Today's piece is dedicated to the Longfellow Elementary Pre-K Students who have a promotion in a few hours toward becoming Kindergarteners in the fall. I am a proud dad of one of those students, Sihasin. Excited to hear what the children have prepared for us at the promotion ceremony.
The class showing off their garden last week.
Our precious little ones,
Today you make it to the big time (Kindergarten!)
May you continue to play nicely with others in the sandbox.
May you continue to play, teaching us older ones who have
forgotten how to do so.
May you continue to play.
Our precious little ones,
May you continue to learn how to live for and with others.
May you continue to paint outside of the lines to your
heart’s content, never letting others constrain your creativity and vision.
Our precious little ones,
Continue to sprout toward the sky while digging roots deep
and resilient
Continue to
Grow goodness
Seed joy
Nourish us all.
Continue on.
Continue up.
Continue bringing smiles and happiness to the world.
And one last thing, just for us parents.
Please, please, please: Promise to never grow up, okay?
In a rush-rush, must-have-it-now world, how do we cultivate
patience?
As we go about our day looking incessantly for answers,
googling furiously as a last resort, do we ever stop to appreciate the
questions?
Patience.
Live the questions.
Deep breath.
Breathe deep.
Patience.
Smile.
Softening of heart.
Gentleness of spirit.
Silence allowed to speak.
Live the questions.
Patience Practice for Today:
When you feel rushed, overwhelmed, or overloaded today, stop
for a moment.
Deep breath.
Breathe deep.
What question are you asking at the moment? (If multiple
questions arise, pick one to focus on. Multi-tasking, for many of us our norm,
makes it hard to practice patience)
Sit with that question.
Walk around it, as if it was a museum specimen. Look at it from
all angles. Appreciate its contours and glow from each vantage point.
You are now living the question!
~~~~~~~~~~~
Today’s piece was inspired by a conversation with a
colleague Irene Mathieu who is a
poet and pediatrician. She implored me to “live the questions”. When I looked
at her in confusion/awe, she pointed me to an early 20th century Austrian
poet Rainer Maria
Rilke who wrote the following:
“Be patient toward all that is unsolved in your heart and
try to love the questions themselves, like locked rooms and like books that are
now written in a very foreign tongue.
Do not now seek the answers, which cannot be given you because
you would not be able to live them. And the point is, to live everything.
Live
the questions now.
Perhaps you will then gradually, without noticing it, live
along some distant day into the answer."
He had just received a 3rd DWI and knew he was
facing a return to prison, a place he knew too well.
Johnny Armijo’s family member told him he should get into a
program at the Albuquerque Center for Hope and Recovery (ACHR). The program was
called Addict to Athlete – A2A. As described on the ACHR website, A2A
“assists individuals struggling with substance use and/or
mental health challenges in finding and maintaining recovery through use of physical
fitness and self-discovery. A2A NM consists of an hour of strenuous activity,
from weight training to cross fit, followed by an hour long, peer led, support
group. By teaching the principles of pro-social behaviors and community
inclusion, A2A NM strives to assist individuals create the best versions of
themselves and become strong community members.” (https://www.achrnm.org/)
“Initially, I wasn’t serious about getting sober, but I
thought it might at least help reduce my sentence by a few months,” Johnny
recalls.
Six years later, Johnny is sober and inspiring others to
take the path of wellness with him. He works for ACHR and helps coordinate the
A2A program.
His energy for life is infectious. Having been on the dark path
of addiction, he appreciates each moment and small gifts each day brings his way. He embraces being a dad and a grandfather, acknowledging the years he wasn't well enough to be there for his family.
(L to R) Johnny, myself and Donato (another A2A peer support worker) at an event where we honored the two of them for their work to help others overcome addiction through movement.
Yesterday, we held a lunch on our UNM campus titled “Healing
Through Movement”. Johnny came to speak and inspire. He shared his story with a
room of students, staff and faculty. The room came alive.
After the lunch, someone came up to him and shared that
they were also in sobriety.
I reminded him that whenever I talk, I might get a polite “Thank
you” but not people sharing about their life journey in such a vulnerable way.
And yet, in Johnny's words he wants to become a motivational speaker one day.
My brother, you already are!
Johnny at the gym, moving for his recovery and wellness
The very thing that threatened to kill Johnny or to put him
behind bars for the rest of his life is also what allows him to heal himself. In
a beautiful way, his addiction is now a form of self-healing as opposed to
being used for self-destruction. He uses his addiction to help others see a path for their healing as well.
Johnny,
Mi hermano
My brother
My health colleague
My fellow
mover
I honor you and your journey today.
I am thankful to know you.
Keep moving.
Keep healing.
Here is a short film "What is Recovery" featuring Johnny and the AHCR team.
