October 2018 – Double-booked patients, charts, emails, curbsides, phone calls, meetings. . . Work late and start again the next day.

It is important to find a way to rest in the middle of things.

Stopping, even briefly, allows us to step out of our suffering and see clearly. Without stopping, we run headlong from one iteration of suffering to the next, like a hamster on a wheel. 

To stop means to let go of the struggle. We don’t stop only after we’ve climbed our imagined mountain to reach the exalted top (like finishing our charts). We stop where we are. We stop right in the middle of this moment, no matter if our task is unfinished, and our battle un-won.

Stop to take a breath now. Take a breath before each chart, before each patient visit, before each email. Put a reminder “BREATHE” on your computer. Stopping is freeing. Acknowledging your state of being, not turning from it, is victory. It is enough.

You are enough.

Adapted from writings of Jon Prescott, Anacortes Mindfulness Community

For more information contact Dr. Leslie Estep or Dr. Anita Meyer at Hospice of the Northwest,
360-814-5550, or lestep@hospicenw.org  or  ameyer@hospicenw.org