Abya Yala

Verse 1:

Months of planning

Building community, energy, creativity

The wall was blessed, spray paint cans were assembled

Art and youth and community and love

        began to spray beautiful images onto vertical canvas,

             unto heart and spirit

             into the urban landscape

Pyramids meeting Pueblos

A South American boy 

        stands proud alongside

A Pueblo girl

They radiate love and positivity to children ages 1-100 who come to stare

 

Art heals

Culture heals

Love heals

 

Verse 2:

Abya Yala

A term used by the Guna people, an Indigenous nation in current-day Panama/Colombia

Similar to the term “Turtle Island” it invokes connectedness.

Abya Yala is a statement that walls and borders falsely divide people, a reminder that we are all profoundly connected.

Indigenous Freeways” was the sub-title for the project, a reminder of the trade routes and migration patterns that were never constricted by such barriers.

As stated beautifully by of one of the mural’s artists, “We continue to burn walls and build bridges.”

Verse 3:

A big shout out to NSRGNTS who helped create the vision and who led the artistic side of this project. Leah and Votan, I am proud to call you my health colleagues. SABA, you are my brother for life and Abya Yala needed your energy to make it happen. HomegrowNM Trading Post, thank you for the wall to paint on. CABQ and CARES Act, thanks for supporting the project with some funds. Finally, a big thank you to the families and leaders of the Native Health Initiative for always seeing the power in community-led healing.

And an invitation for those who have not spent time with the mural to see it yourself – Morningside and Central Ave SE, south side of the road.

Verse 4:

A beautiful video documentary produced by Shane Montoya on the mural art project and the public unveiling of the mural.

 

Loosen Your Grip

I was on bike, my favorite way to get around town.

A big speed bump loomed ahead.

I knew I was about to be jarred by the imposing structure.

What is the best way for a biker in this situation to avoid falling off the bike?

What would you do?

The answer might surprise you.

As I approached the speed bump, I loosened my grip on the handlebar. Almost to the point of letting go, with the slightest feel of rubber grazing my fingers.

By doing so, the biker gains stability and gives themselves the best chance of not being thrown from the bike.

Our natural instinct says “clench down” and “hold on for dear life” but doing the opposite lessens the jolting and jarring from the bump.

Yes, natural instinct often points us in the right direction. But not always. Beyond leading us to fall, gripping tighter will lead us to perseverate on the speed bump, blaming it incessantly to no one’s benefit.

Today, when a bump in the road arises, try this:

Pause for a moment.

Acknowledge your instinct to grip tighter.

But don’t follow it.

Gently loosen your grasp, breathing deep and slow. Release all tension.

Enjoy the ride as the bump passes beneath you.

Notice how centered and stable you can be despite the obstacle.

Another deep breath as the bump in the road passes into your rear view.

If you aren’t one for figurative language, get on a bike and test it out.

 

Enjoy the bumps in your road today. Life puts them there to strengthen us.

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Had to share this fun picture from Thursday morning, having survived a snowy bike across town to the hospital. You might say the speed bump was a driving snowstorm in this case. 

But loosening my grip still worked quite well. I joked that I got my hair frosted without even needing a beauty salon.

Vote for Us!

 

Dear Ms./Mr. Politician,

We stand here on the front lines, COVID in our face.

Too tired to change clothes and shower when we get home from the hospital, we now just accept the viral risk that we incur on our families.

For two years we have been asked to give 200%.

We prescribe all that can help us out of this pandemic.

Masks, vaccines, and public health orders to limit spread of disease.

To you, Ms./Mr. Politician, we are disposable like PPE.

Some of you telling the public not to wear those “face diapers”, unmasking your contempt for science, data, and your so-called healthcare heroes. Thanks.

Others putting political spin on health measures, fueling flames as we clean up the mess, one intubation at a time. Thanks.

Both sides of the aisle pandering for votes.

 

Ms./Mr. Politician,

We are not your political pawns. Neither are the patients we care for.

The care we provide is not yours to politicize.

Our Hippocratic oath does not care about animal allegiance (donkey vs. elephant).

 

Please,

See our exhaustion. From COVID, and from the political games you play.

Stand with us.

Stand for health.

Vote for Us!

 

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.

Healing Holidays

The new normal meets winter holidays.

Will surprising the relatives with a visit lead to exhilaration or simply to an door-step interrogation about my recent COVID exposure before deciding if I am allowed in the house?

Do I dare bring up vaccines at the dinner table?

To travel or not to travel?

What is the perfect designer face mask to gift to my significant other?

(And do such gifts follow the holiday fruitcake rule that says re-gifting is 100% cool?)

 

However you choose to answer the above, embrace this year’s break for what it is.

Not what it could have been.

Not how it used to be.

Not how it might be in the future.

Take the days off and a chance to slow down for the gift it is in this moment.

A few more questions naturally arise – take a moment to reflect on these, and even to jot down your thoughts.

What non-material gift do I need to give myself over these next weeks?

What am I needing to fill my cup at this moment?

In the first week of January, what would I be proud of to have done for myself over these last weeks of December?

What non-material gifts could I give to others?

With whom is a phone conversation long overdue?

 

My hope with this piece is simply to help all of us focus on deeper healing in this time. Yes, the malls and big box stores and Amazon try to sell us on superficial and instant gratification. But, I don’t expect that anything from those sources will be the answer to our healing.

Two fun ideas to leave you with, as you design your own winter break game-plan:

Gift and Run

We have started this tradition with some families here in Albuquerque. Wrap some gifts and show up at a busy shopping area and begin the “gift and run” with strangers. Find that stressed cashier or unexpecting family in the laundromat and present them with the gift. You can add “pay it forward” when they look at you in surprise or ask you what this is all about. Note – we have found that children are much better at “gift and run” than us adults. Kids don’t worry about rejection or violating others’ space like us adults. So let the little ones show you the way.

Unplug

Turn off your phone and other connections to the electronic universe for a few days or more. Sound frightening? If so, a good sign that this would be great for you. In my experience doing this for about 10 days each winter break, the first day without a phone does lead to some withdraw symptoms. Once that dissipates, life begins to slow. Your thoughts are no longer on text-speed, instagram-speed. They actually return to normal speed. You might even have to open a paper phone book and use a landline. But here is the real gift – it is not about what you have left behind, but more about what you might now do with your unplugged self. A long hike? A chat with grandmother? Baking something you have wanted to try for months?

May the next weeks bring you what you most need.

See you in ’22!

p.s. If you try either of the above, I would love to hear how they went for you!