Fighting for Life

It was a rather silly idea.

Early January 2021. I was finishing a run that began hours earlier.

I had used my feet to get 6 miles away to help lead one of our Running Medicine sessions.

Ran and played with youth and families.

Then headed back home, another 6 miles. I was a mile from home and had the silly idea.

“I wonder if I could run this last mile real fast?”

It pushed me to end the run with an effort that I wouldn’t have otherwise mustered.

Broke 6 minutes. 5:59.86 to be exact.

From this unplanned, spontaneous, kid-like moment sprung something special.

The next week, I finished a run similarly. Last mile under 6 minutes.

Fifteen weeks later, the streak was still alive. Every week, usually my Friday morning run, would end with one fast mile at the end no matter where the run was or how far I had gone.

A wellness goal has been born. Sort of an unplanned pregnancy, you might say.

In this first month of the year, many of you have created a new wellness habit. Something that challenges you to be a better you. 

For me, it was a fast mile to end the run.

For you it might be time for stillness. Or a new way of eating. Maybe a new morning routine that starts the day with self-care. A new way of daddying or mommying. A goal to achieve better work-life balance.

And if you are still looking for inspiration for new ways of wellness, my example reminds us that it doesn’t have to come from a long thought-out process. It doesn’t require a meditation retreat. It might just need a spark from today or this weekend. Mixed with a desire to “fight for life” as one elder Sam Montoya calls it, and you have the needed ingredients to a new wellness journey.

To life!

To wellness!

To a new you in 22!

 

"Fight for Life" explained:

*Mr. Montoya recently told me, “I need to get this knee better so I can keep fighting for life.” I looked at him with raised eyebrows, "Huh?". 

Sam remembers times when families had to work hard just to get food on the table, raising livestock, butchering, hunting. To stay warm, one cut wood to feed the fire. There was a literal fight for life just to survive. He reminds that even if we live today in a privileged way with food on the table, with heat that comes on with a thermostat, we must “fight for life” as a way of honoring it. Getting up early to greet the new day. Pushing ourselves physically, mentally, culturally, and spiritually. Looking for ways that strengthen our character, as opposed to looking for easiest path.

Sam teaches that we are strengthened by “fighting for life”, not allowing the comforts of life to entice us into laziness and complacency. It is the ultimate way to give thanks for each day, fighting as warriors in the most peaceful way to become better people for our family and community. And yes, for ourselves. Thank you, Sam.

The Beloved Community

The Beloved Community.

What comes to mind and heart for you when you hear this term?

What would it feel like to be a part of such a community?

On Dr. King’s holiday, I wanted us to explore the Beloved Community. Not as a philosophical exercise but as an aspirational one. One that inspires us to greater service and our highest selves. One very much pertinent to this pandemic moment.

Dr. King saw The Beloved Community as something attainable by a critical mass working from the framework of nonviolence.

It is worth seeing what the vision of The Beloved Community looks like, taken from The King Center that carries on Dr. King’s work.

In the Beloved Community, poverty, hunger and homelessness will not be tolerated because international standards of human decency will not allow it. Racism and all forms of discrimination, bigotry and prejudice will be replaced by an all-inclusive spirit of sisterhood and brotherhood. In the Beloved Community, international disputes will be resolved by peaceful conflict-resolution and reconciliation of adversaries, instead of military power. Love and trust will triumph over fear and hatred. Peace with justice will prevail over war and military conflict.(The King Center – www.thekingcenter.org)

"Dr. King", drawn by our 7-year old daughter Shandiin

Two Foundations for The Beloved Community: Agape and Nonviolence

At the core of the Beloved Community is agape love. Dr. King differentiated this from eros (romantic love) and philia (affection between friends). Agape, he described as “overflowing love which is purely spontaneous, unmotivated, groundless and creative…the love of God operating in the human heart.”

So different than the polarized world of the moment, agape implores us to recognize our connectedness and to love each other accordingly. Again the words of Dr. King

“[Agape] makes no distinction between a friend and enemy; it is directed toward both…Agape is love seeking to preserve and create community.”

The Beloved Community is also centered in the principles of non-violence. Conflict, when it arises, is dealt with in ways that lead to reconciliation as opposed to violence. From a speech in 1959 on Gandhi, Dr. King spoke

“The aftermath of nonviolence is the creation of the beloved community, so that when the battle’s over, a new relationship comes into being between the oppressed and the oppressor.” Read more about the 6 tenets of Dr. King’sphilosophy of nonviolence here.

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Reflecting on The Beloved Community this week of the MLK holiday, we should ask ourselves a very simple question: 

What can we do today, this week, this month, this year to get us closer to realizing The Beloved Community?

Thank You

I turned to leave.

She spoke softly.

“Thank you. Thank you for coming.”

The way these words were spoken caused me to gulp a deep breath while heart fluttered.

In my mind, I was doing my job. A physician visiting one of our COVID positive patients in the hospital.

In my mind, I wasn’t even able to offer her human connection as I would have wished to do.

Sound: Gowned up in PPE including two face masks, I wondered how much of my words had even been audible to this elder. She sure couldn’t rely on facial expressions, and the positive pressure COVID rooms sound like being in a loud wind tunnel.

Touch: Purple gloves between her and her visitors, with cold metal of stethoscope’s bell as the only thing actually touching her skin.

Heart: While we did connect on who she was as a person, a woman who longed for her gospel music CDs and daily 5am pot of coffee at home, I felt the weight of her isolation of the last week. She was not allowed to have visitors due to being COVID+. Her phone didn’t make the trip with her to the hospital, and thus she was sharing space with machines and alarms and IVs and the stale confines of her hospital room.

Returning to her “thank you”. Spoken from a deep place, with a loving sincerity.

It wasn’t needed or expected.

It was jarring.

It was humanizing.

It was grandmother talking to her grandson.

It tugged for tears from a indistinct place somewhere between elation and sadness.

It was powerful.

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Welcome to 2022, brothers and sisters. 

I am not sure about a whole lot as we turn into a 3^rd year of pandemic living. I can’t give you a decent prognosis of where the pandemic is going. No idea how much longer we will be wearing masks. Not sure if we are headed back to virtual school and work.

What I do know is that we need each other more than ever. COVID has pulled us apart 6 feet at a time, connection disfigured to the point of not being recognizable from what we knew B.C. (Before COVID).

My patient’s “thank you” spoke to the need. Stuck on a deserted COVID isolation island, she was in the perfect place to see the need clearly.

Sound: Listen for those saying “thank you” in your walk this week. Pay attention to how it is said. Listen for the people too weak to say the words. Voice “thank you’” to people in your life as if there is no tomorrow.

Touch: Hug someone today. Hug yourself. Unlike B.C., no one will be offended if you use hand sanitizer afterward.

Heart: Go out of your way to live “thank you” today. Love life and the precious gifts it presents.