Touched by an Angel

By 7:15am the nuclear medicine tech had injected a radiotracer into my vein, and told me to come back around 9am for the scan.  I headed for breakfast, but realized I had a different kind of thirst, so I walked over to one of my favorite sacred spaces in Mays Clinic the Water Wall.  A young man was standing there,   we talked briefly, and I walked away still thirsty.  Halfway down the sky bridge I heard someone calling, and turned to find the young man, “Mr, out of your heart flow’s the river of life”.  We hugged, and then he was gone, as I stood with tears streaming down my face realizing I’d been touched by an angel.  Listen to your heart today.

Happy Birthday Billy

Wow!  Came to work today to find a “turkey” sitting in my chair and he looks like he started my birthday party without me.  Thanks Team!  What have I learned after 66 years?  Life is an adventure of being, learning who we are and the energy we become through the synergy of our body-mind-spirit connections.  Connections that are energized at the cellular level when we quiet our minds and are mindfully present in the moment.  My birthday gift to myself is a line from Thich Nhat Hanh, “The mind can go in a thousand directions, but on this path I walk in peace”. 

Life Bench

My dad waited patiently as I sat on the bench.  He missed my 1st football game because of business travel, but when he returned he beamed, when I told him all about the game and showed him my broken finger.  Riding my 1st medevac the soldier we were transporting gripped my wrist hard, and I swear I heard my father’s voice, “You did well”.  Yesterday, my cancer markers called for body/bone scans, but I left smiling as I thought about the string of birthday’s my son started in November.  My daughter’s birthday was yesterday, grandson today, mine is tomorrow and another grandson on Thursday; plenty of Baun’s sitting on the bench we call life, waiting to be called up to hear our father say, “You did well”.  Pass on the goodness of life today! 

Cancer Leash

Today is a cancer care day.  It will start in a few hours at the diagnostic center (blood / specimen collection) where many anxious individuals will be waiting.  Early in my cancer journey I heard a man talking about his 3 month “leash” on life, and I remember thinking, I’ll never live like that, but I did.  Each 3-month checkup was a nightmare of watching my cancer markers, and then one day when my cancer markers weren’t doing so well, but life was, I simply let go of the leash.  Instantly, I was re-energized by the courage of letting go, and felt its healing fullness in my soul.  Today, let go and be re-energized by life.    

Vietnam and Autumn Leaves

It was the summer before college and I was working as a hiking counselor at a camp in the White Mountains.  My mother was in her last year of her life, and thousands were losing their lives in Vietnam, but both were so far away.  Just off the trail I was headed for some real food, and reading letters from my mom.  I remember stopping, walking to the lakes edge as the tears flowed and I read the line over and over, that a friend had died in Vietnam.   The next year, cancer would take my mom, but I would remember her words about my friend’s death in Vietnam, “Billy, he’s gone to a better place”, as I laid autumn leaves on her coffin.  Be open to the lessons / blessing adversity gives. 

Do More, Be More, NOW!

All of us, at times hear only our inner critic that pushes so hard and fast we stay stuck in what Daniel Siegel, in his book The Mindful Therapist, has called an unintegrated state.  Our lives fill up with missed moments, as we become stuck in the chaos of non-mindfulness.  As I coach individuals with advanced cancers, many talk about the overwhelming need to not waste a minute of life.  I’ve lived this rush as an advanced cancer survivor, and then one day was stopped by the weight of the missed moments dragging far behind.  Harness the power of mindfulness and not waste a minute of life! 

Clinton Foundation Halfday Conference

Today I spoke at the Clinton Foundation / Shape Up Houston “Best Practices in Inproving Employee Health” halfday conference.  My session was Tobacco Free Implementation, and the bottom-line of my talk was becoming a tobacco free worksite is a journey, not a destination!  Most companies implement tobacco free policies and then forget they exist.  Tobacco is still the #1 preventable KILLER in the U.S., and each year companies need to renew their fight against tobacco.  How do you renew the fight?  Start with being truthful about how you are doing on the bullet points in the attached slide.