Photo by Dev Benjamin on Unsplash
Mindfulness is an essential part of living a benevolent life full of caring and the fulfillment it brings.
As part of my recent training to be a hospital volunteer, I had the opportunity to attend their two day orientation. One entire day was spent on the culture of Fauquier Health and its patient-centric mission. What a blessing to be part of such a caring community.
We watched a film with soft music playing in the background. No words were spoken aloud. It showed dozens of various ordinary goings-on at a hospital such as people passing in a hallway, two people entering an elevator, someone sitting in a waiting room–head in hands, an elderly person using a walker to make his way down a hall. And a “thought bubble” display of knowledge about the person appeared slowly above each one.
The displays shared various bits of information such as:
- Worrying about how to pay for this operation
- Just found out the tumor is benign
- Just found out the tumor is malignant
- Lost his job last week and became a father today
- Struggling with the decision to remove life support from his mom
- Deciding whether to sign papers for daughter’s organs to be donated
- Frightened about going home and recovering alone
- Can’t afford the rehab the doctor recommends
It reminded me how little we know about each other, sometimes even people that we’re close to. We are unaware of the struggles and the pain and the fear that we each go through at points in our lives.
We say, “How are you?!” with a smile on our face and don’t pay much attention to the response. We’re not mean or selfish; I think we’ve just forgotten how to BE in the moment; how to be mindful with each other.
I remember a much-loved poem from years ago that I can still recite by heart. My dad liked poetry and had given me a well-thumbed paperback poetry book called The Best Loved Poems of the American People, published by Doubleday October 1936. I can’t put my hands on the book right now, but according to the website http://truediscipleship.com/if-i-had-known/ the poem is by Mary Carolyn Davies and is titled If I Had Known.
If I had known what trouble you were bearing;
What griefs were in the silence of your face;
I would have been more gentle and more caring,
And tried to give you gladness for a space.
I would have brought more warmth into the place,
If I had known.
If I had known what thoughts despairing drew you;
(Why do we never try to understand?)
I would have lent a little friendship to you,
And slipped my hand within your hand,
And made your stay more pleasant in the land,
If I had known.
This is a timeless poem. It’s as appropriate now as it was in 1936.
May you have a week of lending a little friendship and slipping your hand within someone else’s hand.
What a great gift from your dad. We should all have memorized that. A true legacy to live by.
I’m happy that this resonated with so many of my readers.
Your messages are so meaningful and always appear at the right time. I needed to be reminded that no matter how much I am struggling with issues, there are always others suffering more. I will try to be more mindful of those around me and less concerned with my own trials . Over the years as I moved from place to place, I carried this poem with me in the poem folder that you gave me in high school. Reading it brought back a flood of memories. It was one of my favorites along with “The House With Nobody in it” by Joyce Kilmer. Whenever I walk to Suffern along the Erie Track…………
Oh my gosh, Linda. What a day brightener for me from you. I adored that poem. Kilmer is remembered primarily for his poem Trees. I believe I presented the HOUSE poem in our public speaking class and that Mrs. Peters said she wasn’t aware the poet had written anything else (having died a young death at 31). I believe his HOUSE poem helped influence my design of my home. For those of you who may have never read his other work, here’s a link to it. https://allpoetry.com/The-House-With-Nobody-In-It Thanks for the memory. You are loved.
what a beautiful thought and poem.
Thank you Norma for giving this beautiful thought .
I always look forward to your “Lifted Up” and then I am lifted up.
Ruth, your sincere comment means a lot to me. Thanks for taking the time to share this.
Timely and timeless post!
Thank you, Frederique.
Beautiful; thank you for reminding us to look around and see the people around us. The younger generation needs to read this message, so many of them have their faces planted looking at their phones. 🙁
Diane, it does my heart good to see someone commenting for the first time, so thanks for taking the time to do just that.