Jump!

 Like a good dad, when my kids talk I listen.

“Dad, we want a trampoline.”

My mind went where most parents’ minds go when expensive, potentially dangerous requests are made from our well-intentioned little ones.

“Which neighbor has a trampoline so that I can fulfill this request?” I pondered.

Luckily, I could answer the question. A lovely neighbor does indeed have one of these jumping, bouncing polypropylene sandboxes with springs. And in good condition. And with netting to make me feel safer as a parent.

So, after gaining permission to jump, we headed over to try it out.

Our three oldest got right to jumping. No hesitation. Barely a “Thank you for letting us invade your yard and use your trampoline for our dad who is too cheap to buy us one.”

Our smallest watched for a few moments, trying to figure this out. Clearly, she had second thoughts. Has she read the Pediatrics guidelines around injury risks from such devices?

I picked her up and placed her on the springy surface.

Her look back to me communicated a strong skepticism.

“Dear, you jump up and then have fun falling down.”

In her mind: “Fall. Falling down. That means getting hurt, boo-boos, ouchies, band-aids.”

Despite my pleading, I couldn’t convince her that this was a safe place to jump and fall. I carried her off the trampoline.

 

 

We don’t jump because we are afraid to fall.

We don’t take that leap because of the security of feeling our feet on the ground.

We miss the exhilaration of being airborne because we are so focused on what happens when we come down.

Fear of failure holds us back from envisioning the heights we can reach.

Focusing on past “ouchies” and falls keeps us from jumping ahead.

Trauma and scars from hitting the ground in the past trip us up in the present, both keeping us from jumping and putting us into a “fall mindset”

So much so that when a trampoline moment presents itself, with possibilities of reaching superhero heights, we turn around and ask to get off without having taken a jump.

Even when trampoline moments ask us to suspend our beliefs around falling, ask us to re-consider the equation falling = failing, it is still tempting to back away without ever going airborne.

Excited to where you all take this analogy, how you choose to finish the piece…

Excited to hear whether this piece helps you jump!

Explosion

 

Explosion

Flames tenaciously, menacingly bursting upward

The truck sat in the middle of the road, consumed by the fiery uproar

Its driver remained in the vehicle

Smoke signaled impending doom

 

Explosion

Of humanity rushing from their vehicles

Thirty or more sprinted in superhero form toward the vehicle

Using their strength, wits, and first responder skills to

pry open passenger door

pry hope from despair

pry life from death’s grasp

We worked in harmony like ants bringing an injured comrade back to the colony,

Successfully bringing the driver out safely,

Stopping traffic and all that we might have been rushing to do.

No one cared about political affiliation, where you worshipped, views on abortion, immigration status, bank account balance, color of skin, educational status, sexual orientation.

All unimportant.

We were unified in saving a life.

We were connected in a struggle to

                                                                      pry open passenger door

pry hope from despair

pry life from death’s grasp

We needed each other.

 

Why can’t we similarly unify, dropping everything that divides to find our mutuality, our common bonds on the other fiery emergencies of this moment?

Systemic Racism that threatens to burn us to a crisp.

A virus that laughs through its flames as politics infect public health to the detriment of us all.

 

Let us need each other more

Let us connect with each other’s humanity

Ignore the bumper stickers on the car

See the beautiful being who sits amidst flames within

Fire that threatens both of you

                              all of us

Act accordingly

                                    Explosion of love

                                    Explosion of love

                                    Explosion of love

Mask up!

I wear a mask

Some might label me a sheep

Yes, proudly I am

In fact, it is something called herd immunity*

Proudly part of the herd

Baah’ baah’

 

I wear a mask.

Even as a doc, I can’t cite you the risk level as another person passes

But I wear the mask to show respect for their life, their health, and their family at home

And yes, for myself and my family at home as well

 

I wear a mask

Not any more as a political statement than

getting a flu shot

flushing the toilet

or picking up my dog’s poop

I wear it because it is the right thing to do as a member of a larger community that relies on me to make the right decision

I wear it because I don’t want to see communities of color suffer any further in this pandemic

I don’t want anyone to suffer

 

I wear a mask

Believing in science

And a crazy principle called “disease transmission through air particles”

Not because of how I vote or my religious beliefs or my political party (feminist)

 

I wear a mask and ask that you do the same

Why?

Because you are too important not to be here because of COVID

Ditto for those in your family

Ditto for those you might infect

 

I wear a mask and ask that you do the same

Because it is a statement of love for your community

Because together we can bring reason, humanity, and caring for each other back into this polarized, angry shouting match we find ourselves in

Because we are together in this herd called humanity

Baah’ baah’

* As a professor in population health, I need to clarify that herd immunity is not quite the same as wearing a mask. Herd immunity is the idea that if enough people are immunized, the herd as a whole is protected. But in this case, I couldn't resist the poetic connection between sheep...herd...herd immunity. This blog is an escape from my academic life, after all :)

Bass and Treble

 

Way back when, humans listened to music without Spotify, Air Pods, smart phones, and blue teeth/tooths.

In those B.S.P. (Before Smart Phones) days, people would actually get off their tooshies (medical term for gluteal area) and walk over to a thing called a stereo to adjust the sound using something called an equalizer. Crazy huh? Millennials reading this are already distractedly Googling all of this to verify I am not spinning tall tales.

Let’s use the equalizer analogy as we consider what music we play for ourselves today. 

Treble represents the positive in life – the beautiful moments of each day, the practice of gratitude and the people and experiences that make us grateful. All that sustains us will be treble.

Bass, meanwhile, represents the negative – things that stress us, things that cause us to worry, fear, and which bring on anxiety.

Yes, life does give us a starting material for the music we hear, but it is our decision of how we adjust the equalizer that makes the difference between symphony and cacophony.

“Woe is me” is not a reflection of the orchestra, but is a reflection of that person’s inability to lower the bass so that treble can ring.

And if treble weren’t easy to tune up, the majority of media even exist. Regurgitating the same bad news, knowing humans will consume it over and over and over. In those rare cases of treble amongst so much bass, you would never hear a “feel good” story repeated one day to the next on the 10pm news.

“Now to follow up on that incredible tale of the boy who raised $10,000 for his classmate with cancer from yesterday. We thought we would take another look at this tale since we felt it was so important for our city.”

Nope. But crime, natural disasters, political squabbling attract attention day after day. I think our own internal “news feed” plays out similarly. Much easier to regurgitate and perseverate on the bass in our lives.

My friends, play with the equalizer today. Play with that innate ability to attune to treble and let the positive dictate your thoughts and actions. Bass will still be there, but it will exist in balance with, and in the context of the treble sound. You might even appreciate new and more constructive angles on the bass sounds by not focusing on them.

Today, life will not give us treble or bass. No, today we get to choose how to manipulate the equalizer and make music out of the sounds that life presents.

A simple exercise for those interested in tuning their equalizer:

Write down 3 things that have most bothered/worried you in the last week. These are your bass.

Now, take those 3 things and come up with the opposite statement. Ex: “I am worried about my grandmother’s health becomes “I am grateful to have my grandmother in my life.”

Today, as you go about the day, when you find yourself beginning to think in “bass”, simply adjust the equalizer and turn that worry into its “treble” opposite.

Repeat as needed.

Gháájí’: New Year, New You

Renewal

As full moon lights the sky, 

Gháájí’, the Navajo New Year is celebrated. 

A chance for all of us five-fingered people to breathe deep

                                                                         give thanks

                                                                         renew vows to self

                                                                                                  life

                                                                                                  each other

Leaves brighten to hues not seen since 2019

Melons, squash, apples reaching maturity after months of growing pains

Mornings crisp with scents of green chile wafting olfactory goodness our way.

Cinnamon, pumpkin and other flavors soon to come.

What do you want the new year to look like?

What do you want the new you to look like?

What do you need to leave behind in the year that was?

What must be cultivated in the year to come?

Beyond the seeds themselves, 

How will you water and fertilize and nurture those seeds you plant?

Where do you want to start?

Take some time this weekend to breathe it all in, get out the Crayolas, canvas, journal, etc. and begin to draw yourself into a new year, into a new you.