have the bandwidth to dream because their reality is a nightmare.”

Dr. Jamal Harrison Bryant made this remark to a room of 600 as the keynote speaker for this week’s Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr Community Commemorative Breakfast. The room was a “who’s who” of Black leaders, including elected officials, business leaders, and elders. The room was a celebration of Black Excellence in a way that I rarely see in my life, on my campus, and in this country.

But Dr. Bryant was not there to congratulate those in the room.

In essence, he was asking how those present were going to step up and make a difference for those whose reality was far different.

“So you’ve come up. Now what? Who are you bringing up with you?” he asked. (my paraphrase)

It is a critical question for all of us.

For instance, how we can do more to support our elders. Being a pastor, Dr. Bryant asked the question of church leaders why there were not elder/senior ministries akin to youth ministries, pointing out that senior citizens outnumber all other demographic groups in our country. He urged churches to talk about dementia and the complexities that face elders, not to shy away from them.

“If Dr. King were alive today, he would be 95 years old. Would he feel left out and forgotten, an elder ignored and discarded?” asked Bryant (again, my paraphrase)

For myself, and for all of us, let us spend some time with the question:

How can we take our talents, experience, energy and resources to support those whose reality is a nightmare? How can we take our success and translate and transfer it to those who need it most?

Let us create space to meditate on this question today.

In closing, I will share a parallel quote that has been a foundation for my life from Dr. King:

“Everybody can be great...because anybody can serve. You don't have to have a college degree to serve. You don't have to make your subject and verb agree to serve. You only need a heart full of grace. A soul generated by love.”


As Dr. Bryant spoke, our youngest daughter, Sihasin, drew this gem.