From the new day...

As a hospice social worker, I spend time every working day with people who are nearing end of life. Many of my patients have found positive meaning in their life; relate stories that demonstrate their feelings and are at peace with the idea that death may arrive at any time. Some willingly move towards death and even ask why it is taking so long. But there are also those patients who admit a fear of death, admit to a life that wasn’t well lived, or admit to holding onto anger or resentment. Their final days tend to be less peaceful.

I was immersed in a conversation today relating to peace as I attended training on Forgiveness in Psychotherapy. During the presentation I thought about my own journey with forgiveness and how the past 15 or 20 years has brought me many lessons, and thankfully growth, in this area. The hundreds of patients I have come to know while working in hospice, and the difference in their experiences approaching death, were also on my mind. For a peaceful death, it seems clear that forgiveness is essential – forgiveness of oneself and forgiveness of offenders.

Words of Eva Kor, a holocaust survivor, speaking about her captors, were included in the presentation. She said that after forgiveness and amnesty she finally “felt freedom from the burdens that life had inflicted on me.” The facilitator wrote “Learning the skills of forgiveness leads to demonstrable improvements in emotional, physical and interpersonal health.” Forgiveness is a choice. It is not forgetting or condoning. It is choosing to do something that in the end will bring you peace. And that peace will be yours, but it will also flow into the world through the positive and loving energy that will emanate from your being. It seems that forgiveness is key to peaceful survival of the individual and the human race. Hopefully the breath of this day will resonate around the world.   

Giving thanks for the blessing of this day...

From the new day...

March 17^th was gorgeous with blue skies, warm sun and temperatures feeling more like mid spring than the end of winter. Such a pleasant Saturday found me outside doing yard work, which I usually don’t begin for at least another month. I have 6 foot tall grasses that I never cut down after the season as they add a bit of movement and softness to the usually still and hard winter landscape, as well as create a privacy screen. Today however, it was time to tackle them so for about 4 hours I cut and cut each reed with hand clippers and then tried to divide this perennial in order to keep the size manageable, but the grasses won the battle and will likely grow bigger than ever this summer season. The base and roots are like a cement pier at this point and even a hatchet barely cut any of the roots away. How symbolic that is…the strength of our roots.

 As I worked, I thought about how the reeds were probably similar to the reeds that my grandfather used to thatch his roof in Ireland. That’s where my roots are strong, in Ireland. My mother told me that their house was once given an award for the home with the nicest appearance on the road between Dublin and County Mayo where they lived. Suddenly I felt surrounded by my ancestors, hard working country people. I realized that this activity was given to me today for a purpose – to connect me with my family who have all passed on – and to thank them for their contributions to making me and my life what it is today. And how amazing that today is St. Patrick’s day! As the Irish flag flew in front of my house, and the cut reeds lay strewn all over the lawn, I knew that this was no coincidence. Happily, I appreciated this gift, the wonder of connection across the planes, and gave thanks for my parents, my grandparents and all my extended family who today I felt in my midst.

Giving thanks for the blessing of this day...

The Breath of a New Day
Introduction 3/8/2012



Each day we are given the gift of a new day. With this gift comes the promise of the unknown, opportunities for growth and the chance to shape the 24 hour period into the design of our chosing.  Along the way, we will be surrounded by sights and sounds and people and things, all of which may communicate to us. Will we be ready to receive the communications? Or will we miss them? Being observant and listening, really listening with all of our powers, will give us the best chance to see and hear the messages, which are carried on the breath of the new day.  My hope is to share in this blog some of the messages that make their way into my awareness.